When I got upstairs, she’s nowhere to be found. Then I saw my front door unlocked. She was outside sitting in the front porch in the freezing cold weather without a coat. It started to snow too so I grabbed her coat and headed outside with mine.

I sat next to her and wrapped her coat around her. “Hey. You good?” I asked”. She zips up her coat. “Yea I’m fine,” she said. “It’s just the intense fumes of alcohol are giving me a headache. I just need some fresh air” “Ah I see” I said to her. We sat there for a good few minutes without talking. I finally broke the silence. “How’ve you been doing for the last few years? It’s been too long and I miss talking to you.” She said “Yea. I know and I’m so sorry for what I did and for not talking to you as much. I just want to focus as much as I can on my job and my studies. I finally got into medical school!”. I was thrilled. “Holy crap! Congratulations! I guess all the hard work paid off.” “Yes. But I feel guilty for not contacting you as much as before,” she said in a quiet tone. “Ah don’t worry about it. As long as you’re happy with what you’re doing, I’m happy.” 

We talked for a good half hour about what I’ve been doing for the past few years, how she’s a fan of my work and other random stuff. After that, the snow was starting to come down and we’re shivering. “Let’s go inside and warm up,” I said to her. “Coffee?”. “It better be starbucks. I hate the cheap crap” Angela said in a comedic way. I laughed. “I guess things haven’t changed after so many years. 

We had our coffee. Such a nice way to warm ourselves up. “Since everyone else is still downstairs drinking, I’m thinking of making a soju cocktail for them.” I said. Her eyes widened. “Oh my god. I always wanted to make your soju cocktails. Can you teach me?”. Of course I can’t say no. I taught her how to make it and I gotta say, she’s a very fast learner. “I’m actually impressed,” I said to her. “You think I was that bad?” she asked with a stern face. “No. I mean, I thought” I lost my words. She laughed. “I’m just fucking with you”. I sighed. I grabbed the pitchers. “ I’ll just go downstairs and drop those guys off to them.”

When I got back up,she was just resting in the living room. I sat beside her. Brought us our coffees. “Do you think we can have something like this again?” she asked me. Looking in my eyes. “Of course,” I said. “Why do you ask?” She looked away. “Because I don’t want this to be right now. Where I only talk to people that I care so much on a yearly basis”. I said to her “I know that you wanted to focus on work. I understand. We’ll always be there when you need to talk or hang out.” She looked back at me. “I know. I’ll try to keep everyone in touch. I just miss everyone” She’s starting to cry. “I miss you”. I was flattered and starting to shiver even though I’m not cold. I wiped her tears with my hand. “I miss you too. I’m always here. I promise.” I looked into her eyes. She has the most beautiful hazel eyes I’ve ever seen. I feel like those eyes are getting closer. But she’s closing her eyes. I know for a fact now that she’s feeling the same way as I’m feeling. It feels like we’re going to kiss. But right before that, there was a loud scream in the basement.

“Yes! I won!!” said Chloe. There was a loud thump too. That scared the shit out my Angela and I. We ran downstairs. “What the hell is happening?” I said to everyone. Chole is slurring her words making it very difficult to understand. “We’re playing uno and Shawn passed out on the floor”. At least nothing was broken. I looked at the time. It’s 10:30. “It’s getting late. You guys should get going.” I said to them. “Before we go, we should take a group photo,” said Shawn mumbling. We gathered around for the photo. Some of us are tipsy and some of us are drunk. But it was a great photo regardless. Some of my friends that are somewhat functional helped me clean up the basement. 

When we got out, it snowed so much that I had to shovel, 10:30 at night! Either way I had to do it because it would be hard for Angela to get out the driveway. After a quick shovel I helped everyone that was piss drunk into her car. Angela started the car and we cleared down the snow from her hood. Before she cleared the windows where the passengers could see, she hugged me, tightly. “Thank you for having us over and thank you for being a part of my life. I’ll miss you” said Angela. Trying not to cry. “I’ll miss you too,” I said to her softly. “Promise you’ll keep in touch with me.” “Promise”. She drives home, slowly in the snowy weather.

Before I head to sleep, I got a text from her “Just wanted to let you know that I got everyone home safely. I just got back home”. I texted “Nice. Thanks for coming and sweet dreams”. “You too” she said with a heart emoji in the end. With the picture of us on the side of my night stand, and wrapping myself with a blanket like a burrito, I passed out knowing that tonight was a good night and a night to remember.