A Holiday Visit From An Old Friend
By CarrotCraverCutie

“Kureau,” I greeted happily as I clutched my Nokia cell phone closer to my flushed cheek. “It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow and I haven’t seen you forever!” I bit my lip, hoping she wouldn’t be busy again. “Can you come?”

I could nearly hear her silent laughter at my obvious anxiousness. “I don’t know,” I heard her light voice say. I frowned and she hastened to continue, “but let me check real quick.”

I could barely make out the muffled talking through her hand over the phone. After a moment, she uncovered the mouthpiece and put the phone back up to her ear. “Well?” I squeaked, taking her silence as a bad sign. “Can you?”

A pregnant pause, then I finally heard her light voice through the receiver. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

I squealed giddily as I jumped on my bed in pure exhilaration. “Omigosh, are you serious?!” I yelped as I jumped back down to the ground and landed with my back to the mattress of the bed. Then when I heard her reserved and quiet laughing, I asked, “You’re not alone, are you?”

“Nope, Charlie’s here with his friends and so is Kalie.” I nodded silently, now understanding her lack of enthusiasm.

She seemed like a naturally quiet person; that’s what people always saw her as. Not that I didn’t think that too at one point. But as she opened up to me more, she showed new specks of her personality that people would think radical for a girl like her. I eventually understood her to be someone extremely unique and special, and not quiet!

“I’m one of the only people you’re yourself with, I know that much,” I had once mentioned, “Why?” I remember that look she had used to respond to my somewhat awkward observation. She had stared at me for awhile with a blank expression, then her eyes had somewhat of a change of tone as her lips curled up into a bright grin.

“Because I trust you more than anyone else, Ari. Because you don’t care what people think of you, it’s hard not for me to be myself around you.”

We chattered away for an hour and a half until my mom called up the stairs signaling it was dinner time. “I’ll see tomorrow, Kureau!” I squealed into my cell phone.

She laughed lightly and bid me goodbye. I snapped the cover down, covering the picture of Kureau, Scarlet, Keara and me at our 8th grade graduation party. The smell of homemade lasagna wafted to my nose as I skipped down the carpeted staircase, “Mom,” I called as I turned the corner, entering the kitchen. “Is it going to snow tonight?”

She looked up from the sheet of paper in her hand and nodded to me. “That’s what the weather man said.”

I nodded, showing some sort of reaction as I picked up the large metal spoon. I pushed it into the side of the pan, serving myself a helping of pasta. “We’ll be going outside tomorrow too,” I thought silently to myself.

I woke up the next morning to screaming and loud footsteps pounding right outside my door on the squeaky wood floor. “Not now...” I mumbled incoherent ramblings, pulling my pillow over my head trying to block out my brother and sister who were obviously trying to get me out of bed, one way or the other. A few more minutes passed of screaming and feet pounding, while growls from my pillow continued until I finally raised my head and screamed at the door, “Alright, I’m up already!” I heard laughter from outside my door and I glared darkly at the white painted wood. I threw my pillow at it and heard squeals as my brother and sister scampered away from the door.

I smirked triumphantly, feeling I had somehow won this battle. I yawned tiredly, glancing at my charging cell phone, seeing the time. “8:27... Too early,” I grumbled. Reluctantly, I pulled myself up from bed, causing the covers to fall from my shoulders. I shivered, immediately wishing I had worn proper pajamas instead of a spaghetti tank top and softies.

After pulling my long, thick, auburn hair back into a lazy messy-bun, I slipped into my huge grey Creighton basketball sweatshirt and my fuzzy slippers and walked out of my room. I made my way down the steps, holding onto the railing which was adorned by draped garland with small lights in between. I yawned loudly, placing a hand over my open mouth. When I looked down, I saw a big, black fur ball sleeping in the middle of the landing. Grinning, I pulled my right foot out my slipper and poked my cat in the stomach with my bare toe.

He opened his golden yellow eyes, lazily staring at me and clearly expressing his passive attitude. “Mornin’, Panther,” I pet him behind his ears, his deep rumbling resounding as he stretched his claws, extending his hind up. I stepped over him and continued on my way to the kitchen. I sighed. It was going to be a long day till Kureau, the wolf, got here.

Boring. The only word I could come up with to describe the day before wolf came through the front door. It proved to be a challenge to sit still through the course of the morning. I had eaten breakfast with Em and Anthony while teasing each other to no end, eventually resulting in me stealing Anthony’s bacon and sausage and Em laughing so hard her face turned scarlet.

After putting the dirty dishes in the sink, I parked myself in front of my loyal companion — — my computer. I turned on America Online and went to my fan fiction account. Logging in, I squealed as I found that one of my all-time favorite stories had been updated. Clicking on the story title, ‘Black Wings,’ I realized that it was completed. I inwardly squealed with happiness. She finally found time to finish the gosh darn story.

I read silently, my eyes scanning over word after word at a quick pace. A feeling of sadness came over me as it dawned on me that the story was indeed over. Done. Complete. Finished. I typed a quick review complementing the author on her amazing work. I signed my pen-name at the bottom, Kattygirl32132 and nodded to myself, satisfied. I paused, then decided to type one of my stories. I double clicked on the small icon and popped in my flash drive to get to my story titled ‘Angels’.

When I felt that I had earned a break, I looked at the clock. “11:04,” I thought, cracking my stiff fingers. “Kureau will be here at one o’clock or so.” I turned back to the flat screen and saved the document.

-

“Ha! Beat that!” I hollered to the person next to me as I handed him the guitar. He shook his head at me, the tiniest hint of a smile on his face as he accepted the instrument. Okay, so maybe playing against your dad in Guitar Heroes II isn’t the best competition, but hey, I was in desperate need of entertainment and what better way than watching your dad fail miserably on ‘Level Easy’ while his head bobs to the beat? Hilarious stuff!!

I was so caught up in laughing at dad’s attempts to play ‘Shout at the Devil’, I didn’t notice a certain teenager knocking at the door and letting herself in, plopping her duffle bag on the floor next to the stairs. I also didn’t notice when she came up behind me with a mischievous grin in her amber eyes and a handful of the white fluffy stuff. Next thing I knew, I felt a freezing cold substance on the back of my neck and on the top of my head. I screeched in surprise and shock as I flew up from the couch and twirled around to meet the culprit: Wolf herself.

“Kureau!” I roared, not noticing the attention I had attracted. She remained silent, but I knew that glint in her eyes revealed her silent laughter. I glared at her before I jumped over the couch to chase her out of the room screaming in mock rage. She climbed the steps and I followed, seconds behind her. She dashed to the door of my room and attempted to slam the door in my face. I slipped in before she shoved it closed and tackled her to the ground. The now melted snow gave my bangs tiny droplets that fell onto my face and eyes. “Kureau, your hair looks so cute!! And you’ve grown a bit, too!!” I gave her a hug, and rambled on about how much I missed her, knowing she didn’t like being petted, cuddled, and especially, hugged.

Eventually, I released her from my clutches, and she smirked, “Cold greeting, eh?” I laughed, hugging her again. She looked around my room. “Hasn’t changed much since I was last here,” she commented, her sharp eyes scanning her surroundings. I shut the door and sat on my bed watching her go through all my new manga books and stories. I laughed when she began to read my story ‘Angels’ aloud with an extremely over-dramatic voice.

I thought about how weird and out of place it felt without her around me at school. I had really missed her a lot over these past few months, maybe more than I had expected...

-

The rush I felt when my thick purple mittens touched the fluffy white snow that had fallen the night before was absolutely exhilarating. I could feel my heart give a slight jump as I piled some up in the palm of my hand. I could feel my breath coming out faster than usual and I could see my own puff of breath rise into the air every time I exhaled. I felt a strong urge to shiver as the bitter air slipped under my scarf to the back of my neck. A tingly feeling ran down my spine and I tightened the scarf around my neck to save me from the bitter wind. I turned my head in search of my companion, and just in time, ducked to escape a well-aimed snowball hurling toward my head. I looked up to meet the teasing eyes of my best friend. I blinked several times before I smirked and bent down to roll up my own ball of packed snow.

“Haven’t you already gotten me wet from your wintery greeting????” I asked, chucking the snowball at her retreating figure. “Score!!” I cheered as I saw the snowball hit her smack in the back of her head. “Never turn your back on your opponent!!”

She turned to me and gave a huff, then dove behind a tree before another missile found its mark. She cautiously poked her head out, her golden eyes searching for a better base. She found one behind a large and messily made snowman that was leaning to the right toward a thick bush. I momentarily frowned at her success in finding a hiding spot. I looked around the snowy yard and found exactly the right spot from which to attack, my brother and sister’s half-built snow fort.

I stole a quick glance at the snowman and saw a flash of mahogany hair before it disappeared behind its shelter once again. Taking the quick advantage, I scrambled to get behind the ice wall. I blinked in surprise as I felt something hard under my knee and I looked down to see a whole pile of neatly packed snowballs. I grinned happily, silently thanking my siblings for making them earlier that morning. I peeked out of a small hole in the ice wall while slowly rolling and packing more white snow between my mittened hands. After moments of silently packing the snow, I had a huge pile of snowballs. My head shot up with a jolt as I heard a ‘thump’ next to me. “Not funny!!” I hollered, standing up armed with as many snowballs as I could hold and found myself face to face with wolf herself. I honestly don’t know whose snowball next hit its mark, but World War III was the only way to describe the battle.

-

“I’m flat-out exhausted!!” I whined, pulling the wool blanket above my shoulders and tight against my neck. I looked to wolf as she sipped on her hot chocolate, sighing in contentment. She smiled and asked, “What’s that on your right temple, Ari?” I rolled my eyes and stuck out my tongue at her. I took a big gulp from my Tweety-bird mug, enjoying the feeling of the warm substance running down my throat. “Whatever,” I grumbled, “it was a cheap-shot anyway.” I closed my bright eyes in an annoyed matter and huffed. “That tree jumped out at me from thin air. How was I suppose to see it?”

She laughed and I huffed loudly.

That evening, we played Dance, Dance, Revolution and Guitar Heroes II till after dinner. We had pizza and salad (which I had a second helping of). After Em and Anthony went to bed, we decided to watch ‘Naruto’ and ‘Inuyasha’ for the rest of the night.

The last time I glanced at the clock, it was 10:42 p.m. After my fourth root beer, I felt the giddiness of the high sugar content taking over. “Oi, wolf,” I said, rubbing my eyes and blinking, my contacts drying out in my eyes. “Do ya miss me?”

She stared at me for a moment, then nodded.

“Would you tell me if you found a new best friend?”

“Yes, I would,” she said, meeting my eyes. “Would you?”

“Yes, but it’s not going to happen.” We grinned at each other, both of us rolling over and getting prepared to go to sleep. I sat there for a moment before saying what I was feeling in a ‘best friendship’ sort of way, “Love ya, wolf.”

A light laugh, then “Love you too, clutsy bunny.”

And for once, I’d say I was too tired to retort back.

End