Secret Santa Fic for Trixie: I Hate This Christmas

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((Trix: Not best friends, but they have an established relationship, so I went with it.

Cuppy: Move this to the forum at the deadline so it's up right away.))

I Hate This Christmas

Adrianna didn't often just veg out in front of the television in the dorm, but the place seemed so empty right now. Her roommates were both off somewhere Ellie maybe with Jack and Levi undoubtably with his boyfriend. Her boyfriend had disappeared for the break, but Adrian wasn't going home. Instead, she'd ended up with a Mad Men marathon on TV. She wasn't really watching, but there was one line that stuck out to her. "I don't hate Christmas. I hate this Christmas."

Yeah, that's basically how she felt too. The holiday itself wasn't for a few more days, but she didn't think she'd manage to get into the spirit in time.

After a while, she had completely zoned out from the television, and was idly doodling on the cover of a notebook she'd left on the couch a few days earlier. (With classes over for the semester, everyone in the suite had been a bit more lazy about keeping it neat than usual, though Levi was still the worst about it.) She jumped when the door to the suite slammed shut, and looked up to see her suitemate Levi, obviously just in from outside. There were still snowflakes in his hair, and his coat was damp. "Hey Lev. How's the boyfriend."

"He's goooood." Levi had a big, stupid grin on his face as he brushed the snow from his hair and took off his coat, only to throw it over the back of a chair. "He's helping his dad out with something on the farm tonight, so he dropped me back here."

"Oh. You're lucky he's around for Christmas. My boyfriend went back to see his family." Even as she said it, she felt guilty. It wasn't fair to take out her bad mood on him.

The boy shrugged and flopped down in an armchair. "I wouldn't celebrate it at all if it wasn't for him. My family's Jewish."

"Sorry." Adrian was pretty sure she'd known that, but she still thought her roommate was lucky. "Are you going home to see them at all?"

"No." Levi's response was short, then there was a long pause before he added, "I get along best with my dad when I'm across the country and don't have to see him. He doesn't like metas."

"Oh. I'm sorry." This time, she really meant it. She sometimes worried if her mother hated her for leaving, but Adrian didn't think Amelia had a problem with metas. "I'm not going home either. Mom lives in California, and plane tickets are expensive...."

Her voice trailed off, and she had to pause a moment to keep her voice from wavering. She wasn't really close to Levi, but they did live together, and even if he did say something, she could deny it and everyone would believe it was just one of the crazy things he sometimes said. "She's really sick. Cancer."

"Oh. I'm so sorry to hear that." Levi sat up in his chair, and frowned, "It sucks you can't see her."

"Yeah."

For a long time, the only sound was the TV going. The Christmas episode was long over, but whatever was going on now had the characters in the show talking about the time difference to California.

"Does she have a laptop?" Levi asked suddenly. "Even if she doesn't, I bet someone at the hospital has one with a webcam. And mine has one built-in. You can borrow it, if you want."

"You don't have to do that, Levi. I talk to her every day." Adrian blushed, a little embarrassed.

"It's a Christmas present. Call the hospital or whoever and see if they can set her up with a computer with skype." The boy got up and went to his room.

Apparently, she wasn't able to turn him down, so Adrian pulled out her cell phone and called the nurse who took care of her mom. By the time Levi had his laptop set up in front of her, someone was helping her mom do the same thing. His laptop started beeping however.

"Agh, just one thing. Nomi's calling." Levi picked up the call, and a pretty young woman who was obviously his sister filled the screen. It looked like she was in a dorm room too. "Nomi, I can't talk right now. My roommate's going to borrow my account."

"Okay, Levi. I just wanted to remind you to call Nai Nai. She misses you." Nomi waved through the computer, "Hi, Levi's roommate! Happy Hanukkah. Or Merry Christmas. I hope he's not being a slob."

"Happy Hanukkah." Adrian couldn't help but grin and wave back from behind Levi. "Don't worry. He's not."

"Bye, Nomi!" And when she said goodbye as well, Levi closed the call. He turned to Adrianna, and she could see he was blushing a little. "Sorry about that. She stayed at college for the winter semester, so she isn't at home either. I'll call her tomorrow."

Again, the computer started beeping, and Levi scooted out of the way of the webcam. Adrian picked up the call, and smiled as her mother's face filled the screen. "Hey, Mom."

"Hey, Adrianna. I miss you."

"I miss you too, Mom." Adrian looked to the side as Levi's phone buzzed, and he started texting.

"What is that?"

"My roommate got a call. He's the one whose computer this is." She turned the computer a little so her mom could see him. "This is Levi."

The boy blushed and waved at the camera, then looked at Adrian. "Evan's coming back to pick me up, and I'm staying with him for the next few days. I'll text you my password. You can use my laptop all you want."

He got up to put his coat on again, then grinned at her. "Tell your mom I said Merry Christmas."

"Thank you, Levi. Happy Hanukkah." Adrian grinned back, then focused the laptop's camera back on herself, and picked up the notebook she had doodled on earlier. "He says Merry Christmas. And I wanted to show you some of my sketches..."

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