Tea and Hot Chocolate

Winter break this year was a pretty entertaining one for a few reasons. For one, my brother’s friend’s cousin and his band played at our neighborhood’s Christmas party. I’d never been a fan of their genre of music, but that might not be the case anymore.

The Christmas party itself was just a fun gathering of all the families in the cul-de-sac where my family’s home is. It was a yearly tradition for about as long as I could remember, that apparently started well before I was born.

This time, there were almost one hundred people in attendance, since a group of eight or so families turned into friends and friend’s friends very quickly, but the more the merrier this time of year after all.

And for those wondering, I, Tea, was indeed serving hot chocolate this year as well. It had started as a yearly task of my dad’s before his back pain got worse, and now the responsibility had been passed on to me.

Despite all this fun, however, one of the most entertaining aspects of this year’s break was from my best friend and now roommate, Ria Klein. She was absurdly bad at avoiding any and all questions about relationships, and the neighborhood’s group of gossip reliant aunties had found their prey for the season.

They’d already essentially confirmed that something was going on, but the grilling for details had stalled with Ria’s stubbornness.

“You must know the specifics then, Tea.”

They’re new tactic was far too elementary for my professional level of gossip acquisition.

I handed them some hot coco, giving Ria a nod of encouragement before moving on, staying just in earshot so I could listen to the funny antics.

As much as Ria was struggling, she appeared to be enjoying the game to some extent. I guess it was her competitive nature kicking in, so that she couldn’t run away from the challenge of facing them head on.

As the band finished their song and started their break, I made my way over, handing them all some hot chocolate. None of them were my type, but I actually really did like the music a lot, and struck up a conversation with their singer, Josh.

He helped me find their music online, and I added some of the songs they just played into a new playlist, making a note to look for more of the genre later so I could build on it.

A couple of hours later, when the kids had gotten tired and their parents had taken them home for the day, myself, Ria, and my mom helped everyone who organized the event clean up.

“You survive?” I asked Ria, who seemed to have had a rough time with the challenge she’d taken on.

“Barely.”

Of course, I knew every detail of how things were going with Liam because of the time that we’d spent together so far over break, but I don’t think she intended to tell her family quite yet.

Maybe, if we were lucky, Liam might be here next year, having to deal with the aunties in Ria’s place.

As the last of the equipment was whisked away, Ria’s family and mine settled into a nice family dinner at her place.

This had also become a yearly tradition of ours, ever since Ria and I had become close friends when we were young. Each year we alternated which household would host, and we spent most of the evening after the neighborhood party together. Sometimes we would play board games or watch a movie together, but this year was spent chatting.

After all, a lot had happened for both of us in our time away from home, and our families were eager to listen to all of it.

Ria had gotten officially promoted to captain of the team, and I’d even heard about a few professional scouts that had been spotted at our games for her. As for me, I still wasn’t sure what my plans were.

Soccer was fun and all, but I don’t think I wanted to pursue it beyond college, and my work in culinary classes had been going very well.

Cooking was always a passion of mine, which was part of the reason I’d been open to serving hot chocolate this year. Even if there wasn’t much to it, seeing people enjoy the food I make is always a fun bonus.

The evening ended a little earlier than most years, since Ria was heading back to school first thing tomorrow morning.

I couldn’t help but wonder how much of that decision was based on the news that Liam would be returning in a few days, even if she claimed it was for training.

As the night was finally ending, and my family was getting up to leave, one final cheer rang out through the house.

“Merry Christmas!”