I decided to write a holiday fic, because I am such a fan
Disclaimer: I do not own Charlie Bone…sadly for me…since then I'd probably be able to afford better Christmas gifts for my roommates than half-price Harry Potter legos and hobo gloves…
Emma Tolly tugged uncomfortably on her dress, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she surveyed herself in the mirror. It was the night of her Aunt Julia's holiday party, and she'd already tried on every dress in her closet.
Normally, Emma wasn't the sort of person that cared a great deal about what to wear to parties. The previous year, she'd simply worn whatever Aunt Julia picked out, or one of her nicer skirts.
Now, surveying the pile of clothes that was getting gradually larger on her bed, she was feeling more and more frustrated. All of her clothes looked like they belonged to a little girl, and at almost seventeen, Emma didn't feel that the little girl look suited her anymore. There was also the undeniable fact that Tancred Torsson was going to be at the party.
Emma had been harbouring a secret crush on Tancred almost from the moment she met him (she couldn't really remember him when she'd been in a trance, but she figured if she'd been awake to know him earlier, her crush would have probably started earlier as well). At first, she'd brushed off the feelings as normal friendship emotions. She chose to ignore that whenever he touched her, butterflies made an appearance in her stomach… a phenomenon that never happened when her other friends touched her.
Then, in her second year at Bloors, Tancred had gotten a girlfriend. The minute Emma saw him walking down the hall holding that blonde girl's hand, she'd known. She'd known that she wanted to be the one holding his hand, and that she should be the one to date Tancred.
After her initial realization, Emma had decided to keep her feelings secret. She knew that she didn't look anything like Tancred's usual type, and that there was no possibility he'd ever notice her. She'd tried not to blush when he paid attention to her, or complimented her. She'd pretended not to care when he dated other girls.
But now, after two years of agonizing over whom he was going to date and staring at him far more than was necessary, Emma knew it was time to act. She was tired of Tancred seeing her only as a younger pal, someone to joke around with and tease, like a little sister. She wanted his eyebrows to go up when he saw her. Unfortunately, her closet did not seem to be cooperating.
Now, as she turned to the side and examined the plain, cap-sleeved, pale green dress she'd worn at the party last year, she knew it was time for drastic action. She decided to call an expert.
"Olivia?"
"Emma?"
Once she had Olivia on the phone, Emma wasn't exactly sure what to do. She'd never told anyone about her feelings for Tancred, but she didn't know how to phrase her question without giving away the reason she wanted a new look.
"Listen, Liv… I have a favour to ask you…," she began, but Olivia interrupted her.
"Do you need something to wear for the party?" Olivia asked.
"I…how did you know what I was going to ask?" Emma replied, confused.
"Well, Tancred is going to be at the party, right?" Olivia sounded a little smug. Emma was thankful that Olivia couldn't see her, since she could see in the mirror that she had turned a rather unattractive shade of magenta.
"W-what makes you think I care about Tancred being there? I mean, I just need something to wear." Emma hoped her voice sounded confident and convincing, but she had a feeling she'd told Olivia exactly what she wanted to hear. Olivia just laughed at her stuttering attempt to defend herself.
"Emma, everyone knows you like him…except probably Tancred. Anyway, don't worry; I've got a bunch of stuff. I can probably make it over in ten minutes, especially since it's an emergency. Just tell me you're not wearing that awful green dress with the cap-sleeves."
"Bye Olivia," Emma said, wondering if she should be more offended at the comment about Tancred or the comment about the dress. Did everyone really know she liked Tancred? Did (horrors!) Aunt Julia know? What about Lysander? Would he tell Tancred? Was the dress really that awful? Emma sighed, pulled off the dress, and flopped on to her bed. She was still there twelve minutes later when Olivia banged open the door, arms laden with clothes.
At the sight of her friend lying on the clothes-strewn bed in her slip, Olivia sighed and plopped the heap of clothing on the floor. She marched over to the bed and put her hands on her hips.
"Emma, get up. We have a lot of work to do," she commanded. Emma sat up reluctantly, taking in Olivia's holiday ensemble. She was wearing a silver skirt with sparkly tights, red boots, and a dark blue sweater. She'd dyed her hair red and streaked it with glitter for the occasion. Despite the crazy outfit, she managed to pull it off with her usual, effortless, Olivia style. With her sparkly snowflake necklace and glitter eye shadow, she looked a little like a glamorous, avenging Christmas elf.
"Ok," Olivia began, "I was thinking that we could start with dresses, and then move on to hair and makeup," she tossed something black at Emma and waited expectantly. "Go…try it on!"
Emma sighed, but climbed off the bed and picked up the dress, vanishing behind the bookcase to try it on. "Are you sure I should even do this?" she asked. "Tancred obviously doesn't like me like that anyway. I'll just look silly and…I am NOT wearing this!" She came out from behind the bookcase, wearing a strapless black dress that barely covered her thighs.
"Oops, I think that's a shirt. Here, try this," Olivia rooted through the pile until she came up with another dress. "It's hard to tell sometimes what's what in my room." Emma laughed and obediently put on the next dress.
Three dresses later, they still hadn't found the perfect outfit, and Emma began to have doubts about even attending the party.
"Maybe I should just show up as a bird. Then I wouldn't have to worry about wearing anything," she sighed. "Besides, I have this awful feeling that I won't even be able to tell Tancred anything. What if he comes with a date?"
"He won't have a date," Olivia said confidently. "Anyway, he thinks you are his one true love."
"What?" Emma stood, eyes wide.
"Well…he hasn't actually said anything …but it's totally what he's thinking. You two probably only need a push in the right direction," Olivia picked up the second-to-last dress in the pile. "Look, only a few left!"
Emma snorted. "You are so single-minded."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Olivia grinned and tossed her the dress. A few minutes later, Emma stood in front of the mirror, gaping in astonishment.
"Oh my," she breathed.
"That's the one," Olivia said, smiling in satisfaction. "Now all you need is makeup and I think that Tancred will definitely not see you as a little chum."
Fifteen minutes later, Emma barely recognized herself. Her borrowed dress was dark green, with a full skirt and a dropped waist. It made a soft rustling when she walked and fit Emma like a glove. Olivia had also given her subtle makeup and had brushed her long blonde hair until it shone.
"Ok, you look great," Olivia said with a grin. "Now I have to go, I'm actually supposed to be meeting someone for the party," she turned to leave but Emma grabbed her arm before she made it to the door.
"Wait, you didn't tell me you had a date!" Emma said. "You let me blab on about some guy who probably doesn't like me and you've had a real, live date this whole time? Who is it?" To Emma's surprise, Olivia actually blushed.
"It's…Charlie" Olivia looked down, scuffing her toe on the carpet. Emma was surprised to see the normally outspoken Olivia embarrassed, but she knew Olivia had liked Charlie for a long time.
"Congratulations Liv! I always suspected you two would be an item," Emma grinned mischievously.
"We're not an item! It's just one date," Olivia blushed again, and pulled on her coat. "Now, I have to go or our date total won't even be one!" She waved again and disappeared down the stairs.
Emma waited a few moments before slowly sinking back onto the bed. The party wasn't scheduled to begin for another half hour, and she had plenty of time to be nervous. She knew, deep down, that Tancred would probably never like her. With Olivia around, it was easy to be optimistic, but Emma had never been much of an unrealistic dreamer. She normally preferred reality to fantasy, and growing up at Bloors had taught her that practicality was sometimes as important as dreaming. But tonight…she wished that for once (as corny as it sounded) she could dream without thinking about the reality.
Her musings were interrupted by her aunt's knock on the door.
"Emma, the guests are starting to arrive, be a love and show them where they can put their coats and get drinks."
"I'll be down in a minute Aunt Julia." Giving herself a last once-over, Emma squared her shoulders and opened the door.
Downstairs, Aunt Julia had tried to make the party the best it had ever been. Although she was somewhat absent-minded, everyone agreed that Julia Ingledew knew how to throw a party. She spent weeks cleaning and baking and making her famous mulled cider. Tonight, the bookstore was decorated with fresh greenery and white tapers (Aunt Julia decided to use candlelight instead of electric lights since Paton Yewbeam was attending) and the whole store smelled heavenly.
Emma edged down the stairs, attempting to discreetly locate Tancred. She didn't see him anywhere. However, when she walked downstairs, she was greeted my Mr. and Mrs. Onimous, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Bone. She spotted Olivia and Charlie, looking somewhat self-conscious, but they were holding hands, so she assumed they weren't having too awful of a time. She also saw Fidelio, Gabriel, and Benjamin (and Runner Bean, of course) having a serious conversation by the cookie table. Lysander was just arriving with his parents, but no matter how hard she looked, Emma didn't see Tancred anywhere. Feeling rather despondent, she decided to get a cup of cider. Aunt Julia's famous cider could usually cure anything.
She had just poured herself a cup and was heading over to talk to Olivia and Charlie when she heard a familiar laugh. Turning around, she caught sight of Tancred's spiky, bright blonde hair. Her heart started to hammer, and she quickly took a sip of her cider and tried to pretend that she was completely disinterested in a certain stormbringer.
Unfortunately, the cider was still extremely hot.
Her first impulse was to spit it across the room, but she managed to swallow it while making a rather muffled half-yelp. She glanced around to see if anyone had seen her impressive display, and realized she'd lost Tancred. Then she heard a cough behind her. She turned and found herself staring into Tancred Torsson's brilliant blue eyes.
"You know, I'd be careful around the cider if I were you. That stuff's deadly. At our house last week…," Tancred suddenly trailed off, staring at her. Then his eyebrows went up. Way up.
"Wow, Emma, you look…fantastic. I mean…you always look great, but tonight…wow," He ran a hand through his hair and Emma wondered if it was just the candlelight or if he was actually blushing.
"Thanks. It's all Olivia's doing," Emma had prepared a speech earlier, but when faced with the real Tancred, she didn't know if she could actually go through with it. She looked intently into her cider cup, as if it could give her an answer. When she looked up, Tancred was still looking at her, as if she was a particularly difficult puzzle he'd almost solved, but was missing the final few pieces.
"Emma, I…," he began, at the same time Emma said "Tancred, I…" They both smiled, a little awkwardly, then Tancred motioned for her to go on. Emma knew it was now or never.
"Tancred, I…" she began again. However, before she could finish her sentence, she heard Lysander snicker, and Benjamin say "Hey you two, look up!"
The moment she looked up, Emma wished she'd chosen any spot but this one. Hanging above them was a familiar green plant, tied with a red ribbon.
"You know what that means," Lysander grinned. Emma looked up at Tancred, mortified beyond belief.
"You don't have to…if you don't want to. Aunt Julia just puts it up for decoration, not seriously," Emma babbled nervously, but was cut off when Tancred suddenly moved in closer, tipped her face up to his and kissed her.
It was a very thorough, heartfelt kiss.
When he stepped back, Emma's brain was buzzing. She could hardly process what had happened. Tancred was grinning, and she heard laughter. She couldn't believe that Tancred had actually kissed her. He didn't seem repulsed or particularly sorry either. By this time, most of the people that had appeared to witness the event had meandered off in search of other entertainment, leaving Emma and Tancred staring at each other.
"Well, that was an unexpected surprise," Tancred said, breaking the silence. "The mistletoe…I mean."
"Unexpected?" Emma repeated, thinking that of all the adjectives to describe what had just happened, unexpected was probably the understatement of the century.
"I mean…unexpected in a good way," Tancred clarified, looking at her with a smile. Something about that smile made Emma snap, and she was stunned to find herself blurting out the secret she'd held inside the past two years.
"Tancred, I like you. I really like you, in a more than a friend way,"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to take them back. Of all the stupid, juvenile ways to tell Tancred she liked him, this was the worst. He didn't say anything, just looked at her. This was all wrong. She'd made a huge mistake. He didn't like her. He probably had only kissed her because of that dumb mistletoe. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid. She quickly turned to look for some sort of escape route, but stopped when she felt Tancred's hand on her arm.
"Where are you going?" he sounded genuinely puzzled.
"I am going to…umm…go now, since you obviously don't feel the same way…" she knew she was turning magenta again.
"I never said I don't feel the same. In fact, I don't think I said anything at all," Tancred said. "If you had stayed put for two more seconds, I would have asked if you would like to go to coffee or something sometime soon, since I really like you too…in a more than friends way."
Emma knew she should do something to stop the ridiculously huge grin that was spreading across her face, but she couldn't seem to stop it. After a moment, she stopped trying. Instead, she stepped up on her tiptoes to kiss Tancred again, and he responded enthusiastically, wrapping his arms around her waist. Emma wasn't sure how long they stood there until Lysander shouted "Oi, you two! Save it for the mistletoe!"
When she looked up, she saw that the mistletoe was gone. Across the room, Emma caught Olivia's eye. Olivia winked, and then turned back to her conversation.
Tancred raised an eyebrow at her and Emma just laughed, saying "I guess she thought we needed a little push!"
End.
Yes…I succumbed to the urge to write a Christmas one-shot…all the cool kids were doing it! Anyway, I just got this image of Emma in this totally frumpy Christmas dress and Olivia showing up with a billion outfits and it wouldn't leave….
Also,PLEASE REVIEW! I'm serious…reviews are the best Christmas gift!