Holiday Hangover - Part 1

The holidays went exactly how I expected them to go.

My sister and I took turns going home at holidays. She'd done Thanksgiving, so I got Christmas. Lucky me. My parents had divorced eight years ago... And about ten years too late. No matter how I split the time between them, they both thought that the other had gotten the better end of the deal, and would make that very clear through thinly veiled passive-aggressive remarks (Mom) or long silences punctuated with guilt trips (Dad). This year's itinerary was Christmas Eve with my mom, Christmas Day with my dad, and home by noon on the 26th, not a moment too soon.

Rhi called me just after I finished unpacking. I was laying spread eagled on my bed, with the contents of my bag "organized" into various piles on the floor.

"Did you survive?" she asked, by way of greeting.

"Just barely," I groaned. "My dad guilt tripped me about not coming home enough roughly twenty times, and my mom got in about that many hostile comments."

"Oh, so they were both in good spirits then," Rhi said jokingly. She was one of the precious few who knew the deal with my parents. Before the age of Gavin, I'd spent all of my holidays 'off' with Rhi's family. And every time it was my turn to take the holiday bullet, Rhi called to check in and cheer me up as soon as she knew I was home.

"It was one of our best Christmases yet," I replied in the same vein. What can you do? Laugh or you'll cry, right?

"Well if you're not too bagged from all the holiday cheer, I was thinking we'd put on some thoroughly weather inappropriate outfits and go out tomorrow night."

"Dance our feet off and drink our faces off?" I suggested.

"Exaaaaactly."

"That sounds amazing," I said. "The usual plan?"

"Of course," Rhi said, in a mock serious tone. "After all, Christmas is a time for honouring traditions."

The usual plan involved leaving the boy (formerly boys) alone for the night, and getting ready together over wine at my place before walking down a few blocks to Third Base, a sports bar whose upper level became a dance floor after 10. They played a solid blend of top 40 along with 90's and early 00's hits. We hit it up a few times a year, and always once at the holidays. It was the perfect way to shed my holiday hangover and replace it with an actual one.

As we primped in front of my bedroom mirror, glasses of red wine on the dresser in front of us, Rhiannon mentioned in an overly-casual tone, "I called Rachel to invite her out tonight, but she said she's still busy with Derek's family stuff."

"Mm," I acknowledged her words before leaning in to apply a few more coats of mascara.

She heaved a sigh before continuing. "So I'm guessing you're not going to tell me what's going on between you two?"

I exhaled deeply and met her eyes in the mirror. "Honestly Rhi, it's pretty ugly and I don't want to drag you into it. Can we just leave it at that?"

She pulled a face. "I guess." She paused and then said tentatively, "I take it you're not coming to their place for New Year's Eve, then?"

"Nope," I said, trying to ignore the quick sting of hurt that I felt at her words. Rachel and Derek had started hosting New Year's parties a few years ago when they got their apartment. The timing coincided perfectly with all of us realizing what a ripoff it was to pay to get in anywhere. It had been a foregone conclusion that Gavin and I would attend every year, and it hadn't even occurred to me to make other plans. My mouth twisted wryly as I realized just how many more of these little unexpected stings I had left to face.

"Well, I'm not sure if I'm going to go either," Rhi said, her voice drifting off.

I turned to her, surprised. "Why not?"

Rhi looked down, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. "Well, because of the whole Eric thing."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up," I said, both of my hands up. "You're going to need to clarify that statement. Define 'the whole Eric thing'."

She leaned into the mirror, steadily avoiding my gaze. "Well, you know that he asked me out."

"Uh huh. And?" I prompted.

"Well I went... and we actually had a pretty good time."

"Okay... And?"

She blushed a little darker. "We've gone out a few times since then."

"What?!" I shoved her in the shoulder. "And you didn't tell me? How many times?"

She rolled her eyes. "I dunno, like four or five?"

My face scrunched up into a frown. "How come you never said anything?"

She shrugged sheepishly. "I was kind of embarrassed. I'd made such a big deal about how I wasn't into him and never would be, and I dunno... I guess I was worried about what you'd think."

I looked down, twirling the mascara wand in my hand. Rachel's angry face flashed before my eyes and her words echoed in my mind. Get off your high horse, Allie.

Was I really so judgmental that Rhi didn't feel like she could talk to me about Eric?

I schooled my face into a light-hearted expression. "Don't be silly, Rhi. Didn't I encourage you to give the poor bastard a shot in the first place?"

"Well yeah," she conceded. "But it was supposed to be like a test run for getting back into dating. It wasn't supposed to actually go anywhere."

"Says who?" I asked.

She shrugged one shoulder, but didn't say anything.

"If you're having a good time with him, why not pursue it?" I said. "If he makes you happy, that's awesome. If he fucks it up, I'll cut his balls off. It's as simple as that."

"Well, it's not like it's anything serious," she said dismissively.

"Oh, okay, so I shouldn't expect my wedding invite just yet?" I teased.

She rolled her eyes. "Like I said, it's just casual. That's why I'm thinking of bailing on the party. If we are both there together, it'll seem all... couple-y." She wrinkled her nose at that.

"God forbid," I said playfully.

"Okay, I'm more than ready to stop beating this dead horse," she said, shooting me an exasperated look. "Can we move on now?"

I laughed and we switched to lighter topics as we put the finishing touches on our looks.  An hour later, we were on our way, just buzzed enough to bear the freezing cold that penetrated our coats to the bare arms beneath.

We ditched our coats in a corner, grabbed drinks and scoped out the place. The dance floor was deserted, but it was still fairly early. Soon the place would fill up and more people would start to dance, or we'd drink enough not to care that we were the only ones out there.

The bar quickly began to fill up, and by the time we finished our second round, we were ready to dance. "Hey Ya" was playing, and I defy you to find a former 00's teen girl who can resist its siren call.

Right in the midst of shaking like a Polaroid picture, I felt a hand close around my waist. A familiar voice drawled in my ear, "Fancy meeting you here."

I spun and found myself looking into wicked blue eyes.

"Jay!" I cried excitedly, throwing my arms around his neck. He laughed and staggered back a step under my affectionate greeting.

"You are well on your way to becoming truly shitfaced, aren't you?" he commented with a grin.

"Just a healthy buzz," I replied, pulling back. I gestured to Rhiannon, who was observing our interaction with amusement. "We got a head start at my place."

Jay's eyes wandered over to Rhiannon and they lit up. "Who's your friend?" he asked.

"Her name is Rhiannon," I said.

"And is Rhiannon single, or is she 'very much unavailable' like you?"

I tilted my head to the side and pondered that question before answering, "Grey area."

He lifted an eyebrow and smirked. "I can work with that."

"Speaking of friends," I said, looking pointedly behind Jay. "Where are yours? Or are you here alone like a creepy predator?"

He pretended to punch me in the shoulder. "It's our buddy's birthday. We're all over at the bar."

His plural pronouns prompted me to follow his nod over my shoulder and my eyes locked with Reid's. He gave me a little wave and I had to fight the flutter in my stomach at the thought of what had happened the last time we'd seen each other. The memories of his heartfelt apology, his surprise at Rachel's reveal, and his sweet comfort hit me like a tidal wave. I felt an immediate impulse to run away and hide the vulnerability that I'd exposed. But Reid had found the balls to face up to me after an awkward situation, and I owed him the same. With a lightness that I didn't feel, I said, "We'll come have a drink with you guys."

I gestured to Rhiannon and the three of us headed over to where Reid was standing at the bar. He watched us approach, a small smile on his face. When I stepped up beside him, his smile grew and he simply said, "Hey."

*****

 Part 2 on Wednesday!