Christmas Eve

Tiffany Winters

It was my senior year of high school, and it was also Friday, the last day before winter break begun and the whole school was staring down the clock. There was 10 minutes before the bell rung for the end of the day. "Tiffany, you better come to my party!" said Kim, a friend I made four years prior.

"Who wouldn't?"

"(laughs) Yeah that's what you say every time. Like I get it, Will was a jerk but you've gotta start reviving your social life!" I was pretty popular last year and dated a senior till he left for college. We tried to keep a long distance relationship, but they never really work out do they? Turns out he's been cheating on me the whole time he was gone and didn't show one hint of remorse, but that's another story I'd rather not get into. I was heartbroken, Will was almost my everything. He lifted me from depression. A bit dramatic for a high schooler, but that's how it felt. And on top of that, my 12-year-old sister ran away and my mom lost her job as a doctor so the bills piled up like crazy. And of course, my social life died. I stopped going to parties, hanging out with friends, and overall just being me. Kim's Christmas party was right on Christmas Eve, so of course I wasn't going to go. I wanted to hang out with my mom and new dogs, the only family I had left. But it was my senior year, so I pondered about it and as I was about to make my decision...all the students jumped up and cheered super loudly. Winter break had begun.

A week passed and the party was just hours away now, and I regretted giving Kim my home phone number since as she called and my mom picked up and Kim told her all about the party. "You're going, Tiff!"

"Mom! I don't want to!" She then told me all about how I'm wasting my high school years and how I need to be happy.

"...Ugh Mom, I can't."

"Oh and what's your excuse this time, missy?"

"...I don't have anything to wear." And she grinned. So obviously, I went to the party. My mom dropped me off and when I showed up, everyone looked at me and one guy even said,"Hey, everyone! It's Tiffany! How long has it been, 10 years?" Everybody including me laughed but I still felt kinda uncomfortable so I just hung out in the corner. Eventually, I decided to explore the party a bit. I walked through the halls of Kim's huge house and noticed a guy glancing out through the window in a room. I went in and closed the door behind me and he said,"Leave it open, I'm gonna go anyway." I had forgotten all my people skills so I didn't know what to say.

"Oh I-- I"m s-- sor-- Uh...I--" The guy turned around and stared at me.

"Whoa you okay? You're not like having a seizure or anything?"

"(awkwardly laughs) No. Um...hi." He laughed and said hi back.

"So...me and Tiffany Winters in the same room talking. Never thought THAT would happen." We both laughed and looked at each other just smiling for like a minute before we started talking again. We chatted for like 3 hours and I felt like my problems didn't exist that night. I thought he was cute, and he seemed to enjoy me as well. I asked,"So what are you gonna major in, for college?"

"(sighs) I'm not going." I was confused and asked him why he wasn't gonna go. Believe it or not, it turns out that he was dying. I have no idea why I can't remember the illness but I paused for a moment and proceeded to walk out the room on the verge of tears. "Hey, where you going?" he asked. In tears, I told him that I can't have him in my life and ranted about my problems and then he held my arms to stop me and I felt calmer. He then leaned in and kissed me. It felt magical. After a bit, I didn't wanna stay at the party and he was leaving anyway so we just went for a drive. After about a half hour of driving and chatting and laughing, he said,"Well it's getting late so we should probably go back. But before we do, it's Drew." I then realized that this whole time, I didn't ask for his name. I smiled and he smiled back and I felt even more happy but then since the universe is unfair, all the fun went away. He had stopped in the middle of an intersection to tell me his name since there were no cars out anyway but then a car ran right into us. I later found out that the driver was on the run from some cops. My whole world had stopped. I somehow was fine, but then I saw Drew's head on the steering wheel.

Why did it have to be Drew?