Like Nathan had said, Angela’s apartment wasn’t too far from Jude’s. It had only taken him about ten minutes to get to the party from Mr. Lee’s store, and Jude had walked rather slowly on the way there. He still had the dream of the pulsating crimson tower in his head. It had felt so vivid, so real. Nevertheless, despite all of the weirdness of that night, it had really only been a dream. There was nothing else to mull over. He was feeling better now, so the goal was to enjoy the party.

When he got to the apartment, there were already people there. He was a little late after all. He tried to get buzzed in, but he was sure that the noise coming from the intercom was drowning out his voice. Still, he heard the click of the building door being open and walked in, certain that whoever had opened the door for him had done so without knowing it had been him on the other end.

Once inside, he walked up a couple of flights of stairs before standing in front of the door to Angela’s apartment. He knocked, and someone opened almost immediately.

“PIZZA!” Nathan yelled from the other side of the threshold before noticing who it was that had knocked.

“I’m sorry?!” Jude responded, raising his palms next to his body to show that his hands were empty. “It’s just me.”

“JUDE!” Nathan yelled again with the same enthusiasm. “We were starting to wonder if you would come.”

“Yeah. I got held up. Weird night.”

Nathan stared a little more intently at Jude’s face. His eyes narrowed as he focused hard to control his inebriated vision.

“You do look a bit pale,” he said. “You alright? Want a drink?”

“A beer?” Jude responded with a question. He was thinking that he shouldn’t have anything too strong for the rest of the night. “Yeah, a beer.”

“We certainly got that! C’mon in!” Nathan stepped aside to give Jude space to walk into the apartment, and just as Jude passed him, he yelled to the rest of the people there, “Everyone, this is Jude! He’s new to the city!”

When they were both in, Angela walked up next to Nathan and said, “Hi, Jude. I’m glad you could make it.” Then, she turned to Nathan and added, “No pizza, babe?”

“Not yet. It was just Jude on the intercom.”

“I’m so hungry!” she added, half sighing, half grumbling.

Jude looked at Angela’s hand and saw a joint held between two fingers. Like Nathan had said, they were artists, so he wasn’t surprised that there was weed at the party.

“Do you partake?” Nathan, having noticed Jude looking at the joint, asked.

“I have. It’s been a while. Honestly, I would love to, but today is probably not the day.”

“Really… What really happened to you out there?”

“Who knows, man?! I’ll tell you the story another day. It’s a little heavy for a party.”

Nathan frowned even harder at that. Then, he rushed straight to the kitchen, leaving Angela with Jude for a few moments. They stared at each other, surprised by Nathan’s sudden departure. However, not even a minute later, Nathan returned with an opened bottle of beer in hand. When he got to them, he handed the bottle to Jude and said, “Let’s all forget the heavy stuff! Merry Christmas, Jude!”

Jude took the bottle and looked at the two people in front of him. They hadn’t known him before that day, and yet, they had invited him into their house. He smiled at the two and said, “Merry Christmas and all happiness to you both!”

After that, the three of them walked further into the apartment. Angela made a show of it not being the pizza, collapsing on the couch while pretending to die of hunger, and Nathan introduced each person individually to Jude. There were maybe fifteen people there, counting Jude, and everyone except for him was an artist of some sort. There were more actors and dancers, but there were also painters, writers and musicians. From time to time they would break into song and dance, or reenact a scene from a play that they all had done when they were young. It was a vibrant party, and everyone seemed both happy and sad. They were all of those who had no family in the city, and sometimes no family at all, but they had found each other, and this was their Christmas.

About thirty minutes after Jude had gotten there, the intercom rang again. As it did, Angela bolted up from the couch and yelled, “PIZZA!” However, she soon collapsed back down, woozy from the sudden jump.

Nathan stood up then, rubbed the top of Angela’s head with his fingers, making a mess of her hair as she tried to push his hand away, then walked away from everyone in the direction of the intercom. A couple of minutes later, he came back holding five large pizza boxes.

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“PIZZA!” Angela yelled again, and again she tried standing up, but was unable to.

“That’s not all! Look at what the cat dragged in!”

A woman stepped out from behind Nathan. She was wearing all black. She had on black shoes, black stockings with black shorts on top, a black shirt with some rock band’s logo on it and a black faux fur coat. She was short, which was how she had been able to hide behind Nathan, and she had messy black hair, black eyes, and a black messenger bag slung over one shoulder.

“IRIS!” Angela screamed even more enthusiastically than when she had seen the pizza.

The woman next to Nathan smiled at her and said, “Hi, everyone!”

She went from person to person, greeting everyone individually while Angela, who had pried herself from the couch, maintained a constant hug on her.

“They grew up together,” Nathan told Jude. “Angela is actually from the city, but she grew up much further north, in Harlem. Back then, her family didn’t have any money at all, and she went to a pretty hardcore school. Iris joined her class at some point. She barely spoke English at the time, but there weren’t any English as a Second Language classes. Angela was alone, and Iris didn’t know anybody, so I guess they gravitated toward each other. Angela eventually got a scholarship to a prestigious art school, and Iris went to medical school.”

“What took you so long?!” Jude heard Angela ask Iris.

“I had to take a shower after getting off my scrubs. Couldn’t very well show up in those, could I?” Iris mimed an entrance into the room and added, “Here I am! Merry Christmas from the frumpy doctor!”

“They are so much alike, even though they are nothing alike,” Nathan whispered over to Jude. He clasped a hand on Jude’s shoulder and said aloud, “Iris! This here is Jude. He’s new.”

“Hi,” Jude said, choking back a beer that had splashed against his throat thanks to Nathan’s sudden clasp.

“Hello, Jude. Nice to meet you.” Her eyes narrowed when she saw his face, and she asked, “Are you doing OK?”

“Oh! Umm…”

“Apparently something happened, but he doesn’t want to tell us,” Nathan interjected. “He says he’s fine,” he added while side-eyeing Jude.

“He looks OK to me,” Angela said.

“Yes… He looks OK,” Iris repeated.

“I’m fine! Trust me! Let’s all just enjoy Christmas, yeah?” Jude begged. He didn’t want to relive the night he had had in the middle of those people. The atmosphere was light and fun, and he wanted to keep it that way. He barely knew them.

“Let’s…” Iris relented, and Nathan shrugged.

After that exchange, Angela dragged Iris to sit on the couch next to her and offered her the joint. Much to Jude’s surprise, Iris took a puff out of it.

“A doctor smoking weed,” he murmured to himself.

Things went on like that, with banter and laughter all throughout the night, and when the sun finally rose, people started trickling out. When nine o’clock came around, only Nathan, Angela, Iris and Jude were left. Angela had already passed out on Iris’ lap, while Jude and Nathan were picking up the trash around the apartment. There were empty boxes of pizza, dirty paper plates, glasses and empty cans and bottles everywhere.

“You don’t have to do this, y’know,” Nathan told him.

“I want to.”

While they cleaned, Iris pulled out her phone and went through her messages. She had also taken plenty of pictures of that night. After reading through her messages, she went through her pictures and noticed that Jude always looked tired and pale in them. If she had to give her opinion, it seemed to her that he looked traumatized by something. Looking back at him at that moment, however, he seemed to be doing better.

After they finished cleaning, Nathan walked over to the couch, pointed at Angela and said, “I should probably take her to bed.”

Iris nodded, so Nathan picked her up. While he was carrying her off, Angela mumbled back, “I’ll see you later, Iris. Dinner.”

“See you later, Angel,” Iris replied.

After putting Angela in bed, Nathan walked back to Jude and Iris and said, “Well guys, I’m going to turn in as well. Jude, it was great to meet you. Come back for New Years! Iris, we’ll be there for dinner. I’ll make sure she doesn’t forget.”

“Don’t worry. Dad will be glad to see her as well,” Iris said.

“Haha! But they see each other almost every day!”

“Yes, but she’s my sister. He thinks the same. And you can never see too much of your daughters!”

“Very well. We’ll be there.”

“Dad likes you too, Nathan. He approves.”

When Iris said that, Nathan seemed to blush. He turned around quickly, replying, “Yes, yes!”

Jude, who had watched that whole interaction with amusement, said as he raised a massive trash bag, “I’ll take this out to the dumpster. Where is it?”

“Thanks, man! It’s behind the building.”

“Got it.”

“Iris,” Jude turned to her and said, “It was very nice to meet you. I hope we’ll see each other again.”

To his surprise, however, Iris said, “I’ll walk out with you.”

So, the two of them left—Jude with a massive trash bag, and Iris next to him.

On the way down, she asked, “Do you want to get breakfast? I don’t have to be home until noon.”

“Sure!” he replied a little too quickly. “Breakfast sounds great! I mean… I can eat!”

After Jude threw the trash he had been carrying in the dumpster, he looked around and noticed that the streets had been cleared by quite a bit. While bars were closed because it was morning, Iris told him there was a diner nearby that should be open, and that’s where they went.