An Unexpected Fate

The Christmas Party

Ellie walked the short walk from her house to Gwen's. Gwen only lived two streets away, so it wasn't that far to walk. Admittedly, after walking for a few minutes in her boots, her feet did start to hurt, but it was nothing. After about fifteen minutes, she knocked on the door of Gwen's house. She heard some laughter and some footsteps before the door swung. Gwen, dressed in black jeans and a chequered shirt, opened the door.

"Hey. Come on in! Mind the stair-" Gwen paused as she looked down. "You got your cast off!"

Ellie chuckled. "Yeah, the other day. I thought it'd be a fun surprise."

"For sure. Everyone is in the living room." Gwen said, stepping aside and letting Ellie in. She stepped past, opening the door that Gwen pointed to. Everyone else was already here.

Patrick and Annabeth were sitting together on a couch. A little closer than normal, Ellie thought. Steven and Maple were sitting around a small dining table. Freya was sitting on a chair beside the TV. Freya stood up as she came in.

"Hey! You look so good! Is that the dress you bought way back when?" She asked as she gave her girlfriend a kiss.

Ellie nodded. "Yeah, I forgot I had it."

"You suit it." Freya smiled. Ellie looked around. Everyone was dressed up quite nicely. Freya was wearing a white skater dress using a piece of tinsel as a belt. Annabeth was wearing blue jeans and a plunge-neckline top. Maple was wearing a red and black jumpsuit. Patrick and Steven were both wearing jeans and a shirt, but it's the most effort Ellie had seen either of them put into looking nice. Maybe the girls influence was starting to rub off on them.

Ellie sat down on the floor next to Freya's legs. She adjusted herself to avoid accidentally flashing anyone when Patrick pointed at her. "Oh! Your leg!"

Ellie knew what he was talking about, but decided to act dumb just to be funny. "What about my leg? More to the point, why are you starting at my legs?"

"What? Oh, shut up. Your cast! You got it off?" Patrick said, going through a roller coaster of emotions.

Ellie laughed. "Yeah. Back to running marathons for me."

"Does this mean you can come back to cheer and ballet?" Freya asked.

"After the holidays. The doctor said if I can handle walking around in school all day, I should be good to handle dance." Ellie said.

"That's awesome!" Freya said, bending down to hug her.

"Yeah." Ellie said. When Freya let her go, she looked over to Patrick and Annabeth. "Speaking of awesome, when did this happen?"

Annabeth and Patrick looked a little stunned. "When did what happen? Nothing is happening." Annabeth blurted out.

Ellie laughed. "I was just joking, but thanks for telling us that something is happening. Just for the record, Patrick, you're punching way above your weight."

"I am not! I mean, no offence- Wait, no. What?" Patrick sat back in confusion.

"You've become a devious little shit, Ellie." Steven said, laughing. 

"This lot have been a bad influence." Ellie grinned. "So seriously, are you two...?"

Annabeth and Patrick looked at each other. "For a few weeks. We tried to keep it on the down-low, but I guess we were kinda obvious." Annabeth shrugged.

"Yeah, I noticed ages ago." Gwen shrugged, picking up a handful of chicken nuggets from a platter on the table.

"You can't hide anything in this group." Freya shrugged. "Me and Ellie tried to be discreet when we started dating. Lasted a whole for three days before they found out."

"You're all just super obvious. One day, you're acting fine and goofing around, the next you're either super awkward or way too intimate." Maple shrugged.

"Anyway..." Patrick said. "That's two couples in the group now. Which two of you three are gonna hook up?" He looked over at Steven, Maple, and Gwen.

Steven shook his head. "No offence, neither of you are my type."

"That's fine, I like my men like I like my coffee. Strong." Maple said.

"Yeah, you're a little scrawny for me." Gwen chuckled.

Steven looked a little offended, but laughed it off. "Good, glad we all agree then."

"Do you even have a type? The last girl I heard you were interested in was Freya and she's mine." Ellie said.

"I never liked her, I was just trying to provide some competition for you. Besides, Claire Davens is more my type. She's-" He started.

"Gay." Freya said.

"Fuck. Daisy?" He asked.

"Bi." Freya thought.

"There, someone I have a shot with." Steven said proudly.

"...And going out with Claire." Freya finished.

"FUCK!" Steven sighed. "My type is lesbians, apparently."

"We'll get you someone eventually." Annabeth laughed. "Who isn't gay and doesn't mind a scrawny kid."

Steven rolled his eyes. "Are we gonna play some party games or what?"

The group spent the rest of the night playing various different party games. They started with some games like Cards Against Humanity, which Gwen won twice, before playing other games like Mario Kart (Freya won, Patrick nearly broke a controller), Smash Bro's (Ellie won, Patrick nearly broke a controller), and Monopoly (Steven won, Patrick broke a controller).

As the night settled down, some people kept playing games whilst some just went back to chatting. Ellie lay across a couch, her legs over Freya's knees. Ellie had been watching Freya throughout the night, noticing that she looked a little dejected whenever someone brought up their Christmas plans. Ellie looked around to make sure everyone else was busy among themselves. She sat up, putting her head on Freya's shoulder.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Nothing." Freya shrugged. "A little tired, next door is renovating so I've been up since, like, eight."

"You sure that's all?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Freya asked, resting her head against Ellie.

"Every time someone mentions their Christmas plans, you look sad. I just... I wanted to make sure you were alright." Ellie said.

Freya went quiet for a second. "My family doesn't really do Christmas. We aren't religious and my mum and dad don't see a reason to celebrate it. I guess hearing what everyone is doing makes me a little sad sometimes. But it's nothing, it's not a big deal."

"Oh. Honestly, it's overrated." Ellie said, trying to make Freya laugh a little.

Freya chuckled. "Yeah, maybe when you've had sixteen."

"Sorry, I was just trying to make you laugh." Ellie said, immediately feeling bad.

"Look, it's fine. It's not that big a deal. I'd like to see what it's like at least once, but it's really not a problem. Just... Can we talk about something else?" Freya asked. Clearly it was a bigger deal than she was letting on, but Ellie decided not to press. Instead, the rest of the night was spent with more games, talking, and general enjoyment.