Sanders Sides Short Stories

Merry Christmas

Eight hours after they had been expected to arrive Thomas gave up any hope he had left and trudged upstairs, feeling defeated and rather hurt. His friends had abandoned him in Christmas day and not even bothered to let him know they wouldn't be coming. Thomas couldn't believe he would have neither friends nor presents this Christmas.

Fine then - he wouldn't want presents from his so-called 'friends' if they thought it was fine to treat him like this. Thomas had bought each of them presents, offered to cook Christmas dinner for everyone and been so excited to see them again over the holiday. And not one of them had even contacted him.

Thomas paused. He hadn't actually checked his phone today, as he had been preoccupied with decorating and watching The Office bloopers. Thomas felt in his pockets and sighed as he realised he'd left his phone upstairs. So he heaved himself up once again from the couch and trudged upstairs, the enthusiasm he'd felt yesterday having ebbed away as the day had progressed into disappointment.

He found the phone lying on the bed. Thomas remembered tossing it there right before he'd hurried into the bathroom to sort himself out. Thomas felt like tossing himself onto the bed but just sat down and reached for the phone. The screen lit up and he found he had two messages.

Perhaps they hadn't all decided to not tell me they weren't coming, Thomas thought hopefully as he checked the texts.

Hey kiddo, can't wait to see you tomorrow!

Thomas blinked at Patton's message. Could Patton have mixed up the dates? Looking back, there was absolutely no way Patton would intentionally leave Thomas with no warning that he wouldn't be coming over. Thomas decided he'd let Patton know as gently as possible that Christmas was already over. But first he checked the other message, this time from Roman:

Cannot wait to see you again my friend on such a marvellous occasion! See you tomorrow! P.S. I'm bringing Frozen, this is the perfect opportunity to force you all to watch it.

Two people? Two of his friends had mixed up the dates for such an important day. How on earth was that even possible?

Then Thomas had a though. No. It couldn't be. Thomas sucked in his breathe and checked the calendar on his phone... And immediately felt like punching himself in the gut.

It was Christmas Eve. Christmas day was tomorrow. He'd been freaking out for no reason at all.

**********************************************

Patton pressed the doorbell and waited patiently outside Thomas' apartment. He was dressed in a beige coat that covered a blue and white sweater that had little cats and dogs sewn into it which he'd received many compliments for - mostly from Roman as he'd helped Patton make it. A cotton bobble hat sat on his head and Patton struggled with the two enormous bags he'd packed with presents and food.

Only seconds after the bell had rung the front door was flung open and Patton was surprised to see a very delighted and messy Thomas standing there.

"Patton! It's so great to see you!" he said, and Patton thought he sounded very glad about it.

"It's great to see you too, kiddo, merry Christmas!" cried Patton. Then he gestured vaguely at Thomas' hair. "Err, you look a little..."

Patton trailed off but Thomas got the message and sighed. "Yeah, I know my hair's a mess. And the rest of me. Come in, come in, just give me a sec to sort myself out, won't you? You're a little early, y'know."

Thomas helped Patton with his bags and together they went into the living room where Patton spent a good few minutes gazing in awe at the little Christmas tree with the tiny star on top. When Thomas had his back turned trying to figure out where to put the presents (he could hardly put them under the tree) Patton took a sharpie lying on the coffee table and drew a little mouth and two dots for eyes on the star.