A Lonely Christmas

five

The walk home was cold. Very cold. We talking about everything possible. I explained to him what happened with my family and why they aren't with me the way he explained what happened with his.

He lives in a house with a family of four: him, his mother, step dad, and his sister. They live across town and they just moved here from Puerto Rico.

I thought it was really cool. I mean, sure. I have a lot of Puerto Rican and Hispanic friends- but they've never lived in Puerto Rico.

He explained the tough times him and his family went through and I almost felt sorry for him.

Until he threw a snowball at me when we reached my front yard.

"Hey! You were supposed to throw one back! What's the fun in a snowball fight if you don't- wait."

I walked up to the porch and went to open the door with my key.

"You live...here?" He asked, shocked.

"Yup." I answered.

"You can come inside if you want. It's kind of cold out there." I shrugged, standing by the door.

He walked in and I closed the door behind him. I showed him to the coat rack and the shoe mat and we took off our jackets and shoes to let them dry before making our way to the kitchen.

He sat at the bar and I stood across from him leaned against the counter.

"Want some hot cocoa or something to warm you up?" I asked, trying to make things less awkward.

If I'm being honest here, I have no idea why I just invited this kid into my house. I just met him. I mean, sure, it was maybe like two hours ago and we may have spilled our full life stories to each other and he's a way better friend to me so far than all my other ones but- I don't know him.

He didn't tell me anything about a criminal record or like- anything of that matter.

"That's nice...but maybe you should get that cleaned up." He told me, motioning to my forehead.

"You're right."

I went to the bag on the table and took out the first aid kit and Advil.

"You can help yourself to anything." I said as I exited the kitchen and walked to the bathroom.

Halfway through my walk I realized what I just said. I walked back to the kitchen and poked my head through the door- "Just- don't steal anything."

"Got it." He said sarcastically, adding a wink at the end.

A really cute wink.

We went over this already right? How good looking and tall Max is? Yeah.

I walked to the bathroom and placed the first aid on the sink and began to push my hair back into a ponytail and put my headband on.

I grabbed a baby wipe and wiped off the makeup I still somewhat had on.

And when that all came off, I realized how bad it really was.

"Oh my god."

"It's not that bad." Max said.

I jumped and dropped the wipe, "Where did you-"

"How did you-"

"I'm magical." He joked.

"Ha. Ha." I said sarcastically.

I threw the wipe away and opened the first aid.

"Okay...uh...what do I...?" I stared down at the ice packs and the bandaid boxes...and the butterfly stitches.

"May I?" He asked.

I stepped back and waved my hands in front of the sink, "Be my guest."

He walked into the bathroom and started to mess around with the first aid. He took out the ice packs and the bandaid boxes.

"Alright kiddo, sit." He said, patting the sink.

"Are you crazy?" I asked.

"I'm not sitting on that." I told him.

"Well I need you to be my height so I can see what I'm doing. And well- your short. Like, really short." He explained.

I scoffed, "your crazy."

"Alright fine."

He put down the things he had in his hands and walked towards me, with his arms wide.

"Okay! Okay! I'll sit! Back up." I shooed his hands away and sat up on the sink.

"This is gonna burn." He warned.

"What's gonna bur-"

"Cheese and-Ow!" I complained.

He cleaned up my forehead cut with an alcohol pad then dried it up before placing a long bandaid over it.

I flinched when he wiped around my eye and touched it.

"So are you gonna tell me now? It looks like a fighting bruise."

I sighed, "Cause it is."

I sagged my shoulders and sat there.

"You fought?"

No.

"Yeah." I told him.

I shouldn't be lying to someone I just started a friendship with, I know. But, I barely know him- why would I tell him that during my dance routine I slipped and fell and hit my head on the bathtub?

"Looks like they roughed you up pretty bad huh?"

"Nothing compared to what they got."

"Explains why your knuckles are swollen." He shrugged and started cleaning up.

I totally forgot about those.

"Yeah." I whispered.

He walked over to the trashcan and I took advantage of the fact that he was away and I hopped off the sink and walked towards the door.

"Hot cocoas in the microwave!" He called out.

"How-?"

"Your footsteps aren't very quiet little one." He whispered from behind me.

I gasped, "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, putting my hands on my waist.

"That you suck at tiptoeing." He said in a 'matter of fact' tone.

I huffed, "Rude."

He walked past me into the kitchen and opened the microwave- revealing two black cups full of hot cocoa with marshmallows floating on top.

"Did you-"

"Yup."

"Now the question is..." I said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I questioned.

"That you should probably take your Advil?" He joked.

"Well- yeah but- that wasn't exactly what I was going for..."

He put the hot cocoa down and reached on the table and handed me a small pill and a small glass of water, "This first then we'll watch a movie."

"How did you-"

"Told you. I'm magical."