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]

Shea Cooper exists, to Charlotte, almost peripherally. She hears about him now and then, either from Raleigh or Joel or Spencer, but he isn't someone that she would claim to know very well at all. She knows, however, that he helped last month, that he is part of the reason that Joel is still alive, and she is grateful to him for that. When she notices him in the bakery, she wonders if she should thank him personally. It's the reason why she walks over, but then she spots the bottle in his hands and her eyebrows shoot straight up.

"Wow, I didn't realize it was gonna be that kind of Christmas party."

[coopdetat]

Coop knows who Charlotte is, of course he does, he's seen her around town since she's moved back and normally, he'd have gone right up to her for a good old-fashioned flirting session but there's got to be some kind of bro code that prevents him from doing that with a friend's younger sister--especially a friend that he'd spent a lot of time also flirting with in the past. But Joel has become a much closer, much more trustworthy friend to him over the course of the past few months, and Coop's found that he's weirdly willing to do a hell of a lot to make sure Joel and Spencer are okay, that they're safe and have help when they need it, because they're good people. It means something, to know that good people give a shit about him, too.

Of course, that doesn't mean that he can't flirt now that she's approached him, right? Totally different.

"Oh, it's definitely that kind of Christmas party," he answers with a grin, holding the bottle a little higher up and out toward her. "It can be now, at least. Eight or nnine shots of this, and we could be dueting along with these Christmas songs in no time."

[remotecontrol]

"That is probably the only way you could get me to duet a Christmas song," Charlotte says. She doesn't know about the eight or nine shots, however. It sounds like this guy has severely overestimated her alcohol tolerance. Which, taking into account the sheer size of him, is not at all surprising. He's like a giant compared to her. A very muscular giant. Isn't he a veterinarian or something? She didn't realize they came in such nice packaging.

[coopdetat]

"In that case, we should probably get started," Coop answers, smiling broadly as he unscrews the cap from the Grey Goose and grabs a couple mugs so he can pour them the shots. "Don't tell your brother about this, by the way. Great guy, but I'm a little paranoid that he might actually try to kill me if he hears that I'm flirting with you." He arches an eyebrow as holds one of the mugs out to her. "Trying to, anyway. How am I doing so far, any tips for improvement?"