Post by HburgEagle44 on Dec 13, 2012 2:35:26 GMT -5
Happy Christmas? I love Christmas so much. And the parties. And the friendship... and all the other stuff. :) Comment, please :)
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Emmet parked the car and hoped desperately that he wouldn’t get boxed in, just in case he wanted to leave earlier than other people. The Harkins had a big driveway, but not that big. He got out and almost slipped on the slanted drive before righting himself and walking up to the door.
The house was brightly lit, the Christmas tree inside the front window plainly showing. Emmet smiled in anticipation and rang the bell.
The door was flung open and Mrs. Harkin stood there with a big smile on her face. “Emmet. You would be early.” She winked at home and ushered him inside. “Come in, come in, it’s cold outside!”
Emmet walked inside and shrugged off his jacket. “You look lovely,” he complimented his best friend’s mom.
“Well, thank you,” she answered, twirling a bit to show off her skirt. “As do you.”
“I hope I look handsome instead,” Emmet said in mock horror, glancing down at his formal suit.
Mrs. Harkin laughed. “Go find Keith. I think he’s still getting ready.” She gave him a slight shove in the direction of the stairs before wandering off into the living room.
Emmet grinned and walked up the stairs. “Keith!” he shouted. “I’m here!”
Keith popped his head out of his room. He had a towel wrapped around his head and Emmet sighed. “Keith, you know what time it is? Your guests will start arriving soon and your hair isn’t even dry!”
Keith shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal. I’m always fashionably late to my own parties, and if they don’t know that yet, they can’t be much of a friend, can they?” He winked and disappeared back into his room.
Emmet laughed and walked over to Rebecca’s door. Knocking on it, he said, “Bec, it’s me. Open up?”
The door swung open and Rebecca stood there, smiling at him. “Emmet! You’re early! I mean, I’m not surprised.” She laughed.
“You look lovely,” Emmet complimented her. She did look lovely. Her dress was forest green and swept down to the floor, making her look like she was floating.
She flushed a little. “Thanks, Emmet.” Walking out of her room, she linked her arm through his. “Come on, let’s go downstairs and greet the guests, huh?”
“They’re not my guests,” Emmet protested, but he continued downstairs with her.
Rebecca laughed. “Oh, Emmet, they’re your guests. You practically live here.”
“No, I don’t!” Emmet exclaimed. But he laughed, too. “I guess I do, when I’m not at my parents’, or my place, or on tour.”
“Exactly,” Rebecca said firmly. She stumbled a little bit as she stepped on her hem, but Emmet righted her. “Thanks,” she breathed, gripping the banister more firmly.
“So, Bec, who all is coming to this party?”
“Anyone,” Rebecca said. “Anyone and everyone that we know.” She smiled. “But the thing is, Christmas mellows some people out, so we know that it will be fun. Don’t worry about who’s coming.”
Emmet glanced at her suspiciously. “What is that supposed to mean? Is there someone coming that I should be worried about?”
“Oh, no,” Rebecca said in surprise. “Why should there be?”
Smiling, Emmet led Rebecca over to the front of the house, near the door. “It’s nice to have you back, Becca.”
“Were you missing me?” she asked, smiling a little.
“You were gone for a bit there,” Emmet replied dryly. “I mean, with the confusion about the b-o-y-f-r-i-e-n-d.”
“You didn’t have to spell it,” Rebecca scorned him good-naturedly. “But yeah, I’m glad that’s figured out now.”
“So, did you finally tell Keith?” Emmet asked. “I never heard what happened with that.”
Flushing, Rebecca ducked her head. “Well… no. Uh… I didn’t have to tell Keith.”
“Why? Did he ask you?” Emmet was confused.
“N-no. Uh… we broke up.” She shrugged.
“What?” Emmet demanded. “After a lot of stuff I went through with Keith… what happened?”
“It’s fine,” Rebecca said, but Emmet could tell it wasn’t. “I’ll tell you about it later, okay?”
The bell rang at that moment, and Emmet had to agree. “Fine. But you have to tell me later. Promise.”
Rebecca held out her pinkie and Emmet did the pinkie promise with her, like a couple of grade schoolers. She then went to the door. “Hey, Carol!” she exclaimed. “It’s great to see you! You remember Emmet, right?” She was beaming and Emmet marveled at her acting skills.
Why did she go into singing instead? Emmet thought in amusement. “Hey, Carol,” he said, stepping forward. “It’s great to see you again.”
From that point on, Emmet was busy for a couple of hours, greeting people, making small talk, helping people when they needed it: in fact, the perfect host. He realized that this was ironic that he would be the host, and not Keith or Mr. Harkin, but he just shook his head in amusement and kept going. They’re family.
Emmet was navigating between the refreshment room to the family room when he bumped into somebody. “Oh, I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. “Oh.”
Phoebe smiled up at him. “Hey, what’s up?”
Emmet took in her appearance. “Uh… wow. The nerd cleans up nicely.”
The look on Phoebe’s face was hilarious and he was starting to laugh when Phoebe punched him in the shoulder. “The nerd. I think I’ll accept that as a compliment, but really, Emmet?”
He just rolled his shoulder back and grinned. “It’s great to see you.”
She smiled back, relenting. “You, too. You look nice as well.”
Emmet grinned at her before disappearing again to find Keith, wherever he was. “Keith,” he called every so often.
“Hey, kid,” Emmet heard. Keith was standing at the fireplace, warming his hands. “What’s up? I heard you calling me.”
“Oh, just wanted to see where you were.” Emmet took in Keith’s appearance and approved. “You dressed nicely. I’m so proud.”
“Oh,” Keith grumbled. “No need to be sarcastic. Of course I dressed nicely.” He glanced at his suit. “It’s nice, isn’t it?” Grinning a little, he asked, “So where’s your best friend?”
“Who’s my best friend?” Emmet asked nonchalantly.
“Oh, you know. Piano girl.” Keith glanced around. “I could’ve swore I saw her around. You remember,” he said to Emmet’s carefully blank face. “Phoebe. Walking around. Nice evening dress.”
“Yeah, I saw her,” Emmet said, his voice and face emotionless.
“Yeah, I bet you did,” Keith grinned. “I can tell by the lack of feeling.”
“What does that mean?” Emmet asked, still being careful.
Keith shook his head. “Please. Whenever you want to pretend you didn’t care about something, you don’t act flippant or anything. You just have no expression. I know these things.” He waved at someone in passing. “Hey, how are you? Been a while.” Turning, he slung his arm around Emmet’s shoulders. “Now, listen to me, lad. You need to confront the girl about your feelings.”
“What feelings?” Emmet asked. He flushed under Keith’s searching gaze. “Why am I friends with you, anyway?”
“Oh, please,” Keith scoffed. “You’re friends with me because I’m right. Now, Emmet, just focus on telling her that she’s beautiful and smart and you like that about her.”
“Keith, are you drunk?” Emmet asked, shaking his head and detaching himself. “I think I’ll keep my personal feelings to myself.”
Keith shrugged. “Neil!” he exclaimed. “Hey, mate!”
Emmet turned his head and grinned. “Neil,” he said, reaching out his hand. Neil shook it in gravely before breaking into a grin. “It’s great to see you!”
Neil nodded. “It’s been a long time, huh?” His eyes twinkled. “Like, three weeks!”
“Too long,” Emmet protested. “Much, much too long.” He hugged Neil and whispered, “Thank you for rescuing me from the love monster.”
“Setting you up?” Neil asked.
“How did you know?” Emmet asked grimly. He laughed and released him.
Neil straightened his tie before giving Keith a hug. “Now, Keith, you need to be nice to poor Emmet. Newbie still needs some time to settle into the group.”
Emmet stared at him with his mouth open. “Newbie? Do you, by any chance, remember Colm?”
Neil ignored him. “And we need to take care of the baby.” His eyes twinkled and Emmet rolled his eyes.
Catching sight of Phoebe, Emmet excused himself and left Neil and Keith to catch up a little. “Hey, Phoebe,” he said, worming his way through people. He touched her elbow.
Phoebe turned. “Oh, hey, Emmet.”
“You want to meet Neil?” he asked, smiling. “You being such a big fan and all.”
Flushing, Phoebe smiled to herself a little. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“No, I’m glad you did!” Emmet protested. “Come on, you’ll like him. He’s a sweet guy.” He led her over where Neil and Keith still were. “Hey, Neil, this is Phoebe. She’s a friend of mine who also happens to really like Celtic Thunder.”
Neil smiled graciously. “Hey, Phoebe. How are you?”
She smiled with ease. “Oh, you know. Just enjoying this great party. How are you?”
Shrugging, Neil looked around. “Well, honestly, I’m kind of shy, so I don’t really enjoy this thing so much. I was just wishing I was at home with a nice… cuppa, and a movie.”
Keith looked injured. “Neil… you mean you don’t like the party?”
“Actually, I’m kind of shy, too, so this is kind of a hard thing for me to do, this socializing thing,” Phoebe confided in Neil.
Neil just laughed. “Want to go sit over there?” He pointed at an empty corner he had just discovered. “We can just sit and talk and people watch.”
“Sure,” Phoebe grinned at him, and they left over to the chairs in the corner.
Emmet stared after them. “Well, that was quick.”
“You’re gonna lose your girl,” Keith crowed.
“She is not my girl,” Emmet said through gritted teeth. “I’m going to go find someone who actually respects me,” he added before walking away quickly, not sure whether to laugh or be angry. He wandered around, talking to people he knew before stumbling on to someone he really knew. “Colm?” he asked.
Colm turned around at the sound of his name. “Hey!” he exclaimed, lifting up his glass. “It’s my best mate, Emmet!”
“I thought you couldn’t come,” he said, confused.
“Oh, I left my family’s house and came here right after,” Colm said, shoving that thought aside. “I didn’t realize everyone was going home so early.” He grinned. “It’s great to see you!”
“Yeah, you too!” Emmet said, smiling back. He couldn’t help it. Here’s someone who gets me. “The Comet is back together, eh?”
“Oh yes,” Colm laughed. “We should get together more often, too. Wait a minute.” He pulled out his phone and Emmet couldn’t help but smile at it. “We have to take a picture to commemorate the occasion.”
“You got a dictionary for Christmas, didn’t you?” Emmet asked.
“Yeah.” Colm looked at him like he was crazy. “Come on, give us a smile.”
Emmet did his best but he hated smiling for photos.
“Perfect,” Colm declared the picture before putting it on twitter. “All right. Now, let’s catch up. What’s been going on in your world?”
Emmet rolled his eyes. “Let’s skip my world. It’s filled with nothing but trouble.”
“Oh-kay,” Colm said, slightly confused. “So let’s talk of me.”
They talked for a while before Rebecca found them. “Hey, lads,” she said, smiling at Colm. “What are you guys up to?”
“Just talking. You want to join?” Colm winked and Rebecca frowned at him.
“You are such a terrible flirt.” She shook her finger in his face and he laughed, Rebecca and Emmet joining in after a while. His laughter was contagious. Very contagious.
“Okay, now, Strange Young Man,” Emmet said, using the old nickname, “Let’s continue hearing about you.”
“No, I want to hear about you,” Colm whined at him. “You don’t ever tell me anything!”
Rebecca laughed. “He won’t tell you anything because he’s afraid to be teased about Phoebe.”
“Who’s Phoebe?” Colm asked, jumping on the name.
“Just one of Rebecca’s friends,” Emmet said, frowning horribly at her to shut up.
“My best friend. And Emmet and she have been seeing a bit of each other,” Rebecca teased.
“Ooh,” Colm said, his eyes glittering. “Is she here? Can I meet her?”
“Yeah, she’s here, looking stunning in a ruby dress, if I do say so myself,” Rebecca answered, trying to catch Emmet’s expression.
Emmet had his face turned. He knew he was turning red, perhaps even the color of the ‘ruby dress,’ and he hated that. “She and Neil went off to talk somewhere. They’re antisocial people.”
“She and Neil?” Rebecca thought about that for a moment. “I would never have put them together, but it works. If you want them to not say a single word to each other.”
“Becca, you wouldn’t believe how much Neil can talk when you get down to it,” Colm said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go find the guitar boy and Emmet’s crush.”
Emmet threw his hands up in the air and started to lead the way to that corner. “Come on, over here.” He weaved his way through people and said hello a few times. “Hey, you guys,” he said as he approached Neil and Phoebe, who were still in their corner.
“Emmet, are you okay?” Neil asked, peering at his face.
Emmet rolled his eyes. “I might be catching a fever,” he said dryly. “Now, Phoebe, I want you to meet Colm.” Turning around, he whispered to Colm, who was right behind him, “Be nice.”
Colm nodded and extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hear you’re Rebecca’s best friend.”
Phoebe smiled and Emmet released the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. “Yeah, Becca and I are close. It’s so nice to meet you.”
Smiling, Colm turned to Neil. “Guitar boy. How are you?”
“I thought we got rid of you,” Neil grumbled before laughing and giving him a hug. “It’s great to see you.”
“You, too,” Colm agreed. “Happy Christmas.”
The five all sat in a small circle and talked the night away. They were eventually joined by Keith and they just kept talking, catching up, learning new things about Phoebe, and she learned new things about them. They all just sat comfortably and said hi to people as they passed and as people left, they said goodbye.
The clock struck one and there were still people, just not as many as before. People had work the next day, after all. Phoebe yawned and Emmet glanced at the clock.
“Oh, it’s late,” Emmet said.
Colm looked at him incredulously. “Em, uh, it’s only one.”
“I’m so tired. You woke me up at six,” Emmet complained, snatching at excuses. He knew that Colm could see through it but hoped he would play along with it.
“Do not tell me you stayed awake after that,” Colm scolded him. “You should have gone back to sleep.”
“Well, I did, but…”
“Well, then, don’t blame it on me.” Colm sat back against the wall comfortably. “I am not in the least to blame for your sudden attack of weariness.”
“You did. You did get a dictionary for Christmas.” Emmet laughed softly.
“Did you really?” Rebecca asked in surprise.
“No…” Keith laughed at her. “Emmet just is telling him to stop being pompous and to use smaller words.”
“Oh.” Rebecca sighed. “I need to go to bed, but there are still so many people here.”
“Go to bed,” Keith urged her. “I can take of it.”
“Keith, Mum and Dad are both in bed. I told them I could help.” Rebecca shook her head. “We’ll just wait for them to leave.”
“I can help Keith,” Emmet said. “Go on, we know you’re tired.”
Rebecca looked like she was about to argue, but Phoebe jumped in. “I can help, too. Play the hostess.” She smiled encouragingly. “Go to bed.”
“You’d think you were trying to get rid of me,” Rebecca grumbled, but they could see how grateful she was on her face. She, unlike Emmet, was not very good at hiding her emotions. “Thanks, guys. Good night, and happy Christmas.”
“Night,” they all said and then Rebecca left.
Keith sighed and stood up. “All right. It’s time to pack this party up. What do you say?”
The other three agreed and they all started organizing the ending of the party. They got everybody to leave in a kindly fashion and got the mess straightened up within half and hour. Surveying their work proudly at the end of that half hour, they all sat down in the chairs and Keith yawned. “All right. If you all want to crash here, I understand.” Pointing at the stairs, he said through another yawn, “There are plenty of bedrooms. Just pick one.”
“Keith, I think I’ll go home, actually,” Emmet said, smiling a little. “It’s not far away.”
“Can I crash with you?” Colm asked. “And then I’ll finish my journey home in the morning.”
“Sure,” Emmet said. “I have the spare room.”
Colm flashed him a smile. “All right. Cool.”
Keith stood up. “Well, I’m going to bed. Thank you for helping. Can the last person out lock the door? I think you all know how.”
Neil stood up. “I have to get back to my place. It’s not a long drive, just twenty minutes.” Shaking Keith’s hand, he smiled at all of the others. “Happy Christmas.”
“Happy Christmas, Neil!” they all exclaimed, and then he left.
Emmet sighed. “Time to go home.” He grinned at Colm. “Ready?”
Colm nodded. “Coming, Phoebe?”
She shook her head and started for the stairs. “I’ll stay in the guest room. My house, while it’s closer than Neil’s twenty minute drive, is too far for me to drive for. I’m exhausted.” She started walking up the stairs before turning back. Extending her hand, she shook Colm’s. “Merry Christmas, Colm.”
Colm gave her a hug and grinned. “Happy Christmas.”
Emmet smiled. “Merry Christmas?”
“American,” she said shortly before giving him a hug. “See you later?”
Emmet nodded. “Definitely. Happy Christmas.”
Colm just threw him a look that meant best friend knows all.
Phoebe walked over to where Keith was just about to go up. She linked her arm through his and grinned at him before they both walked upstairs together.
“Night, guys,” Keith mumbled down the stairs.
“He’s going to be nursing a hangover in the morning,” Colm observed.
“Of course. It’s a holiday.” Emmet laughed and then yawned. “I’m exhausted.”
“How can you be so tired?” Colm demanded. “I mean, I’ve been up since six!”
“Yeah, but please tell me you had a nap in there. I’m sure you did.” Emmet reached for the key above the door, and locked the place up. “You can’t be this chipper without having had a nap. I know you.”
“Okay, fine, maybe I did sleep for a couple of hours this afternoon,” Colm admitted. “But I’m not tired!”
Emmet just rolled his eyes. “Let’s go home. I’m tired.”
“Yes, you mentioned,” Colm said, walking to the solitary car and getting in.
Climbing in, Emmet drove back to his flat in a tired daze but made it safely. He climbed out and, getting ready for bed, lay down with a grateful sigh before falling asleep seconds later.
Colm just laughed and turned on the tv. Deciding on BBC, he watched for a while before falling asleep on the couch.
It was a happy Christmas.
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Emmet parked the car and hoped desperately that he wouldn’t get boxed in, just in case he wanted to leave earlier than other people. The Harkins had a big driveway, but not that big. He got out and almost slipped on the slanted drive before righting himself and walking up to the door.
The house was brightly lit, the Christmas tree inside the front window plainly showing. Emmet smiled in anticipation and rang the bell.
The door was flung open and Mrs. Harkin stood there with a big smile on her face. “Emmet. You would be early.” She winked at home and ushered him inside. “Come in, come in, it’s cold outside!”
Emmet walked inside and shrugged off his jacket. “You look lovely,” he complimented his best friend’s mom.
“Well, thank you,” she answered, twirling a bit to show off her skirt. “As do you.”
“I hope I look handsome instead,” Emmet said in mock horror, glancing down at his formal suit.
Mrs. Harkin laughed. “Go find Keith. I think he’s still getting ready.” She gave him a slight shove in the direction of the stairs before wandering off into the living room.
Emmet grinned and walked up the stairs. “Keith!” he shouted. “I’m here!”
Keith popped his head out of his room. He had a towel wrapped around his head and Emmet sighed. “Keith, you know what time it is? Your guests will start arriving soon and your hair isn’t even dry!”
Keith shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal. I’m always fashionably late to my own parties, and if they don’t know that yet, they can’t be much of a friend, can they?” He winked and disappeared back into his room.
Emmet laughed and walked over to Rebecca’s door. Knocking on it, he said, “Bec, it’s me. Open up?”
The door swung open and Rebecca stood there, smiling at him. “Emmet! You’re early! I mean, I’m not surprised.” She laughed.
“You look lovely,” Emmet complimented her. She did look lovely. Her dress was forest green and swept down to the floor, making her look like she was floating.
She flushed a little. “Thanks, Emmet.” Walking out of her room, she linked her arm through his. “Come on, let’s go downstairs and greet the guests, huh?”
“They’re not my guests,” Emmet protested, but he continued downstairs with her.
Rebecca laughed. “Oh, Emmet, they’re your guests. You practically live here.”
“No, I don’t!” Emmet exclaimed. But he laughed, too. “I guess I do, when I’m not at my parents’, or my place, or on tour.”
“Exactly,” Rebecca said firmly. She stumbled a little bit as she stepped on her hem, but Emmet righted her. “Thanks,” she breathed, gripping the banister more firmly.
“So, Bec, who all is coming to this party?”
“Anyone,” Rebecca said. “Anyone and everyone that we know.” She smiled. “But the thing is, Christmas mellows some people out, so we know that it will be fun. Don’t worry about who’s coming.”
Emmet glanced at her suspiciously. “What is that supposed to mean? Is there someone coming that I should be worried about?”
“Oh, no,” Rebecca said in surprise. “Why should there be?”
Smiling, Emmet led Rebecca over to the front of the house, near the door. “It’s nice to have you back, Becca.”
“Were you missing me?” she asked, smiling a little.
“You were gone for a bit there,” Emmet replied dryly. “I mean, with the confusion about the b-o-y-f-r-i-e-n-d.”
“You didn’t have to spell it,” Rebecca scorned him good-naturedly. “But yeah, I’m glad that’s figured out now.”
“So, did you finally tell Keith?” Emmet asked. “I never heard what happened with that.”
Flushing, Rebecca ducked her head. “Well… no. Uh… I didn’t have to tell Keith.”
“Why? Did he ask you?” Emmet was confused.
“N-no. Uh… we broke up.” She shrugged.
“What?” Emmet demanded. “After a lot of stuff I went through with Keith… what happened?”
“It’s fine,” Rebecca said, but Emmet could tell it wasn’t. “I’ll tell you about it later, okay?”
The bell rang at that moment, and Emmet had to agree. “Fine. But you have to tell me later. Promise.”
Rebecca held out her pinkie and Emmet did the pinkie promise with her, like a couple of grade schoolers. She then went to the door. “Hey, Carol!” she exclaimed. “It’s great to see you! You remember Emmet, right?” She was beaming and Emmet marveled at her acting skills.
Why did she go into singing instead? Emmet thought in amusement. “Hey, Carol,” he said, stepping forward. “It’s great to see you again.”
From that point on, Emmet was busy for a couple of hours, greeting people, making small talk, helping people when they needed it: in fact, the perfect host. He realized that this was ironic that he would be the host, and not Keith or Mr. Harkin, but he just shook his head in amusement and kept going. They’re family.
Emmet was navigating between the refreshment room to the family room when he bumped into somebody. “Oh, I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. “Oh.”
Phoebe smiled up at him. “Hey, what’s up?”
Emmet took in her appearance. “Uh… wow. The nerd cleans up nicely.”
The look on Phoebe’s face was hilarious and he was starting to laugh when Phoebe punched him in the shoulder. “The nerd. I think I’ll accept that as a compliment, but really, Emmet?”
He just rolled his shoulder back and grinned. “It’s great to see you.”
She smiled back, relenting. “You, too. You look nice as well.”
Emmet grinned at her before disappearing again to find Keith, wherever he was. “Keith,” he called every so often.
“Hey, kid,” Emmet heard. Keith was standing at the fireplace, warming his hands. “What’s up? I heard you calling me.”
“Oh, just wanted to see where you were.” Emmet took in Keith’s appearance and approved. “You dressed nicely. I’m so proud.”
“Oh,” Keith grumbled. “No need to be sarcastic. Of course I dressed nicely.” He glanced at his suit. “It’s nice, isn’t it?” Grinning a little, he asked, “So where’s your best friend?”
“Who’s my best friend?” Emmet asked nonchalantly.
“Oh, you know. Piano girl.” Keith glanced around. “I could’ve swore I saw her around. You remember,” he said to Emmet’s carefully blank face. “Phoebe. Walking around. Nice evening dress.”
“Yeah, I saw her,” Emmet said, his voice and face emotionless.
“Yeah, I bet you did,” Keith grinned. “I can tell by the lack of feeling.”
“What does that mean?” Emmet asked, still being careful.
Keith shook his head. “Please. Whenever you want to pretend you didn’t care about something, you don’t act flippant or anything. You just have no expression. I know these things.” He waved at someone in passing. “Hey, how are you? Been a while.” Turning, he slung his arm around Emmet’s shoulders. “Now, listen to me, lad. You need to confront the girl about your feelings.”
“What feelings?” Emmet asked. He flushed under Keith’s searching gaze. “Why am I friends with you, anyway?”
“Oh, please,” Keith scoffed. “You’re friends with me because I’m right. Now, Emmet, just focus on telling her that she’s beautiful and smart and you like that about her.”
“Keith, are you drunk?” Emmet asked, shaking his head and detaching himself. “I think I’ll keep my personal feelings to myself.”
Keith shrugged. “Neil!” he exclaimed. “Hey, mate!”
Emmet turned his head and grinned. “Neil,” he said, reaching out his hand. Neil shook it in gravely before breaking into a grin. “It’s great to see you!”
Neil nodded. “It’s been a long time, huh?” His eyes twinkled. “Like, three weeks!”
“Too long,” Emmet protested. “Much, much too long.” He hugged Neil and whispered, “Thank you for rescuing me from the love monster.”
“Setting you up?” Neil asked.
“How did you know?” Emmet asked grimly. He laughed and released him.
Neil straightened his tie before giving Keith a hug. “Now, Keith, you need to be nice to poor Emmet. Newbie still needs some time to settle into the group.”
Emmet stared at him with his mouth open. “Newbie? Do you, by any chance, remember Colm?”
Neil ignored him. “And we need to take care of the baby.” His eyes twinkled and Emmet rolled his eyes.
Catching sight of Phoebe, Emmet excused himself and left Neil and Keith to catch up a little. “Hey, Phoebe,” he said, worming his way through people. He touched her elbow.
Phoebe turned. “Oh, hey, Emmet.”
“You want to meet Neil?” he asked, smiling. “You being such a big fan and all.”
Flushing, Phoebe smiled to herself a little. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“No, I’m glad you did!” Emmet protested. “Come on, you’ll like him. He’s a sweet guy.” He led her over where Neil and Keith still were. “Hey, Neil, this is Phoebe. She’s a friend of mine who also happens to really like Celtic Thunder.”
Neil smiled graciously. “Hey, Phoebe. How are you?”
She smiled with ease. “Oh, you know. Just enjoying this great party. How are you?”
Shrugging, Neil looked around. “Well, honestly, I’m kind of shy, so I don’t really enjoy this thing so much. I was just wishing I was at home with a nice… cuppa, and a movie.”
Keith looked injured. “Neil… you mean you don’t like the party?”
“Actually, I’m kind of shy, too, so this is kind of a hard thing for me to do, this socializing thing,” Phoebe confided in Neil.
Neil just laughed. “Want to go sit over there?” He pointed at an empty corner he had just discovered. “We can just sit and talk and people watch.”
“Sure,” Phoebe grinned at him, and they left over to the chairs in the corner.
Emmet stared after them. “Well, that was quick.”
“You’re gonna lose your girl,” Keith crowed.
“She is not my girl,” Emmet said through gritted teeth. “I’m going to go find someone who actually respects me,” he added before walking away quickly, not sure whether to laugh or be angry. He wandered around, talking to people he knew before stumbling on to someone he really knew. “Colm?” he asked.
Colm turned around at the sound of his name. “Hey!” he exclaimed, lifting up his glass. “It’s my best mate, Emmet!”
“I thought you couldn’t come,” he said, confused.
“Oh, I left my family’s house and came here right after,” Colm said, shoving that thought aside. “I didn’t realize everyone was going home so early.” He grinned. “It’s great to see you!”
“Yeah, you too!” Emmet said, smiling back. He couldn’t help it. Here’s someone who gets me. “The Comet is back together, eh?”
“Oh yes,” Colm laughed. “We should get together more often, too. Wait a minute.” He pulled out his phone and Emmet couldn’t help but smile at it. “We have to take a picture to commemorate the occasion.”
“You got a dictionary for Christmas, didn’t you?” Emmet asked.
“Yeah.” Colm looked at him like he was crazy. “Come on, give us a smile.”
Emmet did his best but he hated smiling for photos.
“Perfect,” Colm declared the picture before putting it on twitter. “All right. Now, let’s catch up. What’s been going on in your world?”
Emmet rolled his eyes. “Let’s skip my world. It’s filled with nothing but trouble.”
“Oh-kay,” Colm said, slightly confused. “So let’s talk of me.”
They talked for a while before Rebecca found them. “Hey, lads,” she said, smiling at Colm. “What are you guys up to?”
“Just talking. You want to join?” Colm winked and Rebecca frowned at him.
“You are such a terrible flirt.” She shook her finger in his face and he laughed, Rebecca and Emmet joining in after a while. His laughter was contagious. Very contagious.
“Okay, now, Strange Young Man,” Emmet said, using the old nickname, “Let’s continue hearing about you.”
“No, I want to hear about you,” Colm whined at him. “You don’t ever tell me anything!”
Rebecca laughed. “He won’t tell you anything because he’s afraid to be teased about Phoebe.”
“Who’s Phoebe?” Colm asked, jumping on the name.
“Just one of Rebecca’s friends,” Emmet said, frowning horribly at her to shut up.
“My best friend. And Emmet and she have been seeing a bit of each other,” Rebecca teased.
“Ooh,” Colm said, his eyes glittering. “Is she here? Can I meet her?”
“Yeah, she’s here, looking stunning in a ruby dress, if I do say so myself,” Rebecca answered, trying to catch Emmet’s expression.
Emmet had his face turned. He knew he was turning red, perhaps even the color of the ‘ruby dress,’ and he hated that. “She and Neil went off to talk somewhere. They’re antisocial people.”
“She and Neil?” Rebecca thought about that for a moment. “I would never have put them together, but it works. If you want them to not say a single word to each other.”
“Becca, you wouldn’t believe how much Neil can talk when you get down to it,” Colm said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go find the guitar boy and Emmet’s crush.”
Emmet threw his hands up in the air and started to lead the way to that corner. “Come on, over here.” He weaved his way through people and said hello a few times. “Hey, you guys,” he said as he approached Neil and Phoebe, who were still in their corner.
“Emmet, are you okay?” Neil asked, peering at his face.
Emmet rolled his eyes. “I might be catching a fever,” he said dryly. “Now, Phoebe, I want you to meet Colm.” Turning around, he whispered to Colm, who was right behind him, “Be nice.”
Colm nodded and extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hear you’re Rebecca’s best friend.”
Phoebe smiled and Emmet released the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. “Yeah, Becca and I are close. It’s so nice to meet you.”
Smiling, Colm turned to Neil. “Guitar boy. How are you?”
“I thought we got rid of you,” Neil grumbled before laughing and giving him a hug. “It’s great to see you.”
“You, too,” Colm agreed. “Happy Christmas.”
The five all sat in a small circle and talked the night away. They were eventually joined by Keith and they just kept talking, catching up, learning new things about Phoebe, and she learned new things about them. They all just sat comfortably and said hi to people as they passed and as people left, they said goodbye.
The clock struck one and there were still people, just not as many as before. People had work the next day, after all. Phoebe yawned and Emmet glanced at the clock.
“Oh, it’s late,” Emmet said.
Colm looked at him incredulously. “Em, uh, it’s only one.”
“I’m so tired. You woke me up at six,” Emmet complained, snatching at excuses. He knew that Colm could see through it but hoped he would play along with it.
“Do not tell me you stayed awake after that,” Colm scolded him. “You should have gone back to sleep.”
“Well, I did, but…”
“Well, then, don’t blame it on me.” Colm sat back against the wall comfortably. “I am not in the least to blame for your sudden attack of weariness.”
“You did. You did get a dictionary for Christmas.” Emmet laughed softly.
“Did you really?” Rebecca asked in surprise.
“No…” Keith laughed at her. “Emmet just is telling him to stop being pompous and to use smaller words.”
“Oh.” Rebecca sighed. “I need to go to bed, but there are still so many people here.”
“Go to bed,” Keith urged her. “I can take of it.”
“Keith, Mum and Dad are both in bed. I told them I could help.” Rebecca shook her head. “We’ll just wait for them to leave.”
“I can help Keith,” Emmet said. “Go on, we know you’re tired.”
Rebecca looked like she was about to argue, but Phoebe jumped in. “I can help, too. Play the hostess.” She smiled encouragingly. “Go to bed.”
“You’d think you were trying to get rid of me,” Rebecca grumbled, but they could see how grateful she was on her face. She, unlike Emmet, was not very good at hiding her emotions. “Thanks, guys. Good night, and happy Christmas.”
“Night,” they all said and then Rebecca left.
Keith sighed and stood up. “All right. It’s time to pack this party up. What do you say?”
The other three agreed and they all started organizing the ending of the party. They got everybody to leave in a kindly fashion and got the mess straightened up within half and hour. Surveying their work proudly at the end of that half hour, they all sat down in the chairs and Keith yawned. “All right. If you all want to crash here, I understand.” Pointing at the stairs, he said through another yawn, “There are plenty of bedrooms. Just pick one.”
“Keith, I think I’ll go home, actually,” Emmet said, smiling a little. “It’s not far away.”
“Can I crash with you?” Colm asked. “And then I’ll finish my journey home in the morning.”
“Sure,” Emmet said. “I have the spare room.”
Colm flashed him a smile. “All right. Cool.”
Keith stood up. “Well, I’m going to bed. Thank you for helping. Can the last person out lock the door? I think you all know how.”
Neil stood up. “I have to get back to my place. It’s not a long drive, just twenty minutes.” Shaking Keith’s hand, he smiled at all of the others. “Happy Christmas.”
“Happy Christmas, Neil!” they all exclaimed, and then he left.
Emmet sighed. “Time to go home.” He grinned at Colm. “Ready?”
Colm nodded. “Coming, Phoebe?”
She shook her head and started for the stairs. “I’ll stay in the guest room. My house, while it’s closer than Neil’s twenty minute drive, is too far for me to drive for. I’m exhausted.” She started walking up the stairs before turning back. Extending her hand, she shook Colm’s. “Merry Christmas, Colm.”
Colm gave her a hug and grinned. “Happy Christmas.”
Emmet smiled. “Merry Christmas?”
“American,” she said shortly before giving him a hug. “See you later?”
Emmet nodded. “Definitely. Happy Christmas.”
Colm just threw him a look that meant best friend knows all.
Phoebe walked over to where Keith was just about to go up. She linked her arm through his and grinned at him before they both walked upstairs together.
“Night, guys,” Keith mumbled down the stairs.
“He’s going to be nursing a hangover in the morning,” Colm observed.
“Of course. It’s a holiday.” Emmet laughed and then yawned. “I’m exhausted.”
“How can you be so tired?” Colm demanded. “I mean, I’ve been up since six!”
“Yeah, but please tell me you had a nap in there. I’m sure you did.” Emmet reached for the key above the door, and locked the place up. “You can’t be this chipper without having had a nap. I know you.”
“Okay, fine, maybe I did sleep for a couple of hours this afternoon,” Colm admitted. “But I’m not tired!”
Emmet just rolled his eyes. “Let’s go home. I’m tired.”
“Yes, you mentioned,” Colm said, walking to the solitary car and getting in.
Climbing in, Emmet drove back to his flat in a tired daze but made it safely. He climbed out and, getting ready for bed, lay down with a grateful sigh before falling asleep seconds later.
Colm just laughed and turned on the tv. Deciding on BBC, he watched for a while before falling asleep on the couch.
It was a happy Christmas.