A Coalition Story

Yet Another Sucky Christmas

"So, how was Christmas at the Cole household?" Torin asked, sitting beside Ravyn at lunch. Everything nowadays happened at lunchtime.

"Hell." The holiday would go down in history as one of the worst she'd seen. Considering Christmas at age ten involved a screaming match with her father about her mother's murder (yes, it was technically an accident, but Ravyn didn't buy that one bit. Her mom had been caught making out with some strange man in their kitchen the week before. Ravyn knew her dad, and Peter Sr. did not tolerate disloyalty), Ravyn had had some bad Christmases. The worst one had landed her in Cal's house at ten, but this last one at Cal's house? A close second. This one didn't end with befriending her cousin. This one ended that friendship.

"Isn't it always, Ray?" Torin asked tentatively. She gave him a flat look.

"Much more than usual. Ksenia was there with Cal and showing all the PDA, Meg was a bigger brat than usual and smug, too. Avalon spent the holiday with her fiancé, so our peacemaker was painfully absent. And Cal and I might have gotten into a screaming match that made Ksenia cry and freak out for no reason really. I actually tried not to involve her." She took a moment to breathe, still talking a little too quickly. Torin, when she glanced at him, paid attention to her with silent interest and his fist under his chin.

"And then, just for funsies, the screaming match devolved into a fistfight. Then Erek broke us up, which, may I add, usually, I'm the one breaking him and Cal up. And then, before Uncle Aldric could kick me out, I left and came back here early. I swear, Tori if your family wasn't three hours away and I had a car I would have spent the majority of the break with you." Ravyn sighed dramatically, poking at her lasagna with her fork. She didn't really have an appetite after thinking about the disastrous Christmas Eve. She never even got to Christmas. Her aunt had sent her presents, but Ravyn had yet to open them.

"And that was just Christmas break? Goodness, Ravyn, you need therapy," Torin groaned. Her glower was met with his simple stare. He was not about to take any of her bull.

"Fine. I probably need therapy. But so does everybody else in the Coalition. Some of you guys kill people for a living."

"True, but we're not going to talk about assassinations today." A pause. "Have you talked to Atticus or Alice since the Christmas party?"

It was like Torin could read Ravyn's mind. He always knew the exact right questions to ask, even when, like his last one, they made her want to start sobbing on the spot.

"I've talked with Atticus for what's probably the last time," she sighed, pushing her tray away and letting her head fall into her hands. To say she was frustrated with herself would be a tragic understatement.

"Ravyn," Torin began slowly, his voice steady and scarily calm, just like Ace's had been. "What did you do?" Her head shot up, eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean, 'what did you do?' Why couldn't he have done something to end things?" she countered.

"Because you don't give up on people easily. Lev has shown every single sign that he only wants you for sex, and yet you're still obsessed with him. You've not given up on Excalibur and me, even though he's never coming back to me. You haven't given up on your mom despite her death. For a friendship like the one you have with Atticus to end, he must have given up on you, which means you did or said something horrible." And again, Torin could read her mind. Why did he have to know her so well? And why did he have to bring up her mom? Ravyn already had enough to think about without getting distracted by the fact that her dad was still getting away with her mom's murder. Then, to conclude it all, Torin could tell the gravity of the situation. He really should have been a psychologist, not an assassin.

"What happened, Ray?" he prompted with a gentle tone that reminded her of how one spoke to an upset child. Which, to be fair, she was.

"He asked me to stop avoiding Alice, and long story short I chose my crush on Lev over my friendship with both of them." Her head of dark hair fell, again, into her arms, now folded on the table. She knew she had messed up. Atticus had been her partner in crime, her confidante, her best friend. She had taken care of him when he needed it, and, in turn, he'd taken care of her when she needed it. Ace knew her deepest secrets, despite the fact that she hadn't even known him for two whole years. He even knew about her mom, something only her family, her cousins (sans Meg), and Torin knew. In short, Ace knew her as well as she knew herself.

And now she didn't have him at all.

Torin reached over, pulling his little sister figure into a bear hug. He didn't say anything about her horrible choice and how she messed up. He didn't say anything judgmental or prejudiced. He just accepted her. This was one of the reasons Ravyn wished Torin could have been her older brother, not Peter or Nate.

"You two will figure it out, Ray. Just like Excalibur and I will." A dark chuckle exited her mouth.

"That's not true. You and Cal will actually have a happy ending. I don't think Ace and I will. Not anymore. Anyways, it's not like we have any love to hold us together past platonic." She pulled away to look at him.

"Whatever. Now, what do you say to blowing off class and eating loads of ice cream and watching sappy movies until we feel better?" Torin's bright smile and painful positivity managed to bring a smile to her dreary world.

"I think that sounds perfect, Tori."