Here comes santa claus!

[callmeemily]

The holiday this year is so incredibly different than the last.

Last year? Raleigh was holed up in the boarding house, no one in 300 miles but her shitty boss knew her name, and she was so poor that she was eating rice, beans, and leftovers from the Seaside bakery.

This year, everything's changed. Orchard House is chugging along astoundingly well; Raleigh puts in long hours, but it's paying off. She's been able to hire somebody else to work the register, she's getting custom orders - the whole thing. She has friends. Honest to god friends, and she's got enough money that she's actually got presents for people. For a lot of people - it's a mix of cookies and things, but there's a little something for everybody piled on the table in the back corner, and one mass-text later she's humming through the bakery, music playing from the speakers, warm cider in a carafe, and everything's warm and cozy.

She looks at it, at this business that she's made with the help of this whole town, and she can't help but smile. Tonight? Spending tonight with friends and found-family? That's what this whole thing's about.

Gathering post! Raleigh will tag everyone who tags in, but feel free to tag one another, too. :) It's up to you if they have gotten a text, or just heard the music and seen the crowd. Everyone'll get something!

Comments

[remotecontrol]

This is the first holiday that Charlotte has spent away from home, from her parents, and she feels strangely homesick. It sounds crazy, when she was so ready to move out at last, so desperate to make a life of her own and to just get away, if only for a while. But on the morning of Christmas Eve, she wakes up in the apartment and it's just quiet. Back home, she would have woken to her mother shouting for her to get out of bed, or to the general downstairs bustle of her parents preparing the house for Christmas festivities. She can't deny missing that, even if she is happy here in Siren Cove. It's just different, and it hasn't really struck her until now, on this day when there is such an emphasis on being with family.

Raleigh's text is something of a godsend. It's what drags her out of bed at last, when she might have otherwise stayed in watching Christmas movies on television and moping. She doesn't want to waste the holiday, though, even if she can't spend it the way she normally would. Her parents may not be around, but she has family in Siren Cove — blood family in Joel, and found family in others, like Spencer and Raleigh. So she gets dressed and heads over to Orchard House, the gift she picked out for Raleigh tucked under her one arm.

When she gets to the bakery, she can't help smiling. It's the exact opposite of the apartment, all bright, and warm, and loud. She feels like a little bit of a doofus, grinning from ear to ear, but she can't help it. This is everything that her day was missing.

[callmeemily]

"Charlotte!" Raleigh makes her way over- she's a little slower than usual, but it's because she's tired and she's put a lot more stress on her bad leg over the last couple of days, but everything's come together and it's pretty much great.

She hugs her friend, even as she notices the doofy sort of smile on her face, and she can't help but smile, too. "I'm so glad you made it! Sorry about the short notice, I just sort of... decided, this morning."

It's a little weird, but obviously no matter what, it was the right decision. Everyone here is so happy, they're smiling so much-- it's perfect.

[remotecontrol]

"It's okay," Charlotte says, shaking her head as she pulls out of the hug. "The store's closed, so it's not like I was busy. If anything, you saved me from having to actually figure out what to do with myself today." If that makes her sound hopelessly lame, this is the rare instance in which she doesn't actually mind. She knows Raleigh well enough to be completely honest and not have to worry about being judged.

[callmeemily]

"Dude, if I have another Sunday with nothing to do - I hear you. I know I shouldn't come into the bakery on sheer principle, but like... it's not easy, figuring out what you need to do. You know?" She made a face, shaking her head. "Being an adult sucks," she said with a laugh, even as she scrunched her nose to make a face. "Come, sit, eat - you know the drill."