XVI | Christmas Party

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Hey guys this is the end of this story - I hope this brings some closure. Thank you all for reading it and enjoying it 😊

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"Did you invite Kimberley over?"

"Yes Sarah I did."

"I don't want her to miss the party."

"Sarah she won't."

"It's the best party of the year."

"Yes Sarah I know -"

"But does she know?"

Looking up from my phone, I watch Sarah pull her cherry red, fleece sweater over her blonde strands before her pale blue eyes look at me. They are filled with all the intention in the world to make sure that tonight is better than it was last year.

Last year's Christmas party was amazing initially but it is everything after that, in which I can't remember, that wasn't so bright.

Sarah's parties are pretty wild considering she is a very extraordinary person but this year I want to remember most of it.

Here's to that.

"Here. I brought you an ugly Christmas sweater too," Sarah hands me a cotton black pullover which has a white cartoon sheep on it and reads, "Fleece Navidad". It could quite possibly be the corniest thing I have ever seen. "Put on the damn sweater." Groaning, I pull it over my head much to Sarah's satisfaction.

"That girl. She makes you really happy. She better be coming," Sarah nearly shouts before she pinches my nose together. She soon skips away leaving me outside to ponder for just a few seconds.

Last year, I didn't wear one and she was extremely upset because as she says I "ruined all the pics".

So, they'll be fine this year.

Leaning against the door frame outside, I monitor everyone as they walk in. A lot of them come into my office for counseling and that leaves me to greet a lot of them. As everyone walks by, I begin to realize that Sarah has quite possibly invited everyone from campus to this party - teachers included. I swear I saw my biology teacher from my first year. He's pretty young with a remarkable sense of knowledge for the subject but he's also a little loose.

Nothing surprises me anymore.

After a few minutes of scanning nameless faces, I just stare down at my phone and say hello to everyone that way.

"May you look up?"

It isn't hard to recognize the warm voice that delighted my ears. It grabs my attention fully, pulling away from the daily BuzzFeed quiz and I direct all my attention to Kimberley who fliesout of the crowd of people to stand next to me.

"What are you doing out here? You aren't freezing?" Kimberley mutters before her hands press against my cheeks. "You feel pretty cold to me."

"I'm fine, I think."

"Come on inside. Help me experience a party thrown by Sarah."

"I guarantee you won't remember any of it."

"That wild? That's intriguing."

Kimberley, without warning, slides her hand into mine and pulls me into my house, not even acknowledging all of the strangers that's beginning to occupy almost every corner of this place. She pulls me to the kitchen where she turns around to ask me what I would like to drink.

"Beer?" Kimberley holds up a glass, navy blue bottle and I shrug before I take it.

I try not to drink a lot at parties because I'm not even twenty one like Sarah, but I also forget that philosophy and I drink anyway.

"What are we going to do?" Kimberley asks as the noise volume begins to increase in here. It's hard to not to study all of the bodies suddenly begin to move to the rhythm to the music. Soon when they're filled with alcohol, they will be the most off beat dancers of the night.

"I'm not sure what you want to do," I say before I look at Kimberley digging her slender fingers around a cooler for the right kind of drink.

It was the worse time possible to reflect on the year that has passed before my eyes and I constantly believe that I don't think it would've ended like this. Here Christmas was a few days away and instead of being cuddled with Elisha I would probably be attached to her.

And I'm not upset at all at that fact. I'm just surprised really.

But this girl was more special to me than Eli was when we first started to date. It's something I didn't think I would ever admit but it's the truth.

Maybe she is the one.

For the rest of the night, Kimberley gets into everything. And I mean every single thing. She dances, she screams at the top of her lungs. Kimberley enjoys herself all with me by her side because she won't let my hand go. Even if wiggle my fingers then she would immediately look at me to see if I was all right.

And she wasn't going to let me go anytime soon.

"I'm hungry," Kimberley says lowly for some reason. And even odder, I can hear her words despite the music being deafening.

I pull her outside, where the only noise is a single car driving by.

"What do you want to eat?"

"I don't know."

She looks a tad bit spaced out. Stepping out of the loud party into a quiet environment really has her on edge. That mixed with the three beers that she scarfed down, has really got her a little off.

"Are you all right?" I ask her as she begins to pull on the lobe of her left ear. She looks like a small lost child and it's so off. It takes her a full minute before she answers and I can see that she's adjusted to the lack of noise a little better.

"I'm fine. At least I think I am," Kimberley turns to smile at me and it's one that I haven't seen before. It's influenced by alcohol no doubt, with her cheeks rising as high as they can and her lips letting just a little to show her teeth, but it is so cute.

"Let's go to the diner. Are you up for a walk?"

"Yeah I am. Can we walk slow?"

"Why do you want to walk slow?"

"So I can enjoy some time with you."

Kimberley grabs onto my arm, laying her head on my shoulder softly before she begins to talk about everything that crosses her mind.

And by everything,

I mean myself.

"Cheryl, I mean Chezzie, I am not sure what I would do if I didn't meet you. Life was okay but with you I'm sure it's safe to say it's spectacular. And I know it's all different for you, maybe feeling a lot of guilt for calling things off with your boyfriend to I guess get with me but I'm assuring you that you didn't make the wrong decision."

"I know I didn't make the wrong decision," I smile at her, staring at her golden brown strands pressed against my shoulder. Even though I know she can't see it, I can hear how happy she is in her voice.

"Besides, I make the best grilled cheese you've ever had."

"That's good to know? I think."

The two of us begin giggling as I make sure that we both are alert when we cross the street before we fall back into our former state.

"Honestly, you have become the world to me. I haven't thought about anyone but you since we've met and it increases everyday. I just love that you allowed me in your life -"

"I'm happy I did too. You're pretty good for me. You don't drain me mentally," I say to her. It wasn't supposed to sound like that but I guess it's already out there.

"That wouldn't be the goal. I would hate to see you upset and even more because of my doing."

We walk into the diner that will be full in a few hours because everyone from that party will be in here. But we get the best seats in the house. The biggest burgundy booth, where Kimberley slides all the way near me and I rest my head on her shoulder this time.

"Let's just get some ice cream," Kimberley says as I can feel her shrug.

"Is that a good idea?"

"Is anything ever a good idea?"

"Making you an important person in my life was a good idea," I say before I slide my head onto her lap and stretch my legs on the rest of the cushioned seat.

Kimberley puts my comment on hold for a second as she goes ahead and orders that ice cream. Two sundaes I'm sure neither of us are going to finish. I am also quite aware that I'm going to be sick off of my ass tomorrow.

Or even tonight.

"You're right," Kimberley looks down before I feel her fingers gently pull on my bottom lip. "But also you sure have a lot of time to think a lot and that reflects how you act. You've had a lot of time to think about everything in your life, probably coming up with scenarios on how events should proceed and becoming incredibly shocked when they don't go as they're planned."

"Am I that obvious?" I sit up in her face. It wasn't intentional to be that close to her but her words came to life as she took the opportunity to press her lips against mine.

I don't think I even had time to think about this moment and I surely wasn't expecting it now.

It wasn't anything fancy, but it was a quick peck that sent chills down my spine. Her soft lips finally meeting mine in a gentle manner made it incredibly hard for me to pull away.

"See you didn't expect that," Kimberley says as I begin to rub my lips together.

"I surely wasn't."

"Just relax now. This is only the beginning of many things you won't expect from me. Like someone who looks forward to making you happy as much as possible. Have you seen your smile or even heard your laugh? They're both beautiful."

"Is this the alcohol talking?" I ask before she begins to giggle. "It's very flattering."

"No."

Kimberley smiles after that statement before she begins to speak again.

"Okay maybe just ten percent of that was alcohol."

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