Great music, great food, and the perfect outfit. Tori’s party should have been a blast, and it was, but I still ached for Jesse.

He should have been there with me, his arms around me as we danced and laughed and spent Christmas Eve together.

But he was hundreds of miles away, stuck in a different state. And tomorrow, I’d be the one gone, far away until school started again.

I wondered what he was doing. Maybe sleeping and hoping to wake up in the morning to an airport that was up and running again.

Making my way through the crowd in Tori’s cleared-out living room, I found somewhere to sit that wasn’t full.

The stairs.

Tori’s mom peeked down at the party and gave me a wave. I smiled and waved back, and then she disappeared again. According to Tori, her parents were making mandatory checks every twenty minutes to make sure nothing crazy was happening down here, but it was safe to say they had nothing to worry about.

Most of the people in our grade were here tonight, but the only thing making them loud and wild was the over-consumption of sugar and soda.

I checked the time on my phone. My flight left tomorrow at noon, and I didn’t want to get home too late. Other than wanting to hang out with my friends, I wasn’t really in the mood for a party.

When Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas” reached my ears, my heart ached even more.

At the moment, Tori had her arms wrapped tight around Noah. They made me smile. Those two were the cutest pair ever.

Except for maybe Harper and her boyfriend, Emerson. They’d been going strong since the summer, and even though he was kind of rough around the edges—a classic bad boy—he seemed to have a heart of gold.

Lena’s boyfriend was missing too, but the way she was currently video recording herself lip-syncing to Mariah Carey made me think she was making the best of her boyfriend’s absence.

Rey laughed at Lena from the snack table and took a bite of her Christmas tree cookie.

The sound of someone knocking made me turn toward the front door. Tori was too far away to possibly hear, so I stepped off the stairs.

I opened the door, and a couple of guys stood there.

“Hey,” one of them said. “I’m Hugo. My sister, Rey, invited us to swing by.”

This was Rey’s brother? I’d seen him around school last year, and then I remembered her saying he had graduated in May.

“Hi,” I said. “Come on in.”

His friend gave me a smile, and they both walked in. I eyed him, wondering if this was Rey’s infamous crush. He was definitely cute.

“Rey’s over there somewhere,” I said, pointing to the snack table.

They nodded and left. I closed the door and made my way back to my spot, where I could observe the party and maybe keep on wishing Jesse was here.

A few minutes later, Rey came over. “Hey,” she said, sitting down beside me.

“Hey,” I said, smiling. “Did you see your brother and his friend?” I asked with a wink.

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m surprised they came, actually. Seeing as how they’re in college now and all.”

She fidgeted with the napkin in her hand.

“Your brother’s friend is cute,” I said, trying not to sound too amused.

Rey did something between a scoff and a cough. After a minute, she recovered. “What about you? Why are you all lonely over here?”

I gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Not lonely, really. Just…”

“Wishing Jesse was here?” she finished for me.

I nodded.

She leaned her head on my shoulder. “Sorry he couldn’t make it.”

We sat there like that for a few minutes, and then Rey sat up. “Uh oh. Where’s my journal?”

I looked around. “Did you have it with you when you got here?”

She stopped to think. “I can’t remember. I better go look for it.”

With that, she was gone, leaping off the steps like a pixie.

I wondered what was in her journal that had her so anxious. Then the doorbell rang again. Perhaps I needed to find a spot where I wouldn’t have to serve as the butler.

Sighing, I walked over and flung open the door.

A familiar face smiled back at me, his hands in his pockets as he shivered from the cold.

I gasped and immediately closed the distance between us, my arms going around his neck. “Jesse,” I breathed. “What are you doing here?”

I pulled away, and he stared down at me.

“I thought you were stuck in New York,” I said, wondering how this was even possible.

He took my hands in his, and then I remembered that he was still out there in the cold. I dragged him in and closed the door behind him. “Where’s your jacket?” I asked.

“I forgot it,” he said sheepishly.

Then I led him to the kitchen, where I could actually ask him all my questions without having to yell.

I turned to him. “How are you here right now?” I asked with a laugh.

He leaned back on the counter. “Somehow, the weather got better not long after I texted you. Better enough that they resumed flights. I was going to tell you, but I thought this would be more fun,” he confessed.

I hugged him, and he did the same, pressing his head into my shoulder. “I missed you,” I whispered.

“Me too,” he said quietly. “I really thought I wouldn’t get see you. You don’t know how bummed I was about that.”

Same, I wanted to say. But at that moment, I didn’t want to say anything. I just wanted to feel him against me and breathe in his scent, touch his hair.

And get enough of that in to make up for the next two weeks.

“I have to go home in a couple hours,” I said, sad all of a sudden. How was I sad even though this had been the best gift ever?

Jesse leaned down toward me, his lips slowly pressing against mine. “Let’s make the most of it then,” he uttered.

I kissed him, deepening our kiss and letting him know that I completely agreed with his idea.

After a few minutes, we pulled away, and he took my hand. The sound of the music in the living room carried all the way in here. “Can I have this dance?” he asked.

I smiled. “You can.”

Then he led me back to the party.