In the picturesque town of Winter Grove, broken-hearted college student Celeste has to team up with lone wolf Sterling for a fake relationship in hopes of making her ex-boyfriend jealous and saving her Christmas.
---
Overachieving college student Ce...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Celeste
The Snowball's Chance was Winter Grove's most infamous watering hole. Beloved by students and townspeople alike for its cheap-yet-heavy-handed drinks, it was particularly popular with the college kids for its proximity to campus. And so it was always busy—especially after exams.
Tonight, though, it was the busiest Celeste had ever seen it—not that she came here very often. But by the time they arrived, there was a line out front, hundreds of their classmates braving the icy weather for a chance to get in. Alicia sauntered past them all, dragging Celeste behind her, right up to the front where a bored-looking guy was checking IDs with a handheld blacklight and determining who got through the door. He was older, with a thick gray beard that matched his heavy gray parka with its hood pulled down around his face.
"Hey Gris," Alicia said as she planted herself in front of the door guy.
"Alicia," Gris said, perking up at the sight of her. "Nice to see ya. Having a good night, hon?"
Alicia glanced at Celeste. "Not yet," she said before turning back to Gris with a smile, "but we will be if we can get in." She batted her freshly applied fake lashes at him.
Gris shook his head and chuckled to himself. "Sorry, hon, that nonsense won't work on me. It's packed in there tonight and I can't just let you in 'cause you know Olly."
"Oh, please, Gris?" Alicia whined. "Please? We're having the most terrible night and we really, really need a drink. My friend Celeste just went through a break up!"
"It's a break," Celeste corrected.
As they had gotten ready for their night out, Celeste had done some frantic Googling. According to all the magazines and blogs and listicles, 'taking a break' was different from a 'break up'—a 'break' was temporary. She now clung to that hope.
Maybe Jared will change his mind.
Maybe he will come to his senses in a few days.
Maybe my Christmas could still be saved.
Alicia just elbowed her and gave her a look, like Celeste was supposed to play along with whatever story her friend was spinning. "Look at her! She's, like, so depressed and this will really cheer her up. Pleasey-please?"
"Is that true?" Gris said, looking at Celeste. "Are you depressed?"
"Y-Yeah," Celeste said, though she didn't know what to do with her face to make the statement convincing, even if it was true. She tried her best to arrange her features into something worthy of pity.
It seemed to work. Gris groaned and rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright."
Alicia squealed and gave Gris a hug.
He shrugged her off. "Go on, get in there," he said, waving Alicia on. He turned to Celeste and gave her a sad smile. "And sorry 'bout the breakup, dear."
