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I had been having strange
dreams all weekend and I only remembered bits and pieces of the one
I had last night. They weren't particularly scary, but I still felt
panicked when I woke up. Something bad had happened, someone was
injured but I'm not quite sure who. I remembered getting an ice
pack out for something urgent but didn't know why and then tying
off something, not sure what. It was confusing, nothing made sense.
Maybe because my last encounter with Jett didn't make any sense.
The kiss felt real, but it also felt final. If it was final why
bother taking me home? He could have just let everything lie and
that would have been that, we wouldn't have dated again. Why drive
me home, lay a couple on me, make my heart flutter and never call
again?? What’s with that?

I rode the bus to school
with Declan and he tried to bring up the Cale situation but I
stopped him and we didn't talk the rest of the way to school. I
felt numb about the whole situation; I was hoping last Friday was
all just a bad dream. The bus pulled into the parking lot and
Declan said, “We should probably talk at lunch to try and decide
what we're going to do.” I was too tired to argue. We got off the
bus and went our separate ways.

I didn't see Jett at all
that day. Wrestling practice was over until after the first of the
year, although the wrestlers were supposed to run and do stairs
every day while on Christmas break. I thought of Jett running in my
head, he always looked good and made me feel relaxed, happy. Two
more days of school and then I could sleep in for two weeks. All I
had to do was stay awake today.

I didn't catch Jett at all
this week. I even took the stairwell next to his locker but didn't
see him. Declan and I never did talk at lunch about what we were
going to do, I was hoping it was all blown way out of proportion
and we could just let it go.

A week into our break and
still no word from Jett, pretty much what I expected but I was
hoping. I was worried too much had happened, and that night he
dropped me off was a jumbled mess in my head.

I was trying to focus on
other things at hand like our Christmas party at the Club tonight.
Tori knew what had happened with Jett to date, because we were
confiding in each other more and more these days. Since she felt
bad for me, she told me she'd do my hair and make-up for me. She
even had me polish my nails and give myself a pedicure. We spent
the whole day getting ready. I didn't mind because I had nothing
else to do. My mom had made me a dress just for the
occasion.

When I was finished getting
ready, I thought I looked too dressy for the occasion. However,
Tori reminded me my look was just fine for the Club, you could
always find someone dressier than you there. Plus, they hosted lots
of weddings and black tie events, it's not like I was going to
change at this point.

When you looked at the dress
from the front, the top looked like a mock turtleneck and it
buttoned with two buttons behind the neck. Below the collar in the
back, however, it was bare to my waist. The shape came down in a
“V.” The skirt just passed my knees and buttoned all the way down
the back. It was long sleeved. I had a black belt with some silver
charms and jewels on the buckle. The fabric was black with a silver
pattern of un-perfect shapes throughout. I had continually told my
mom I could use something a little sexier, but I felt bare. It
covered everything it should, but I still felt au naturel, but it
looked amazing. Tori even said she gets to wear it next, so you
know it had to look good.

We always carried our coats
to the car. Styling your hair, pulling on tight hose and putting on
make-up can really make you warm. My dad always valet parked so we
were let out at the front door.

We were ready, although I
was thinking about wearing my coat all night after I’ve cooled off.
My mom asked my dad to stop at 7/11 so we could pick up some
aspirin. He didn't ask why, he just did it. When we got there, I
knew she would ask me to run in, Tori never wanted to and Kit was
too young. I was always the gopher, but didn't mind.

Of course, some obnoxious
boys were saying stuff to me when I went in. I knew I should have
thrown my coat on. “Oh baby you are smokin'!” One of them said as I
reached over for the aspirin. I turned around ready to say
something smart, but stopped myself because low and behold, it was
Jett McGaven in person, with his friend Declan and some other guy.
The other guy was the one yappin' his jaws, I believed his name was
Brett.

Declan gave off a whistle
and laughed, walked toward me and said “Addie you are smokin' hot!”
He put both hands on my elbows gently and gave me a kiss on the
cheek. I saw Jett moving forward in silence, just looking at
me.

“Where are you going looking
so fine may I ask?” Declan sounded like he was trying to be cool in
front of the guys. “The Club.” I replied.

“Oooh, the Country Club.” he
said whistling again, “going to a wedding?”

“No, it’s a Christmas
dinner.”

“Wow Jett, you didn't tell
me your girlfriend was rich! Aren't you gonna say hi to her – it's
not like you're sick anymore.” Brett snarked.

“We’re not rich” I looked at
Jett concerned “You were sick? Are you okay?” I squeezed by Declan
and leaned in to give Jett a kiss on the cheek and said “Merry
Christmas.” I was in formal mode. In my family, we greeted everyone
with hugs and kisses
.
Jett had put his hand
on my waist and gave me a peck on the cheek back and whispered “You
do look really nice” and let his hand linger there.

He cleared his throat and
asked “Are your parents outside?”

“Ah yeah, they're waiting
for me.” I held up the bottle of aspirin and went to purchase it.
The three of them went out to my parents' car.

“Nice Caddy Mrs. Geller”
Declan stated as she rolled down her window.

I walked out and heard my
mom asking “Where have you been Jett? You must come over again you
know I love to cook big and I know you're a big eater.” He smiled
and introduced his friends; I saw them shaking hands with her
through the window. Jett replied “I'll come back again, I just had
the flu recently.”

“He was way sick, too.”
Declan commented. “He was hospitalized, had blood transfusions and
everything.”

“I'm sorry to hear that
dear, but I'm glad you're better. I'll see you boys soon then.” She
put her window back up and I said, standing behind Jett, “Is that a
promise?” Jett just smiled and opened my door for me.

The next few days were very
restless for me. I wasn't sleeping well and I was having dreams
that made absolutely no sense. I couldn't even piece anything
together in order to write them down. Jett wasn't calling me but
neither was Nic. I knew Nic had lots of holiday plans. We on the
other hand have no family in the area, so now that Christmas Day
was here we had no more parties until New Years. Tonight is our
family dinner, just the five of us, but mom still makes us dress up
and set the table formally.

Our dinners are always fun. Last year my
Grandma was with us and we ended up playing poker, which I never
knew how to play until then. We also hung spoons on our noses,
Grandma was pretty good at it, she’ll be missed.

Tori and I got ready and wore nice jeans with
a dressy top. My mom didn't say anything to us when she saw us, we
swore she'd make us change, but she didn't. Tori and I gave each
other a high five when we went into the dining room to set the
table. Kit came in with a jacket, pants and a tie on, looked at us
and said, “I'm telling mom!”

“Go ahead, she already saw us bird brain,”
Tori retorted. His eyes went wide and he went running for his room.
When he re-appeared he had on a pair of jeans, no jacket and no
tie. We got a little giggly.

Just then, I heard my mom
yell to my dad, “It's 3:00!” Three o'clock on special occasions
around our house meant cocktail hour. Shortly thereafter she would
call us kids to help carry food into the dining room, dad was in
charge of opening the wine. I noticed my dad never had more than
one drink, he mostly just drank diet soda. Today he was pouring
wine for everyone even my brother. Of course, it was a very small
portion, only a sip or two. The legal drinking age in Ohio was 18,
but they have been talking about changing it to 21, just like in
the big cities, I hope they wait to change it ‘til after Nic and I
turn 18.

My dad ordered this special
salt cured ham and he was very excited to try it, so he was in a
good mood, hence the wine for everyone. We were staying home
tonight and we would probably make popcorn later. We said grace and
my dad jumped into carving the ham up straight away. My mom made a
small turkey too, in case the salty ham didn't go over well. As the
conversations went on, I just stared out our window, looking at all
the snow, then wondered if I could see any kind of prints or tracks
in the snow by the dirty slide, curious to know if some of my other
dreams may be true.

My dad started “Now everyone
has to try a piece of the ham, it's from Alabama and supposed to be
very good. However, if you don't like it, don't waste it, send it
down here and I'll eat it. “He said with a big grin rubbing his
belly.

We dished out food until all
our plates were packed. My mom stood up and announced “I would like
to offer up a toast to thank Santa Claus for all the wonderful
gifts, to a great family and to another wonderful year! Oh and the
ham, and the wine to drink first, before trying the ham!” Everyone
giggled a little bit, and then we all clinked glasses. My whole
family had a sense of humor and I liked it. “Would anyone else like
to make a toast?” My sister shouted out “To sex, drugs and
rock-n-roll!” Us kids laughed and my dad said “Here,
here!”

My mom didn't like it at
all, “Tori! Sean! You two are terrible and that better have been a
joke Tori!” She even stomped her foot. “It was mom! All the rock
stars say that – it was a joke.” My mom pursed her lips together,
letting herself be beat.

The ham was not bad at all,
it was actually very tasty. My sister chugged her first glass of
wine, I had only drank half but she poured more for both of us and
our mom. Kit put his hand on top of his glass, shaking his head and
scrunching his face notifying us he didn't like it at
all.

I'm not a good joke teller,
but when everyone told a joke I tried one too. My delivery was just
not good. After the joke telling we all proceeded to hang spoons on
our noses. Tori finished her wine and then switched glasses with
Kit and finished his, then emptied the bottle in her cup. My dad
poured some of the second bottle in his glass and poured more for
Tori. He said “Make sure you eat,” and gave her a little wink. My
brother told another joke that made Tori start laughing so hard she
couldn't stop, which in turn made all of us laugh more. She picked
up her glass of wine to take another drink and my mom went to grab
it from her. Still laughing, she had tears running down her face,
as did we all, but Tori snatched it back and said “No way!” My mom
got up and chased her around the house trying to get the wine out
of her hands.

We were all laughing. My
sister went through the den and out the sliding door, but my mom
paused to put her shoes on so Tori got ahead of her. Tori chugged
her wine, slammed her glass on the rail and ran down the porch
stairs to the side yard, no coat, no shoes where she proceeded to
do snow angels - face down. We all started laughing harder; my
sister always did crazy stupid things that would make us laugh
uncontrollably. I bet our parents thought she was drunk, but I
betcha she wasn’t, she was just being Tori. My mom made Kit and I
go collect her. We laughed for a long time about it. My sister had
to change her clothes, they were soaked. Before I headed back up
the porch stairs I looked over to the entrance of the dirty slide
and noticed someone or something had been over there and my heart
began to race, as I walked a little closer to investigate, I began
to relax because I realized it could have been Kit or anyone for
that matter. I found nothing substantial to connect anything to my
dreams.

That night I had another
'makes no sense dream' but some things were clearer, so when I woke
up at 3:17a.m. I wrote down the clues I thought I remembered; Sand
Run Park, walking path,
rocks that formed a huge cubby hole
big enough to take cover under, a b
londe girl in a
red coat and a guy in a white hooded sweatshirt.

I didn't want to have
another boring day so I called Nic and asked her to meet me at Sand
Run Park. I thought I could look around and see if I recognized
anything, hoping I would stop having this weird dream that kept me
from sleeping. She agreed.

I brought a bag with some
food and a blanket and got there about Noon, or close to it. Nic
wasn't there yet, so I was surprised when my mom didn't wait with
me. I plopped my bag that was slung over my shoulder down on a
table under the covered pavilion, it had a great stone fireplace in
it and several picnic tables that looked worse for the wear but
still sturdy. I looked around and saw a path that had an immediate
curve going around a steep hill. I thought I recognized it, so I
walked over toward it. A directional sign looked familiar; after I
read the sign 'Valley Trails' I felt the onset of déjàvu. My body
shivered thwarting me into the eeriest feeling I’ve ever had, I
didn’t like it but knew what it meant.