Saturday 16th December 2:37pm

1 week, 1 day, 9 hours and 23 minutes until Christmas

Dear Nick,

You are a complete fuckwit arsehole who doesn’t deserve to live…

Cheating is the lowest fucking thing a person can do, and you fucking did it to me, which makes me incredibly mad.

I fucking hate you right now, but because of you I hate everything with the maybe except of vodka.

I hate Sam too, how is it that my bestest fucking friend is not only in another fucking country during my time of need, but is also too busy to return my god damn call…bitch, bastard…I hate you all, and I hate being alone. I fucking hate being alone.

Christina awoke groggily, not even bothering to glance at her alarm clock, as she wasn’t seeing clear enough to actually make out the letters. It had been a hell of a night, one Christina didn’t remember incredibly vividly, but it had involved booze, her television and ice cream, which is a sickening combination. It was also a combination that described how the last two weeks had been. Aside from the times she was forced to run a brush through her hair and look respectable, ergo, when she had to go to work, Christina found that her time was occupied by moping and drinking, all alone as her best friend Sam rarely even acknowledged her existence anymore. After the break up Christina had left her a dozen messages, which Sam eventually replied to, two days later, and managed to listen to Christina tell her that she’d broken up with Nick, before giving a distracted “that sucks” followed by an apologetic “I have to go” and “I love you darling, bye”.

Christina was a reasonable girl, ad she understood that being in France was a big deal for her friend, but it still hurt that she couldn’t even give Christina a full 30 minutes of her time when the boy Christina was madly in love with just broke her heart. It also made the healing process go in a slow, practically no existence pace because Christina didn’t have any friends to drag her out of her bedroom and to some club, which she would hate because she would find ways to connect aspects of the club to the boy who broke her heart. Despite being semi-miserable during the clubbing time and she would have probably gone home and cried herself to sleep, just having someone make the first step and give her that feeling of security that having someone who cares about you gives you. That would have then led to Christina getting over him as she continued to get on with her normal life, or that was her reasoning at any rate.

However, that wasn’t happening and in the time that Sam hadn’t been available to talk, Nick had been incredibly eager. In fact he called her the next day, asking her to meet him for lunch so they could discuss their ‘issues’. Christina found an impolite way to tell him ‘no’ and refused to answer any more of his calls, which happened so frequently that she actually turned her phone off for three days and did nothing but cry, drink and eat a whole heap of sugary crap, throwing in the occasional shower every now and then. This only lasted for three days, because the next night Christina had to work, and they frown upon employees being drunk. Christina also found that she made the mistake of turning her phone back on, claiming that she couldn’t let her ex completely ruin her life. That was a big mistake, as she found that Nick wasn’t really willing to give up and eventually agreed to see him and discuss their issues. It turned out that discussing their issues was slang for Nick telling her all the reasons she should take him back, while he ignored almost anything she said. In short, it ended with Christina slapping him, storming off and falling back down in the deep dark pit that she didn’t even realise she’d begun to inch out of.

And that was what led her to rolling out of bed in the early afternoon, with an incredible hang over. The groggy feeling was soon replaced by panic as Christina rushed to the bathroom, praying she’d get there before emptying the contents of her stomach all over the floor. She made it to the bathroom, and found that she wasn’t actually going to vomit, despite the bile rising in her throat. When she was absolutely certain she wasn’t going to be violently sick, she brushed her teeth and stumbled into the kitchen, where she played the part of a slack uni student, by merely opening the freezer and taking out a carton of ice cream out. Christina was well aware that it probably wasn’t the right breakfast food, but she was hung over, depressed and had probably gained a whole heap of weight since her break up anyway and honestly didn’t give a damn about anything anymore, except for ensuring that she’ll get a pay check at the end of every fortnight.

Christina waited until it was after 6 pm before she started drinking of the alcoholic kind. She figured that way she couldn’t fall under the category of alcoholic and instead borderline alcoholic, which she was perfectly fine with. It was a bit of a shame though, as just as she’s starting to feel better from her hang over she started drinking again.

The phone rang yet again. Christina didn’t even bother to get up and find it. She had long since passed the time where she cared who it was because lately the only people who ever called her was Nick, work or a telemarketer. None of which seemed like an appealing thought right now. So the phone was left ignored and eventually rang out, leaving Christina in silence as she sat at her kitchen table, drinking gin, surveying the mess that was once her kitchen. When she had a roommate, even though it had been just Sam, who was a much messier person than she was, Christina still found herself motivated to keep her stuff neat and somewhat presentable. With Sam’s absence Christina had begun to be a little slack, leaving a few things lying around when she would usually put them away, that sort of thing. Now the place had become a full blown pig sty, to the degree that the after math of a bombing would have a more charming look, at least Christina thought so, but she was too tired, depressed and drunk or hung over to really do anything about it.

It was nearly eight, and Christina was well and truly tipsy before there was any form of change around the house. The change came in the form of a knock at the door. At first Christina thought she was hearing things or someone was knocking on her neighbour’s door with a little too much enthusiasm, but when the sound continued for a few minutes, she figured it must be her door, and went to answer it. At any rate she could yell at the person if it was coming from someone else’s doorstop. Christina flung open the door and was surprised by what she saw. The person standing at her door was a girl about Christina’s age. She was incredibly tall – at least a foot taller than Christina, who wasn’t exactly short – had long blonde hair, a slim physique and a beautiful face. She was also wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt, which looked quite casual on her when anybody else would look almost daggy.

“Uh...hi?” Christina gave her a confused look, and was silently hoping that she wasn’t slurring her words.

“Hi, I’m Claudia.” The girl said with a bright grin. “I just moved in next door.”

“Oh hi.” Christina said and shook the hand that Claudia had offered her. “Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, you too.” Claudia said with what looked like a genuine smile. “Anyway, I hate to ask this, but I just moved in today, and my water system isn’t working and I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if I had a quick shower over here?”

‘What?” Christina said, her brain working a bit slower than it usually would. This was quickly followed by an “Oh, that’s fine.”

“Thank you so much.” Claudia said, relief filling her face. “I’m just going to go get my things.”

“That’s fine.” Christina said, nodding. “I’ll leave the door unlocked.”

With that Claudia disappeared next door, and Christina turned to survey her apartment, cringing at how messy it was. Knowing she didn’t really have time to clean the place up, she turned on some lights so she didn’t look like some depressed lunatic who sits around drinking in the dark, even though she basically has been lately. This was followed by a quick collection of all the empty ice cream containers, which were thrown into the bin. This brief clean up led Christina to look down at herself, and she found herself slightly embarrassed to realise she was wearing a pair of old baggy sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt that was at least three sizes too big for her and had belonged to one of her male friends. Christina couldn’t exactly remember how she’d ended up with it, but the only reason she still had it was because it was a comfortable shirt to sleep in.

Before Christina could even contemplate changing clothes her front door swung open, and Claudia came in carrying a plastic bag, filled with what looked like clothes, a toiletry bag and a towel.

“Hi, I hope you don’t mind that I just let myself in.” Claudia said, as she shut the door behind her.

“Not at all.” Christina replied with a half smile. Despite the fact they had just met Christina found herself immensely liking this girl. She just had this air of confidence and Christina got the feeling that she was a sincerely nice girl and a lot of fun to be around.

“Here, the bathroom’s down this way.” Christina said, indicating for Claudia to follow her.

“Once again, thank you.” Claudia said, as Christina showed her the bathroom.

“It’s perfectly fine.” Christina replied, and Claudia sent her one final grin before shutting the bathroom door.

With Claudia in the bathroom Christina couldn’t exactly clean her teeth or something like that so she settled for going to her bedroom and changing her clothes. She replaced the pants with a pair of loose fitting jeans, which were still tight enough to look decent, and the tent was replaced with an informal tank top. Christina then ran a brush through her tangled hair and washed her face in the kitchen sink. She knew that there was really no point in doing so as Claudia surely would have noticed the way she looked before, but Christina still felt better in doing it. She almost laughed at the thought that having someone in her house made her put effort into her appearance and has actually had an effect on her mood. That really proved how pathetic she really was these days.

With that less than cheery thought, Christina poured herself another glass of gin, only half filling it this time. She figured she could get completely plastered once her ‘company’ had left.

Claudia had been quite literal when she said a quick shower, as Christina hadn’t even finished her drink by the time the other girl had come back out. And from the look of her she’d not only showered, but also cleaned her teeth and put some make up on.

“Hey.” Claudia said. “That feels so much better.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Christina agreed. “I love showering, and I hate going out without having showered first.”

“Yeah me too.” Claudia agreed, sitting down across the table from Christina.

“So…where are you going tonight?” Christina asked, trying to make conversation.

“What? I’m not going out tonight.” Claudia said with a small laugh. “The make up is just out of habit. Besides I’m feeling a little down and looking pretty always makes em feel better.”

Christina laughed at the tone she used. “Why are you down?’

“Oh you know, just moved into town today, I know absolutely no one and my family lives practically on the other side of the country.” Claudia said, but kept her tone light so it didn’t sound like she was complaining.

Christina gave her a smile and indicated to the gin. “Do you want a glass?”

Claudia nodded. “That would be good.”

Christina got up to get Claudia a glass and continued to talk as she did so. “Do you usually mix it with something? Because I have coke and juice if you want.”

“No, it’s okay.” Claudia said, and Christina turned back towards the table. “I can manage it straight.”

“Here you go. Christina said, giving her the glass and allowing Claudia to pour her own drink.

Claudia filled her glass and then swallowed a huge mouthful, before slouching in her chair slightly looking a little more relaxed. “That really hits the spot.”

“Tell me about it.” Christina muttered, sipping from her own glass.

“So what’s your story?” Claudia asked. “Most girls don’t drink straight unless they’re depressed.”

Usually Christina would lie and then change the subject, but considering she didn’t really have anyone else to talk to, aside from Eric who she had never called because in all honesty he was someone she worked with and ale so talking to him about her personal life would have been weird, she desperately wanted to talk to someone. Besides Claudia seemed nice enough and she was female, not to mention she shared that feeling of loneliness, so Christina decided to open up.

“Well, I’ve had a rough couple of weeks I guess.” Christina replied and Claudia gave her a nod, indicating that she should explain it further.

“What’s been happening?” Claudia eventually said, after seeing the hesitation on Christina’s face.

“Well, a few weeks ago I found out my boyfriend had been cheating on me.” Christina replied, trying not to get too emotional. “So we broke up after that, because I refuse to forgive him for that.”

“I don’t blame you.” Claudia said, patting her arm. “That’s a horrible thing to do to a person you love.”

“Yeah, and to make things worse my best friend Sam, she lives her too, has gone away to Paris for the Christmas break and I can’t really talk to any of my other friends about this sort of thing, coz most of them are good friends with my ex or people I’m not that close to.”

“God, that sucks.” Claudia said her voice filled with fury on Christina’s behalf. “So you’ve been going through this alone? Fuck, I don’t blame you for drinking.”

Christina laughed. “I have been an incredible mess lately. I hate that it hurts this much.”

“How long were you two going out for?” Claudia asked curiously.

“Eleven months.” Christina replied. “And we were incredibly close, I mean he helped me so much with the whole being in a new town and being in uni, which was al new and scary at the beginning of the year.”

‘I totally understand.” Claudia said. “I have a friend like that, who I was actually dating for a while, but he really helped me when I first started modelling.”

“You’re a model?” Christina said, dumbfounded. She looked like she could be a model, but Christina didn’t think she actually was.
Claudia laughed. ‘Shit, yeah. Sorry I should have told you that earlier. Anyway yeah, I’m a model and he was a model too and really helped me find my place with that world. When we broke up it was sad, but we remained friends thankfully.”

Christina smiled. “I’m glad.”

Claudia laughed. “Me too.”

The girls then lapsed into a comfortable silence as they both continued to sip at their drinks and got lost in their thoughts.

“We should totally go out some night.” Claudia said breaking the silence. “I’m new in town and you could definitely do with some girl fun.”

Christina smiled. “Sure, I need a night out.”

“How bout tomorrow night?” Claudia asked, her eyes dancing that this exciting new idea.

“Uh…I can’t.” Christina groaned. “I have to work tomorrow night.”

“What time do you finish?” Claudia pressed.

“I work in a bar, so not til early morning.” Christina cringed.

“Damn. How bout the night after? Are you free then.”

“Yeah, we can definitely do it then.” Christina agreed, smiling.

“Great. I have a shoot during the day, but it should be finished by 9 o’ clock at the latest.” Claudia said, her face suddenly full of light. “So how bout I grab your number and we meet up afterwards?”

“Uh yeah, sure.” Christina said and gave Claudia her number. Claudia then gave Christina her number and left the house soon after, both girls beaming at the thought of a night out.

Once Claudia had left, Christina cleaned her teeth and went to bed semi-sober for the first time since her break up. This was also the first time since the break up, that Christina actually felt like she had something to look forward to. That her life wasn’t completely pathetic.