"Hi, I'm Stella Moore. Carrie asked..."
"Oh, right, she told us to expect you. I'm JC," the young man said offering his hand and welcoming her into the house.
"I'm sure Joey apologizes for not answering his own door, but he's a little...indisposed at the moment I guess you could say," JC stated with a mischevous smile.
"C, I swear to God! Your scrawny ass is mine when I get out of this! And Chris...you're getting the smackdown of your life!" They rounded the corner to the living room and Stella stiffled a laugh as she set eyes on Joey. He'd been hog-tied with blinking Christmas lights and garland. Carrie was trying to valiantly untangle him without laughing.
"Welcome to the madness, Stella. Would you like something to drink? I have a full bar," Joey said from his position on the floor.
"Um...a Corona would be great if you have it."
"I think we can handle that. Let me take your bag and I'll get your drink for you," JC said smiling once more.
Justin was running late...again. he was supposed to have been at Joey's christmas party half-an-hour ago, but he'd fallen asleep after working out. He'd rushed through a shower and hurriedly got dressed hoping to make it on time. It hand't worked to his advantage at all. Since he could hear the music coming from inside the house the minute he set foot out of his car, he knew knocking on the door would be pointless. He walked in the door just as JC's girl, Camilla, was walking through the foyer.
"Baby J, it's about time you showed up here. You missed the best practical joke Josh has ever pulled in his life." Justin loved the way that Cammie treated him, and the rest of the guys for that matter, as equals instead of some superstar or as a little kid in his case.
"Please tell me pictures were taken at least," he said giving her a hug.
"Oh yes, Lance had his ever present camcorder. Come on, join the party." It wasn't long before Justin noticed the new face in the crowd. Her long, wavy black hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck, though a few strands had escaped and were curling softly to frame her face. She was wearing a peach cardigan with a white tank top and a white skirt with little peach butterflies along the hemline and slit up to her left knee.
"Cammie, who is C talking to?"
"That's Stella, Carrie's step-sister. She's a very sweet girl. Well, I was actually on my way to the kitchen, but go mingle Little Bro." She gave him a smile and a little shove before walking away. Justin chose to mingle with JC and the beautiful Stella. It wasn't to be, however, because Carrie ushered her over to where other girlfriends and female relatives were talking.
"Hey, C, Cammie tells me you pulled off the joke of the century?"
"Don't even try to front, fool. I know you weren't walking over to talk to me. It was a nice save though," JC said laughing before taking a sip of his drink.
"What can you tell me about her...other than the relationship to Carrie and Joey?"
"She's the new thrid grade teacher over at St. Vincent's Academy because the sister in charge of teaching them was called to do missionary work. She's twenty-two, just out of college and graduated from Vanderbilt in the top ten of her class. She has the most amazing steel grey eyes. Don't tell Cammie I was staring though."
"Too late," she said slipping her arms around his waist from behind and kissing the nape of his neck.
"You're the only one I go home to, Cammie."
"I know. You're not like Dave was, I realize that." Justin felt a twinge of pity for his friend then. JC was trying so hard to help, but Cammie was still haunted by memories and experiences with her ex-boyfriend.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt, but could I ask where you set my bag down, JC?"
"Hey, J-dawg, could you show Stella to the guest room? I need to speak with Cammie."
"Sure, follow me, Stella." Justin placed his hand at the small of her back and led her through the house.
"So are you enjoying the party?"
"Uh, not really, but that's only because I'm not a big fan of Christmas. I usually avoid it like the plague, but it's always there."
"Wait a minute, you hate Christmas? How can anyone hate Christmas?"
"Well, when your father walks out on his family on Christmas morning and announces he's going to marry a girl you went to highschool with, you tend to dislike the holiday. He just got up in the middle of opening gifts, threw his wedding band in the trash and that's the last we saw of him."
"Ouch...I'm sorry you had to go through that. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Ya know, everyone asks me that. No, I don't want to talk about. I'm doing perfectly fine dealing with it on my own."
"Have you talked to anyone about this?"
"Why would you even care? I hardly know you. I'm not about to share my life with a total stranger."
"Well, I know what it's like to have a non-traditional family. I'm lucky enough to have them both close to me."
"Yeah," she said wistfully looking away from him and out the window, "you are lucky." He reached out to touch her shoulder and offer support when she turned to face him again.
"Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you. And you're right, I should talk to someone about this. But I'd still feel as if it were my fault. I knew when Anna was born that they hated each other...that they were staying together just for us. I just...maybe if I'd have told them that it was okay to go their own ways, he wouldn't have caused such a hole in our lives when he left. Carrie's dad is great though, and he loves my mom, sister and me. When I was younger and still living at home, he had this crazy tradition that he had to dance with all the women in his life to The Christmas Song, before we went to bed on Christmas Eve." Stella laughed at the memory and that made Justin smile.
"See, you do have good memories about Christmas. Ready to go back to the party now?"
"Yeah," she said placing her hand on the arm that he'd offered.
"Hey, Justin?"
"Yeah, Stell?" He'd already picked up on her nickname.
"You're a lot nicer and more mature than I thought you'd be. My students made you out to be this...untouchable God or something. Thanks for making me remember that it's okay to not hate and avoid Christmas every year."
"You're very welcome, Stell. Now let's go do some serious booty shaking! I need to make JC look bad in front of his woman."
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