Meet Me Under The Mistletoe ✔

"Twas the night before Christmas, a woman was sitting down still, her face so pale, looking tired and ill, she didn't know how it felt to be alone at Christmas time, all she had was the silence of the telephone line..."

Katie Jameson had never felt so alone, since the events from last year's festivities when she walked in to spot her at the time boyfriend kissing another woman at a function really had ruined the whole meaning of celebration for her. Since then, she had found a new place to call her own, some sort of a job that helped to pay the bills and at least one friend in the mysterious Tracy who was engaged to her childhood best friend.

On the other hand, Katie had tried to be happy for her friend Tracy by helping her to go dress shopping just a few weeks previously but in her heart, she was torn. As a little girl, she always thought about her wedding day and on the predicating cards, it looked like it was never going to happen to her.

The skin on her arms and shoulders had never been so white. There was no Christmas tree in her flat, only some sparkly tinsel on one of the walls in the living room above a photo frame. For Christmas Day, there would be no roast dinner to look forward to.

"Why does it always have to be me in this position?" sighed Katie as she started to flick through the channels on her television, "No family to fall back on and certainly no guy to call my Prince Charming."

At twenty-seven years old, Katie was getting on a bit for marriage well, at least in her family she was. Her two older sisters had got married when they were in their twenties and even Katie's younger sister got married when she was twenty-one! The only one out of the four girls in the family that was single.

"My parents are soppy brats some of the time." she growled quietly to herself. Since the fact that Katie was single, they didn't acknowledge her and all of Katie's emotions were tearful and broken down like glass shreds. No birthday card from them, no present, not even a single phone call.

Katie's stomach rumbled from deep within that told her that she needed to get off her backside and go and eat something. But with very little in the fridge that was eatable, where was she going to get food from?

"Yuck!" she exclaimed as she picked up a loaf of bread, "That's gone green and moldy!"

Her immediate response was to chuck it in the bin and shut the lid down fast to stop the smell from seeping out and stinking the whole flat out overnight. If anyone was to come round, they wouldn't get a pleasant welcome.

"I'd guess I better call Tracy and see if she can go and pick up some food for me." she sighed as she grabbed the phone and dialed her number. The tone rang and rang before it finally got picked up on the other end.

"Katie?" asked Tracy, "Thank goodness you've called! I'm having a little do round my house to celebrate the upcoming wedding, there will be plenty of food and drink on offer if you want to come."

Katie opened her mouth to respond but quickly closed it again. Free food and drink was very tempting but to go and celebrate an upcoming wedding? She wasn't the type of person that could hurt people's feelings but there was no way that she was going to face more wedding talk from her friend.

Taking a deep breath, she replied, "Sounds good Tracy but I can't make it. I'm meeting up with my younger sister." A lie that had just rolled off the top of her tongue.

Katie could hear her friend sigh with disappointment down the phone, "Suit yourself Katie, I'll call again later."

"Fine. Bye." she replied and hung up before she could hear Tracy's voice again. In total frustration, she threw the phone towards the flat door in the hope that it could get broken and that she could go and change her number to something else.