Chapter 17

Ash grumbled in annoyance as he brushed past the throng of holiday shoppers loitering in front of the department store doors. As he rounded the shoe section the man walking in front of him whirled around suddenly and rammed Ash in the face with his elbow; he was too busy talking into the headset of his phone to notice and walked away. Ash mumbled, rubbed his bruised arm, continued to negotiate his way though the crowded store. He saw Chris lingering near the lingerie section and shook his head.

“I always knew you liked to wear thongs,” he said.

“Your mom wears thongs.”

Ash rolled his eyes and leaned against a clothes rack. “Whatever. I’m done shopping. Whatcha’ over here for?”

“I’m trying to find a present.”

“For Braelyn? You’re going to give her underwear? She’ll hate you forever.”

“If you hadn’t noticed the underwear’s over there.” Chris pointed to the section across the aisle that indeed had underwear in it and returned his gaze to the Sesame Street pajamas that he had been looking at. “I think she’ll like these.”

“Pjs!? That’s just as worse. You’re supposed to give her perfume and jewelry.”

“I wouldn’t buy her jewelry; I don’t have that much money. And I’m afraid of Bath and Body Works.”

“Why?” Ash held up a bag. “I went in there. They have some good stuff. Braelyn’s favorite scent is Japanese Cherry Blossom.”

“See? You already got her something smelly.” He pulled a boxer set off the rack and examined the price tag. “What’s wrong with pjs? They have Snuffleupagus and Oscar the Grouch on them.”

Ash defended his gift. “Girls never get tired of smelly stuff. Pjs are the gayest gift ever.”

“Your mom gave you pajamas last year.”

“They’re comfortable! Besides that’s a mom gift not an ‘I’m in love with you please marry me’ gift.”

“Shut up. I’m getting them.” Chris selected a pair and headed for the nearest cash register.

--

Braelyn shifted on the jungle gym, lying on top of it upside down. Austin was sitting next to her while Indigo sat at the bottom reading a book.

Austin rubbed his gloved hands and tried to get his weight off the cold metal webbing of the jungle gym. “What are you doing Christmas Eve and over New Year’s?”

Braelyn stared up at the sky. “Hmm. Getting ready for the party and then nothing. Why?”

“I’m taking you out on Christmas Eve, even if I have to drag you. Also, my cousin invited me to New York; he said I could bring a friend.”

“Sure, I’ll go but I don’t know if my mom will let me.”

“Ask her tonight. I need to know by Friday.”

“Okay. I’m hungry. Let’s go.” Braelyn flipped over and through the metal, landing softly on her feet. Austin tried the same feat and almost broke his neck; he settled on climbing down.

Indigo closed her book. “It is getting a little cold out here.”

Austin fished his keys out of his pocket, desperately wishing for a mug of hot chocolate. “Where should we go?”

“Jose’s?” Braelyn asked and Indigo nodded in agreement. Jose’s is a small Mexican restaurant located in a shopping strip near the park there were in. Yeah, that’s right. I need a navigation system.

“Yeah, nachos!” Austin grinned and started his car.

They piled into the car and zipped off to the restaurant. Excuse my choice of verbs, I’ve been surrounded by people who say scamper away and zoom, zoom, zoom. The hostess found them a booth in a far corner and conviently placed underneath an air vent. As they followed her to their table, Braelyn saw Meadow and Hunter sitting at a booth next to theirs. She frowned and didn’t acknowledge her friend as they walked past.

Braelyn had excused herself to the restroom and was washing her hands when Meadow decided to confront her. Meadow slammed through the door and glanced underneath all the stalls before she spoke.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Braelyn threw her paper towel in the trashcan. “Well, I was washing my hands and now I’m going to go eat my tacos.”

“Are you dating Austin?”

“What of it?”

“And just what are you planning? I know you don’t like him so why are you dating?”

“Well…I—”

Meadow interrupted her. “He really likes you; he’s going to be hurt when you break up with him and he finds out that you never liked him.”

“I’m not—”

Again, Meadow didn’t let her respond. “I bet you didn’t think about how this is going to end, did you?”

“Well…I—”

“Typical Braelyn. Never thinking things through.”

Frustrated, Braelyn threw up her hands in defeat. “What do you care? Why am I even talking to you?”

She thought for a second and spoke again. “If you want to come to the party come, but don’t talk to me.”

“Fine. Be that way.”

“I will.”

“You’re such a child.” Meadow shook her head and left.

After the dropped Indigo off, Austin walked Braelyn to her front door. He stopped on the steps and looked at her before glancing away. Braelyn waited for him to speak. He dragged his foot across the mat in front of the door, moving in and out of place. Finally, he took a breath and spoke.

“I think you and Meadow should start talking again.”

“Why?”

“I liked the way you were when you were with her. You’re different now.”

“I’m still the same.”

“No.” He smushed her cheeks together with his gloved hands and smiled. “You don’t smile with the corners of your mouth anymore.”

She crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed and made a silly face of his own. He grew quiet and smiled into her eyes. Braelyn, feeling uncomfortable, tried to pull away but he still had his hands framing her face. He slowly moved closer to her, his gaze falling to her lips; Braelyn flinched and his dropped his hands to his sides.

Austin sighed and turned to walk away. “Goodnight Braelyn.”

Braelyn frowned and called out, “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

He didn’t turn around and put his arm up in a slight wave. “Yeah.”

That night Braelyn stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, holding a forgotten toothbrush in her hands. “Hey mirror me, what the hell am I doing?”

She stared at her reflection and grimaced. “Great…now I’m talking to myself in the mirror.”

She frowned in thought, propping her toothbrush underneath her chin. “Well, I suppose I’m actually thinking out loud to myself but, then again, that’s basically the same thing as talking to yourself, just in a slightly less crazy way.”

She yelled and started to jump around the bathroom. “Now I’m talking to myself while talking to myself in the mirror.”

Mrs. Clement heard shouting in the bathroom on her way to her room and pressed her ear against the door. When she heard the sink turn on, she walked to her bedroom and plopped down on her bed, staring blankly at the wall. Mr. Clement finished buttoning his pajamas and kissed her on the forehead.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

“I think our daughter is insane.”

He shrugged and settled himself under the sheets. “Honey, she’s a teenager.”

“I wonder if I should make her a straightjacket for Christmas?”

Puzzled, she turned off the lights and went to sleep, wondering at the sanity of her only daughter. Meanwhile, Braelyn berated herself for talking to herself to her reflection out loud to herself. Needless to say, that night several Clement minds were in mental turmoil.

--

Braelyn glanced at a ten foot tall artificial tree. “Hey Mom, can we get this tree?”

Mrs. Clement struggled to push her cart through the throng of holiday shoppers and glanced at the offending plastic plant. “What? No. we’re going to buy a tree tomorrow. Together. It’s a family tradition Braelyn; you know that.”

“But I want this party to have the best decorations in the world.” Braelyn smiled at Indigo’s mother. “Isn’t this tree lovely Mrs. Montoya?”

She glanced up from her shopping cart. “It is very nice.”

Mrs. Clement scowled. “No means no, Braelyn.”

Braelyn moved to a bin of icicle lights. “Well…can I get these lights?”

“No.”

“You didn’t even look at them!”

Mrs. Clement refrained from making a scene in public and turned to Mrs. Montoya. “Did you celebrate Christmas in Japan?”

“Yeah, but we did not go to an extreme like this. It was mostly a time to spend with your boyfriend or girlfriend, friends and family and have fun. We had a Christmas tree once though.”

Braelyn grabbed Indigo’s arm and dragged her back to the ginormous tree. She showed her friend the price tag and raised her eyebrows in suggestion.

“My mom doesn’t know but I have about two hundred dollars with me. I could buy this tree and sneak it home.”

“Wouldn’t your mom notice a giant tree in the car?”

“I can just ask Austin to pick it up in his dad’s truck.”

“I don’t think this would work.”

“But look: it’s fake so it won’t go bad and I don’t have to water it, it comes lighted so I don’t have to worry about that, and look how big it is. It’s as sturdy as a rock.”

Braelyn hit the tree as she said this. It toppled and wobbled, hitting the tree next to it. That tree teetered and tottered and hit another tree. The girls watched the horrible Christmas domino effect, frozen in place. The last tree fell over and hit an electric yard Santa. The Santa fell over and bumped into a reindeer. Poor Rudolph slid across the floor and hit an old woman in an electric scooter. She lost control and crashed into the old man walking at her side. Braelyn had a look of amused horror on her face while Indigo looked scandalized. The elderly couple struggled to right themselves while several store sales associates ran over to the site. Braelyn slowly turned around and began to tip-toe away, dragging Indigo with her. They rounded the next aisle and began to run.

Indigo glanced behind them to look at the destruction one more time. “That grandma just got ran over by a reindeer.”

Braelyn laughed. “You’re so lucky that you don’t understand the pun in that.”

Indigo glanced at her in question but Braelyn shook her head and said, “I’ll tell you later.”

Mrs. Clement and Mrs. Montoya arrived at the scene right after their daughters had left. Mrs. Montoya ran to help the couple while Mrs. Clement tried to help right the fallen green soldiers of evergreen. She shook her head at the mess.

“Really. It’s three days before Christmas and people don’t have the good sense to act properly. I bet some crazy teenagers did this.”

--

So, I’ve been taking this creative writing class at the community center, and it’s really helped my narration skills, plus it’s free. Yay! Anyway, I’ll go back to the story. ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, every creature was stirring, even the mouse named Dave who treated the dust bunnies as his slaves. Ma was in her apron and Dad was running laps while the party guests settled down for a nice winter nap.

Trevor, a geeky classmate of Jace’s, glanced around the room and groaned, slumping farther down on the couch. “This party sucks. I could be at the arcade DDRing.”

Braelyn frowned at the dead atmosphere of the party and confronted her mother in the kitchen. “Hey, Mom, did you spike the punch? I told you to spike the punch.”

Mrs. Clement put a sheet of cookies in the oven and glared at her daughter. “Braelyn…”

She took the hint and wandered outside to sit on the porch.

Jace came down the stairs and entered the living room, his arms filled with different sized boxes. “I have Candyland, Operation, Twister, Clue, and Monopoly. Anyone want to play?”

Several people groaned but they still formed small groups around the Clue and Monopoly games. When I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen, participated, or heard of a completed a game of Monopoly. Clue on the other hand, is entirely different. I’m a Clue Nazi.

A girl with tortoise shell glasses sighed in lament. “This is sad. High schoolers playing board games at a party.” Yes, that is a Tom Swift. Don't like it? Too bad! Muahaha!

Chance flipped through the television channels, attempting to entertain the younger guests. “Oh, yeah, A Christmas Story is on. You can’t have Christmas without A Christmas Story or the Grinch.” He glanced at Indigo and patted the open spot next to him, but she was paying too much attention to the television to notice.

Outside, Braelyn felt someone staring at her and turned to find Chris leaning against the door. “What?”

He pointed up at the mistletoe hanging from the lattice above their heads. “What would you do if I kissed you?”

“I would dump my drink on your head, stomp on your foot, and go back inside.”

He grinned, his teeth flashing in the dark. He has had, apparently, too many glasses of egg nog. “I thought so, but I’m going to anyway.”

Laughing, he made a lunge for her but she quickly sidestepped him, almost sending him over the side of the porch.

She smirked at him. “Shouldn’t you be trying to kiss Sara or, better yet, Meadow?”

Chris leaned against the railing. “I don’t care about them.”

He leaned forward and spoke just as the volume inside rose.

“What?”

He yelled, “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

She shrugged. “Probably comparing this year’s gift income with last year’s.”

“Which means that you won’t be doing anything. Meet me in the park at midnight.”

“Why? If this is another attempt to—”

He knew what she was trying to say before she said it. “It isn’t. I have something I want to give you.”

“Why can’t you give it to me now?”

“Because…I can only give it in the park.”

She glared at him and backed up toward the house. “You’re…oh god; you’re going to rape me in the park aren’t you? Oh my god. You sick, perverted rapist.”

“How do you think up these things? I’m not going to rape you, stupid.”

Meadow opened the door and peered out at them. “Braelyn? Your mom wants you and Austin is looking for you.”

Braelyn glared at the pair of them and went back inside. Meadow crossed her arms in the chill night air and approached Chris.

“You’re still trying? She’s never going to take you seriously, you know. And you’re just going to drive her away.”

He frowned at her. “What the hell is this?”

“I’m telling you to tone it down.”

“Why? So you can make your move? I know what your fight was about.”

“Even if we’re fighting she’s still my best friend. And I was more upset with the fact that she didn’t tell me more than that you liked her.”

“So what’s your point?”

“I’m trying to tell you that you don’t have a chance the way things are now. She sees you as a brother. And there’s Austin. Even if she’s dating him for the wrong reasons, she’ll never betray him. How are you going to get rid of him?”

“I’ll take my chances.”

“I thought you would.” She moved to go back inside but his hand on her arm stopped her.

“Hey, Meadow?”

She turned her face away from him. “What?”

“No—nothing.”

He heard the door shut and sighed. The party raged on inside and he ignored it all, watching his breath cloud in the air and fade into nothing.

The Christmas Eve extravaganza reached its climax around midnight when a burly boy with green and red striped hair burst his way into the house, carrying a small duffel bag and several cases of soda.

Several people immediately surrounded this nameless boy, offering food and welcomes. Calls of “Where’ve you been?” and “What the hell took you so long?” filled the room.

He held up the duffel bag. “Look I brought my DDR.”

Trevor pumped his fist in the air. “Yes!”

Austin jumped onto the game mat like a kid with epilepsy. “This Christmas is going to be awesome!”