A/N: A present for the lovely I_Dream_Of_Hardyz! Hope you like it girlie .. it was really hard for me to not put "Woo Woo Woo, You Know It" somewhere in here ;)

Home For Christmas

Addie glanced at the time on the bottom of her computer screen for the hundreth time and sighed, standing up and heading into the kitchen. She began absentmindedly loading the dishwasher for lack of anything better to do, hoping the tedious chore would take her mind off of things. The door opened and her roommate danced into the apartment, tossing her books down on the couch.

"D-U-N DONE!" Cori declared, throwing her arms up in the air victoriously. "Let the party BEGIN!" She shimmied around until she noticed Addie's demeanor.

"Why so glum chum?" She asked, propping herself up on the counter and swinging her legs.

Addie shrugged, putting a bowl into the dishwasher while simultaneously checking her cellphone. It read the same as it had the last 10 times she'd checked it .. "No New Messages".

"No word?" Cori asked, her forehead wrinkled in concern. Addie shook her head, her ponytail swinging back and forth. "Aww Adds .. he said he'd be here, he'll be here."

"Yeah, I know. I just .. what if he's not?" She chewed on her bottom lip in worry as Cori grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit on the counter, tossing it from hand to hand, ignoring the question.

"Did you try to call him?"

Addie nodded, putting her cell on the counter next to Cori. "Voice mail."

"Did he have a show tonight?"

"Nope. Last show was .." Addie consulted the calendar that hung on the fridge. "The 21st."

"And when was the last time you talked to him?"

"Yesterday." Addie closed the dishwasher door and spun the dial, bringing the machine to life.

"And he said he was coming, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then he'll be here. Now come on, we have a party to throw in .." Cori checked her cellphone. "Five hours!"

Addie walked through the store, pushing the cart up and down the aisles as Cori tossed things in, allowing Addie to lose herself in her thoughts. Everything it seemed was bringing back memories .. the Christmas carol playing in the store was one Zack had sang obnoxiously while decorating the tree the year before, the cookie dough Cori picked was the same they had to scrub off the walls after getting into a food fight two Christmas Eve's ago.

"Hello? Earth to Addie!" Cori waved a hand across her roommates face, snapping Addie out of her memories.

"What?" Addie shook her head to clear her thoughts and gave Cori a weak smile. "Sorry."

"I asked if we should get eggnog?" Cori repeated, and Addie smiled despite herself. Just a few weeks ago she and Zack had gotten into a silly debate about the beverage, Addie taking the stance that it was vile while Zack argued that it was a treasured Christmas staple that should be served year-round.

"Of course. It's not Christmas without eggnog," Addie stated, echoing Zack's closing argument with a hopeful smile. Cori gave her a funny look and put the container in the cart.

The party was in full swing, their small apartment filled to near capacity with friends laughing and talking, sipping on drinks and enjoying the music that played overhead. Addie weaved in and out of conversations, refilling drinks and snack bowls, trying to play the perfect hostess, but her heart just wasn't in it. She had been trying to call Zack for the past two hours and had gotten nothing but his voice mail, now it was after 11 pm on Christmas Eve and still no word. She couldn't decide if she was more worried or angry and went through so many emotions every time she thought about it that it was making her head spin.

By 11:45 she had given up on being both a good hostess and an optimistic girlfriend, resigning herself to leaning against the doorway and sipping on apple cider while watching her friends having a good time. Her and Cori had a lot of single friends but all she could see was the couples together, holding hands or with their arms wrapped around each other.

"Stupid couples," she muttered, and nearly jumped out of her skin as a voice sounded behind her.

"Nah, it's just the dudes that are stupid usually."

Addie turned to see Zack's sheepish grin, his cheeks and nose red from the cold he had just come in from.

"Jesus you scared me!"

"Not Jesus, although you're not the first to notice the resemblance." He laughed as she almost knocked him over in her rush to hug him before remembering she was supposed to be mad at him.

"You didn't call or pick up your phone!" Addie declared, swatting him on the shoulder, and he winced, rubbing his arm. Why didn't you call?" Addie demanded, hands on her hips. Zack dug into his pocket to produce a cellphone, the screen completley dead.

"I may or may not have dropped it into a puddle this morning. And by that I mean totally did."

"I didn't think you were coming," Addie said softly, lowering her eyes. Zack stepped forward, completely closing the distance between them and wrapping an arm around Addie's waist.

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world babe. Besides, if I wasn't here, who would have kissed you under the mistletoe?" Zack asked, and Addie wrinkled her nose.

"There is no mistletoe Zack, Cori's allergic to it, remember?"

Zack winked and shrugged, leaning forward to kiss Addie softly and deeply.

"Who needs miseltoe?"

Woo Woo Woo .. I mean Ho Ho Ho?