“Nickolas, you’re home!” Jane exclaimed, snapping him out of his thought. His plan was starting to work already. “It’s so good to see you!”
He smiled warmly as she pulled him into a tight hug. “Hey, Mom! How are you?”
“I’m great, darling. We’re so glad you’re home,” she replied. After he set his suitcase down, she pushed him into the living room to see his brother and sisters and father.
“Hey, Nick!” BJ, Angel, and Leslie said exactly together.
“You girls spend too much time around each other. You’re too much alike,” he laughed, hugging them all. Then he turned to Aaron. “Hey, Air-boy, what’s going on?”
“Nothing much. I missed you, big brother,” Aaron stated.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hello, son. It’s good to have you home,” Bob answered.
Nick looked around the room. The Carter home atmosphere, as usual, was warm and cozy, especially with the Christmas decorations, which had been put up only a few days ago, right after Thanksgiving. The tree was up and decorated, and the stockings were hung over the fireplace. His that he had gotten from his aunt when he was three was hanging there, too, as it did every year. A few holiday music boxes sat on the table, and the holiday pillows were out, too. “The house looks really nice, Mom. The decorations are pretty,” he said sincerely.
“Thank you, Nickolas. Why don’t you go upstairs and rest for a while? You look tired. You must have had a long plane ride,” she answered.
“Actually, a bed doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe I’ll do that.” He smiled and walked out of the room. Then he picked up his suitcase and headed up the stairs.
That was when he saw her. She was coming out of the guest bedroom. He stopped dead in his tracks while any hopes of a peaceful, relaxing holiday break immediately went out the window. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“Your parents invited me for Christmas, so I’ll be here for a while,” Jessica replied. “And what a nice greeting, by the way. I’m so happy to see you, too, Nick.”
“This wasn’t quite what I had in mind. This was supposed to be a relaxing month off!”
“Thanks, like I said, glad to see you, too,” she muttered, heading down the stairs.
Jessica was the nineteen-year-old only daughter of Sam, a good friend of Bob’s who had passed away a few years earlier. Because her mother had died when she was really young, she was now living with her aunt, but she spent more time at the Carters’ house than anywhere else. She and Nick had never really gotten along, but that wasn’t even the reason why he was upset. This was going to make him even more crazy. She and Kristen looked so much alike, it was scary. They both had somewhat small bodies, the curly black hair, the tan skin, and the bright blue eyes. They even had the same facial structure of high cheekbones, a perfect, small nose, and pouty pink lips. How was he going to stop thinking about her if what could have easily been her long lost twin sister was right in front of him all the time?
He fell down on his bed and let out a groan. This was going to be a hell of a Christmas break.
“NICKOLAS, ARE YOU ALMOST FINISHED IN THERE?” Jessica shouted angrily through the bathroom door. “I HAVE TO DO MY HAIR! GET MOVING!”
Groaning, he finally unlocked the door and let her in. Then he went back to trying to spike his hair in the mirror. “What, do you have a date tonight or something? And what does it matter anyways? You’re never gonna get your hair to look good.”
“You’re such an asshole. I’m so glad I don’t have to live with you all the time because it’d probably kill me,” she muttered. “And for your information, yes, I do have a date tonight, with a guy that I really like, so if you say one word to him, Carter, ONE WORD, you’re dead.”
He couldn’t help but snicker. “What would you do to me? Look at you! You’re puny!”
“You’ve never seen me when I’m mad,” she replied seriously.
That made him laugh harder. “Whatever.”
“Just don’t talk to him.”
“What’s his name?”
“Andy. Now will you please get out of the bathroom so I can do my hair in peace?”
“God, someone has PMS today,” he grumbled as he slipped out. “And I’m supposedly an asshole?”
“Nick, will you leave her alone?” Jane scolded when he got down to the kitchen.
“Sorry, Mom. You know she and I don’t get along,” he whined. “Why’d you have to invite her for Christmas?”
“Because she’s a close friend of the family’s and she doesn’t really have much of a family to celebrate with. Her aunt never does much for Christmas. Why can’t you just try to like her?”
“She looks way too much like Kristen. Do you know how annoying that is when you’re trying to not think about someone to live with someone who looks exactly like them?”
“I know, but remember, honey, she’s not Kristen. She’s Jessie,” Jane reminded him.
“That makes things worse,” he snorted.
“Nickolas, that’s enough. Drop it.”
“Fine.”
His mother went upstairs, and then Jessica came down. He couldn’t help but notice how pretty she looked, but managed to hide it. She was dressed to kill in a pair of black pants and a sparkly red sweater with chunky black boots to go with it. Her curly black hair was pulled into a messy twist with a bunch of tendrils falling out. As usual, her makeup was perfect. Anyone who looked at her could tell she was excited by the bounce in her walk, the subtle smile on her face, and the sparkle in her eyes. Still, he couldn’t show his approval with the way she looked. He simply shifted his eyes to the newspaper on the table and started reading.
“I’m leaving,” she stated as the doorbell rang. “If anyone asks where I am, Andy and I are going out to dinner and then to see a movie. I don’t know any more details.”
“Fine, have fun.”
“Wow, that was the first nice thing you’ve said to me since you got here yesterday,” she said.
“Well, appreciate it now because it ain’t gonna happen again.”
“Why do you hate me? I didn’t even do anything to you.”
“Go. Your boyfriend’s waiting.”
“He’s not my – “ she stopped mid-sentence and shook her head. She had a date to go on, and she wasn’t gonna miss that to argue with Nick.
Even though she looked so much like Kristen, Nick couldn’t help but start to feel bad for being such a jerk to Jessica. She was a bit irritating at times, like when she wanted to get in the bathroom, but she had never really done anything major to him. That night, before he settled into his king-sized bed, he made a resolution to start being nice to her, and even to apologize for being so mean in the first place.
At three o’clock that morning, he was suddenly snapped awake by someone who was walking in the hall outside his room. After trying to get back to sleep for almost a half an hour, he finally gave up and went downstairs to find Jessica standing in the kitchen. She was boiling water for tea. “Want a cup?” she asked.
“No, thanks, I’m not thirsty. I just couldn’t sleep,” he replied. “You woke me up.”
“Sorry. I didn’t bother with trying to be quiet. I thought everyone in your family was a heavy sleeper.
“Nope, not me. That’s all right. I kinda wanted to talk to you anyways.” He paused. “I’m sorry for being such a jerk before. I’ll tell you the truth.” Then he stopped.
“Okay…are you gonna just leave it at that?”
“No, I was just thinking about her. You look so much like her, it’s not even funny.”
“Who’s her?”
“My girlfriend.”
“That’s probably a good thing, since she’s probably a model or something cool like that.”
“No, she’s not. I mean, she’s not anything known for being pretty, she’s a photographer, but she looks like a model. Anyway, she and I are both spending Christmas with our families, and I miss her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right. Not your fault. That’s why I’m so mean to you, though. You remind me of her, and it drives me crazy.”
“Well, I’m not always the nicest person, either, so I’m sorry,” she said softly. “You wanna call a truce?”
“Yeah, I think so.” He stuck out his hand, and they shook on it. “Okay, we’re friends, then.”
“Friends.”
“So why are you up now? How was your date?”
“It was okay. Nothing really special. We got home around one, but I haven’t been able to sleep since then. I tried, but I wasn’t tired. We went out for coffee after the movie. Anyway, I came down here and started reading, and then I decided to make tea.”
“You going out with him again?”
“Probably not. Definitely not. There were no real sparks. I thought I liked him when he asked me out, but I realized tonight he was, well, to be honest…” she trailed off.
“To be honest…”
“Kind of dumb and kind of annoying.”
“Oh, those dates suck.”
“Yeah. I could probably take the dumbness if it weren’t for the fact that he was so annoying, but not both.” She paused. “I can never find a guy who I really like who wants to date me.”
“You’ll find someone, Jess. Don’t worry,” he assured her. He looked over at the clock to see it was quarter to four. “I’m getting tired again, so I’m gonna go back up to bed.”
“All right. Good night. Sleep well!”
“I’ll try. See you in the morning.”