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

[coopdetat]

Coop sees her when she walks through the door.

He pretends not to but of course he does, she's nearly impossible to miss even in a crowd, and he busies himself with open the cap of the vodka he'd brought in hopes that he can get a few shots in before she makes her way over to him, but luck doesn't seem to be on his side because he can see her spot him out of the corner of his eye.

After what had happened with the incident with the cave, after Owen had kissed him and Coop had kissed back and there was a whole big kissing thing--which Coop knows had meant something very different to him, not only because he's been hearing gossip that he doesn't really think is just gossip--he'd sent Sylvie a text asking what her plans are for Christmas. He doesn't know why he'd done it, doesn't know why he hadn't had the courage to reply back when she'd said she wouldn't have much of anything going on, but he'd stared at his phone for a long time after he'd gotten her answer before simply tucking it back into his pocket.

It's the idea of being with her on Christmas, he thinks, that kind of makes his stomach turn, not because he hates it but because he maybe wants it a little too much. Since the cave, he feels like he's been falling down this spiral of self-doubt, like he's in danger of growing too reliant on others to carry him when he's spent a long time grooming himself not to need that after Sylvie had left the first time. He understands it a little better now, why she'd gone, and he doesn't even think he can be mad about it anymore; he's just so fucking clueless about what he wants for the first time in a long time because up until now, he hasn't wanted for much of anything.

He's just getting the cap off the bottle when he sees Sylvie's feet approaching, and Coop just barely glances up at her before fixing his eyes back on the vodka. "Hey," he greets, and it's weak, and he knows it. "You're here. That's-- It's good that you are. Merry Christmas."

[sylviedevereux]

He's struggling with a bottle cap, which is her first clue that she's thrown him. Coop's never been one to shy around alcohol, and she can remember him popping champagne corks with a grace and ease that she didn't think anyone could master. There's no way he's having that much trouble with a twist cap, which means he's trying to avoid looking her in the eye.

She puts the parcel down on the table and reaches to take the bottle off him gently, pouring a shot for him and setting it back down again. "Merry Christmas. You looked like you were having a hard time of it," she says, nodding to the bottle with a wry smile.

[coopdetat]

He doesn't look directly at her when she takes the bottle out of his hands, but he can't help the small, crooked smile that quirks the corner of his mouth because Sylvie knows. She just knows, and it's simultaneously maddening and comforting all at the same know to realize how much hasn't changed. When he finally lifts his gaze to catch hers, taking the shot she's poured for him from her and trying not to drop the glass when their fingers brush, Coop just stops and stares for a moment because honestly, he's pretty sure he doesn't have much else of a choice.

"Thanks," he murmurs, not even sure that she's heard him over the chatter going on in the bakery and before he can say anything else, just in an effort to snap himself out of this sudden stupor he's fallen into, he leans his head back to swallow the shot down. It's smooth, it goes down his throat easily, and he lets out a satisfied sigh as he straightens up with a shiver. The shot doesn't go straight to his head, it'll take at least four or five more to start feeling those effects, but it makes him widen his smile at her because it really is kind of like liquid courage.

"You're going to have a few with me, aren't you? It's Christmas tomorrow, a hangover won't matter because it's totally okay to sleep in 'til noon."

[sylviedevereux]

She watches the smooth line of his throat as he tips his head back and tries not to react. She's worked so hard at this, not pushing him for anything really, but she remembers being able to run her lips along his skin, and it sends a shiver through her that she has to hold in check.

"Of course," she forces out instead, nodding her head. She doesn't have any real Christmas plans, this is it, so she can totally drink as much as she wants and sleep till noon. "I got you something," she says, pushing the parcel towards him. She'll talk herself out of it if she waits much longer, and besides, she wanted to give it to him.