Update and a Christmas Short Story

I don't have any idea where 2018 went.  It simultaneously felt like it went by so fast, but also like it dragged on and on for a while.  But, it's almost over already, and I find that with all my writing projects (and hopefully real employment again) that I'm really, really busy these days.  Not too busy to write here on my blog, but maybe not as often. 

So, at least for a while, I'm going from 2 posts a week down to 1.  I'm not sure what day I'll make my regular posting day yet, but it will probably be either Monday or Thursday.  I'm leaning towards Thursday, but we'll see!  

To make up for me not posting as often, I thought I'd share a story I wrote a few Christmases ago.  And, if I find more old Christmas stories, I'll share them here not as part of a normal post (but as like a fun bonus post).  Alright, so without further ado, here's a story called Bro Code that I wrote a few years ago.  

  

Bro Code

Love.  At this point, I wasn’t even sure it existed, at least, not for me.  I had spent my entire high school career in a hopeless romantic state, never actually falling in love.  Four years of watching other people date, have their first kiss, (among other firsts, I might add) and go to dances together went by while I sat on the sidelines and went to dances with friends, pretending it was cool to go stag. 

Honestly, being 18 and a freshman in college without having experienced things like a first kiss was getting to be a little embarrassing.  Every time I looked on Facebook, someone else I went to high school with was pregnant or engaged.  True, I didn’t have any desire to be on Teen Mom 7, but I still wouldn’t mind having someone to kiss and spend the holidays with.

Instead, I would be where I usually am during Christmas: alone, curled up on the couch, drinking apple cider, and watching sappy movies.  It had become a pathetic Christmas tradition – one I would love to break from. 

Maybe love just wasn’t in the cards for me.  It sounded depressing, I knew, but sealing off my heart had to be less painful than hopelessly waiting around for Prince Charming to come around.  Obviously, he had some other damsel in distress to save.    

So, there I sat, alone on my couch, watching A Walk to Remember for the fifteenth time on Christmas Eve.  I was home for the holidays, but it appeared the rest of my family would rather be somewhere else.  My parents were at a work party and my little brother was out playing video games with friends – no doubt having a much better time than I was.  My older brother also abandoned me for his friends. 

He and I had always been rather close, but he had wanted to hang out around his old high school friends instead of his baby sister.  I couldn’t say I blamed him.  If my friends weren’t all spending Christmas Eve with their significant others and their families, I probably would've been hanging out with them too.

A commercial break interrupted Mandy Moore and Shane West’s romance, so I checked my phone, knowing nothing new would be lurking there.  I sighed as it was confirmed that I had zero texts and zero missed calls. 

God, I was pathetic. 

The candle on the table next to me flickered before going out.  Even the candle didn’t want to stay with me tonight. 

Just as the commercials ended, the back door loudly flew open, obnoxious laughter following suit.  I couldn’t see the back door from the living room, but I recognized my older brother Eric’s voice along with some of his friends’ voices. 

They all stampeded into the living room, disrupting one of the saddest scenes in the movie, just as a tear started to roll down my cheek.  Of course, they all came in the room at that second and instantly noticed it. 

“Jeez, Cassie, you really missed us, huh?” Eric’s friend Greg sarcastically asked, plopping down next to me on the couch. 

I smirked over at him, wiping the tear with my sweatshirt sleeve.  “Not even in your dreams, Greg.”  I had never liked Greg, but he loved to make me miserable.  He was the most irritating of Eric’s friends, and I still had no idea what Eric saw in him. 

He shrugged his shoulders, a smile still lingering on his face. 

“Greg, that’s my sister.  Quit creeping on her,” Eric said from the doorway. 

I smiled over at my brother and mouthed ‘thank you’ while noticing the last of Eric’s friends entering the room.  I stifled a gasp as my crush all through high school – not to mention Eric’s best friend – followed into the room. 

“That is why you’re still single, Greg,” Nick chastised, his blue eyes shining brighter than I had remembered.  “You creep girls out.”  He smiled over at me warmly, bringing up the long forgotten one-sided feelings. 

Greg smirked next to me, slowly putting his arm around my shoulder – much to my dismay.  “And when was the last time you had a girlfriend, Nick?” he sarcastically asked.  “Right, tenth grade.”

I peeled Greg’s arm off of me and looked at it disdainfully.  Nick’s eyes wandered over to Greg’s abandoned arm.  He glared at it for half of a second before sneering at Greg.  “Quality, not quantity, Greg.  Cassie is a quality girl.  You don’t stand a chance with any quality girl, let alone Cassie.”

I smiled over at Nick thankfully.  Eric noticed and immediately looked back and forth from Nick to me, me to Nick.  “It doesn’t matter anyway.  Cassie’s my sister and according to the bro code, she’s off limits,” Eric stated.  “To all of my bros,” he continued, surveying the room. 

Thanks for that, bro, I thought to myself.

I had never told Eric about my crush on Nick.  We were close, but not that close.  Plus, Nick was his best friend.  It would’ve just made things extremely awkward.  I really thought that I would’ve been over this stupid crush by now.  I was a college girl now.  College girls didn’t pine for their brother’s best friend. 

At least, I didn’t think they did. 

“Thanks for the barbaric protection there, big brother,” I replied, sounding more irritated than I had meant to.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m trying to see Landon come back home to see Jamie’s dad,” I continued, peering around the group to see the very end of the movie. 

They all went silent, turning toward the T.V.  The end credits began to roll with Mandy Moore’s voice breaking my heart like it did every time I watched the movie. 

“This isn’t even a Christmas movie,” Greg complained, jumping off the couch. 

I grabbed the remote and turned the T.V. off.  “It’s my Christmas tradition to watch it.”

“But it’s not a Christmas movie,” he repeated. 

Shaking my head, I wondered how Eric was still friends with this Neanderthal.  I stood up, fixing my oversized hoodie and started towards the stairs. 

“Aww, come on, Cassie.  Don’t go,” Greg whined. 

Eric glared at Greg, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.  “What part of the bro code do you not understand?”

Greg raised his hands in surrender, not wanting to fight with my brother. 

I caught Nick’s gaze and I smiled just before going upstairs to my room. 

I hoped breaking the bro code wouldn’t break my brother’s heart.