If she was honest with herself, she'd admit she was dreading it. Fussing with her long, brown hair in the bathroom wasn't going to help, either. It was December Ninth, her birthday. It was also the day of the annual Christmas Parade, and her roommate, Dani, was intent on making sure Kaitlin had fun. Especially this year. The inevitable knock came as Kaitlin was in mid-brush. "Come on, honey. I want to find a place to park close to the parade route, so we don't have far to walk." Kaitlin stifled a bitchy comeback about how it was always about what Dani wanted. She pulled her hair back into a pony tail and fastened it with a red and green bow. Red and green--the colors of Christmas. Her mother had given her the bow a few years back for her birthday. The memory nearly brought her to tears, yet again. "Almost ready." She added a touch of makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes and pulled the door open.
