You sat at your house alone. It was Christmas today.
You hated Christmas. All it ever brought was sadness. You had a boyfriend, but he was with his family today.
You got a call from him at about noon. You pretended to sound happy.
"Hi, Charlie! Merry Christmas!" You exclaimed. You were happy to hear his voice.
"Hi Y/N! What have you gotten for Christmas so far? You got the card I sent you, right?"
"Yes! Thanks for the $20," you replied.
"Who are you celebrating with?" He asked.
"Um..." No one was at your house. What were you supposed to say? "Myself."
"Who else?"
"My... family," you replied. That was a lie. You hated your family and they hated you.
"Let me see. Put me on a video chat," Charlie skeptically said.
"They're... um, busy," you lied.
"That's not true. Y/N, why didn't you tell me that you would be by yourself? You said that your family was coming over. I believed you."
"I want to be by myself," you whispered.
"Why? I'm not letting you. I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Charlie, don't. Stay with your family where you're happy."
"I'm not happy if you're not happy. I'm getting in my car right now. I'll be there soon."
"Charlie, I'm happy by my-"
He hung up. You put your phone down and looked at your Christmas tree with one envelope under it. The card was above your fireplace.
Just as Charlie had said, he was at your house in about 10 minutes.
He knocked on your front door. You opened it and he cheerfully smiled. He had a cute Christmas sweater on.
"Baby, this is Christmas. You can't be alone."
"Yes, I can."
"No, you can't. I'm here. Now you're not going to win because I'm here and I'm stubborn. Tell me why you want to be alone."
"I hate Christmas!" You exclaimed. Charlie walked into your house and sat down on your couch. You sat right next to him.
"Why do you hate it so much?"
"Because no one except for you cares about me enough to send me anything. I have 2 brothers and a sister and 2 parents that don't love me enough to even call me."
He sighed and looked sad.
"I'm sorry, Y/N."
"You either have high expectations and get extra disappointed with everyone, or you have low expectations and save yourself most of the disappointment," you said quietly. "I made the mistake of having high expectations for 2 years after I moved out, and then I never made that mistake again because I set low expectations of everyone."
"Why haven't you told me any of this?"
"Because you deserve to be happy and not have my whining weighing you down."
"But I care about you! I want you to be happy, too!"
"I'll be happy once Christmas is over in about 11 hours."
"You should look forward to Christmas. It's supposed to be a happy time. Now you're going to come with me back to my family's house and we're going to celebrate together."
"I don't know..." you said.
"Can you just try to be happy?"
You sighed.
"I guess."
"Go get on a red shirt and a pair of jeans and you'll look great," Charlie said.
You smiled.
"Thanks, Charlie."
"You're welcome."
You went and got dressed in a red shirt and a pair of jeans. You put on your boots and brushed your hair into a ponytail. You ran to meet Charlie downstairs after putting on some mascara and other makeup.
"You look beautiful. Now let's go."
"Thanks," you said, putting your phone into your back pocket.
You followed Charlie out to his car to celebrate Christmas as it began to lightly snow.
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Is it wrong that I hate Christmas?
