Thumb Rings and Ballet Slippers

You're twenty-seven years old, you teach history, you own a mortgage, you're far too old to be doing this.

Munkustrap looked up at his younger brother's house and listened to the soft undertone of voices as he weighed up the reasons for and against showing up. He scratched his head and looked down the road, if he left now he could easily call his brother up later and say he'd got held up marking papers and it was obviously far too late to come but then he remembered how excited Tugger had been when he finally accepted one of the many invitations that his brother rang him up with. He'd only done it out of impulse, had never really thought about ever attending one of his brother's stupid parties until he found out who else would be attending. It was like Tugger had complied the guest list full of people he hadn't seen since they were teenagers, people he missed dearly, people he liked. In truth, he'd wanted to see his brother too, it had been a while since they'd gotten together and Tugger had always been his favourite brother even if he worried about him constantly.

Blue eyes met the concrete and hands played with each other, Munkustrap knew eventually that he'd get his act together and walk in and when he got over the first few minutes of anxiety and awkwardness the evening would be nice. It was just actually getting to the door. He felt guilty for not visiting his brother sooner, he felt too old to be out drinking when he really should be inside and planning lessons, he was worried about whether or not he'd left the iron on and he was fretting over whether or not he'd dressed appropriately in his jeans and shirt he ironed hastily before he left.

The door opened and blue eyes darted upwards, he didn't want to look like a weirdo stood there on his own, staring at the pavement. Stood in the light of the door was his little brother, Munkustrap forced a smile as the light hit his face and he realised he really didn't have a choice now.

"Hello stranger," came Tugger's voice, light and joking as always, "Can we help you?"

Munkustrap laughed a little, "Warm bed, food, water," he replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know about that," his brother said as he went out to meet him, "But we do have enough alcohol to last a fortnight and Quaxo's little sister bought some Monster Munch."

As he got closer, Munkustrap studied his little brother's face and felt himself wind down with relief. He looked the same, with his happy brown eyes and the toothy grin that both of them had inherited from their Father, he was afraid he'd get there and see the wisecracking showbiz Tugger that everyone else saw on morning television but this was his silly little brother and he was so happy to see him.

"Makes a change from beans on toast, at least," Munkustrap responded as he looked up as Tugger got closer, he remembered when he was taller than him bitterly and had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at his brother's lean frame.

"So are you planning on coming in any time soon?" the taller man said with his gleaming grin.

"I am, I was just making sure there wasn't anyone passed out on your front garden first," Munkustrap said with a smile, "Which I'm ridiculously jealous of by the way, terraced housing is crap."

Tugger clapped the other's shoulder amiably and walked him in, "You should see the inside. We have carpets and everything."

Munkustrap allowed himself to be led inside the house. It wasn't as rowdy as he expected, there was some soft music playing in the background, the main room was lit by candles and lamps and there were people dotted everywhere. There weren't as many people as he expected, no crowds to push through but just little groups of people sat on the couch or stood in the kitchen and the passage, each clutching a bottle of something. He listened half-heartedly as his brother spoke to him about decorating and insurance but mainly he looked around the room, trying to suss out exactly who he knew.

Alonzo was there and when he saw Munkustrap he waved at him excitedly but he was preoccupied talking to a blonde girl that Munkustrap didn't recognise. Tugger looked over and laughed,

"You'd better go over, Alonzo probably really wants to see you but you know what he's like when he sees a pretty girl. Plus," Tugger squinted a little, "I'm pretty sure that's Quaxo's little sister and my darling housemate is going to be really annoyed if he gets on too well with her."

So Munkustrap went over, Alonzo worked at the same college as he did and they saw each other every day but that didn't stop him from gleefully greeting him in a masculine hug.

"This is Victoria," his friend introduced the pretty blonde girl next to him, "She's my date for the evening."

"Um, excuse me. I didn't agree to this," her prim voice was indignant and she had manicured nails, while she sounded annoyed she was smiling. She nodded to Munkustrap and waved slightly, she had this likable presence about her, despite her clipped voice and all very perfect appearance.

"Quaxo's sister?" Munkustrap asked, remembering what his own brother had told him.

"You know my brother?" Victoria said, her smile growing on her face.

"I've only met him once or twice but he's a nice guy, my brother lives here with him."

Victoria raised her eyebrows a little, like she'd just been enlightened and she nodded at him like they were in on some joke. Alonzo had started to get bored of the attention not being on him and talked to Munkustrap about his encounters with Victoria at some little coffee shop. Victoria observed Munkustrap and thought back to Quaxo's explanation when they'd gotten there.

She'd arrived at the house about an hour ago with her room mate and immediately her brother had taken them both aside to explain exactly why he wanted them to come tonight.

"I thought it was meant to be a surprise?" Victoria had said with a playful grin, but her brother had dismissed her with a wave of a hand and a scrunched up nose.

"I don't want either of you getting drunk and making idiots out of yourselves before I tell you," the girls had started to object but he ignored them and carried on, "Listen to me. Vicky, sister of mine, a girl I work with is coming tonight and she's a pretty big deal dance-wise and I've told her stories about you and she really wants to meet you because she might have some work for an up and coming ballet dancer, such as yourself."

Victoria was excited, her brother told them about said guest and explained how she already knew Jemima so perhaps it would be an idea for the younger girl to get in there first to butter her up and then introduce her to Victoria when she felt the time was right.

"I'm being used," Jemima had teased with a grin before running over to the kitchen where Quaxo had said this big deal dancer was.

It wouldn't make sense for the smaller girl to be pulled into the party just to talk to whoever this woman was because Quaxo could have easily done that himself. Victoria looked at Munkustrap and felt herself get more and more quizzical. She knew that Jemima knew most of the people here because of her big family so at first Victoria guessed that maybe some of them wanted to see her so that was why Quaxo insisted she come but most of these people had seen Jemima since she'd moved to London, hell, some of them had invaded their flat before. So what wasn't her elder brother telling her and why was he so keen to have her room mate here? Perhaps he liked her?

Tugger walked over with said room mate and dance woman in tow, when Victoria caught his eye he pressed his finger to his lip and continued walking in their direction. Victoria looked over to Jemima who gave her a subtle thumbs up and she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. She had every faith in her room mate and her brother but she was a little anxious, if this woman was as much of a big deal as Quaxo had said then she needed her to think that Victoria was worthwhile enough to give her work, to kickstart her career as a dancer. She thought that Tugger was coming over to introduce Victoria to this woman but instead he headed straight for his brother and tapped him on the shoulder as Jemima and the dancer stood back and to the side a little.

Victoria looked at them a little confusedly, Jemima wasn't talking to the girl and was instead trying to peer at who Tugger was talking to. The woman was laughing at her and patting her head. While Victoria was confused, she managed to take a second to appreciate how lovely the dance woman was and instantly felt more nervous about meeting her.

She was tall and looked a little older than her, her dark brown hair fell straight and looked slick and silky, her eyes were sharp and looked professionally shadowed but they scrunched slightly as she laughed, she wore a beige pencil skirt and a white button down shirt with killer heels that made her legs look longer and she had tan skin that looked smooth to the touch.

Jemima jumped a little before nudging the woman and pointing towards Victoria, she said something and the woman looked over too before nodding in agreement. Victoria felt her face flush a little as she quickly tried to look as though she was paying attention to the conversation between the boys. When she looked over again, Jemima was stood on her own and winking at her. The woman made her way over.

"Cassandra!" Alonzo was the first to greet her, she smiled at him as he kissed her cheek and wound his arm around her waist, "God, it's been a while."

"It has," her voice was soft and playful as she scanned the man's face, "Shame I didn't come over to see you. Though I'll expect you to walk me home later because there's no way I'll be driving," she raised her glass and the man started to laugh.

"Since when did you drink at these things?" he teased.

"Since Tugger started getting good wine and not Tesco's finest," she said before shooting a look at the host who was stood next to his brother and trying to pry him away. The stubbled man rolled his eyes but he was still grinning,

"Oh okay, Miss I'm too good for Tesco now that I'm on TV," Cassandra winked at him and turned away.

"Which is precisely why I've come over," she said quietly and her eyes fell on Victoria, "I've heard a lot about you, Miss."

Victoria tried to come across as confident and playful, she tried to come across as someone that Cassandra would associate with, but she ended up getting tongue tied and simply uttered, "Oh?"

"Yep. How about we get a drink, girly? I know Alonzo's probably talked your ear off but I'd really like to speak to you too."

The blonde grinned and nodded enthusiastically as Cassandra motioned for the kitchen. She followed her and as she past Jemima who was now stood with Quaxo who'd come over to keep her company, she mouthed her thanks.

Jemima smiled up at Quaxo. He'd become a good friend of hers since she'd moved to London, she enjoyed having him come over after work and lounge around in the living room with her and Victoria, she liked waking up to him spread out on her sofa whenever Tugger had irritated him to the point of him leaving and showing up in the middle of the night while she was sleeping. He was everything she liked about Victoria wrapped up in attractive man form and if she didn't think it would be crossing a few lines, she'd have made a move on him by now.

"Shame your cousin couldn't come," he said absently. Jemima raised her eyebrow and laughed a little at him. She kind of knew Quaxo before moving in with Victoria because he was in the English Literature class as her cousin back at university and her cousin, Electra, had got quite infatuation with him and introduced them over the phone when Jemima had rung her up. He was in the same social circle as her sisters too by default as he knew Tugger.

"She's got a boyfriend now," Jemima felt the need to say and Quaxo nodded, his eyes over at Tugger, "Anyway mission accomplished, I can go now, yeah?"

Quaxo looked down at her smiling face and shook his head a little, "You can if you want but I've been told that you won't want to."

Jemima laughed but peered at him quizzically, "Oh, won't I? Why's that?"

"No idea," he answered honestly, "To tell you the truth. It was Tugger's idea that you came too, maybe he wanted to see you?"

She knew Tugger before Quaxo, he was her sister's on and off boyfriend for quite some time and had always been sweet to her but there was no particular reason he'd want to see her unless it was something to do with one of her sisters. Oh God, she hoped they were okay. Worry burrowed into her chest and her eyebrows furrowed, noticing this, Quaxo put and arm around her and squeezed her gently.

"I'm sure it's nothing serious, he looked pretty happy when he asked me to invite you. I wouldn't worry about your sisters, worry about yourself, maybe he's decided that you've turned into a fine young lady and he wants to recruit you into his group of ladies that wait outside the studio for him everyday."

Jemima laughed but kept her eyes on Tugger. What could he want to do with her? Her answer came when he moved a little to the side, his arm slung over another man's shoulder, and pointed to her. The man stood next to him blinked over at her and she felt the worry in her chest fly out as soon as it came as she recognised him. She waved and he waved back, she heard Quaxo laugh beside her and say something, she took this as her dismissal and ran over to greet him.

Munkustrap laughed as Jemima ran over and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was older now, the last time he'd seen her she must have only been sixteen and was staying over at her sisters' house for the summer. They'd stayed in touch over social networking but it was so different from seeing her in the flesh. She looked older now, with curves and make up and pretty hair. Far gone were the days when Munkustrap could look at her without noticing how much alike her sisters she was and hence how attractive she'd grown to be.

She was Demeter and Bombalurina's little sister and therefore a very present part of his life since he was eighteen, he'd babysat her when her sisters needed to work and she was left in their care, he'd chased off her first boyfriend when he broke up with her, he drove her home when she was left stranded and shoeless after a teenage house party.

"Hello stranger," Munkustrap murmured, mimicking Tugger's greeting to him and Jemima giggled.

"No one told me the elusive Munkustrap was showing up!" she joked, lowering herself down and taking her arms from around his neck, "It's been a while, where have you been?"

"I've been in London, a little farther from the center than you and my lovely little brother and a little closer to your lovely sisters actually, well the remaining one anyway," Munkustrap replied with a grin.

"Oh yeah, Demeter did say. Keep an eye on that one, okay? She's mental, especially since Bombalurina's all over the place doing her modelling thing."

"Don't have to tell me twice."

Tugger smiled as his brother spoke to Jemima and saw him relax on the spot, he brushed past them both and wandered over to Quaxo whom was stood on his own now that Jemima had left him. The smaller tom looked up expectantly at his housemate and rolled his eyes as Tugger gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"So your brother fancies Jemima? Is that why you asked for her to come?"

"Not at all," Tugger replied as he watched Quaxo take a swig of his wine, "He fancied her older sister, was mad about her. Not the one I was going out with, Macavity's ex. He's been pining over her for a while and getting nowhere so I figured that if Jemima came and gave Demeter a good report of him then maybe it'd give him a head start. Also, I've missed the girl, she's a sweetheart isn't she?"

"She is and you've successfully exploited her, congratulations," Quaxo said dryly but with a small smile.

"So has your little sister, you should have heard her singing Victoria's praises in the kitchen. It was great."

((A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! I tried to make sure it wasn't like I was trying to fit too much information into one chapter and I didn't want it to be those stereotypical house parties you see on films all the time where people are playing beer pong and there's blasting music ^^' Thanks to everyone who's reviewed too! I'm enjoying writing this, it's a nice break from essay writing for college c: ))