A Christmas Secret

Chapter Six

        The date got pushed back and back and back. It wasn’t like I minded though. Jack and I still texted almost every day. It was normal for us to spend hours just talking about anything. It was so easy. It’s like I already knew everything about him even though I didn’t. Nate seemed to be in the same boat I was in with some mysterious girl. I wondered who it was but he never answered my questions. I was at his house eating a bunch of candy when I got a text from Jack.

Guess what?

You’re going to start calling me Nick?

No, my mom agreed on tomorrow. Are you busy?

Not at all. I said not afraid to tell him that I indeed had no life. We were close enough that I know knew he didn’t either. Outside of sports and homework, he didn’t do much. His friends liked to go out to parties but he rarely drank. I had never been to a party before and he claimed he would take me if I didn’t wear the suit. So what’s the game plan?Nate was sitting down on his phone looking equally as enthusiastic. I tried to peak over his shoulder but he just moved farther from me.

“Who are you texting?” I asked.

“No one,” he groaned. He flipped over and laid on his stomach. I jumped on his stomach as I waited for Jack to answer.

Well… there’s no plan really. Come over for dinner around like 5 then we’ll go ice skating after.

Sounds good.

Do you know how to skate? I thought about lying to impress him but I figured he’d find out the truth too soon for it to be worth lying.

What do you mean by know?

Will I be carrying you all night?

Is that an offer?

Of course but only if you promise to give me every present I wanted for Christmas.

I can definitely promise you that you won’t get coal.

Far enough.  I laughed. I really wish I could promise him everything he wanted. Nate was struggling to breathe so eventually I moved off of him.

“Why can’t you just tell me?” I asked looking at him with giant puppy dog eyes. 

“Because it’s not a big deal yet.” I nodded and looked at my phone.

“Jack still thinks I’m a boy and I’m telling you everything.”

“It’s just I know you’ll be mad.” I wanted to argue some more but I started sneezing in rapid succession. I stood off his bed and he looked at me with concern in his eyes. He stood up to walk to me but I just put up my hand.

“I need to go do homework anyway. If I’m going out with Jack tomorrow, I need to do as much as I can tonight.” I rushed home, walking in the cold.

        I couldn’t ask Nate to drive me to Jack’s, not after everything. I barely even saw him during the school day. He had left to go hang out with whoever he had been hiding from me. Why else would he leave theater? My dad stopped outside Jack’s house.

“When are you coming home?” he asked.

“Umm… I’m not sure.” He nodded like he had foreseen my answer.  He didn’t even ask why I was wearing some of my Santa costume. He probably didn’t care. Or notice that I had stolen one of his red dress shirts. I was wearing it under a white large jacket that I had stolen from Nate. As I got out, I took a deep breath. On the other side of the door was the boy of my dreams. He opened the door with a small smile on his face and I couldn’t believe what was happening. He led me inside where everyone was sitting in the living room. I had expected to see a giant tree with tons of lights, green and red decorations all around, and maybe even some small statues of Santa all around me. The room was dull and barely decorated. There was a small fake tree in the corner with no lights. The walls were deep blue and covered in pictures of Annabelle and Jack. There was almost no signs of Christmas other than the tree.