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The Mighty Boosh

Holly dumped a small black suitcase in the middle of the living room, and smiled gratefully and Howard heaved the heavier pink one into the room.

' There,' she said, grinning at him as he panted for breath,' last of them.'

' And it's all clothes? ' he panted.

She shrugged in an offhand manner,' Those four cases are - the rucksacks are just full of random stuff. I travel, remember - I try not to have too much stuff. '

' Becuase four cases of clothes isn't too much? '

' Course not! ' Vince called from his room - after bringing in two small rucksacks, he'd decided he'd had enough of carrying things around.

' Before I left college, I'd have filled 6 or 7, but when I went travelling I had to get rid of some. No way would it have fit in the car. Gave a lot of it to Vince,' she told him,' now, where am I staying? '

Howard chewed on his lower lip,' Well, I didn't think it was a good idea, but Vince says you can stay in his room. ' Howard knew Vince could be difficult to share with, but Holly didn't seem to share his opinion.

' Great! Vince is loads of fun to share with,' she told him,' and quite frankly, I don't care where I sleep - I'm here, aren't I? It's got to be better than where I've just come from. '

' Shall I stick the kettle on? ' Howard asked her, feeling quite nervous, before telling himself to get a grip - she was a new flatmate, and it was a cup of tea, for god's sake.

' Mmmn yeah, I'm parched,' she nodded, pulling the brim of her hat down,' coffee, about three sugars. Unless you've got anything stronger? I wouldn't mind a Bailey's, or something. '

Howard, now in the kitchen, almost dropped the mug he was holding,' I'm afraid there is no Bailey's,' he told her stiffly, as he dug around for another mug. Ugh. Bailey's was a reminder of Gregg, and he did not need that.

As Howard stood in the kitchen, adding sugar to two mugs, Holly watched him from the living room. Vince had told her a lot about Howard, but what he'd mainy said, was that Howard was, whilst his best friend, his polar opposite. Which meant that Howard was Holly's opposite too, but they were getting on well enough.

Howard was sweet, she thought. He'd been nice and polite from her first entrance in the shop and he had an awkward way and lack of confidence which was quite funny.

He was kinda odd looking too - small eyes, a barely formed mustache and a loud shirt which didn't match the rest of his outfit. Added to his awkward smile, it was oddly endearing, she concluded.

And now he was calling her name.

' Sorry,' she smiled, jerking out of her reviere and accepting the mug of coffee from him,' cheers. '

He perched on the edge of the sofa, whilst she sat on the coffee table, knees tucked up to her chest.

' So,' Howard said as she sipped her drink,' what d'you make of jazz music - jazz fusion? '

Holly shrugged,' 'S'not my favourite kind of music, but I'll listen to anything. I like some of the earlier influences, but I can't do with jazz-metal and jazz-pop and all this stuff. '

' You better not like any jazz! ' shouted Vince from his room.

Holly rolled her eyes and got up, shutting the living room door loudly. She grinned back at Howard,' There we are - no more from him now. D'you ever wish he'd just shut up? '

Howard made a non-comittal jerk of the head,' Gotten used to him, by now to be honest. I've learned it's easier to just ignore him sometimes. '

' Yeah,' agreed Holly,' I try too, but he's all smily and optimistic. All child-like - he's just adorable sometimes, how d'you ignore someone like that? '

Howard couldn't help thinking that Holly was equally smiling and optimistic, but said nothing. She cleared her throat and said,' Enough about Vince anyway - I know plenty about Vince, after all. What about you, Howard? '

' What about me? ' he frowned.

' Well, I don't know,' she shrugged,' tell me something. Anything . . . '

He nodded,' Alright then. Once, when I was about - '

He was cut off by the door swinging open and Vince standing there, hands on hips. ' Are you bringing all this stuff through, or not? Because I need you to help me make room in my wardrobes. And I want to look through your stuff - I need a new belt. '

Howard gritted his teeth together,' Vince! we were trying to have a conversation here. '

His friend pulled a face,' So what? You can do that later, can't you? She's not going anywhere anytime soon.'

Holly drained the rest of her coffee and put the mug down', In a bit, Howard,' she shrugged, grabbing some of her cases as Vince dragged the others into his room.

It took them half an hour to locate the camp bed from the attic and assemble it in the corner of the room. Then they unpacked all of Holly's clothes and laid them in big piles on the carpet.

As Vince's hands eagerly scoured his sister's belongings, she was just as quick to search his things.

' Holly, these boots are genius! ' Vince declared, picking up a pair of white cowboy boots,' what size are your feet? '

' 6,' she replied.

He moaned,' Aw, I'm an 8 - maybe I could squeeze . . . I've got a jacket these would well match! '

' You mean this? ' Holly asked, pulling an item of clothing out of the wardrobe - it was a white jacket with a few blue sequined stars on the front, and fringing down the middle. She slipped it on and looked in the mirror,' Hmmm, I like it. '

The clothes didn't get put away as soon as intended; instead, they were trying on each others things.

Vince picked out a bright pink t-shirt with purple and blue blotches across it,' Tie-dye. I like it. '

' You still have this tie! ' Holly cried, holding up an old school tie to her forehead,' like Rambo! '

Vince was enjoying looking through his sister's clothes, and vice versa. They both owned some of the strangest things. Including what Vince currently held up.

' A cape? Were you trying to pull off the serial killer look? ' he demanded with a laugh.

' You've got a few capes!' Holly pointed out.

He shrugged,' Yeah, but black with a skull on? Mine are all cool - shiny and glittery and stuff. '

' Shut up,' Holly frowned,' I went through a gothic phase, alright? '

They went back to looking through each others clothes and picking out all sorts, poking fun and telling each other what needed to be gotten rid of - even though neither of them would get rid of anything.

Holly held up Vince's faithful silver mirrorball suit and laughed,' As if you still have this thing! You got this when you were about 20! Oh my god, this belt! ' she cried, attention grabbed by something else,' it matches my hat.

Indeed the red belt with its black studs did match the hat she wore. Vince frowned at her and grabbed the hat off her head,' That's because this is my hat. My hat - my belt - matching stuff, see? '

' Hey! ' protested Holly, jumping up to try and snatch it back,' Vince! This is bullying! '

Vince held it up higher and with his other hand, held her head away from him. She fought off his hand and laughed, jumping up.

Soon, it was no longer about the hat - they were just messing about now. Vince stuck out his tounge and Holly grabbed his arm, pulling him closer to her. He stumbled in his platform boots and they both staggered and ended up on the floor.

There was a pause as they lay spread on their backs. Holly looked at Vince and the silence was broken by them both bursting into uncontrollable laughter. They laughed and laughed until they were out of breath and their stomach and cheeks hurt.

Holly rolled over onto her stomach and picked up the hat from where her brother had dropped it on the carpet. She jammed it on her head and stuck her tounge out at him.

He began laughing again and it was infectious. She was laughing like a maniac again, when she looked away from her brother and her eyes fell on the doorway.

An large hulking ape and a short man with long dark hair and blue robes stood watching them.

Vince rolled over and stop laughing at once when he saw the pair.

' Ah,' Vince said,' Naboo ... there was something I had to ask you ... '