Alicia

It was a minor Christmas miracle that Alicia didn't wake up with a hangover. It was all thanks to Olly making Alicia chug water before Celeste came to pick her up, but Olly was practically an honorary elf at this point, so it still counted. As Alicia rolled over in bed, she made a mental note to send him a message of thanks, but first... she needed coffee.

Pushing herself up, Alicia felt her head swim. She pressed her hand to her forehead as it throbbed. Maybe she hadn't managed to avoid the hangover entirely, but it could've been much worse. It was the fault of all those sugary drinks. She was sure of it. Sterling's hot chocolate had been as sweet as it was strong. The need for coffee was dire.

She stumbled out of bed, wrapped herself in a robe to stave off the cold of the morning, and staggered out of her room from her bed, heading for the kitchen...

"Good morning... Or should I say afternoon?"

Alicia stopped and turned.

Celeste was sitting on the couch, already dressed and ready for the day. Her arms were folded across her chest, and her glossy lips were pursed. It looked as if she had been waiting... Whether it was for something or someone, Alicia wasn't sure.

"Waiting for someone?" Alicia asked as she continued on her path. "Is Sterling in the shower? He better not use up all the hot water again."

But as she looked down the hall, she realized she couldn't hear the water running...

"Sterling didn't stay over last night," Celeste said.

Alicia turned back to her friend, and as their eyes met—Celeste's bright green ones narrowed down—Alicia realized that she was the person Celeste had been waiting for.

"Can you come sit with me for a minute?" Celeste asked.

Alicia gulped.

Something about the serious set of Celeste's features made all her worries bubble up inside. Did her idiot brother open his idiot mouth even though he promised me that he wouldn't—

"Just for a minute," Celeste said, cutting off Alicia's raging thoughts. She unwound her arms and patted the couch cushion next to her.

"O-Of course," Alicia said, her voice shaking. She was sure she looked guilty, but she needed to buy some time for her brain to boot up. "I will, in a second. First, I need to make some coffee—"

"I already made coffee," Celeste said, pointing at the coffee table. Two steaming mugs were waiting, wrapped in knit cozies to keep them warm.

"Oh. Well," Alicia sputtered, scrounging around her head for something else to buy her more time but coming up empty. "In that case..."

She shuffled over and plopped herself down on the couch next to Celeste. The air between them was icy for the first time since they met. Despite being roommates for three and a half years, they had never had a real fight. Alicia half expected to see her next breath come out in a fluffy cloud.

Alicia searched her friend's face for a clue as to what she was thinking, but Celeste's face was calm. She turned to face Alicia on the couch, curling her foot underneath.

"Do you have anything you'd like to tell me?"

Alicia flinched. It was exactly as she feared.

"I... I guess you know, then."

Celeste frowned. "I have eyes, Alicia. And I know you too well. You can't really hide anything from me."

Alicia hung her head. She felt so stupid. If she hadn't wasted all her time getting Zeke to behave, she wouldn't be in this situation. Now that Celeste had figured it out on her own, she was sure to be angry that Alicia had kept all this a secret.

"I'm s-sorry," Alicia sputtered. "I didn't mean to hide it. I didn't want to give you more to worry about while everything was so—" She made a big motion with her hands like she was miming an explosion.

Celeste's face crumpled. "Just because I was busy didn't mean I wouldn't care."

"I know," Alicia said, her chest aching as she took in Celeste's pained expression. It was her thoughtless actions that had made her friend feel like this. "I'm sorry for keeping it from you. For the record, I wanted to tell you the second I knew. But I thought it was better to wait until things had calmed down between Zeke and Sterling—"

"Well, now they have," Celeste said, her voice sharp. "So, tell me."

Alicia took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

"I... I," Alicia began. Her voice wavered, like suddenly all the words she wanted to say had formed one big clump that had stopped up her throat. She swallowed hard, trying to force them out. "I—"

But before Alicia could find her voice again, Celeste finished for her.

"—You have feelings for my brother," Celeste said with a huff.

"—I'm going on exchange next semester," Alicia spat out at the same time.

Silence settled over them as they stared at each other, blinking, trying to make sense of their conflicting statements.

Alicia was the first to break the silence. "You... You think I have feelings for Zeke? Zeke?"

Celeste was reeling. Her serious expression had melted away. "You don't? Wait a second... What did you say?"

Alicia was still reeling from it. "Not you too! I don't like Zeke! Why would you think such a thing?"

"I-I just saw you two together, how you acted, like you were in on something and I thought... Wait, what do you mean by 'not you too'? Did someone else say something about you two?"

Alicia quickly waved her off with a hysterical laugh. "Nevermind that! It's not important. But I promise you, I do not have feelings for Zeke."

"Oh," was all Celeste had to say. She sank back against the couch.

Now, it was Alicia's turn to narrow her eyes. "Why do you sound disappointed?"

"Honestly?" Celeste said with a laugh. "I kind of am. I was annoyed when I thought you were going behind my back with my brother, but I had also kind of let myself get... excited. I thought that if you got together with Zeke that there might actually be a chance of making you my actual sister."

For some reason, Alicia's eyes began to prickle. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around Celeste. "Oh, Cee, you big softie. You're like the only person in the world who'd be excited if their best friend was dating their brother."

"But you're not, are you?" Celeste said, a sliver of hope in her voice.

Alicia snorted. "There's nothing between me and Zeke. And besides, I don't need Zeke to be your sister. You're already like a sister to me."

"You're right, I guess I was just being silly." Celeste said, squeezing her back. "Now, what were you actually trying to tell me before I so rudely interrupted you with my crazy theories?"

Celeste laughed, but Alicia didn't. Her heart, which had just been so full, sank. She pulled away from her friend and sat back on the couch, her smile gone. Celeste realized something was wrong. Her brow tensed up.

Alicia took another deep breath and forced the words out. "I've been accepted into the Exchange program."

In an instant, Celeste's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.

Alicia winced, bracing for the impact.

But then Celeste smiled, and she let out a squeal of delight.

"That's amazing!" she cried, clapping fervently. "I knew you would get in! I bet you were at the top of that waitlist! I'm so excited for you! Where are you going? When do you leave?"

Alicia wanted to laugh. This was exactly how Olly and Zeke had said she would react—that Celeste would be excited for her. But it wasn't her support that she had been worried about...

She swallowed and answered her friend's last question. "Right after Christmas."

Celeste's excitement faltered. "Oh."

"That's why I didn't want to tell you until I sorted Zeke out," Alicia said. "I didn't want you to stress over another thing. I wanted our last Christmas together to be nice. I'm sorry for keeping it from you."

"Oh, Alicia, you didn't have to do that," Celeste said. "I appreciate you looking out for me, but I'm a big girl. I can handle it. Though I am sorry that we won't get to spend our last semester together."

"Me too," Alicia said, blinking hard. Her eyes were prickling again.

"It'll be okay," Celeste said, taking her hand. "No pesky ocean is going to keep us apart. You're going to have an amazing time. Imagine all the people you'll meet! All the adventures you'll have! And then you can video call me every day to tell me about them."

"Right," Alicia said, smiling now, though her eyes still felt wet. "I'm going to miss you, though."

Celeste leaned forward and pulled Alicia into her arms again. "I'll miss you, too. So, we better make the most of this Christmas."

"Yeah," Alicia said. "We're gonna have the best Christmas ever."

"Hopefully that means we win the games," Celeste said with a sigh, "and I get to light the star! Though I don't know how much of a chance we have after yesterday's poor performance..."

"You never know," Alicia said. "We could get a Christmas miracle."

"Here's hoping," Celeste giggled. "Hey, by the way... When you said you 'sorted Zeke out'—what did you do to him?"

Alicia gave a laugh. Thinking back on it now, it all seemed like a distant memory. "Just put a little fear of God in him to get him to behave. Nothing serious."

"Mm-hm," was all Celeste replied, and Alicia could tell that her friend didn't quite believe her.

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