Alicia

Snow blustered in after Alicia as she stepped into the lobby of her apartment. Shaking off the snow, she shuddered and blew on her frozen fingers. She had hung back a bit to give Sterling and Celeste a chance to talk, but she couldn't wait out in the cold any longer.

Rubbing her hands together, she headed up the stairs. As she reached her door, she paused, her hand hovering over the knob, while she debated whether she should go in.

She heard voices on the other side.

"—I would've warned you about him if I had known he was coming," Celeste said, her voice muffled by the door. "You're not mad are you?"

"No, of course I'm not mad," Sterling said, "but I can't say I'm happy."

"I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that."

"You don't have to keep apologizing. This was all him. It's not on you."

Alicia heard Celeste sigh.

"He just doesn't know you like I do."

Sterling chuckled. "No one does."

Things went quiet, and Alicia took it as her cue to enter. She twisted the knob and pushed open the door—

But as Alicia stepped inside, she realized she made a mistake.

The lull in conversation had been because Celeste and Sterling were locked in a passionate kiss.

They pulled apart at the sound of her entrance.

Alicia's face began to burn. "I'm sorry, I'll go—"

"No, stay," Sterling said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm not going to chase you out of your own apartment."

Celeste nodded, going over to Alicia's side. "Oh, Alicia, I'm so sorry you had to witness all that. My brother being a jerk I mean, not..." Her cheeks flushed pink.

"It's okay," Alicia said. "It's not your fault. Though I am proud of you for standing up to your jerk of a brother."

Celeste's face fell, her shoulders sinking.

"I-I don't know what got into him," Celeste muttered, her head down. "He's usually not like this. We've butted heads before over his 'high standards' but to speak to Sterling like that? It's so unlike him. He's really changed since he moved out to San Francisco..."

Alicia felt a flare of heat on her neck as she thought of Zeke's words. "Is it though? He was a real jerk, and that doesn't come out of nowhere."

Celeste flinched at Alicia's insult against Zeke. Despite everything that had just gone down, he was still her brother. But she couldn't argue.

Sterling came over and wrapped his arm around Celeste's shoulders. He gave it a heartening squeeze. "Hungry? I was thinking that since dinner was a bust, I could go pick up some pizza."

As if on cue, Alicia's stomach grumbled. "That's a great idea! What do you think, Cee?"

Celeste looked between them as if eating was the last thing on her mind, but she nodded anyway.

"Yeah, we should probably eat something..."

Celeste's phone, sitting on the coffee table, started to ring.

She slid out of Sterling's hold, ran to grab it, and sighed when she saw the screen.

"It's my parents," she said. "They probably want to talk."

"Go ahead and take it," Alicia offered. "We'll be fine."

Celeste gave her a stiff smile and took the still-ringing phone into the kitchen. With Celeste gone, Sterling made a move for the door.

Alicia grabbed his arm.

"Wait for a second," she said. "How are you doing?"

Sterling's face twisted up as though he'd just tasted something foul. "Oh, you know. Just great."

Alicia stared at him. "Be serious for a second. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine—" he began, defiant at first, but then his eyes fluttered closed. "Alright, alright. I'm... not great."

Seeing her friend like this made Alicia's chest ache. She hated seeing her friends get hurt.

"You can't take what that Zeke guy said to heart," she said. "He doesn't know you, so he has no idea what he's talking about."

But when Sterling opened his eyes again, his gaze was unwavering. "But he's not wrong. I am just a bartender."

"So?" she shot back as another flare of anger shot through her. "You're not defined by your job. Your job has nothing to do with you being a good person. You're someone who's kind, loyal, loving. You care about Celeste. That's what matters. You can't listen to him."

"Kind of hard not to," Sterling said, his gaze dropping to the floor. "I've spent my whole life trying not to believe what people said about me—that I'd always be a nobody, never amount to anything. So to hear it said out loud like that, to know that the family of the girl I..." He had to pause and take a deep breath. "Knowing that they don't think I'm good enough for her? Yeah. Kind of hard not to believe that."

Alicia didn't know what to say to that. She knew it was all wrong, but how could she get Sterling to see it?

But Sterling used her moment of indecision to slip out of her grip and head for the door.

"I'll be back with pizza."

With Sterling gone, Alicia was alone in the living room.

She bristled, still fuming at all that had happened tonight. With how her anger burned at her insides, it felt like she had swallowed a hot coal.

How dare Zeke speak to Sterling that way!

Even if his sister wouldn't admit it, he was a jerk.

Alicia flopped down on the couch and let the glow and sparkle of Celeste's many decorations wash over her. Celeste had gone beyond what she had done last year. The same paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling again, though their number had multiplied. They were interspersed with scallops of string lights, making the snowflakes seem to glow.

In the corner was their tree, strung through with what seemed like a million lights. It was no mini-tree like last year but a proper, full-sized tree, thick and bristling. Sterling had gotten it for Celeste as an early Christmas present on her last day of class. In fact, half the decorations this year were Sterling's fault—he'd been spoiling Celeste.

He'd really come around to the season.

Knowing him as well as she did, she knew it wasn't easy for him to enjoy the holiday that had once held such pain, to let his guard down and love someone. She smiled to herself.

Sterling had come so far because of Celeste.

How could someone not think they belonged together?

Her insides twisted as she thought of it.

They were supposed to make this the best Christmas ever, and Zeke had ruined all that. Alicia wished there was some way she could make things better and salvage the holiday for Celeste...

"That's not the problem!" Celeste's voice carried from the kitchen. "He was inexcusably rude. Sterling means a lot to me, and Zeke went way too far. I don't care how 'concerned' Zeke was so—"

Concerned? Alicia wondered, snorting. What could Zeke possibly be concerned about? His sister had found someone who cared for her and treated her right. What else could matter?

She thought the real problem was him being an egotistical snob.

Just because he was some big, successful hotshot rolling in dough didn't give him the right to look down his nose at Sterling...

She thought of their encounter at The Snowball's Chance. Looking back on through new eyes, she couldn't believe she had even considered flirting with him.

"Bullet dodged," she muttered under her breath, hanging her head over the edge of the couch.

"What bullet?"

Alicia's head snapped up. Celeste had returned from the kitchen, her call finished. Her eyes looked a little red, but her mouth set in a stubborn line.

"N-Nothing," Alicia said quickly, sitting up to make room on the couch for her friend. "How was your call?"

Celeste dropped herself in the spot next to her best friend. "It went as well as it could've. My parents acknowledge that Zeke was over the line, but they still want us to all get along for Christmas." She blew out a long breath. "I told them that Zeke better be on his best behavior for the rest of the trip, or he can spend Christmas in a snowbank."

In Alicia's head, she pictured the snobby Zeke in his fancy clothes, waist-deep in snow, teeth-chattering, and looking miserable. She smothered a giggle.

Celeste just sighed again, deeper than before. "Again, I'm so sorry you had to be there for this—"

Alicia waved off the apology. Celeste always apologized too much. "You wanted me to go for this very reason."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it'd be this bad."

"Is your brother always like this?"

"Not exactly. He's always had these high expectations. He seems to believe that I should accomplish just as much as he has—prestigious education, prodigy entrepreneur—but he doesn't listen when I tell him that isn't what I want."

"At least his heart is in the right place," Alicia said, the sarcasm heavy.

Celeste gave a humorless laugh. "It is, in his own weird way. I didn't think it would be this big of a deal. He's liked all my previous boyfriends, but they were nothing like Sterling. They were all educated and ambitious like he expected me to be... Or maybe it's because he's been in a bad mood lately."

"What 'mood' could possibly make how he treated Sterling acceptable?"

"Apparently he just broke up with his girlfriend," Celeste said. "It was bad—real bad. I don't know the details, but Mom said he's still all out of sorts."

Alicia rolled her eyes. A broken heart wasn't an excuse to act out.

But then she thought back on last Christmas—how last year Celeste's broken heart made the usually straight-laced girl chug a bunch of booze and kiss the then-stranger Sterling in a misguided attempt to make her ex-Jared jealous.

She supposed that broken hearts could make people a little crazy...

Maybe she could extend a little bit of compassion to Zeke.

Just the teensiest amount.

Celeste lay back on the sofa. "If only there was some way to prove to Zeke that Sterling is a good person."

Alicia scoffed. "I doubt it. Zeke seems way too stubborn."

"He is." She groaned.

Celeste's phone rang again. This time, Alicia could see Sterling pop up on the screen. For his Caller ID, Celeste had added a photo of him wearing one of Olly's horrid Christmas sweaters. But he was smiling at something off-screen, probably Celeste, so he looked truly happy.

Celeste reached forward and answered, putting the call on speaker.

Sterling's voice crackled down the line. "Hey. I'm at the pizza joint. I completely forgot to ask you two what you wanted on your pies."

"Oh, you know me, just my usual pepperoni with mushrooms. Alicia, what would you like? It's my treat."

Alicia made a face. "Actually... I think I'm going to head out."

"Huh? Why?" Celeste asked.

"At least stay for pizza," Sterling chimed in on the other side of the phone. "You haven't eaten anything."

Alicia couldn't help but smile at her friend's concern. "Thanks for the offer, but after tonight, I think you two need your space. I'll go bother Olly. He can scrounge up some food for me."

Celeste stared at her for a second before she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Alicia, squeezing her so tight she could barely breathe.

"Oh, Alicia, you are the sweetest. What would I ever do without you?"

✨

Alicia gave a weak laugh. "Who knows?"