Mind the Mistletoe

 

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Introduction

Noel hates the holidays and this one is no different. She wants to get her broken family back together, she goes to an office Christmas Party because she cannot find an excuse not to go. She meets the man of her dreams and with his help, love and understanding she is able to make her holiday dreams come true.

 

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Chapter 1

With a   name like Noel, being born at 11:59 pm on Christmas eve and taking my first breath at 12:00 on Christmas Morning, you would think I would love Christmas, but you would be wrong I hate the holiday. It’s not that my parents put my birthday and Christmas presents together, they went out of their way to be sure I had both types. The Christmas ones would be under the tree and the birthday ones would be on the end table. It was just the fact not only was I born on that day but they gave me the name Noel , I mean come in its pretty but it’s a boys’ name and it means Christmas.

I could go around using my middle name which is Daryn but that’s just as bad, my name literally means Christmas Gift. I mean come on how stupid is that. I guess they thought it was cute.  they did not realize how horrible it would be to go around with that name.

I am not an only child, I have an older brother. He moved out of the house when he was 16, he thought my parents would not approve of some of his life decisions. I may be 2 years younger than him but I knew what was going on even if my parents did not. Doug, what a great sounding name, was gay. He never really worried about what people would say, in fact a lot of people did not even realize it and he didn’t want to upset our parents so he left when he was 16 saying that he had to go find himself and when he did he would return.

Doug and I kept in touch, by letter or phone calls then by email. I knew where he was living and that when he moved out he moved in with John, his best friend. He still lives with John, they are a few hours away. He says that he wants to come see me but was not sure when he could that people would not see him.

I keep telling him that I really don’t care about his lifestyle choices, he is still my big brother and that doesn’t matter to me. “As long as you are not selling crack out of a trunk, I couldn’t care less.”  He does not believe me at all. Which is really sad, I have been thinking that every year at my parents’ house they set out a place at the table for him for Christmas dinner and every year they act like it is not a big deal that he did not come home.

The day he left they told him that the door will always be open to him and that anything he needed he was to call them but he never did. I do not get it, my parents have never said that being gay was wrong but in the eyes of the world people who are gay are wrong.

Not so much anymore but still there are some people who look down on gays and think they are able to control it. Let me see it’s not like they want to drop a dress size, you cannot go on a diet and become un-gay any more than you can stop yourself from having depression.

I graduated from the city college and now I work as a medical receptionist. It is a decent job, my boss Dr. Reginald Paine is a really decent guy to work for. He knows that I truly would rather be a writer so in the down time during work he lets me pursue my passion.  I have worked for him for the last 3 years and he told me last week that the Annual Christmas Party was coming up and that the WHOLE office would be going.

“Well you all have fun” I was hoping to get out of it as parties were not my thing at all. I would have rather stayed home with a bowl of anything chocolate and wrote. I was also trying to come up with an idea to get Doug and John to my parents’ house for Dinner and that was going to take a lot of figuring out.

“Noel, my dear you are going to, the entire office will be there and this year we will be joined by a few other offices. It will be one big party; we are having it in the Grand Ballroom at the Heights.  The Heights was this huge hotel that was located just outside town, everyone who was anyone wanted to go there and stay and if they had the money they could do just that but I was not one who spent my money at the drop of a hat.

“Dr. Paine, I can’t go this year” I was trying to think of a way to get out of it when his wife Lenore walked into the office “Gerry, do not let her weasel out again this year” she smiled when she said it even though I could tell she really was not kidding.

“I have already called Paige, who is very happy to take her out shopping this weekend for a new dress. The nail salon will be calling all the girls in the office up to make appointments for them to get manicure and pedicures if they need them and I am sure most of the girls need them badly.”

Paige was, and I do stress was because after this she will be a was, my best friend. I made the mistake of introducing her and Lenore at a luncheon we had once and it was the biggest mistake of my life. The two became thick as thieves trying to get me set up with a man.  They did not care what man just any old man would do and I was not interested in a Mr. Right now or even Mr. Right I just wanted guy who would love me for all my faults and I would love him for his.

“I am not going so you can play cupid” I put my foot down.

“You are going and I will hear no more about it do I make myself clear?” Dr. Paine spoke quietly but firmly and I knew I was going.

I did the rest of the days’ work very silent I was still mad that everyone thought they knew what I needed more than I did. The only thing I had to figure out was how to get my family together so they could all talk. I knew mom and dad would not flip out that Doug was gay even though he did not think that was true.

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Chapter 2

That weekend when Paige came to get me I thought I would ask her what she thought. I told her and I was shocked when she told me why don’t I invite everyone to my place that way he would not know they were going to be there and they would not know he was. It could be considered a neutral ground and I was always saying how I wanted chance to show off my cooking skills so why not do it.

I told her that is was a great idea and that she could help me. She was not too happy about that but since I was going to let her dress me up she figured she would at least help me out. She knew how much my family being one again was.   She said that we could either go to the normal places that she would go to or if I had an idea we could do my idea. Either way we were not stopping until I found something and I had to get shoes to go with it. “NO jeans and sneakers.”

“Fine I know the perfect place and afterwards we eat. I am starving” she agreed with me.

“No complaining though it’s not the type of place you normally go” I went to the small thrift shop that I got a lot of my clothes at. I am not the dressy type person, my clothes are more for comfort and wear ability than impressing anyone.

When we got there the girl who was normally at the register was there and she said Hi and asked me what was I there for. I told her a Christmas party and she squealed with happiness and told me that they just got some beautiful dresses and pant sets in.

“No pants” Paige said

“Ha they are pants sets and very pretty” I told her that I would look at them and if she really didn’t like them then I would try on few dresses but would not be happy. As we were arguing I could hear a couple guys arguing as well.

“Listen Dave, I told you that I would go to the dumb office party but I am wearing what I want to wear.”

“Nick, you are the new guy in the office and they are very serious when they say we all have to go”

“Dave, you are the boss. You make the rules say I don’t have to go”

“Nick you are going and that is that” they argued more and then I guess they either left the store or moved away but either way it was funny.

Paige and I arrived at the new arrivals and she immediately grabbed a couple dresses, saying that if I was not going to try them on then she would. I saw a black pant suit that I thought was really pretty but the girl told me no she had a better idea.

She went into the back room and came out with a silver grey pant suit with a cranberry silk shirt underneath. She told me the silk was more like a cotton but felt like silk. I decided to humor her and I tried it on. I fell in love almost at once then I looked at the tag and saw my name with the price $15.00 for both. I just needed shoes and maybe a necklace since the shirt was low cut it called out for the right accessories.

I put my regular clothes back on and Paige was still trying her dress on, I told her that I was going to check out a couple other things but would be back. She told me she was almost done and would meet me in the store. We ended up spending a lot of time there I got the accessories as well as a few other pairs of pants and some shirts and we found some sweat suits there that were so pretty we just had to get them.

I found a few things that I could give my parents and Doug and even his mate. I was very happy and all in all I only spent $100 which is about what I said I could spend on the dress itself. I still had to get shoes but I was happy. I looked at Paige and said “Now can we eat?”

“Good I am starving” she laughed and grabbed my hand and we ran to the car like a couple of little kids. The stores were already starting to get busy, I barely recovered from Thanksgiving now I had to deal with Christmas but at least I was not doing retail any more.

We decided to go to the 60’s café, it had the checkerboard floors and a jukebox in the corner and once in a while they would do a Happy Days thing and people would be dressed like the characters from the show it was fun.

When we got to the café, and slid into booths still giggling like little kids. The place was not too crowded but had a feeling it would get more so. What was so cool about the café was if it got too crowded you were expected to share. It helped start many a friendships which was how Paige and I met a long time ago.  We were watching it get busy after we ordered lunch, two guys walked in and the hostesses looked around and saw us sitting there. She walked over and said “Would you mind sharing a table with these two gentlemen?”  

“Of course not it is the season” Paige said as the hostess smiled and hurried back to them.

“Here you go Gentlemen, these lovely young ladies are so nice” she smiled at us and hurried away.

“Thank you ladies” they said. They were both attractive but there was something about the one who sat next to Paige that I found quite attractive.  He was slightly bigger than his skinny friend but that was fine I was not a twig myself.

He had brown hair that was cute short but still long enough to make a woman want to run her fingers through it and mess it up just a little bit. He had on a tan cable knit sweater and jeans, his eyes were light brown, the color of caramel. There was something about him that made me want to get to know him better but I was pretty shy so I didn’t talk much.

“So what are you two fine men doing today?” Paige was not too shy

“My friend here has a Christmas party for work and I had to drag him out of the house to get some new clothes” he smiled at Paige and I knew by the end of lunch that she was going to either have a new phone number or a date.

“My name is John and this is” he never got any further because his phone went off. He looked down and said “damn, we gotta jet man” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a card, wrote something on it and handed it to her with a smile.

“Sorry ladies” the attractive one said as his pal pulled him out of the restaurant.

“That was quite interesting” Paige said as she was looking at the card he handed her.

“Well, another phone number?” I smiled at her.

“You could say that.” She told me that he was a Doctor and he gave her his office number, cell phone and on the back was his house phone with the words “Please call, would like to get to know you better”

“As usual we go out and Paige gets a number” I giggled when she tossed a napkin at me.

We went back to my place and started a fashion show. It was great fun and something that made me glad I met her. She was model perfect but didn’t see it, whenever we went out together guys were always flocking to her like bees to honey but she never really noticed or cared.

She told me that she loved the outfit I picked and that it suited me. She also told me that she was going to come over and do my hair and makeup. I told her that she could come with me since we were allowed to bring someone.  She said sure unless something else came up, like a date with a doctor as much as she would love to spend time with me a date with a handsome doctor was a bit better.

I told her that I understood and it was cool. We watched a few sappy holiday romances which she said should get me in the spirit of things but all it did was depress me since I knew I would not  be falling in love this year after all what man would want a woman who looked like me.

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