To Love A Friend

by Jana David

Darcy

  The whole situation was so surreal.

  Nothing that day had turned out as I expected it to.

  First, my father kicked me out of the house—and I mean that quite literally. He even chased me down the street for a bit, until he came to his senses and figured I wasn't worth dying of a heart attack over.

  Then I came home, hoping for...well, just some peace and quiet, really. I'd planned to get mindlessly drunk, but instead I walked straight into a scene from my wildest dreams—or worst nightmares, I couldn't decide which. Allie, alone in my house on Christmas Eve.

  Now here we were, me standing in front of the window, desperately trying to act like being alone with her wasn't a big deal, and then Allie, desperately trying to find something to keep herself busy in the kitchen.

  I had the feeling she was as uncomfortable as I was. Neither of us was saying it, but we both felt it.

  “Should I set the table?” I asked. If she could pretend to be busy, so could I.

  “Sure”, she said, and I went back to the kitchen to grab some plates and silverware. I got out the good stuff, the old set that had belonged to my grandmother. It seemed Christmas was a special enough occasion to justify using it.

  As I set the table, Allie checked and re-checked the food in the oven.

  “It's going to be another forty minutes”, I said, “just relax and sit down for a while.”

  I watched as she poured herself another glass of wine before settling down on the sofa.

  “So, how do you like my record player?” It was just a light-hearted comment, but Allie bit her lip in shame and took a sip of wine.

  I had to bite back a smile. The sneaky little wine-lover had gone through my room.

  “I'm sorry”, she finally said, still looking at me with a guilty expression on her face. “I shouldn't have gone through your stuff like that.”

  “Well, at least you didn't raid my underwear drawer.”

  I watched as Al's cheeks blushed a deep shade of red that could have rivalled her wine.

  “Wait, you didn't, did you?” I just barely managed to keep a straight face.

  “No. Not funny, Darce”, Al said, but she was grinning now, too.

  “When I saw all your records, it reminded me of how we used to come here when your grandmother was still alive, and listen to all her old music. Do you remember that?”

  Of course I remembered that. I nodded. “I kept all of them”, I said.