Saw WHIP IT a couple nights ago and would fully suggest it to anyone who loves a good offbeat movie.
Bridget and Christopher were going to her parent's house for the Christmas holidays. Since Bells, the guys, and I didn't want to miss out on giving him Christmas presents, we decided to hold a small get together for the group of us. Bridget had set up a Christmas tree in their living room and Chris had clearly done the majority of the decorating. Tinsel had been splayed all over the bottom branches in the spirit of the holiday. I had gone over early to help make dinner because Bridget still hated to cook and I wanted to spend time with both of them before everyone else joined them as I hadn't had a lot of time with them in weeks.
Christopher jumped into my arms the moment I made my way through their door. He had been extra affectionate since his little tantrum in the snow. It was as though he was still worried about anyone leaving him and wanted to be close to them all the time, which was fine with me because I knew he'd outgrow it faster than I would like. I carried him along with my small bag of gifts to the kitchen where Bridget was pretending to prep our meal. She must have heard us giggling in the doorway and turned around to face us, a smile and a raised eyebrow present on her face.
"Leave me alone," she said with a laugh, "I'm doing my best."
"We know," I told her, wrapping my free arm around her shoulders. She returned it and Chris got caught in a Max/Bridget sandwich, which made him giggle even more. We all set about making dinner for the group, who would be showing up in a couple hours. Our time together was wonderful and included a bit of a food fight over the turkey dressing (stuffing to some people). I had set the turkey early that morning and gone home to get everything else before coming back that afternoon so everything was ready. I had the vegetables steaming and potatoes cooking too. I was going to make today fun for everyone. I needed to decompress before heading to Bolton, Chris needed to know that Christmas can be great even without his dad, Bells loved being around kids, Chris especially, Bridget needed to know she had a solid support system, and the boys, well they just wanted to have fun, and I think that's important too. Harry and Tom had already headed to their parent's homes for the holidays so only Danny and Dougie were able to join us. Chris had wrapped up the other boys presents to give to them later, he had even made something for Giovanna, and since he didn't know he very well, that shows how much he got into the whole giving gifts thing.
"I have to talk to you about something," I said to Bridget suddenly when Christopher had run to the other room to ensure all his presents were under the tree.
"I actually have to talk to you too," she answered seriously, "but you go first."
I took a deep breath, wondering how she would take the news I had just gotten myself. "I was offered a position on a professional team," I began slowly, "with the season starting next March."
Bridget gave me a curious look. "Me too," she said slowly.
My interest was peaked. "Where?"
"No, you first," she had begun to grin, realizing the possibility that we may have been extended a similar offer.
"The states," I concluded, expelling the breath I had been holding.
He jaw dropped. "Me too."
"Which team?" I asked suddenly excited about this new development.
"Carson, California for the Las Angeles Sol."
It was my turn for a jaw drop. "Me too." Our responses weren't overly excited so much as in shock. How did this even happen and why didn't the recruiter tell us that we had both been offered places?
"They told me that since this is the first year getting the league back on its feet, they needed women who had been there before to show the American girls what it can really be like," Bridget shared with me. "They said they want someone who can help coach the team from on the field and felt like I would fit what they were looking for."
"Bridget, that's amazing," I hugged her tightly. She needed to hear stuff like that more often. "You would be perfect for that. I mean, you've got more professional experience than probably that whole team put together."
She laughed and raised an eyebrow. "You're making me sound old."
"You know I don't mean that," I rolled my eyes in her direction.
"Yeah, yeah," she laughed again. It was great to see her in such a good mood. "I got the impression they were choosing players for very specific reasons, with in place in mind for each of them. Did they say anything in particular to you?"
"Yeah, they want to make the sport popular with the American public. Apparently, crazy players like me add entertainment value to the sport and they want me to come and be an example of Britain's football pride or something to that effect. My impression was that they wanted me to be a female version of what Beckham did for the LA Galaxy, only on a much smaller scale of course. They really want to get this up and running so it doesn't flop again so they want the games to be intense from the very beginning. My understanding is that I give off just such an intensity."
"So you do," Bridget smiled at me again. "So I take it you're thinking about it?"
"I don't really know. I don't want to leave, but it's such an awesome opportunity. We'd basically be starting up a women's league. We'd be like pioneers of the sport for America or something. But I can't just leave Bells here, she's never really had to fend for herself before and I don't really know if she could handle it. Plus, I've just reintroduced Danny into my life and leaving would feel like I was abandoning that relationship, you know?"
"I guess I can understand that," I thoughtful look had placed itself on Bridget's face. "But if this is really right for you, I'm sure they'll all support you. Besides, it's about time Bells lived on her own. She's needs to find out who she is one of these days, but if you're always there telling her who to be, she'll never figure it out." I felt my face cloud over. Bridget must have noticed because she immediately punched me in the shoulder to snap me out of it. "That's not how I meant it. She has always had you to lean on, but sometimes it's best for them to stumble and fall a bit. You'll always be there for her, even if it is from the other side of the globe."
"Are you going to do it?"
"I don't know," she leaned powerfully against the counter and crossed her arms. "Unlike you, I have a son to think about. I have to do what's right for him. I can't in good conscious just move him away from his father if I think there is any chance of Aaron ever coming to his senses enough to come and visit him. But other than that, there isn't much holding me here. My parents would understand and this would give me great experience if I ever decide to coach after my playing days are over."
"And I have to be honest with you," she continued after a small pause. "I was really worried about leaving you behind." She held up her hand to stop me before I could interject. "I know you can handle yourself and all but you need more people in your life showing you that they love you otherwise you loose it. I love you, but you know it's true. Up until five months ago, I would never have even considered it, but now that the guys are around, I know you'd be fine."
"The only other concern I have is that Chris will feel abandoned again," her eyes were downcast. "He wouldn't understand that I was moving him and he would really miss you, Bells, and guys being part of his life. So I plan to take that into consideration, too."
"We'll work it out," I turned and leaned against the counter next to her. "We'll make the right decisions."
"I know we will."
"Are you going to tell anyone?" I asked.
"No one but you and probably my parents over Christmas. How about you?"
"Wasn't planning on it, not until I make my decision anyway. Why worry them if I end up deciding against it?"
"I guess that's logical, but don't you think you should involve them in the decision?"
This was one of those areas where Bridget and I differed. She had parents she had always been able to ask for advice. I never had that and so had made most of my decisions growing up on my own. I didn't like bringing others in on my choices, it made me uneasy, and I didn't foresee that changing anytime soon. "Not this time. I have to make this decision for me, not anyone else. Besides, if I feel anyone trying to influence my decision that will just make me angry and I will end up choosing based on the wrong things so I think I'm going to have to pull this one off solo."
"We'll make the right decisions, right?" for a moment she sounded unsure.
"I really hope so."
The doorbell rang. "I think we're going to have to extend this discussion at a later date," she said, pushing herself away from the counter as we heard Chris bolting for the door and waiting patiently for us to come up behind him. He wasn't allowed to answer the door unless a grownup was around, you know, for safety and stuff.
"I think you're right," I whispered just as she opened the door and the smiling faces of our friends beamed back at us.
Dinner was done and we settled at the table as soon as everyone deposited their presents under the tree. Dinner was an enjoyable event. Chris took a place next to Dougie and they, of course, giggled over the entirety of the meal. Bells was right there with them, telling silly stories and making them laugh harder. Danny, Bridget, and I spent a great deal of time rolling our eyes at the three of them and somehow all managing to feel like parents in that moment. Bridget, of course to Chris, Danny to Dougie, apparently this is normal for all the guys in the band, Dougie being the youngest, and myself to Bells, also fairly normal since I've felt that way for most of my life, but all in a good way.
After finishing up our turkey and clearing the table, we all set ourselves around the tree. Chris had taken up residence in my lap for the giving of gifts and I couldn't have been more thrilled. He was still so taken with both Dougie and Danny that they usually commanded all his attention when they were around, but tonight he was snuggled up next to me in my place on the floor by the warm, crackling fire.
I had helped Chris with some of his gifts and knew how excited he was to give them out today. That is what is so great about kids at Christmas. They really love to get presents, but you can see their true joy when they get the chance to give gifts and see how happy they can make others. Chris was bouncing up and down in my lap in anticipation of giving his gifts. We were trying to make up some semblance of order so that no one person was getting all of their presents at one time so he was having to wait.
"Chris," Bridget called to him. "It's your turn." He jumped up excitedly.
"Who first?" he asked, bubbling over.
"Who ever you want," she answered him with a loving smile. Seeing your kid being so excited to give something away must be one of the greatest feelings of all time.
Chris ran to the tree and pulled out a gift big enough to have to put both arms around it in a hug before walking over to place it in Dougie's lap. Dougie looked just as excited as Chris was as the little boy hopped up beside him on the sofa, still bouncing in anticipation.
Dougie unwrapped it so fast I barely heard the paper rip. Sitting in his lap was the gift Chris had the most fun making. It kind of looked like a plant. At least, there was a pot that had been painted all different colours and something resembling flowers sticking out the top. But these somethings were not flowers, they were, in fact, candy bars that had been glued to sticks and decorated with fake petals. Chris had carefully chosen all of Dougie's favourites one day at the corner store when I was bringing him home and painstakingly glued all the pieces together. It actually looked really cool and Dougie's face lit up like the Christmas tree next to him.
"This is the most awesome thing I have ever gotten," Doug's eyes had glazed over and I actually found myself believing that he might be in love…with the basket of candy, just to be clear. He attacked Chris with a hug, held him tight, and swung him back and forth while the little boy giggled from his arms. "Seriously Dude," Dougie said when he finally set him down, "this is so sweet. Thanks man."
"You're welcome," Chris continued to giggle.
We continued going through presents and had a blast while doing it. Bridget didn't like the idea of shoving football down Chris's throat so avoided getting him too much football stuff. I don't feel those same constraints, so I got him an official football, a set of cleats just one size to big because that way they will fit come summer, and a jersey from Man U, signed by most of the team of course. I've decided that I'm going to get a collection started for him and if he decides when he older he doesn't like football, he can sell them online or something and fund his university tuition or art school or whatever he wants.
Bells got him a Classic Disney film, Sword in the Stone. Her reasoning was that Wart, who later becomes King Arthur, had greatness thrust upon him and handled it with bravery. She figured that any child of the great, courageous Bridget Collins would definitely have to deal with expected greatness and she wanted him to learn from the best. She has a weird sense of what makes a good role model, but I guess that can happen when your parents suck like ours did.
Chris gave me the picture of himself and guys with our snowman. He made a frame himself from Popsicle sticks and printed in block letters across the bottom, C-H-U-C-K, which I remembered was the name our man of snow had been given. He decorated it with white and silver puffballs to make it look like snow. I loved it and planned to hang it up first chance I got.
Danny surprised both Bridget and myself by pulling out gifts for us next. Neither of us had expected anything, particularly because I was spending actual Christmas Day with him. We both unwrapped them curiously and I found a simple, but really nice, black frame resting in my hands. Looking over at Bridget I saw she held the same. In the frame was a picture of the two of us, I'm not sure where, and we walking across a pitch, her arm around my back so her hand was resting on the shoulder furthest from her so it looked as though she were leading me somewhere. I was looking down and she was looking at me, both of us were smiling. It was an amazing shot, even though it was clearly the end of a game as both us had the slight gleam of sweat and my hair was held back by a sweatband and Bridget's was in a messy ponytail. Danny had it done in black and white, and, in the black frame, I thought it was really eye catching.
"Where did you get this?" I asked quietly. I didn't have many pictures of just the two of us and this really meant a lot to me.
"My mum took it at the charity match," he said, looking at me carefully trying to gage whether or not I really liked it. "I hope it's ok," he added quickly.
"I love it," Bridget announced, clearly she was touched that Danny had thought of her too, and got up to give him a hug.
"Me too," following Bridget's example. It really was an amazing shot, close enough that you could see Bridget's and my connection in the way we were standing. At least, I thought so, but I guess I can see that no matter what, so maybe I'm not the best judge.
Danny hadn't gotten a gift yet, so Chris pulled out what he had made for him. It was a picture in a frame similar to the one I had received, but the picture was different. It was a picture of that same snow day, but instead of being with the snowman, it was a picture I had taken of the two of them hording up snowballs to ambush the others. The looks of glee on their faces were identical to one another as they packed the snow into manageable sized circles. They had had so much fun that day and it was clearly written all over their cold, pink faces. Danny laughed out loud and hugged Chris in thanks, promising to hang it on the wall as soon as he got home.
Chris's gift to Bells was equally charming. He had made her a Christmas ornament for our tree. Two tiny silver bells tied together with Christmas ribbon. It was a simple gift, but one he had contemplated for quite some time. He decided that because her name was Bells and bells were a very Christmas sort of decoration it only made sense to do something along those lines. He must have had Bridget print on the tiny bells in paint "Isabella" on one, "Bells" on the other. She squeezed him up in her arms and immediately hung the tiny bells on the tree, promising she would remember to take them home but right now she wanted them to be where they belonged, on the branches of a tree.
Bells was able to surprise Bridget again. She handed her a scrapbook, mostly of pictures of Chris, hanging around with different members of the whole gang of us. I hadn't even seen most of these and hadn't even known Bells had been working on it. She had to spend some time assuring Bridget that it wasn't a big deal. It turned out that when she was stressed about exams she would decompress by scrapbooking and, as it turned out, the most common subject of her pictures was Christopher. We took turns flipping through it and found some pretty amazing shots. One of my very favourites was the one we took on fajita night back in August where Danny and Chris were sleeping on the sofa, Danny's arm wrapped tightly around Chris to keep him from falling from where he had perched on his chest. Not that I would ever tell Danny that.
"There seems to be one left back there," Danny jumped up to the tree eagerly. He pulled a large present out from behind some of the bottom branches. I couldn't figure out how he had hidden it there without any of us seeing him bring it in.
"Who's it for? Who's it for?" Chris asked, bouncing up and down.
"The tag says…" Danny made a big show of trying to read the name on the tag. "Whoever wrote this has terrible penmanship," he finally announced. "I think I need you to read it for me." He turned and placed the large gift in Chris's hands.
"I can't read very well yet," Chris began nervously.
"Give it a shot," Danny shot me a wink. That boy was so over the top sometimes.
"It says…" Chris paused, which I was assuming meant he had figured out it was his name on the tag. "It says my name," he was completely agast.
"Really?" Danny acted surprised.
"Yeah," Chris suddenly got a little glint in his eye. "Under the from part it says D-A-N-N-Y and D-O-U-G-I-E. What do those words spell?"
"You have to sound them out little dude," Dougie answered before his mother could. Although I'm sure she would have said the exact same thing. "Otherwise it's cheating." He said it with such sincerity Chris nodded and immediately went back to the tag and began sounding out each letter.
"Daaa…ummm….nnnnn….ummm….dann…"he began slowly. "Um," he turned his head to me as I was still sitting the closest. "What sound does a Y make?"
"At the end of the word, it makes an 'eee' sound," I told him patiently. He and I had been working on our letters and their sounds but we hadn't gotten to the end of the alphabet quite yet.
"Ok," he began again. "Dannneee….Danny!? Is that right?"
"So far so good little man," Danny answered back.
"So you were faking it when you said you didn't know who it was for," Chris said with a raised eyebrow. For someone so young, he has some really classic facial expressions.
"Yeah," Danny replied with a smile and a tousle of Chris's hair, "I just wanted to make you work for it. Don't forget you still have to figure out the second name."
Chris rolled his eyes in Danny's direction. "It says 'Dougie,'" he stated as though it were the most obvious fact in the world.
"How do you know if you can't even read yet?" Dougie asked incredulous.
"Because it starts with a 'D' too and even I know your guys' names start with the same letter," so basically he figured it out by process of elimination and by naturally associating Dougie with Danny. This kid is way too smart for his own good. "SO can I open it now? Please…" He extended the last word until both the guys laughed and Danny agreed it was fine.
Chris tore the paper even faster that Dougie had when he had received his candy plant. They had wrapped the gift so that none of us could tell what it was without it being opened so we were all curious what was in the large package. Chris quickly extracted an old guitar case covered in silly stickers. It was familiar to me. I had seen it in Danny's basement years before. It had been his first guitar case. I remember him telling me that he had broken his first guitar years ago but always kept the case because it was in amazing condition and it was special because it had been his very first one. His mum had given it to him when he told her it was time for him to take lessons at about the same age Chris was now. Chris set it on the floor in reverence as he slowly popped the clasps at the side of the brown leather. Inside was a gleaming acoustic guitar made for someone exactly Chris's size. I knew Danny was probably going to go overboard but I never would have expected this.
Chris didn't say a word. He sat on the floor speechless for what seemed like forever. Suddenly he bolted up and ran right in-between the two guys on the couch and hugged each of them with one arm and pulled them close.
"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you," his exclamations were so loud I felt he must have deafened both Danny and Dougie, being so close to their ears. He ran back to the guitar and slowly pulled it from the old case. He returned to the couch where the two of them had made space for him to sit between them. They went through the motions of showing him how to hold it and where to place his tiny fingers on the neck across the strings. Dougie pulled a plectrum from his pocket and handed it to the little one.
Bridget and I gathered up all the wrapping paper and were taking it out to the trash. "It's too much," she said in a soft voice.
"Not to them," I said back just as Danny bolted out the door. "Where are you going?" I called to him.
"To get my guitar," he called back over his shoulder. He shuffled around in his small back seat before coming out with his own guitar and running back to the house. "We're gonna to jam." He voice was all high pitched like it gets when he's overly excited and in a flash he was gone.
"See what I mean?" I turned to her and grinned at her stunned face. "That little boy makes them happier than almost anything else. They are millionaire musicians. Giving a guitar to one of their favourite people just kinda makes sense for them. I'll show you."
She followed me back into the living room where Danny was now perched on the side of the couch and Dougie was sitting by Chris making sure his fingers stayed on the right cord while he slowly played the same note over and over. Danny played around that note and they actually sounded good. Danny sang softly along with the tune, "Let it Snow." His voice was great when we were kids, and now it was beautiful. I actually felt my heartstrings pulling when he was singing while Chris played that one note along side him. I shook myself out of it and turned to Bridget. She was still in the doorway, leaning softly against it, one hand against her heart. I took one step back and wrapped my arm around her waist. "See what I mean?"
"Yeah," she whispered, barely audible. She was touched, I could tell. Never underestimate how a happy a child's happiness will makes their parents. I guess that's what happens when you have kids and you realize what a positive effect they have on others. Particularly when your husband ends up not caring as much as he should. Danny and Dougie really cared, and it really showed.
Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers. Have definitely kept me going. The next couple chapters should come more quickly. Then on to the ending, which I'm moving about in my mind attempting to decide what would be best for a fantastic conclusion.
McSteph94 – I feel that way too. Sometimes people make mistakes. I had a great time at the concert and I'm so excited she's doing like 30 more shows than she planned and some are actually closer to me, so I can go again. WooHoo!
Alexis Gage – So where was I? 13. I loved that your reviews got shorter because you had to keep going. Hehe. 14. I'm envisioning you "Awwing" out loud and it makes me smile. 15. I'm dorkily excited that something I wrote is interesting enough to you that you are not going to bed so that you can keep reading. 16. Same thing applies here, haha. 19. I know it seems like a shock, but I'm hoping when you read the next chapter it made more sense. I can't believe you actually spent 5 hours on my story. I'm actually in amazement. That is so so so AWESOME! 20. I feel like "Danny" and "ridiculously stupid" kind of go together, almost every story I've read about him involves both of those things. I'm glad you feel like I captured her character right. It took me so long to write it because I kept having her do things that didn't really make sense for her, it was so frustrating. Thanks again for all your reviews.