Page 13 of Taylor

“Nope. I’m good.”

There was a pause. She was hoping he left.

“Should I stick around until you’re out?”

“No need. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay . . .”

“Kay, bye.”

“Bye, Alice. Have a nice holiday.”

“You too. Bye.”

His footsteps receded, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Retrieving the colorful dildo from in front of the door, she set it on the sink and got undressed to get in the shower.

As the water poured over her, tension she had been holding onto since the night before washed down the drain with it. There was a small part of her that questioned his motives. He had no reason to kiss her out of pity. Why was that her first thought?

Sadly, she knew why that was her first thought. She’d had two relationships, if you could even call them that.

One was her high-school crush, where she was hopelessly in love with him. Only it was terribly one sided. Unrequited love was a bitch. Unrequited love that led you on for years because of your family was torture. He never let her completely shut the door but would push her away and reel her in, all because of her dad.

But unrequited love that falls in love with your sister when you leave for college is utterly destroying. Although she was so upset, everyone just told her she was being too sensitive. They were never actually together, so she should’ve just been happy for her sister... So, that’s what she did, even though it ripped her fucking heart out.

While dealing with that, she fell for another guy. This one is even more of a head trip. Loving her one minute, shaming her the next. Saying I love you but then denying they were together in public.

Nope. She would not think about Steven. She was here to relax before reclaiming her life, not play all her greatest failures over in her head.

Pushing it all away, she finished in the shower and dried off, looking forward to a quiet cabin and an omelet.

She pulled on tie-dye sweatpants and a pink hoodie with a yellow smiley face on it and made her way down to the kitchen. She caught her reflection as she passed through the living room. Her hair still made her smile. When she dressed cheerfully on the outside, it helped to perk her up a bit on the inside.

When she came into the kitchen, she spotted a note on the fridge. It was written in neat, precise handwriting, which almost looked like it had been typed. She smiled at it, pulling it down from the magnet that it was clipped to.

Alice,

I’m gonna hit the road, but I just wanted to apologize about last night. It’s clear I misread the situation. You would think pretty girls wouldn’t make me as nervous as they still seem to. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and the new year brings you everything you could ever want.

xo: Taylor

P.S. Your hair is incredible.

Alice couldn’t stop rereadingthe letter. Maybe he actually was into her. That made her smile, but that smile was soon followed by regret. Why was she like this? Why couldn’t she just kiss a cute boy on the sofa and not freak out?

She folded the note, put it in her pocket, and turned to the fridge to get out the eggs. Nothing to do about it now besides make an omelet and get on with her original plan.

She slid her omelet onto a plate, got out the peppermint mocha creamer from the fridge, and made herself a cup of coffee. It was Christmas Eve. Time to start one of her all-time favorite Christmas traditions.

She sat the plate in front of her, got the remote out, and searched forAChristmas Carol. Her dad loved it, so every Christmas Eve, they’d watch it all day. She had seen every rendition of it, and she loved all of them, although she did have her favorites. The first one she chose was a classic, and she wasn’t even ashamed as she turned onMickey’s Christmas Carol.

After she finished her food, she got another cup of coffee and settled in on the couch. Pulling her purple fuzzy blanket around her, she shut out the world to Scrooge McDuck. Only to be jolted by a knock at the door. Clutching her heart, she glared at it. A familiar head peeked in the windows at the top of the door.

7

Alice

She got up and opened it to a large gust of wind blowing in some swirling snow and a handsome hockey player looking sheepish.

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