SEBASTIAN
Many times in life, you become aware of the noise around you. Sometimes you're reading in a cafe and when you leave the world of the book the noise of the world around you hits you like a slap in the face. Sometimes when you are walking down a road, maybe you're a female, and some asshole disturbs the peaceful silence by beeping their horn or catcalling you. Sometimes, it's waiting at the doorstep of your childhood home surrounded by the calm scenery only to almost somersault backwards from the sheer absurdity of your mother's high-pitched and extremely loud squeals.
"Mum, please, my ears." I clamped my hands around my ears, though it did nothing to protect me from the sound stabbing my eardrums.
"Sebastian! Audrey! AUDREY!"
"Mum, please stop strangling Audrey, I love her very much and I really want to keep." I try to wrestle my mother's hands off of Audrey but it's clearly not helping.
"Mrs King, your son left the cookies in my car and without me, he can't get them." Her voice is calm despite my mother squeezing the life out of him.
"Can't he just steal the keys off your dead body?" Jackson peeps out from behind my mother, a wide smile on his face.
"You think I would let Sebastian near my car keys even in death? I don't think so."
"Wait, hey! Why not?" Now I'm confused.
"Because you'll wreck my car, I love my car."
"Oh shit! You just got burned." Jackson teased, bringing Audrey in and leading her to the living room.
We sat down on the sofas as the staff brought us snacks and refreshments, Audrey obviously went for tea.
"So how long will you be staying?" My mother asked, nibbling on a piece of shortbread.
"We don't know. At least two days." I answered, reaching for a biscuit.
"Only two days? Why not stay the week?" My mother asked.
"Well, Audrey needs to visit her family for Christmas." At the mention of her name, Audrey perked up.
"I usually stay with them during Christmas in the family cabin in the mountains."
"Oh, how nice. If only we had a nice cabin in the mountains, poor Edward hates bugs." I chuckled at the memory of dad screaming about a wasp at Jackson's thirteenth birthday in an outdoor laser tag warzone.
"Our place doesn't have a lot of bugs around. Margo hates bugs so father dearest had our most trusted staff to check the rooms beforehand before Margo entered. Maybe you should bring your family up around Christmas time and we can celebrate together, I'm sure my mother would love to catch up with you and Edward."
At this, my mother smiled brighter than the sun during high noon. "That would be lovely."
We talked for a while until the other family members arrived, to which I introduced Audrey to each and every one of them. Throughout the night we all caught up with each other, had our family dinner and laughed our way through dessert. We all gathered around the tree when it came to the time for opening presents, my personal favourite moment of the night.
I sat with Audrey on the couch opposite the fireplace, we cuddled together trying to bask in the heat from the flames.
"And this one is from...Audrey? Ooh, what'd you get me?" Jackson tried to rattle the present to see if he could guess what it was.
"That's why you open the present Jackson."
"Haha, you're so funny Audrey, I'm in stitches." He deadpanned, making us all laugh.
He opened the present quickly, frantically throwing the wrapper to the side before gasping.
"No way!" He shouted in disbelief. "You didn't. You shouldn't have."
"I knew you really loved their works and I knew you wanted to do a collection inspired by their art," Audrey commented, smiling shyly.
"What is it?" Mother asked, trying to peer at it.
"It's only the best gift in the history of the universe. I love Ying Yue's traditional Chinese artwork and I was going to do a collection based off of it but Audrey not only got me a tapestry by her but also her details with a letter of collaboration with the artist. I can do a collection with the artist, Audrey if you weren't taken I would marry you."
"Good thing she's my girlfriend then," I boasted proudly.
"I know, where'd you find her? I want one." My cousin joked, playing with her braid.
"You want a girlfriend like Audrey?" Jackson questioned. "I didn't think you had a type."
"Well, I just found it." She threw a wink at Audrey.
"If it doesn't work out with Sebastian I'll head over to you." Audrey winked back causing me to gasp and clutch my chest.
"She already has a back up in place. Betrayal!" I wiped the fake tears off of my face, smiling when Audrey and the others laughed.
We continued exchanging gifts, laughing and smiling for hours. There were jokes told, someone played the piano and we all sang along to a song at one point, but it was then that I realised, I was okay. I felt happy, which was a relief after the month I've had, but sitting here with Audrey by my side made me realise just how lucky I was.
AUDREY
This is insane! There's people talking and laughing and telling jokes. I haven't stopped smiling since I got here.
Is this how normal families celebrate Christmas? Is this how people are meant to feel, happy?
His family is amazing, there's so much happiness around, singing, bonding and it feels great. The atmosphere is so great that I'm afraid something will go wrong and the happiness will be lost, but as time went on, even until the late hours when we went to bed the atmosphere was still like being wrapped with a warm blanket in the freezing cold.
When I woke up the next morning and went down for breakfast the house was completely empty. I went to the kitchen where I saw a few staff members eating their breakfast.
One of the staff perked up, abandoning her breakfast. "Miss Parkinson, good morning, we will have your breakfast made immediately. Is there anything you desire?"
"Oh don't worry, I can make it myself, just ignore me and finish your breakfast." I dismissed, making my way to a cabinet.
"Really it's no problem, please, we would be honored." Another staff member replied.
"It's okay, I'll make my breakfast and join you all, I'd like to get to know the staff who make the amazing food we get to eat." I began gathering mym breakfast together beofre sitting at the counter with the rest of the staff. "So what are your names?"
The female staff who first spoke began to introduce them all. "My name is Jenna, this is Graham and the other two are Francis and Lila."
Whilst the rest of the house slept, I sat with the staff and got to know them. They were all lovely and I learned so much about them over our meals. Afterwards, I made a cup of tea and went outside to a seating area that looks over the grounds, the birds and flowers keeping me company.
As I sat there, in peaceful silence, I realised how happy I was. I let a tear slip, letting myself feel, letting the happiness radiate through me. I took a deep breath and admired the scene before, for once feeling the rare emotion of true happiness.