"Ok, ok. I'm comin'!"
The door opened and Alexandra walked out in her bathrobe and soaking wet dark brown hair. "Sheesh, Nicole!" she complained. "Couldn't you wait just a few more minutes?"
"No, I can't!" I joked. "I haven't seen my family in 3 months and I'm ready to go home and spend Christmas with them."
Alexandra covered my mouth with her hand. "I know already! You told me like what, 20 times? Stop trying to make me feel bad." I laughed, but by the look on my roommate's face, she wasn't kidding. I put my arm around her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Alex. I forgot again. Why don't you come spend Christmas with me and my family? It'll be fun!"
She shook her head. "No, that's ok. Thanks for the offer though."
"I don't get it," I said. "Why don't you like spending the holidays with your family?"
She sighed and plopped onto a chair. "You wouldn't understand, Nikki. Your family is so perfect. Like, so loving. You guys are all so close and everything. I never met them, but from the pictures you guys really love each other." I stared at her with a sympathetic look. She suddenly smiled at me and gently shoved me towards the bathroom. "Don't you need to go? Remember you kicked me out of the shower!" We both laughed. I ran into the still steamy bathroom, grabbed my stuff and tossed them into my suitcase.
15 minutes later, I was finally ready to go. I grabbed all my stuff and turned to Alexandra. I smiled, dropped my stuff back on the ground and hugged her.
"Thanks for being such a great friend all this time," I said to her. "I wouldn't have been able to make it through at all these 3 months in college. I'll see you in 2 weeks!"
She hugged me back. "Ditto!"
I ran out the door and after I threw my bags and suitcases into the backseat of my convertabile Eclipse, I waved to Alexandra who was standing on the concrete steps still in her bathrobe. "Hey, I'll bring you a slice of turkey!"
She laughed and waved back. "I'll pass! Have fun!"
I put on my "way cool" sunglasses, started up the engine and backed out of the parking lot. As I drove on the highway (trying not to speed THAT much!), I smiled and thought of my past Christmas's with my family. We used to have so much fun. I'm sure that this year would be different though - a lot. First of all, Dennis would not be there. He'll never be there anymore no matter how much we want him to. And Tim and I come back from College. This is my freshman year, and Tim, well, he should've graduated college a couple years ago but since he's majoring to be a surgeon, he has to study some more. I thought about about the girls and how much they would've grown. I know it's only been 3 months, but they were 3 VERY LONG months. Mom told me that the girls (especially Kaitlyn) were having trouble in school, with friends, at home, extra activites after-school. But hopefully everything will be fine while I'm visiting.
RING RING!
"Hello?" I said into my cellular phone, trying to talk over the traffic.
"HI NIKKI!"
"Kaitlyn! What's up, girly?"
"Nothing much. Are you coming home?"
I smiled. "Sure am! I'm on my way right now!"
"COOL! I can't wait! How long will it take?"
I scowled over all the cars around me. "Well, I'm stuck in traffic. Looks like everyone's trying to get home in time for the holidays. But I'll be there in about an hour."
"Oh, ok."
"Why'd you call? Mom should've told you I was on the way."
"Oh yeah. Dad told me to call you and tell you that we're gonna have a big dinner tonight. Since you and Tim are coming home, we invited everyone to come to our house! Guess who's gonna be here?"
"Uh, who?"
"THE BACKSTREET BOYS!"
"What?!"