A Christmas To Remember

It was Christmas Eve, 2021 in the small town of Santa Clause, Indiana. One of the biggest towns to celebrate the annual holiday not just during the Christmas season but all year round. Christmas was always celebrating Christmas all year round and it was home for two high school seniors James Johnston and Jennette Morrison who have been best friends since they were young. Christmas time was the best time for them but they knew that college was quickly approaching and they had every intention to go to college together. They have been together since they were toddlers at 2 years old and they wanted to remain close. He reached the front door of her house and knocked before saying “get your tail in gear Jennette, we got a Christmas party to get to and people to see. I brought us a sleigh to go down on” he could hear her grumbling from outside the door and she opened the door saying “you are the most impatient person I have ever met and you can’t wait 5 seconds for me to come to the door.” He laughs “you ought to be used to me by now and here you are still wining about my impatience.” She rolled her eyes “quit your yammering and let’s slide down the hill” she laughs and he set up the sleigh at the edge of the hill and soon took off down the hill. She was hooting and hollering as she held on to his waist as they went down the hill and once they reached the bottom of the hill she said “man that rides gets more intense we go down it” They walked through downtown and talked before they walked upon this new Christmas decoration that they set up in town. It was a nice little gazebo set up with Christmas lights and some floral arrangements which happened to be a bunch of mistletoes arranged across the gazebo and the friends didn’t even realize it. There were a lot of cameras and broadcasters around the mistletoe gazebo and one broadcaster walked up to them and said “looks like we got our first couple under the mistletoe gazebo, what are your names?” She asked both of them but James said “oh we’re not a couple but I’m James and this is Jennette” James wanted to walk away from her but she grabbed his hand and whispered “Come on just one kiss. We got friends who will never you let you live it down” she had a point and he nods his head before he took a deep breath and kissed her gently but when he started to pull away she pulled him back and kept kissing him and that’s when he knew something was wrong. Whenever she was troubled by something she would often get physical but nothing of this magnitude. When something was bugging her she would either hug him or hold his hand. The more they kissed the more he started to feel something that wasn’t there before and once she pulled away he looked at her. “Jennette that was so much more than just one kiss, that was a full-on make-out” she laughs “oh come on we had to make it look good for the camera, you ought to know I am going to ham it up, especially since we are both actors” he watched as the camera moved away and he said “so are you going to tell me what’s bothering you? I know you Jennette and I know something is bothering you” there is no sense in avoiding it and she just said “James I know I promised that we would go to college together but I am going to have to break that promise. I accepted a full ride to Juilliard and not The Cours Florent in Paris.” His mouth dropped hearing the news and all he said was “You told me that you accepted The Cours Florent scholarship, that’s why I accepted it, I didn’t get into the Juilliard and now you want to break us up” she went to hug him but he stopped her by putting his hands on her shoulders and he walked away. He just received the most incredible kiss from someone he loves and this was like a slap in the face.

December 1st, 2022

It has been nearly a year since the best friends had a falling out, the whole second half of their senior year and the first semester they haven’t said a word to each other. It might seem a bit childish but he’s never been so hurt before in his life and he just didn’t know how to handle it so he refused to talk to her. She ended up going to the Juilliard School in New York City and he went off to Paris France to attend his school. Time has been a mender of sorts but it still hurt deep down but he keeps it buried especially since he has a new friend and she is a French girl named Celeste. Celeste got her passport when James asked her to come to his home for Christmas to meet his parents and his brother and sister but in the back of his mind, he knew that Jennette was going to be there. But perhaps having the distraction of his friend will keep him away from Jennette, they arrived in Santa Clause, Indiana and Celeste in her rich French accent “Oh it’s so cute, James. I can’t wait to meet your family and friends” her English was great for living in France all her life

and he hopes that this new friend of his will become a lot more than his friend. She could have stayed home and gone with any of her other friends from America but she chose him and he doesn’t think that was an accident. “Yes I’ve missed this town so much, I love Paris but the first time I was there I was in culture shock and the size of Paris is a bit intimidating but I am thrilled that you decided to come with me. Come on let me give you the grand tour of the most Christmasy town in the world” they went and got their rental car from the airport and he soon drove around the small town. When they drove through downtown he noticed the same mistletoe gazebo where he had the passionate kiss with Jennette and the kiss burned into his mind. He saw the stop sign and he stopped the car before taking a deep breath she said “are you ok?” Seeing the spot made him panic and he said “yeah just something terrible happened at that mistletoe gazebo last year” she smiled and said “park the car, James” he sighs out and found a parking spot before they got out of the car “now tell me what happened?” They sat down on the bench and he answered her “Me and my best friend were under the mistletoe gazebo last year by accident and I received the most blowing kiss that I have ever received before she ditched me after promising me that both of us would go to The Cours Florent and she went to Juilliard in New York. Ten last time we talked was almost a year ago” she sighs out hearing how bad his memory of that one place is and said “sounds like she loves you” he laughs “no her kiss was her way of telling me that she was hiding something and when I called her out on it she was forced to tell me, she begged me to hear her out but I refused.” She pouted and said “sounds like you regret not hearing her out” he nods his head and held her hand “I messed up, Celeste. I have hardened my heart to dull the pain for what she did to me and when I met you I thought that my heart was starting to heal but” she interrupted “but I reminded you of your best friend and you thought you could eliminate the bad memories by making new memories with me” he stammered “Umm no-no” she gave him a look and he finally said “yes, but how do you know?” A young girl stood behind him “because I see a beautiful jet black-headed girl about my height and with green eyes standing behind you who could easily pass as my American twin” it was then he felt a hand touch his shoulder and heard “James”

Moments Later

James closed his eyes hearing Jennette talking, he missed her voice and he missed her in general. He turned around to see Jennette and tears were in both of their eyes knowing that both of them messed up “Jennette, I” she wrapped her arms around him “I know James, we both messed up and I forgive you. For a year we have lived without each other as I don’t want to go another second without” he wiped his eyes “why all of a sudden change your mind?” She smiled and said “because when we kissed last year I found out something, that I was in love with you and wanted to make things right” she touched his arm before Celeste touched his arm also and said “oh no you can’t be the one in love with him because I am in love with him” she pulled on his arm before Jennette tugged back on his arm “whoa who do you think you are? I have known him my entire life and you have known what? A few months now?” Jennette tugged back but dug her nails in his arm “Ouch, take it easy you two” they looked at him and both said in unison “stay out of this” they kept tugging at him and yelling at each other until he repeated “Jennette, Celeste, please stop” until his eyes opened from a very intense dream with Jennette standing above him at his parent's house. “Jenne” her eyes looked down at him “hey bad dream? Come on we need to get to the Christmas festival, I thought you were going to meet me at the house and we were going to ride down on your sleigh.” he sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes “The dream started Christmas Eve 2021 and we had a falling out and had this huge fight that went into Christmas of 2022” she sat down beside him and touched his leg “Its ok, it's still Christmas Eve of 2021 so no fight ok?” he nods his head to her comment “the dream taught me something and Jennette I know that we promised each other to go to the same school but what truly want is for you to be happy and to go to the college that you want to go to and not just go to the college I want to go to. You are my best friend and I want the absolute best for you and if that means that I see you at Christmas, and Summers then that's what I will be willing to do” she smiled at him and said “Was that the fight?” he nods his head and she said “we both got into Julliard and that's where I truly want to go, I can't be overseas and that far away from my family because. Well because” he looked at her and knew something was wrong “because of your mom?” she nods her head “how do you know?” he sighs out and said, “Your older sister told me last night” she wondered how she could have told him and said, “you two all buddy now? Wait? nightmares and you are guilty over it?” she smelt the blood in the water and he knew she figured it out. “Umm yeah, we are kind of buddies now except we arent just buddies we are dating each other.” she knew about it but she loved to see him squirm. She dimmed her eyes and leaned closer to him “James Elijah Johnston how could you not tell me about it” he backed up until he fell off the couch and he quickly got up but she got off the couch and cornered him “now Jenne be reasonable” she couldn't hold it in anymore and she laughs “you are so fun to mess with, Amy told me last night you two were dating and the joke is on you because our mom is fine and doesn't have cancer as she told you. We just got our payback on you pranking us about your sister” he did not find it amusing but he had to admit they got him good “ok ok we are even, I'm so proud of both of you. You finally got up on my level of pranking, come on let's get to the festival. Come on out Amy I know you are here and if you think about posting that video I will break up with you and find me a New York girl when I got to college” he laughs and she stepped out of the other room “I wouldn't dream of it” Amy laughs and the three of them got on his sleigh.

5 years later

It has been an interesting 5 years for James, Jennette, and Amy. The distance between Amy and James would ultimately be the downfall of the relationship and they ended up breaking up after a year. He thought Amy was the one for him but it just didn't happen for them. He tried to date during college but every time he would date he would think of Amy and that was the tough thing about college. It was graduation day and Jennette was going to be honored as the Valedictorian of the senior class James was so proud of her and he couldn't wait to hear her speech. “Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome our Valedictorian, Jennette Morrison.” the college dean announced to her before she stepped up to the podium and said “These 4 years have been an adventure and I have to thank so many people who have been instrumental in my life, first my parents and my older sister Amy for putting up with me my entire life” the crowd laughed at her statement before she continued “the teachers here have been amazing and have been an encouragement when I needed it the most. I have found so many friends who have stuck by me even though I didn't deserve it but lastly I need to thank my best friend, James who I have been friends with since I was 2 years old. He has been my rock and I wouldn't be up here if it wasn't for him, James will you come up here please” he was caught off guard but he soon joined her on the stage before she continued. “James I want you to know how much I appreciate you for always being my rock, I want you to have this trophy to be a reminder of how much you mean to me” he ended up hugging her and whispering in her ear “You are amazing, Jennette” she smiled up at him while the crowd cheered and the two of them walked off the stage to be alone. “I don't deserve this but thank you.” she looked up at him and placed her hand on his cheek ”James I am in love with you and I know you are stuck on Amy but I needed to tell you that before college ended” she took a deep breath and started to walk away from him, she spoke her heart and was honestly scared to hear what he would say. He was stunned by the shocking revelation she just told him and she was about to walk back to the stage when he said “I am in love with you too, Jennette. I thought it was Amy I was crazy about and for years I have concentrated on why I couldn't have Amy and it wasn't until I heard you speaking tonight that I realized it” he smiled at her before he grabbed her hand stopping her from going onto the stage. She turned around and smiled “you know that dream 5 years ago?” he nods his head “that kiss was weak compared to the one I am about to give you” her words made his heart skip a beat and she pushed her hand on his chest and pushed him up against a wall before she passionately kissed him and just like any good story the couple lived happily ever after.

The End