Angryfanfic: Thank you for the feedback, and Merry Christmas to you too!
Hello everyone, merry day-after-Christmas if you celebrate it! Hope everyone had fun celebrating whatever holidays they have (if they celebrate anything). I would have published this yesterday, but my Christmas Eve was so hectic I just finished it. Then again, maybe the small wait between chapters makes this even better!
Now, without further ado, I give you Christmas with the circus (mainly Rose and Jackson though)!
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rose spun around a bit in front of the mirror. It was Christmas once again, her favorite holiday.
Then again, it was pretty much the only one she knew much about, but she still loved it. The circus threw a party every year on Christmas Eve, and she loved being able to get dressed up for special occasions.
She smoothed out her dress, still unable to stop thinking of every outfit she had as pure gold. Anne had insisted they get her a new dress for the holidays. It came to her ankles, which was longer than she was used to, but she had to admit it was beautiful. It was light blue (which happened to be her favorite color). The top layer of fabric came to her shins, and then pulled up in waves with white roses looking as though they were holding it. The layer under it was white, and ruffled at the bottom. It had slightly puffed sleeves that came to her wrists. She was wearing a new pair of boots Phillip had bought her, and her hair was twisted into a braid, as usual.
There was a knock on the door that snapped Rose out of her thoughts. She walked towards it, her steps soft, and pulled it open, smiling when she saw who was on the other side.
Jackson stood in front of her, wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and black pants. He had on a dark blue tie that, Rose noticed, seemed to match her necklace.
"You look rather lovely Ms. Carlyle," he said in a fake posh accent.
"As do you, Mr…" she trailed off, frowning. "What is your last name?"
"It used to be Mathews but…" he shrugged, and Rose understood. That was his father's last name, a part of the life he left behind when he ran away.
"I get leaving last names behind," she shrugged. "Samantha Levy. What were my biological parents thinking?"
The girl smiled and rolled her eyes slightly, grinning when Jackson chuckled.
"Well, shall we?" he said, holding out his arm to her.
"We shall," she answered, looping her arm through his. They walked down the stairs, making Anne and Phillip look up.
They were both extremely proud of these two. They had come to the circus as scared children, and had grown so much since then. Especially Rose. Who would have guessed she'd turn into such a remarkable young woman?
"Are we ready?" Phillip asked, and the two teenagers both nodded, grabbing their coats from the rack. Rose slung her white one around her shoulders, and Jackson shrugged on his brown one. They linked arms again, and off the family went.
They arrived at the snow-covered circus quickly. The outside hadn't been decorated much, but that was fine. It was what was inside the building that mattered.
Anne was the one who opened the door for them, everyone else following her in.
It was warm inside, so all of them pulled off their coats and hung them on one of the coat hangers Phin had gotten once he realized people needed a place to put their things.
Rose pulled Jackson through the entrance hall and into the performing room, and his eyes widened as he went inside.
There were wreaths hanging from all the doors in the room, and hanging decorations everywhere. They had pulled out all the tables and laden them with food and drinks (they could already see a few adults drinking, that would be entertaining later on).
"What do you think?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's amazing," Jackson responded, still scanning the room in amazement. "I can't believe I only arrived a week after all this happened."
"It's a shame you missed it, Aunt Lettie got drunk and sang opra-style," (she'd begun referring to Lettie like this a few months ago, much to the the bearded woman's delight) "Mom nearly fell off a balcony, and Caroline and Helen accidentally flipped over a table," Rose continued offhandedly, reaching over to touch one of the decorations.
"How do you accidentally flip over a table?" Jackson asked, bewildered.
"No idea," Rose shrugged. "These Christmas parties usually get pretty wild. I'm gonna go get something to eat."
She let go of Jackson's hand and walked away.
Was she holding my hand that entire time? How did I not notice? he wondered, then shrugged and walked to another side of the circus, ignoring the slight pink tinge in his cheeks.
There were a few archways in the room the party was in, each of them leading out to the same room. They were used for the performers to exit when they finished their portion of the show, then regroup for the final. But for the party, they served as places for decorations. Rose was leaning on one, looking around the room. She took a sip from the cup in her hand and watched as Caoife bet Mishay she could do a trick on Rose's hoop, both of them clearly drunk.
"Is she going to be okay?" Jackson asked, walking up to Rose. "Also, did they let you have alcohol?"
"She'll be fine, Dad'll probably make sure the hoop doesn't go too high," she shrugged, as though this was completely normal. Sure enough, a moment later, there was a thump as Caoife fell from the hoop, which had only been a couple feet above the ground.
"I'm fine!" she called, and everyone went back to their regular activities.
"And it's water," Rose added. "Although I did take a sip of wine from Mom's glass." She wrinkled her nose. "How do adults drink that stuff? It's disgusting."
Jackson chuckled, and the two of them stood in silence for a moment, content to just stand in each other's presence and watch the rest of their family.
"Oh, that reminds me, I have a present for you," Rose said, reaching into her pocket (Yes, her dress had pockets, Phin added them for her). "I thought I could give it to you early, to avoid everyone looking at it in the morning. I didn't have anything to wrap it in, sorry about that."
"It's fine," Jackson said, curious. "I also got you something."
"On the count of three, we both show them?" Rose asked, and Jackson nodded.
"One, two, three."
They both pulled out the presents, and both paused in confusion.
"Is it a ring?" Jackson asked, picking up what Rose had handed him.
"Um, yeah. I thought, since you always wear that one," she motioned to the plain golden ring on his hand, "you probably like rings, so I made you this."
"We're matching," Jackson commented, tracing the small purple gem in the center. It didn't escape his notice how it was the same color as Rose's eyes, just like how her necklace was the same as his.
"Yeah," she admitted, then her gaze drifted down to the ribbons in his hands. "Er, what are those?"
"Oh," Jackson said, remembering he was still holding her present and handing it to her. "It's hair ribbons. I noticed you like to tie your hair back and thought you may like something pretty to do it with."
Rose traced the embroidery on one of them.
"Did you do this yourself?" she asked, looking up.
Jackson blushed a bit. "Well, I couldn't really find anything with a good and unique pattern so I decided to do it instead."
Each of them truly was unique, none of the ribbons looked nearly the same.
Rose smiled, and lifted up one that matched her dress, tying it onto her braid.
"Look nice?" she asked, and he nodded, smiling widely. The two of them stood in silence again, Rose leaning into Jackson's side and his arm around her waist (gently, in case she felt uncomfortable with it).
After a few minutes, they heard giggling off to the side and turned to see Caroline and Helen watching them, looking oddly amused and excited.
Wordlessly, Helen pointed to the arch above their heads and Rose and Jackson looked simultaneously.
"Mistletoe," Jackson said, freezing, then he turned quickly to face Rose, who was still looking up at the plant above them. She looked down to meet his eyes slowly, not letting a glimmer of emotion onto her face, even though her heart was beating a bit faster.
"Um, we don't have to-" Jackson stuttered out, his face turning pink.
Rose interrupted him by moving forward and grabbing his shoulder. She pulled him down and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
"Don't want to get bad luck," she smirked, then walked off to meet her sisters before Jackson could see the pink tinge in her cheeks.
The two of them didn't actively seek each other out for the rest of the party, but when it came time to go, Rose walked up to him as though nothing had changed and tapped him on the shoulder.
"It's time to go," she said, already wearing her coat. Jackson nodded and pulled his on, then nearly jumped when Rose looped her arm through his. Anne and Phillip joined them and the four set off again, the walk back mainly silent.
That night, Rose sat in bed, nearly asleep and dreaming of the presents she would get tomorrow, when she suddenly bolted upright in bed, her voice escaping in a frantic whisper.
"I kissed Jackson!"
Hehe, someone's being forced to confront her feelings! I'm planning to make these two suffer a bit more with their feelings and issues before becoming a couple.
Also, those pieces of jewelry do have some special significance to their stories, and so does the ring Rose mentions Jackson wears a lot. Can anyone guess what it is?
Once again, happy holidays and please review!
-Creator of Magic
PS: Caoife and Mishay are the albino twins.