Tis the Season

The ringing melody startled Brooklyn. Her hand jerked, making a long scribble mark on the Christmas list she was trying to compile. Sighing, she turned to her open laptop and prepared to shut it down to stop the noise until she noticed it was a Skype call. Fluffing out her curly hair, Brooklyn resituated herself to be in front of the computer and clicked the green button to answer the call.

“I thought you were in Ireland?” She asked as soon as the call went through and Niall appeared on her screen.

The Irish boy chuckled and gave a slight nod. “I am. My family just went out to a Christmas party I wasn’t invited to. Figured I’d ring you.”

Brooklyn smiled shyly and glanced down at her keyboard. “I’m glad you did.”

It was the weirdest thing. After bonding over Michael Bublé and their walk Brooklyn couldn’t stop thinking about the Irish boy. She couldn’t stop smiling when she remembered his smile and she couldn’t stop smiling when her phone lit up with his name. It was weird how things could change.

“Me too,” Niall laughed. “How was your day?”

“Kind of crazy,” the girl laughed as she moved to get comfortable. “I was working this morning and this couple came in, the guy first and then this girl joined him like ten minutes later and they just fought the whole time.” Brooklyn laughed at the memory. “They were so loud. He was trying to convince her they were meant to be or something. It was really funny because I don’t think they noticed the scene they were making.”

Niall laughed into the camera, his blue eyes twinkling. “So what happened? Did you have to ask them to leave?”

“No,” Brooklyn sighed. She actually found it a little sad what had happened. “The girl just up and walked out and the guy looked completely gutted after she left. I felt bad for him so I gave him his cuppa on the house.”

The Irish boy nodded. Brooklyn watched as he stood up and grabbed the laptop he was using. She studied the passing picture frames as he walked through his family home, down a long hallway and then up some stairs. It looked homey with pictures lining all the walls and Earthy tones filling the house. Brooklyn was jealous; her childhood home didn’t look anything like that.

“Sorry,” Niall said as put the laptop down onto his bed. Brooklyn smiled when he entered the frame again, lying down on his stomach so his face was right up to the camera. “It’s cold downstairs. Poor bastard though, yeah?”

The girl laughed and pulled her laptop onto her lap. “Yeah. But how is your family? Are you having fun being home?”

Niall nodded and lit up like a Christmas tree as he launched into a story about his family. He told Brooklyn about visiting his mum and helping her make cookies and meeting his brother’s new girlfriend. But he really lit up when he talked about spending time with his dad again; catching old reruns of stupid TV shows and football games. It brought up bittersweet feelings for Brooklyn. She was happy for him but sad that she didn’t really have any family of her own to celebrate the holidays with.

“When I get back to London I’m gonna take you out,” Niall said confidently after spilling a story about his brother killing his pet fish by overfeeding them.

Brooklyn laughed and her sadness washed away. She focused on the smiling boy on the other side of the screen and nodded. “Yeah, okay Nialler, you can do that,” she teased, rolling her eyes playfully.

“I’m gonna,” he laughed. “If you want to meet me when my plane gets in we can go to my favorite late night diner. And we can talk this time.”

“I would hope so otherwise it’d be a pretty sucky date.”

“Date? Who said anything about a date?”

Brooklyn flushed scarlet. “I, um, I don’t know…”

Niall chuckled and shook his head. “I’m just teasing.”

“Jerk!” The girl laughed as she stood up and moved over to her bed. “That was mean.”

“I’ll make it up to you.”

A shiver ran down Brooklyn’s spine but she smiled. “Yeah, you better.”

Suddenly she couldn’t wait for the Irish boy to come home.