Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 91: Secret

The process ends up moving almost frighteningly quickly: the inspection companies recommended to them have space free early the next week, before Christmas, and they manage to get an appointment with the bank they are arranging their mortgage through the day after. It's enough that, on the Thursday – the day before Christmas – they are able to fully formalise their offer on the house, and within six hours, they receive a confirmation from the agent that the current owners have accepted the offer.

"We'll have to leave arranging deposits, payment dates and handover until the new year, but you can take this as confirmation that the house is yours, for all intents and purposes," the agent emails them, late in the day.

"Holy shit, we've kind of bought a house," Courtney exclaims, when they read the email together, jumping up off the couch to dance some of her excitement out as Shayne laughs, shifting the laptop out of the way so he too can stand up.

"We're going to have our own house we actually own and it's gonna be so perfect," he enthuses, reaching for her and pulling her into his arms, although instead of stopping her excited moving around, he spins her around with him, both laughing freely as they do.

"Can we celebrate a little tonight?" she asks, when they eventually stop spinning – mostly out of dizziness, given neither of their excitement has dipped in the slightest – watching Shayne's sly grin in response.

"What kind of celebrating? Because we can't get super drunk, we've got family Christmas tomorrow, but we got some champagne we could put in the fridge to get not-drunk but do fancy alcohol... Or we could go for bedroom celebration?" he queries, Courtney laughing and pressing a firm, slightly off-centre kiss against his lips before she replies.

"Let's go champagne and order in good food and maybe bedroom stuff later," Courtney laughs, Shayne reluctantly letting go of her to find the bottle of champagne and put it in the fridge to chill a little before they open it.

To neither of their surprise, their joint uncontainable excitement quite quickly leads to making out on the couch, although it does not progress much further than that. Courtney eventually pulls away, laughing at their inability to stay away from each other before shifting over to the fridge to retrieve the now slightly-cooled champagne to pour each of them a glass. Shayne wanders over to the kitchen behind her, tapping his glass against hers in a light cheers before they both take their first drink.

Between them and over the course of the next few hours, they manage to polish off the entire bottle. It leaves them both decidedly tipsy, although far from drunk, and the Pad Thai they order for dinner helps offset the alcohol a little. Still, their excited rambling to each other about what they're going to do with the house, how they'll decorate it, and which rooms will be which continues, pushed further and further by the champagne.

"Do we wanna do office on the ground floor and spare room up beside us, or the other way around?" Courtney muses, not long after they have finished their dinner.

"I think the other way around, that way the whole second floor is just our space even if we have people over," Shayne suggests, Courtney quickly agreeing with him.

"We could probably get a sofa that makes up into a bed for the office, too, so we can have two extra rooms if like, Chris and Julie and the kids wanted to stay over sometime," she adds, Shayne excitedly agreeing with her suggestion.

Shayne splits the last contents of the champagne bottle evenly between their glasses not long after 9:30pm, once again clinking his glass against hers in a cheers before they drink.

"I know we said bedroom stuff later, but I'm kind of super champagne tipsy and I just kinda want to fall asleep with you," Shayne admits, partway through his last glass, Courtney giggling at him in response.