Alissa stared at the flashing screen as more and more flights turned red. Was she going to be able to get home for Christmas this year?

Her flight was delayed for three hours. At least it wasn't canceled...

Alissa sighed as she sat down at her gate, getting ready to people watch for the next three hours. There was a couple sitting across from her whispering and giggling in each other's ears.

She thought about Trevor and that steamy kiss back at Mile High Station. She bit her lip. That man was something else.

A child nearby started crying. This was going to be a long day of traveling.

~~~

She didn't get much sleep on the plane. That same crying kid just so happened to sit right behind her and wouldn't shut up for the whole six-hour flight. She had a migraine and the jitters after ordering one too many cups of coffee. This whole week was just not her week.

With Liberty booking the wrong day with Goldz, and then when she just wanted to relax from that god-awful day, that creep at Minote showed up. Now, she had been traveling for 9 hours, had a migraine, and it didn't help that her love life seemed to be going nowhere fast.

Her and Veronica decided to just stay friends, she hadn't spoken to Chris since before the holiday party, and Trevor had still not called or texted her. It had been almost two weeks... She wondered if he wasn't as into her as he lead on.

She sighed as she waited by the baggage claim. The Albany airport wasn't too crowded since it was almost ten o'clock at night. She still had to wait for her family to pick her up from the airport and then drive another hour before finally reaching her small hometown of Mayfield.

She wondered if the whole bunch would be in the car. Probably not since it was so late. Her phone rang with the caller ID, Zach.

"Hey, I guess you've landed."

"Yeah, I'm at baggage claim now."

"Okay, well I'll be there in like ten... Uh, maybe twenty. I'm stuck behind an old person or something."

Alissa sighed, "Okay."

It had been thirty minutes. Alissa was starting to get drowsy.

She yawned as she read a text from her brother saying he was outside the pick-up area. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and zipped her coat up before stepping outside. The New York winter air felt refreshing. Sure, it was freezing, but it was fresh and damp. Denver's winter air was drier than sin.

She saw Zach's '03 Chevy Cruze in its bright red color sitting with its hazard lights on. He stepped out and leaned in to hug her. She didn't remember him being this tall. Some of his ash brown bangs popped out from under his gray wool cap.

"It's so nice to see you, again." She smiled.

"Yeah, come on," he said as he lugged her bags into the trunk.

As she sat down in the front seat, her eyes watered. The AC was on full blast directly in her eyes. She pushed the vent out of the way as she shook her head. Zach was always hot, no matter the temperature outside.

When they were kids, he had once overheated so much, he took off all his clothes in the middle of a snowball fight. While he felt hot all over, his toes did not. He had gotten frostbite on his left pinky toe and ended up losing it. Every now and then, their friends and she would pick on him asking if he could still feel his ghost pinky toe.

"So, how's the big city?" he asked as he pulled out from the curb.

"The city is good. It's been crazy, though, the closer it's gotten to Christmas. Traffic is horrendous, and don't even get me started about how my coworkers' minds seem to be elsewhere." Alissa threw her hands up in the air.

"That bad, huh?" He turned to look at her, then grinned. "Well, things here have just been dandy," he mimicked in grandma Beth's nasally voice.

Alissa chuckled, "How is grandma Beth?"

"Old as ever," he spoke as he merged onto the thruway.

She smirked, "How's princess Hannah?"

Hannah was the most spoiled girl Zach had ever dated, so she was dubbed princess by Alissa and her mom.

"Hannah..." his voice strained.

"Did you two break up?" She turned to look at him.

His hands were gripping the steering wheel tight and he jaw was locked.

"No," he spoke coldly.

"What did she do this time?" She sighed.

Hannah and Zach fought all the time. They were only together for about a year, and it didn't seem like the fighting would stop anytime soon. She didn't know why Zach didn't just end it. He would have been so much happier without her. Hannah wasn't, per se, a bad person, she just really liked things her way, but so did Zach, so it was obvious they'd butt heads.

"I don't wanna talk about it," he mumbled.

"Alright."

She turned to stare out the window as the tall shadows of trees passed by in a blur. Soon enough, her eyes became droopy.

~~~

"Hey, Alyssa," Zach's voice rippled through her.

She stirred. "Hmm?"

Her eyes opened slowly. Zach had already parked the car in front of her childhood home's green-shingled detached garage. She rubbed her eyes as the bright light from the garage shined on them.

Her home hadn't changed much. Snow covered the brown roof, shards of ice hung over the front porch, and fresh tinsel with bright red velvet bows hung off of the shingles near the white front door.

Zach headed to the trunk to grab her bags as she stepped out onto the crunch of the hard-packed snow. As she began to make her way around the car to the mudroom in between the bungalow and the garage, she slipped. Her hands smacked against the hood of the car to steady herself.

She hoped she didn't wake her parents whose bedroom sat in the front of the bungalow. She looked up to the enclosed balcony above the front porch to see the windows still dark.

"Careful there. Some of this is ice." Zach chuckled.

"Why hasn't this been salted?" She wasn't in the mood for his humor.

"It must've formed recently." He shrugged his shoulders as he headed towards the mudroom and flipped the switch.

As she entered, she smelled the familiar scent of pine and earth. Dingy boots of three different sizes lined the slate floor against the storage bench to her right: one large pair of black leather, belonging to Zach; one just as large pair of brown leather, belonging to her father, Dave; and the smallest pair of purple rubber belonging to her mother, Bridgette. She wondered where her blue rubber boots were. Her mother had probably moved them to her bedroom.

She followed Zach through the white wooden door to her left, which lead into the kitchen, turning the mudroom light off as she went. With the moonlight pooling through the kitchen windows and through the sunroom in the far left corner of the large room, she was able to maneuver around the kitchen island with ease.

Zach trudged loudly up the stairs.

"You're going to wake mom and dad," she said as they passed their room at the top of the stairs.

"Eh," he shrugged, heading left down the hall.

She rolled her eyes.

He dropped her bags on the dark wood floor then pretended to tip his hat.

"I bid you good night, ma'am," he spoke in a southern accent.

"Thanks, Zach." She smiled.

She grabbed her bags as he headed into his bedroom and she made her way a few feet further down the end of the hall to her bedroom.

She opened the door and flipped on the switch. Her lilac purple comforter was still there with the matching lilac purple walls and white wooden furniture. It still smelled of the floral perfume she used to wear, the perfume Marc used to love. She left her bags near the door as she quietly closed it. She was beyond exhausted, just glad to finally be back home and in a warm bed.

She turned off the switch and proceeded to flop down on the twin bed, not even bothering to change clothes, just kicking off her boots before climbing under the covers.

~~~

A/N: Please remember to vote if you enjoyed this chapter! xoxo