Welcome everyone. Just a little Christmas one-shot for all of you! Enjoy and review.
Mistletoe… A mere thing that caused people to kiss each other when they were caught beneath it… Once upon a time in England, menfolk would use it to adulterate womenfolk.
Looking up at it was something that happened a lot, especially if it was at a place that had three locations where mistletoe hung. The first place was in the entrance to the living room, the other two were in both entrances to the kitchen.
The host, Cedric Warburton, sat in his chair clutching his cane with both hands… There were too many people in his house for his liking. As he clutched his cane, he glared at his wife Ulrica, a pythoness if there ever was one. She treated their elder son Robert better than she did their younger son Niall and since she was once more gravid, the question of how she would treat the third child was a question on his mind. If Cerdic's experience taught him anything Niall would become ignored by Ulrica while the third child would be treated as well as Robert.
Randy stood looking at Cerdic from the corner of the living room. He didn't look that happy but given how much of a loner Cerdic was rumored to be, having more than just family in his house was probably not the best for Cerdic. However, to Randy's thinking the complete look of shock Cerdic had when Randy's family arrived told Randy that the Christmas party was something that Cerdic had been completely unaware of.
Growing tired of the angry forty-one year old man staring at the crone of a thirty-seven woman that was his wife, Randy started looking around the room. There must have been something better than Cerdic staring at Ulrica.
At the other side of the room was Theresa, not far off was both Robert and Niall both brothers in complete shock at of their father and mother, Heidi had been dragged over to Ulrica by her mother and they were tormenting her by calling her a "wee, diminutive, little creature" even if they weren't doing it on purpose which must have meant Mrs. Weinerman was a "thewy, Brobdingnagian, big creature", Howard was talking to Niall asking how he didn't have a video game system at all which Niall wasn't even hearing… There just was not anything to do… Until Niall walked into the kitchen!
Being rather small, shorter than Debbie and thinner than most people Randy could name, it was easy for Niall to get around considering how many people there was at his end of the room. Randy walked over to the kitchen and found Niall sitting by himself at the table. He wasn't really doing anything but sitting there.
Shrugging, Randy turned around and bumped into Theresa.
"Hi, Randy!"
"Theresa, hey!"
"How are you? Enjoying the party?"
"Not really, give me a competition at the Game Hole any day over this!"
"Yeah, this party is rather boring."
They hadn't even talked a minute, when Niall came up to them while holding a mug of honey and lemon. He pointed up they looked and saw the mistletoe above them. Niall then walked away, while the blushing Randy and Theresa just looked at each other. Kiss, don't kiss, what were they going to do?
Niall then came back with a piece of paper with "Just kiss already!" written on it. He clearly was not feeling too talkative. At least, they hoped that was the case otherwise he might have been regressing back to his silent phase. Niall shook the piece of paper and pointed at what he had written.
"What if someone sees us?" asked Randy. Niall looked around. There was no one but the three of them in the hall. "You make a convincing argument."
And so Randy and Theresa kissed. It was the second time they kissed, the first time because of a movie that Norrisville High had been making and this time because they were under mistletoe. What would the reason be for the third kiss? Would there be a third kiss?
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make!" That was Cerdic's voice. While Randy Theresa kissed, Niall went running into the living room to see what the announcement was. "Ah, here is my boy!" Cerdic stood up and hobbled over to Niall. "As many of you should be aware of, Niall's middle name is 'Slave' all because of a cruel joke my crone of a wife chose to make." Many of the eyes started to glare at Ulrica. That was some form of child abuse they were sure. "Henceforth, Niall will have a new middle name." Niall looked at his father with wide eyes. What was his new middle name going to be? "Son, for now on you are Niall Moses Warburton!" Cerdic then looked over at Ulrica. "So says the king of the castle." And with that, Cerdic walked away.
The look on Ulrica's face alone caused Niall to go pale. It was not a happy look nor was it a sad or confused look. It was a look of unbridled rage. It wasn't even the look that caused Niall to run from the living room. It had been the vase Ulrica had decided to throw at her younger son. It was only logical that the less people knew about the real Hannibal McFist the more they loved him and the more they knew about the real Ulrica Warburton the more they hated her. That loss of temper had caused public opinion of the good columnist to go quite a bit down.
Randy and Theresa both broke out of the kiss. What had caused that noise? It was at that point that Niall had come running in their direction.
"What happened?" asked Randy.
"What was that noise?" asked Theresa.
"M-M-My middle n-name is n-n-now 'Moses.'" Was Niall's reply.
Theersa clasped her hands together. "Really? That's great!" her eyes then widened as she and Randy both realized what had caused that noise. "Oh."
"W-What am I g-going to do?" Niall walked past both Randy and Theresa only to see a most horrifying sight at the other entrance to the kitchen. What he saw was Mrs. Driscoll kissing her deceased husband's skeleton under the mistletoe. "I-It is b-better to face my mom than to l-l-look at that!" Randy and Theresa didn't even see what he was talking about. Thankfully, they never walked far enough to see what he was talking about otherwise the question their minds would have been "How does she have a job at a school?"
As the party ended, people were saying their goodbyes. Mainly the goodbyes were being said to Cerdic, Ulrica had pretty much vanished from the party and Robert had spent the rest of the party complaining about how he didn't get a new middle name. Robert's complaint all ends with "Everybody adores Niall." If that were true, Ulrica wouldn't treat Niall the way she did.
Randy and Theresa were talking outside Cerdic was standing at the door, Mrs. Weinerman was asking about Ulrica, Robert had fainted at the sight of Julian in the bathroom mirror, Howard was waiting in the Weinerman family's car, Heidi had gone to get her coat and Niall was in the kitchen looking at the empty container that had once held the honey and lemon.
Why was the honey and lemon gone?
With a frown on his face, Niall sighed and started to walk to the living room when he bumped into Heidi. She had knocked right down, causing Niall to see the mistletoe above them. This was not something he wanted, he liked Heidi but he would have preferred Carla if her family had been invited.
Closing his eyes as Heidi helped him up, Niall could hear her voice. "It's alright, Niall. It's just a kiss." Niall didn't open his eyes. He just kept them shut tight even as Heidi kissed him.
If Ken were ever to hear of this, Niall would be dead. Ken had a crush on Heidi it was that clear and how dangerous an envious Ken could be was something that Niall did not want to find out.
It actually turned out to be not so bad for a first kiss. Ulrica had never kissed him and yet now someone had.
Heidi walked past Niall and took her coat from a kitchen chair. It had been short and sweet, just like Niall. She then left leaving Niall thinking about what to do should Ken ever find out. Considering when he danced with Theresa he ended up with a crush on her, this ended up being better than the dance since Heidi had kissed him and yet Niall still had a crush on Carla.
Outside by the tree on the Warburton's front lawn, Randy and Theresa continued to talk. They had kissed, Niall had gotten a new middle name, they did not see Mr. and Mrs. Driscoll kissing and now they were making plans to see each other during Christmas break.
"So after boxing day?" asked Theresa.
"Sure!" Randy gave a smile. They did meet and while Howard was never far behind, he was never that close either, usually getting distracted by a new video game he saw in a store window or something. Video games, food, a chess match going on, that seagull, there was a lot of distractions for him so basically Randy and Theresa were able to enjoy the day together uninterrupted.
