I Bet it Stung

“A Christmas party?” Alice repeated as Mia and Sidney nodded vigorously in front of her. “Mario’s going to be hosting a Christmas party here?”

“Yeah,” Sidney answered. “Why do you sound so surprised?”

Alice shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess because I haven’t heard anyone mention anything about a Christmas party, and Christmas is what...two weeks away? I had breakfast with Nathalie this morning and she didn’t say anything about it.”

“That’s because everyone is still focused on the regular season games before the holidays,” Mia offered. “They probably won’t start actually planning things until next week.”

Alice eyed them both strangely but went and sat down on the couch, flipping on the television with a remote.

“By the way,” Sidney said, sitting next to her. “How was your date with Zachary?”

“It wasn’t a date,” Alice clarified for the umpteenth time. “It was just two friends going out for coffee. Mia, if you don’t tell your boyfriend to stop watching over me like a hawk, I’m going to call our real dad and have him fly down here and show him who’s boss.”

“Dad loves Sid, he wouldn’t lay a finger on him,” Mia scoffed, giving Alice a swift whack on the shoulder. “Besides, he needs Sid to sign things for him so he can sell them on eBay.”

“I never agreed to that,” Sid whined in protest. Mia lovingly kissed his forehead and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“Anyway,” Mia continued. “Just letting you know in advance. There will be a Christmas party here, it will be fabulous, and you will look happy for the guests or I will staple your lips into a permanent smile.”

Alice blinked a few times cautiously. “The look on your face says you’re joking, but the look in your eyes says you’re telling the truth,” she noted. Suddenly she looked very irate. “Jordan’s going to be here, isn’t he?”

“Well duh,” Mia drawled. “He kind of has to be, they’re inviting the entire team over. They can’t just invite everyone and then say, ‘Oh, by the way, don’t tell Staalsy about the Christmas party because Alice is going to be there and one of them is bound to have a hissy fit’.”

“It was just a question!” Alice muttered indignantly. “I’m moving on, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mia waved her hand in the air. “I know that. I’m just saying that I know how you are when it comes to somewhat awkward situations. I just want you to be able to be an adult about it, promise?”

“I act more like an adult than you, Miss Boho,” Alice smirked. Mia rolled her eyes. “But fine. I’m not happy about it, but in the spirit of Christmas, I will suck it up.”

“High five,” Sidney lifted his hand in the air and Alice obliged. “Oh, and remember, it’s semi-formal. So you’ve gotta dress nicely.”

“That’s going to be more of an issue for the Bohemian one over here,” Alice noted, jerking a thumb in Mia’s direction. “Don’t worry about me. I clean up pretty well. But Mia might be a lost cause.”

Sidney threw his head back and howled in laughter as Mia leapt onto Alice and wrestled her down to the ground.

* * * *

“Hey Alice!”

Alice turned her head to the right and saw Zachary approaching her. She was at her seat in the lecture hall a half hour early just to make sure she got a seat close enough to the front. Zachary scooted down the row of seats and plopped down next to her. “Hi, Zack.”

“Feeling any better about...you know, all that stuff?”

She shrugged. “I guess so. It’s not that big of a deal I guess...”

Zachary smiled. “Good. I’m glad you’re keeping your chin up.”

Alice smiled back and let out a sigh, sinking slightly into her seat. After a few minutes, she sat back up again and looked back at Zachary. “Would you want to go to a Christmas party at Mario Lemieux’s house with me?” she asked. “I mean, you don’t have to but Mario’s hosting this thing for the team and I don’t really want to be there by myself and--”

“You’re inviting me into the home of Mario Lemieux?” Zachary demanded, his eyes going wide. “For real? You’re telling me I can go to his house and meet him and the rest of the Penguins organization?”

Alice was amused. “Yes.”

“Hell yeah I’ll go!” he cheered, earning a few irate looks from other students who were trying to catch up on their course reading or making supplementary notes. “You’re officially the coolest, most awesome person I know. This is like a dream.”

Alice suddenly looked a bit sad. “It was a dream for me, too...when Jordan and I first met,” she admitted. “It was like magic. But now it all just feels like routine.”

“Hey,” Zachary cooed, putting his arm around Alice’s shoulders in a friendly way. “Don’t think about that, remember? We’ve only got a few days left of school before our midterms and then it’s the holidays. And plus, it’s Christmas, so you have no excuse to be sad. On top of that, you’re Canadian so you’ve got to be used to all the cold!”

Alice laughed. “Yeah. I guess.”

Soon more and more students started filtering in and taking their seats all around the lecture hall and the professor walked in and started his presentation.

Alice couldn’t focus on it though. She was just thinking about the Christmas party and how she was going to have to face Jordan again for the first time in months. She absentmindedly turned and glanced over at Zachary, who sent her a reassuring smile.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.