Tejas Lakmal was going to be on the other end of an abuse and battery charge if he did not turn off his loud earthshaking Christmas music at eleven p.m.

This was Solace's plan for the night. Wrap her gifts she had been storing underneath her bed for weeks now, watch a few episodes of a random sitcom, and sleep. She had ignored the drunken singing and song lyrics about rocking around the Christmas tree while completing her agenda. But the one thing Tejas would not mess with was her sleep. Solace required at least eight hours of sleep ever since that forsaken night.

It had been three days, and she woke up in cold sweats with the sound of her bones crunching and Sage's screams. She wondered if he was fairing any better. With her heart racing and her clothes sticking to her skin, Solace had considered going to him. To do what, she did not know. He was the only one who would understand, but her pride held her back. But she swore she had heard footsteps out her door for the last few nights. It was probably her mind playing tricks on her.

Tonight might be like the others, but she wanted to see it through. Malika, their landlord, was going to be no help as the elderly woman was fast asleep as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon. And since it got dark at five, that was saying something. Solace angrily threw on her sweatshirt, basically wrestling the thing on as she stepped into the hallway. It seemed like Emi had the same idea when her bedroom door swung open, revealing her roommate with a bedhead and an expression of a wet cat.

"I am going to kick his ass to the North Pole," seethed Emi as she stomped to the front door.

She nodded in solidarity, following her to across the hallway, and to no surprise, it was open. The smell of weed invaded her sense immediately. Rambunctious music boomed in her ears, red and green lights flickered from the ceiling to the point she felt vertigo come upon her. The small apartment was not as crowded as she assumed it would be with only a dozen folk smoking joints, chugging cheap beer, and committing acts that could only be considered as public indecency.

Solace kicked an empty eggnog jug out of the way, wrinkling her nose a disgust at the amount of deep cleaning the kitchen was going to require tomorrow. Emi and she gazed over at the living room where a vigorous and more than usual insulting game of charades took place. Sitting on the loveseat was mousy-faced Tejas's, and his loopy grin as he blew rings of smoke into a girl's face. The girl giggled, pushing her balayage hair out of her face and stealing the blunt from his fingers.

"Is getting second-hand high a thing?" muttered Solace to her best friend.

Emi gave her an incredulous look. "How would I know? The closest thing I've done to drugs is snorting pixie sugar in drama class," she remarked.

Before Solace had the chance to question her reasoning behind snorting sugar as if it was cocaine, a boy yelled. It was a voice she could never forget nor mistake for another. She could recognize his voice in a cacophony of millions.

She whirled her head around to see Sage swearing at a guy who she assumed was his partner. He flailed his hands in dramatic motions, clearly aggravated. What was he doing here? Now that she thought about it, she did not recall seeing him on his couch, snoring blissfully.

"What the hell is that supposed to be, Tony?" Sage demanded, running a hand through his hair. His partner, a short man with a ponytail and thin lips looked petrified. "You call that your best? Disgusting."

Tony was on the verge of tears as he earnestly acted out his prompt. He galloped as if he was on a horse, whipping his hand back and forth. It was a pathetic display of events.

"A knight?" guessed Sage. "Equestrian? Jousting?" With each guess, his voice rose, and Tony's lip trembled.

"Time!" shouted Tejas, holding up a miniature hourglass.

Sage huffed loudly, clearly upset over losing. "Nice going, Tony!"

"Be a little gentle," said the girl with the blonde highlights as she rubbed Tony's back as he sniffled. "He's sensitive when he's high, alright."

"Weakling," muttered Emi.

Solace chuckled at the boy breaking down as a result of an intense game of charades. Who knew the guessing game would bring along such tears? It was as if Sage suddenly heard the sound of her laugh when he turned in her direction. His eyes, strobed by red and green, grinned in her direction as he waved her and Emi over.

"What are you doing here?" he asked them when they were close enough.

She arched a brow. "We can ask you the same thing."

He smiled sheepishly. "I couldn't sleep after..." he faltered, glancing at Emi unsurely. She still didn't know what had happened, and Solace had every intention of keeping it that way. "After our visit to the dentist. I heard the music, so I came over to check it out. Tejas said I could stay, and how could I say no to free snacks?"

Solace rolled her eyes at his lie, but her heart lurched just the same when he revealed he couldn't sleep. The two of them were struggling, and neither could push away their pride and ask for help. It was a basic Solace and Sage thing to do. Never go to the enemy for help.

But the line of rival and friend and something else was becoming blurred.

Emi furrowed her brows. "You guys went to the dentist together?"

He shrugged, scratching his nose to hide his smirk. "Yeah, don't roommates visit the orthodontist together?"

"How come we don't go to health appointments together?" she questioned, smacking Solace in the arm.

Solace gave her a weird look. "I have an optometrist appointment coming up. You can tag along then," she assured.

Emi smiled contently.

Their conversation was cut short when Tejas announced, "Let's begin round three folks!"

Sage seized her hand, yanking her forward. "SoSo's my new partner," he told him. He raised her arm, smirking down at her widely.

Tejas squinted his eyes at her until recognition dawned on him. "My favourite neighbor! Of course, you can join!"

Solace frowned, slipping her hand away from Sage. She did not invade his party to join a charade game. She was here to shut it down. Turning her head to the side, she hoped to find Emi for support, but her roommate was now sitting between a group of girls playing a fierce game of Mario Kart.

"What about Tony?" she asked.

Sage waved dismissively. "He was a shitty partner."

Tony gasped. "I'm right here, man!"

"I know."

A laugh bubbled in her throat. "I don't know if working together is the best idea," she said to him. Sage and Solace were never on the same side. They were constantly pitted against each other, and that was how they liked it. Whenever they were partners, collateral damage ensued for anyone in close proximity. Their guidance counselor, Ms. Chen, would say they had enough animosity to end the world.

Sage nudged her arm. "I think we've been working together just fine recently. Give it a chance."

He wasn't exactly wrong. For the past few weeks, they worked side-by-side, and sure, insults and I-hate-you's were thrown mercilessly, but they had gotten things done. Besides, there was no point to going in bed if she was just going to wake up at three a.m. gasping for air and clawing at her blankets. Two days were left before Christmas Eve, and soon enough, her classes would start up, dousing her in feelings of misery. Might as well have fun when she could. So, she nodded and took a seat on the couch beside her partner.

One round wouldn't hurt.

Solace was wrong. She was sucked into several rounds. It was one a.m. by the time they were on the tenth round, screaming and laughing with cups of soda in their hands splashing over the rims.

Devyani, the balayage girl, stood in the center of the room, motioning to Tejas that her prompt had three words. Then, she began making weird motions with her hands, thrashing her legs up and down as her partner yelled various answers.

"Amateurs," whispered Sage into her ear.

"I couldn't agree more," she muttered back.

Their team was in the lead with six points. Solace and Sage worked like a well-oiled machine, getting the answer right every time. It was like they could read each other's minds. It wouldn't be them if there weren't any insults thrown around, provoking and threatening one another with bodily harm. But it worked because they were winning, and that was what mattered.

It wasn't long when the last piece of sand fell in the hourglass, and it was Sage's turn to act. He nodded at her as if he was going into war. "Let's take down these morons."

"No need to be rude," exclaimed Axmed, a Somali boy, who was severely losing with his partner Kit.

Sage simply smirked, plucking out a piece of paper with his prompt. Once he read through it, he turned to Solace, his game face hardening his features. She sat at the edge of her seat, beginning to analyze every movement he made.

He held up two fingers.

"Two words," she said out loud.

A nod confirmed her thoughts. Sage pretended to knock on a door, and he jumped sides as if he was opening the imaginary door. He feigned surprise, achieving a small laugh from her. He broke character just to smile back. Suddenly, he stepped back to the other side and clasped his hands in front of him, mouthing words and swaying side to side as if... as if he was singing a song.

"Caroler?" she shouted.

Sage tapped his nose, telling her she was close. He continued, ideas whirring in her mind.

"A Christmas Carol!" Solace said confidently, bouncing off her seat.

He held up two fingers again and then, bent over like he was an old man with a cane. Sage frowned deeply, waving his fictitious cane in the air. There was only one character that came to mind.

A smirk tugged at her lips. "Ebenezer Scrooge."

"Yes!" whooped Sage, running towards her and lifting her off her feet in a bear hug. She screeched in shock, laughing in a carefree manner as he swayed them around.

"Take that losers," chuckled Sage as he pointed at the rest.

Solace joined in on the bragging. "Maybe you all can ask Santa to leave some charade skills underneath the Christmas tree."

Sage snorted. "Nice one, SoSo."

Axmed tsked. "Screw y'all," he murmured, stomping into the kitchen, followed by a glaring Kit.

Devyani walked away as well, patting both of them on the shoulder and said, "You two are perfect for each other."

Solace's cheeks flared, stepping a few inches away from Sage as if he was poisonous.

Lastly, Tejas stumbled over to them. He wobbled on his feet. "I like you guys, but you're never invited for a game of charades ever again."

Fair enough.

Sage poked her in the side. "We make a pretty good team, don't we?"

No matter how hard she tried, she could not restrain her smile. "I guess we do," she confessed.

***

Author's Note:

Hello hello!

Fun fact, snorting pixie sticks was a real thing in my freshman year drama class in high school. It was so random. I had no idea why kids would do that.

Until next time – m.k.t