No Noël | ✓

21 » a christmas carol: noel dejesus edition

21 » a christmas carol: noel dejesus edition

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It was Christmas Eve.

Well, it was the morning of Christmas Eve. I woke up at my usual time of nine a.m., and I felt more hungover than I had in awhile. It was nowhere near as bad as I was for last year's holiday party, but just because I didn't have the same pounding headache, didn't mean all of my self-loathing and annoyance wasn't equally matched.

My hatred for the day was still just as strong, too.

I felt a vibration on the bed, and paused, confused as all fuck as to what caused it. My eyes landed on my phone, identifying it as the source, and so I reached for it.

Mother stared back at me as the caller ID. There was no way in fuck that I was answering that shit, especially not while I felt this way and definitely not on this day.

I eventually dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. By the time I was done and dressed, I had six more missed calls from my mother.

I left my room long enough to scrap together some breakfast and grab a Gatorade bottle. When I settled at the desk in my room to eat, I had three more missed calls from my mother, and one from my father.

I shut my phone off and ate my breakfast in the little peace the silence granted me.

Once I managed to scarf down my food without throwing up, I figured I'd go wash the dishes I used and then spend the rest of my day lounged in bed until the next time my stomach growled.

As I padded down the hall, I heard movements around the corner. Amin was pushing Jack back, and there was harsh pounding on the front door.

"Noel, hold your damn dog back," Amin grumbled as he tried stepping around Jack again.

"Jack," I called out while tapping my thigh for his attention. "Is there a package out there?"

Before Amin could answer, I heard a familiar shrill voice calling out my name. "Noel DeJesus, you better open this door!"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I muttered.

Amin threw his hands up and turned around. "I'm definitely not dealing with this shit."

He was down the hall and slamming his door closed seconds later. Jack excitedly ran back to the front door, where my mother's voice was still echoing from.

"Noel!"

I took a deep breath and went to the door. I swung it open, expecting the angry look on her face. What I hadn't expected was for my father to be right behind her.

"The hell is going on?" I asked as they bulldozed around me and stepped into my apartment.

"Don't say that word," my mother scolded. Her eyes glanced around the tiny space, disapproval clear as day. "How dare you ignore all of my calls!"

"You had your mother worried, Noel," my father added with his own reprimanding tone.

For a second, I felt bad, just as I always had when they ganged up on me like this. Then I remembered that I wasn't fifteen anymore. I was literally one day away from turning twenty-five, and we were standing in my apartment. I didn't need to deal with this shit, and I wasn't fucking going to.