[Storiesmaniac]

Synopsis: Follows a group of friends through a Christmas holiday, and all the adventures they can have.

Kyle tapped his fingers impatiently on the top of the steering wheel, the red glare from the cars in front of his taillights nearly blinding him. The green numbers on the dash clock told him it was nearly one in the morning, and the light snoring sounds of his wife in the passenger's seat confirmed that it was late. He looked over at the sleeping woman and chuckled as a thin strand of hair blew up and down in her face with each in- and ex-halation. The tickling sensation of the hair on her nose would have been enough to drive any sober person insane, but considering that Whit was completely tanked from the Christmas Party they were returning from, it didn't much make a difference.

The car in front of them moved ever so slightly, and Kyle, growing tediously anxious from the wait, pushed down on the pedal a bit too hard and slammed on the brake to keep from rear-ending the bumper of the SUV. Whitney's comatose body lurched forward and slammed hard against the chest strap of her seatbelt, awakening her from her heavy slumber.

"Sorry, honey." Kyle shook his head. "Go back to sleep."

"No." Whit stretched her arms over her head and yawned. "I'm awake. What's going on?"

"No clue. Something must be blocking the road up there."

"It's snowing pretty hard. Think that could be part of the problem?"

"Most people here are accustomed to this. Shouldn't be."

"But the tourists," Whit yawned again.

"Blame the tourists, why don't ya!"

"Kyle, are you saying not to blame the tourists?"

Kyle laughed. Blaming the tourists was the excuse for every major malfunction that happened around the resort and other towns in the area, and usually it was their fault. However, Kyle had a feeling that the jam wasn't related to vacation skiers or teenagers looking to become the next Shaun White. "No, I suppose not."

"Honey," Whit said sweetly, sinking lower into her warm woolen coat, "go see what's causing the jam up there."

"What?"

"Please?"

"Are you kidding?" Kyle exclaimed. "It's fucking freezing out there, not to mention the snow and traffic."

"Please?"

"No."

"Honey..."

"Don't 'honey' me. You know, sometimes I wholeheartedly agree with Kara's theory on the word 'honey'."

"Which is?"

"That it's just another synonym for 'idiot'." Kyle rolled his eyes.

Whit let out a laugh. "Kara just says that because she's a cynical bitch who wholeheartedly hates and fears the idea of commitment and trust in another person and only wants the world to leave her alone."

"Isn't that what all women want?" Kyle asked.

"No." Whit shook her head. "It's not what I want."

"And what do you want?" Kyle leaned in closer, hoping something interesting might happen.

Whit leaned in and put her finger on the tip of Kyle's nose. "For you to get out the car and find out what's keeping us so long."

Kyle let out an exhausted groan, unfastened his seatbelt, and hopped out of the warm vehicle. Hands shoved deep in his pockets, he ran up the shoulder lane, the red glare of taillights serving as his guide. The bitter wind nipped at his face, and he could feel the cold slush of the road snow soaking though the hem of his pants and getting inside his dress shoes. Whit's totally doing the laundry, he thought to himself as he drew nearer to what was probably the site of incident.

He could see the hood of a Jeep wide open and a group of three or four figures gathered around the stalled car as one person was half embodied inside the engine of the vehicle. Wow, Whit was right. Group of college aged teenagers up for the break.

"Hey," Kyle shouted jogging up to the kids. "Got a problem? Move your issues off the road!"

The four people outside of the car turned to look at him while the figure hunched over the body kept working.

"Hey, buddy," Kyle shouted. "Did you hear me?"

The person inside the car stopped and pulled away from their work, a mess of long brown hair subdued by a beanie with the local resorts logo on it, a girl.

"I'd love to, Kyle," Kara snapped, a smudge of motor oil on her nose, "but since my fucking car has decided to die right in the middle of the highway, my shitty European cell phone that I had to buy on the trip doesn't get coverage out in the middle of the woods, and these fuckwits," at this point Kara screamed at the four men who had incredibly clueless expressions on their faces, "have no idea what the hell they're doing, you're just going to have to be the slightest bit patient."

Kyle's jaw dropped during this rant. Seeing the exact replica of the woman he had left slightly comatose in his car in the middle of this freeway on a cold and snowy night, the morning of Christmas Eve, was nearly shocking, especially considering she wasn't even supposed to be on this continent. She had been scheduled to spend the holidays with a school group in Venice as part of an exchange program, not home in Nowhere, Colorado. What the hell was she doing home?

"So." Kara hopped down from the bumper. "Anyone got jumper cables in their trunk?"

[Masa]

Very cool. Your characters are very life-like, I like that, I already like Kyle and as for Kara, don't get me started. So far it seems to be very smooth and quite excellent, I think you have something going for you here. Well I'm done, good work.

[EternalPen]

lol, Whit reminds me WAYY too much of a certian "someone" I know. lol GREAT job on giving the characters personality, sounds just like it would in real life. And as I said a million times before, I don't think the cursing is neccesarry, makes me feel... "ugh" inside. But this is pretty good! I like it!