A Christmas Story

Falon

Frankly, I forgot that it's Christmas Eve. I haven't spent it with anyone but Kasidi in years, so it's just another day to me. The terminals are thick with masses of people, tickets are few, and planes are full without an extra seat. There was a line from the ticket sales counters all the way to the central food court a quarter mile into the building. Families trying frantically to reach their planes on time shoved and pushed through the lines, hoping not to be late to Christmas. I've already spent hours here waiting for my plane and I'm tired of the hustle and bustle, even though I know it won't get any better when I get to Kansas City.

My heart shatters a little when I think of Kasidi, but only because she could have had a much better life. I did love her at the start, but when the alcohol began to hit hard, it sort of fell apart. Now, as I play back all of the memories from our relationship, I realize that we had never kissed. We barely even held hands. Twenty four, almost twenty five, and I've never kissed a girl besides my mom. Sure, I've had girlfriends, but they weren't special; they were almost just for bragging rights, so I could say to my friends, "Yeah I have a girlfriend. Her name is..."

What hurts the most is she's gone and I'll never say goodbye.

I decide to lose myself in music and movies until I get to Kansas City. I put in my earbuds, switch on Pandora, and navigate my way through the touch screen television screen to my favorite movie. Leaning back, I try to forget today and everything that has happened.

As I slowly sink into old memories, I remember my friends, people I haven't seen in years. There was Noah, my best friend from seventh grade through high school. We played football together, fought together, laughed together; we did everything side by side until college. On graduation day, he admitted that his application to Duke had been accepted three months prior. At the time, I didn't understand why he'd never told me; the minute that I learned that my application to Iowa had been accepted, I called him, saying, "Dude, we have to talk." Now I realize that he kept it from me to preserve our last couple months together; he knew that we would be on two different paths soon and he didn't want anything to change. I wonder how life's treated him. Maybe he moved back to Lawrence. Maybe I'll find him there when I go home.