Remember this?

Okay, "Eggnog Between Friends" was I think the second or third piece I ever posted on and...well, lets just say it was not exactly my best. It was short, underdeveloped, and kind of juvenile. Plus I think I cussed too much. However, I felt fairly satisfied with its successor ("Champagne Between Friends") and felt like it needed a better opener. Therefore, I decided to give this story another go-around. I edited, lengthened, and tried to snip out some of the foul language. In the end, I came up with...

THIS.

So for first-timers and those who read the first version, I now present to you this little holiday ditty, an early present from yours truly, "Eggnog Between Friends." It is set back in the previous season, sometime in December (obviously) after Weddings, Parties, Anything, but before Together Forever. I do drop a bad word in there every now and then, hence the T rating, but everyone keeps their clothes on, so don't worry. Enjoy! Oh, and I don't own Degrassi!

To start off with, Ellie Nash might not be a lot of things.

Now admittedly, to some this proclamation might seem an understatement, but we aren't going to concern ourselves with them. It is with Ellie herself that our focus lies, as they are her own shortcomings we speak of. She had come to accept her own such...issues with time, plentiful (at least to her) as they seemed to be. However, this is not to say that our dear Ellie was a girl with nothing going for her. Though that might have seemed to be her take on the situation presented more than once, it simply was not true. Because, as is the case with most people, this little lady did possess one secret talent. Ellie might not be able to sing or tap dance or flail about in intricate circles on ice-skates, but she sure was one helluva liar.

Not quite the thing one might win a medal for, but handy nonetheless.

Lying though, she quickly realized, was not quite the sort of aptitude one chose to flaunt. Take for example if you would, Craig Manning. Now, Craig was a classmate of hers (obviously, painfully, nothing more), and had proven himself to be a pretty skilled liar right around this time last year. Fluffy scarves, vintage Ramones t-shirts...ringing any bells? Precisely, and just look where that got him. No, Ellie preferred to avoid such a downfall (though honestly, how much further down could she go?), and keep her gift under wraps, lest those around her start doubting her ever word.

Because if they did know, people would be astounded at the ease and skill with which she constantly professed these untruths. She did it without batting an eyelash, without a second's hesitation, and never with a single doubt. It came as naturally as breathing to her.

She lied to everyone in group ritually. She soon figured out that therapy was so much easier that way, when you just had to pretend that you were getting better rather than actually having to make an effort. Just part your lips, open your mouth and let the niceties flow.

"Everything was going great for her! Not a single new cut in months! Look, she could even wear short sleeves now! She finally realized she couldn't control her pain with more pain!"

After all, no one could see the fresh wounds on her thighs through the denim of her jeans. God bless winter for banning the army of fishnets she owned to the bottom of her sock drawer.

She lied to Jimmy the second he started showing an interest in her as something more than a friend. It was ridiculously simple to almost blush and mumble sweet tales to Marco about the nights the two band mates spent together, cuddled close on his couch and watching that painfully optimistic Christmas-time classic, "It's a Wonderful Life" over his million-dollar home entertainment system. Ridiculous, of course, because she could say these sorts of things when there was absolutely no meaning behind them.

"She has so much fun with Jimmy! He is such a great guy! You know, she might be really starting to develop strong feelings for him!"

And who cares if it was Craig's face she imagined whenever they touched. I mean damn, why did she have to be so cliché?

She lied to her father whenever he could manage the time to drop her a call from base to wish her a Merry Christmas. Now these lies...these in particular weren't as easy to spill as the rest, and sometimes her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth when she tired to converse with his tired voice. God, saying those things to him hurt more than anything, but she knew that these were the stories that mattered the most.

"Mom and her were really starting to work things out! There wasn't a drop of alcohol in the entire house! Oh gosh Dad, don't laugh, but they were going Tuesday to look for a Christmas tree!"

Actually, Ellie had stopped concerning herself with whether or not her mother drank herself into a stupor. If mommy dearest didn't care about ruining her life, why should she?

Most of all though, Ellie lied to herself. Lies to herself were easier to tell, but harder to believe. After all, the people who she usually fed fibs to might tend to be a tad bit skeptical on occasion, but for the most part they believed her. Nothing insulting their intelligence, but they just didn't know any better. She, on the other hand, knew firsthand what sort of an untrustworthy person she was dealing with, and therefore the tales were just a bit harder for her to swallow. Everyone knew that Ellie Nash didn't take crap from anyone. It was just hard when she couldn't take it from herself.

"She didn't need anyone's help. Nothing was wrong with her. No one understood what she was going through, and even if they could, no one would care."

All it took was a couple conversations in her head before she could shut her eyes and fall asleep at night. Some things are just better left unsaid.

Of course, she might have been a cynic for about as long as she had been able to define the word, but she hadn't always been a liar. As a matter of fact, at first, she hated lying...

Well wait, no, that's not true. To be more specific, she hated lying to certain people. As for the others, hell, she would have told Manny Santos complete and utter bullshit until she was blue in the face and it wouldn't have fazed her a bit. But Marco? And her father? Those two men meant the world to her, and the fact that she could lie to their face (or their voice, in the case of her Dad) and have them wholeheartedly believe the falsehood she had just fed them hurt.

But at least in Marco's case, the pain grew weaker in time, fainter and fainter until she only felt the slightest tinge of regret when she told him yet another ludicrous excuse. Sorry pal, but she couldn't go caroling with him because her mother and her were actually going to try and attempt making Christmas cookies that didn't taste like burnt rubber. Ha ha, laugh all you want you little elf, but she saw those pictures of you in a red and green apron with your Ma from last year. Yeah, shut him up.

In the back of her mind, though, a little part of her wanted to wrap her fingers tightly around his arm and hold on for dear life, wanted to scream at the top of her lungs right into his face, "Don't you know me Marco? Don't you know me better than this? Don't you know I'm lying? Stop me, help me, please!" But she had to swallow it down, had to push it away, because no, he didn't know her, not anymore.

And there it was again, yet another subconscious lie.

The guilt was fleeting though, and she had soon figured out an antidote for any attack of such an emotion that she might happen to experience. It was simple enough. Just keep lying. Just fake a smile, (a small, sarcastic smirk, of course). A toothy grin would have sent out a red alert that this girl was not at all herself. Quirk an eyebrow, throw out the expected snide comments and let everyone think she was okay.

Well, at least as okay as Ellie Nash could be.

Besides, who would really care if she wasn't anyways? Not him, that much she could be certain of.

No, shut up, stop it! She couldn't, she wouldn't think about that boy, because he sure as hell wasn't thinking of her. Anyway, she had more important things to worry about than stupid boys and slutty girls. She had Marco's Christmas party sneaking its nasty little way up on her in the near future, looming ominously around the corner with all of its disgusting promises of holiday cheer. Yeah, she had better focus her worries on how the hell she was going to manage to get herself out of that one.

Reviews would be lovely, especially in this season of giving!