“And why the fuck should he?”
Ahh, Ella. Always in my corner. Got to love her.
“Thank you, and you’re right, but I meant it’s more of a non-issue. It was me who was all hung up about it.”
“Shocker,” she said, laughing.
Henry scowled at her.
I take it all back.
He sighed as he finally pulled into his driveway. “I really like him, El. It’s just all so new and tentative, I’m worried I’ll say the wrong thing and fuck it up.” Despite Dom’s words to the contrary, Henry couldn’t help but wonder if deep down Dom still thought of him as a bad bet.
Henry went to get out of the car, but Ella stopped him with her hand on his arm. “Look. I don’t know what the two of you talked about, but you went from ashen-faced when you ran after him to positively beaming when you got back, so it must’ve been good.” She smiled at him. “Just be you, Henry. That’s all you have to do.” She shrugged and reached for the door handle. “If it doesn’t work out, then he isn’t the one for you.”
His eyes narrowed. “You read that somewhere, didn’t you?”
She slapped his arm but laughed, so he knew he was right. “I might’ve done, but it’s still true. Now let’s get this tree inside and you can thank me for picking such a beauty while you were off getting cosy with your boy toy.”
Henry snorted. “If anyone’s the—” He stopped abruptly, not wanting to put that idea in his sister’s head, but judging by the twinkle in her eye, the damage was done.
“Oh, you so are, aren’t you?” She laughed all the way to his front door and Henry shook his head as he undid the straps on the tree. He heard voices behind him and prayed Ella hadn’t said anything to his housemates. But then he remembered her face when he got back to the car earlier. Her lips had almost been blue.
Yeah, no way she was keeping quiet.
“Want a hand?” Jason walked towards him, whistling at the size of the tree. “Looks like you might need it.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Jason walked round to the back of the car to get the end of the tree. “I hear you’ve sorted things out with your sugar daddy.”
Henry looked up to see Jason grinning widely.
“Oh, fuck off.”
Payback was indeed a bitch.
* * *
Decoratingthe tree turned out to be less of a ball ache than Henry anticipated. True to his word, Jason had more Christmas decorations than they would ever need, courtesy of his mum, and with the aid of beer, the four of them and Ella made a valiant effort at trimming the tree.
“There.” Ella stepped back, hands on her hips. “I think that’ll do.”
Thank god, because Henry was done.
Looking around at his housemates, they were of the same opinion. But when Ella hurried over to turn off the living room lights, even Henry had to admit it looked amazing.
Multi-coloured fairy lights wound around the tree, making the red and green baubles glitter and shine. A star sat on top, a little wonky now Henry looked closely at it, but he kind of liked it that way.
The overall effect was stunning. It brought a whole new warmth to their living area and some Christmas cheer that had been sadly lacking. Henry pulled out his phone and snapped a picture. It took him several attempts to get a halfway decent one, and it still didn’t do the tree justice, but it would have to do.
Henry: Festive spirit is present at last!
He attached the photo and hit Send.
Knowing Dom was probably busy, Henry set his phone aside and spent the evening getting steadily tipsy with his housemates and his sister, all the while quietly admiring their new tree and replaying his chat with Dom.
* * *
