by Nikki Moore
Then something went wrong. Her right knee seemed to lock and then fold. She turned white, wobbling and starting to go over, but just saved herself from falling by sinking down onto the ice on her bum. She clutched her knee, face contorted.
'Holly!' Noel ran over the ice in his trainers. Reaching her, he knelt down and ran careful hands over her leg, first-aid training kicking in. 'Where does it hurt? Is this better, or worse? Do you feel sick? Did you hit your head on the way down?'
She squirmed as he ran hot hands up and down her leg.
'No, I didn't hit my head. I'm fine, just in pain. It's the old injury. I've just overdone it. Noel,' she stilled his hands by laying hers on top of them. 'I just need to get home.'
She inhaled through her nose and blew out through her mouth, fighting to control the pain. Wincing, 'Mum is going to have a field day. She's been telling me not to skate so much. Fantastic.'
'If you're in a lot of pain you should go to A&E.'
She looked aghast. 'No way, not on Christmas Eve. Are you kidding? Scrub that, are you mad? It'll be heaving. I'm not waiting around for hours surrounded by drunks. I just need to get home and take an anti-inflammatory.'
'I really think that-'
'Noel.' Her blue eyes, when he looked into them, were calm. 'I've been here before. I know what I need; go home, medicate, and rest my knee. It'll be better in a few days’ time.'
'I'll take you home then. I'm parked up just around the corner.'
'Haven't you been drinking?'
'Nothing alcoholic.'
'Right. But,' she pushed off the ice, wincing, 'I can probably tube it. I live in Wembley.'
'I'm driving you home,' he stated as he wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her up, 'just accept it.'
She threaded an arm around his neck, staring up at him. Her cheeks reddened. 'Only if you're sure.'
'I am,' he nodded, picking his way carefully across the rink.
Holly hissed and muttered at regular intervals at his slow progress, but he ignored her and concentrated on getting off the ice safely. Once on the grey lino flooring, he sat her down and gingerly removed her skates, kneeling at her feet. 'All done.' He murmured, looking up at her.
'I-I, y-yes,' she stuttered, gazing down at him. Her pupils dilated in her ice-chip blue eyes, creamy skin darkening with a blush that swept up from her chest and into her face.
He felt his own temperature rise in response, and shifted uncomfortably. At least his jeans weren't as tight today. 'Are you all right? In much pain?'
Her expression cleared and she frowned. 'No. Yes. Can we please get on with it?' she asked thinly. 'The sooner we're on the road, the sooner I'll be at home with my prescribed drugs.'
Following her additional instructions, he found a manager drifting about starting to lock up, explained the situation and got Holly's belongings from her locker. He smiled. Who'd have thought that for once it was her being a grouch, instead of him?
To Holly's mortification, Noel insisted on carrying her to the car. She hid her face against his chest, just inside the collar of his coat. The streets were still busy, and it was difficult to ignore the wolf whistles and catcalls from party-goers, caused by both the way he was holding her and the amount of leg she had on show in her tiny figure-skating dress.
Even so, there was a pang of regret when he set her down in the underground hotel car park next to some kind of black low-slung super-car. He'd smelt amazing, and in the end being held by him hadn't exactly been a sacrifice. The way he helped her into the expensive car, carefully sliding her injured knee in, then taking his coat off and tucking it under her leg to elevate it, really touched her.
'How are you feeling?' Noel asked, staring into her eyes. 'Ready to go?'
She nodded but was quiet on the way home other than giving him directions. The pain in her knee worsened with every movement of the car, even though he was driving sensibly, and she closed her eyes, nausea rolling across her in heavy waves. She did not want to throw up in a car like this; the damage would probably cause tens of thousands.
'It's snowing.' He remarked into the silence.
'Really?' her eyes fluttered open but she felt too ill to be enthusiastic.
'You really must be suffering,' he mused, 'if you can't even raise a smile for a white Christmas.'
'Tell me again later, after I've taken my painkillers.'
'Will do.' A silence, 'Holly?'
'Yeurgh?'
'Tell me your home address. You've been dozing for the last two minutes and we must be getting close.'
'Kay,' she murmured, clocking distantly that she sounded a bit like Jasper. Reciting the address, she let her head fall back against the chair in the cosy darkness, concentrating on not being sick.
Thirty seconds later, or at least that's what it felt like, although her watch said over five minutes had passed, she was back in Noel's arms, cold flakes of snow kissing her face.
He leaned on the doorbell, waiting several moments before pressing his elbow on it again.
She mumbled under her breath.
'What was that?'
'Said you still smell amazing!'
He laughed oddly. 'Pain has a strange effect on you by the look of things. Ah, um, hi!' he exclaimed as the door swung open. Light and noise, including seasonal music, spilled out into the front garden. 'I believe she belongs to you? She hurt her knee at the rink.'
'I ruddy knew it!' An exasperated voice said over her head. 'She never listens to me. She's so bloody stubborn.'
'Muuum,' Holly grimaced, and snuggled closer to Noel and comfort, and away from the fierce warmth emanating from the centrally heated terrace house which was making her feel sicker. 'Please, not now.'
'I can't think where she gets her stubbornness from,' another voice, this one amused, spoke over the top of her mum's.
'Hi, Dad,' her mouth curved.
Loud, rapid-fire barking joined in over the rabble and she waved a floppy hand in the air. 'Hi, Pudding. I love you too, but don't feel well, so please be quiet.'
Immediately the barking stopped.
Noel stood patiently as the large chocolate Labrador came out of the house, circled him and Holly three times, sniffed them both, gave Noel a half approving, half distrustful look then pranced into the house with his moist, dark brown nose in the air.
'He thinks he's a show pony, I swear.' Holly said, burrowing her face further into Noel's coat, making him smile.
'Come in, son,' Holly's dad ushered him into a narrow hallway, while his short, rounded wife made constant clucking sounds with her mouth, concern etched on her face. 'Second door on the right.' He told Noel. ‘I'm Tom, by the way. We'll take her out to the back room, away from this rabble,' he explained as they went past a front room packed with milling people and loaded plates of food and bottles of drink lined up everywhere. 'She'll feel better after some cold water and fresh air. There are patio doors in there. She'll be fine, love,' he said, turning to his fretting wife, 'go and find her tablets.'
Noel caught sight of the dog standing in the doorway to the room Tom had indicated. Hurry up for god's sakes, his big brown eyes seemed to say, we haven't got all night. Noel nodded, readjusting Holly's weight and carrying her into the back room. Then he realised he'd taken instruction from a dog. He must be tired. Or going mad.
Tom was already ahead of them, throwing open the double patio doors so a fresh breeze swept through the room, bringing mini snow flurries in with it.
Noel settled Holly in the middle of one of the sofas facing the doors, with a pang of regret, sorry to have to put her down. She came to a little, when he guided her head down between her knees, complaining about the position hurting her leg.
'I know Holly, but the pain is making you feel sick and dizzy, so it's a good idea to get some blood pumping to your head.'
The Labrador seemed to agree with him, padding over and holding Holly's arm still when she tried to move by gripping the fabric of her sleeve gently between his front teeth.
'Here you go.' Holly's mum bustled in, holding out two sugar-coated tablets and a glass of iced water to Noel.
He stared at her.
'She seems to listen to you, so you can do the honours,' she bossed, dropping the tablets into his hand.
He studied them, then looked at the dog, who was watching him expectantly. Okay then. 'All right. But I'm going to give her a few more minutes like this first.'
Holly's mum nodded and sat down on the edge of the sofa cushion beside her daughter, lifting her long hair off her neck to help cool her down.
'I'm Tina by the way,' she said. 'She always reacts to bad pain like this, ever since she was small.'
'I see. I'm Noel. Pleased to meet you.'
'How do you know our Holly?' she asked, flicking a glance at her husband, who was standing in the open doorway with his face lifted to the falling snow.
Noel fidgeted under Tina's scrutiny, then the dog's, who was next to his knee, practically sat on his feet. Honestly, who'd have thought an animal's face could be so expressive.
'Customer. Friend. I-' he shifted in his seat, 'I'm not sure yet,' he said honestly.
She nodded, looking entirely comfortable with his non-answer.
He cast his eyes around the room, hoping for a change of topic. 'I'm sorry, but can I just ask … what's with all the-?' Pointing at ruined wooden table legs, holes in the arms of the suite, upholstery hanging out, a large chunk of plaster missing from the far wall, like a little dip. 'Did you get burgled or something?'
Tina let out a long, pealing laugh, joined by a deep guffaw from her husband. 'No. That's all Pudding's doing. Labs eat a lot, and some of them eat everything. He's one of those, or he was when he was a puppy. He should know better by now.' She remarked disapprovingly, looking at the dog.
Pudding at least had the grace to look shamefaced, getting up and leaving the room but, Noel noticed, still with a slight air of disdain and a dainty picking up of the front legs.
'Holly.' He turned back to her. 'Holly.' She lifted her head and clear blue eyes met his. 'Feeling a bit better?'
She nodded, 'Leg still hurts like a bugger though.' But normal colour was starting to seep into her face. 'Tablets please,' she said, hand held out.
Within twenty minutes of taking the meds, and sitting quietly whilst sipping the water, Holly was feeling almost human, or so she said. 'I don't feel sick or dizzy any more. My knee is much better,' she assured him, 'a dull throb rather than shrieking agony.'
Her eyes widened when he stood up.
'Good.' He stated, 'Then I should go.'
'Why?' her bottom lip stuck out sexily. Did she want him to stay?
'It's after eleven,' Noel said, 'getting on for midnight.' He started along the hallway and they all followed him, Holly with her arm around her dad's shoulder at her insistence. 'It's almost Christmas.' He continued. 'I can't intrude.'
'You can't go back out in this weather on Christmas Eve after bringing our girl home. Stay with us, have some fun.' Tina grabbed his hand, smiling up at him.
'Come on Noel,' Tom said, 'I think you'll enjoy it. Our way of saying thanks.'
'What kind of fun?'
Holly, standing beside him, looked awkward.
He groaned inside, having reached the front room, overwhelmed by the sheer Christmassyness (was that a word?) of it all, including a pine tree rammed with a clashing assortment of baubles and miles of gold tinsel, shiny foil and paper chains hanging down the walls, a nativity scene, candles lit around the room, letting off the scent of berries. Festive cards were strung across the ceiling on coloured threads, making him feel like he was enmeshed in a giant spider's web. Panic kindled and began to catch fire. His breath twisted in his throat, hands clenching. Could he do this? He wasn't the family Christmas type.
'Christmas themed games?' he asked shakily.
'No!' Holly's mum gave him an appalled expression. 'Sod that. Drinking games!' Shuffling over to a cupboard, she pulled open a door to reveal shelves packed with no end of snacks, bottles, packs of cards and tea towels, like an overstuffed sock draw, and yanked out a garment covered in turquoise sequins.
'This is the drinking jacket. Put it on love,' she didn't give him much of a choice, shoving his arms into it. She ran her hands over his broad shoulders. 'Nice fit,' she said approvingly.
Holly clutched her head with her hands. 'Oh, Mum!'
Noel hid a smile. Holly looked adorable. Exasperated, but adorable.
'Don't worry, handsome,' Tina put her hands on her hips, 'if you drink too much we'll stuff you in a cab. Or there's a spare room you can stop in.'
'That's really kind but like I said, I can't intrude on you, with tomorrow being what it is.'
'Nonsense, we have guests all the time,' she marched over to a table and picked up a bottle of whiskey.
Sorry, Holly mouthed at him. 'Mum, Noel probably has other plans.'
As she said it, giving him an out, something strange happened. The panic started receding.
'Pffttt, if that was the case he'd be there already. You listen to your old mum. He wants to stay. You're going to have to be careful though love,' she told Holly, 'after taking those tablets. Don't go trying to be drinking champion like you usually do.'
Holly rolled her eyes. Great, now Noel was probably going to think she had a problem with alcohol.
'Are you staying, Noel?' Tina peered up at him. 'It'll give you a chance to relax. You look too uptight for a youngster.' She pinched his cheek and patted it, turning away, assuming she'd convinced him. 'Right everyone,' clapping her hands to get people's attention, 'let's get started. Form the circle.' Obediently, people stopped their conversations. Someone switched off the TV, and they all lowered themselves to sit down cross-legged on the floor, even an old lady with pink tinted hair who looked about a hundred, who rubbed her hands gleefully. 'Bring out the port!'
Holly signalled frantically behind her Mum's back, 'Go now, quickly,' she whispered, 'escape while you can.'
'I don't know,' he drawled, 'it kind of sounds like fun.' It did. Plus there was still the matter of the sheer black tights and flirty black dress. He wasn't ready to give that up yet. And Matt probably wasn't expecting him to come back now anyway, it was too late, but he could easily text his friend to let him know where he was.
'But…I really didn't think it would be your thing. You don't like Christmas.'
'It's not Christmas yet, and it's just a drinking game. It would also be rude to leave when your Mum is so obviously keen for me to stay.'
'Huh, if you're not careful she'll have us married off by New Year,' she muttered.
'What?' he dipped his head toward her.
'What?' she echoed innocently.
'Come on you two,' Tina called across the room, 'I've made space for you to sit together,' Holly let out an audible groan at her mum's match-making, 'and we need Noel to start it off. He's wearing the drinking jacket.'
'Okay, stay.' She looked up at him, and he fought a mad urge to stroke her hair. 'I'm warning you though,' she said, looking serious, blue eyes wide, 'about my Aunt, the one in the dark blue twin set. She uses the mistletoe.' She pointed to a sprig above the kitchen door. 'Don't let her catch you under it.'
'I'll be careful,' he said solemnly, taking her hand and leading her across the room. Tensing, she looked down at their joined hands. He let go quickly. Maybe he had it wrong, perhaps she didn't want him there and she'd only stopped him leaving out of gratitude for helping her. Settling on the floor, Noel ignored the thought, slowly relaxing as Tina explained the rules of the game, a version of Fizz Buzz, where any number divisible by three was replaced by fizz and any number divisible by five replaced by buzz, and players took it in turns round the circle to say a number, fizz or buzz, counting upwards from one to a hundred.
At the beginning of each round everyone had one drink. Players only had three seconds per turn.
'Three seconds? Is that it?' he turned to Holly, who was biting the inside of her cheeks.
'You were the one who decided to stay,' she shrugged, eyes twinkling.
'So where does the drinking jacket come in then?' he asked.
'Every time one of us gets it wrong, you have to have a drink. Every time you get it wrong, you nominate someone else to have a drink. After the first round of one hundred, you pass the jacket to someone else.'
'Wait,' he said suspiciously, 'if I have to drink every time someone gets it wrong, the odds are against me. Aren't I going to get drunk pretty quickly?'
Holly's dad smiled sloppily, raising his glass of whiskey in a toast. Noel realised they'd all been drinking for a while, it was just that his appearance with their daughter had sobered her parents up rapidly.
'I'm going to regret this aren't I?' Noel asked Holly mournfully.
'Shut up and have your first drink,' she ordered, fanning her face and standing up to scramble out of her tights, before sinking down again. 'That's better. I was getting hot.'
'You're telling me,' he said under his breath, eyeing the generous length of bare legs on display, and casually readjusting his jeans. 'Okay,' he said, 'let's start then. Cheers,' holding his shot glass aloft then throwing back the contents.
'Wait!' Holly said, grabbing hold of his arm. 'Mum forgot to tell you, when you nominate someone to have a drink, you can include Pudding too.'
'What?' staring at her, amazed. 'What were in those tablets I gave you?'
'He likes the taste of straight coke,' she ignored his dig, 'so we let him join in.'
On cue, the chocolate Lab appeared next to Noel, eye-balling him fiercely.
Noel had never known any family quite like them. 'All right, fine,' he put his hands up, palms out like he was being held up. 'This is getting more surreal by the minute.'
Holly laid her head on his shoulder, gazing up at him and fluttering her eyelashes. 'But it's also getting more fun, right?'
Grinning, he nodded. 'Right.'