Another idea by mixersuggwell I went down abit of a different route with this one as I struggle to write holiday chapters so when you gave their first holiday as an idea I was abit stuck, but I came out with this and I think the more of the unusual route was abit more down my street. It might not be what you're expecting when you hear 'first holiday' but I hope everyone likes it nonetheless.
I also took a little bit of inspo from fiannes 2020 vlog: 'opening my Christmas presents early from joe and and Christmas baking' from about 3:30 to 4 minutes. You'll see what I mean if you go to check it out in a minute 🤣
Christmas eve 2020
London, England
Unusually, there was an odd dark cloud hanging over the sugwell household on this particular morning. Quite literally but also metaphorically. It was rainy outside and for the majority of the morning dianne had been sat at the big grey chair watching the rain drops slip down the large window. It was grey and almost dark outside even though it was only about 10am, typical winter weather really and there were plenty of dark clouds in the sky outside. That however, had somehow managed to sway its way into the top floor apartment where joe and now dianne lived. Now, you'd expect for christmas eve it wouldn't be like this and instead the house be filled with echoey Christmas music and bouncy dancing and awful singing but instead it was quiet and at the moment, the couple were separated. Dianne had made her toast and coffee and spent the past hour or so downstairs not only watching the rain but also on her phone checking in with her family and also her social media. Meanwhile, joe had stayed in bed although he wasn't asleep. He had his laptop on his lap, almost too afraid to make the small trek downstairs and into his office, worried even his light footsteps would disturb dianne.
Now I'm sure you've noticed, that this unlikely space, this weird barrier between them wasn't normal, and that was because it was. It was only am atmosphere that you could describe came from a couple who were mid domestic and giving eachother the cold shoulder, and that was because they pretty much were. There hadn't been a full blown argument as much, but rather a little bicker maybe, or a small alteraction you could say, between them that morning.
It had began when they had first woken up together, as they did most mornings since the lockdown. Usually they took it in turns to make the coffees before returning to bed to share them with eachother as they had their usual morning catchup about how they slept the previous night. On this morning though, this hadn't happened. No...infact their usual morning routine had pretty much been blown out the window the evening before when dianne had got an email through from the airline she was going to be flying to Australia with. Originally, their plan for Christmas was to spend it apart, joe had been more than happy to spend Christmas on his own if it meant she got to see her family which was what had initially been agreed. Dianne was going to fly out on Christmas eve (today) and quarantine in a hotel in Perth. She would be out just after New years to spend a few weeks with her family before returning back to England. There however had been a government announcement a few days before about the covid situation which seemed to only be getting worse and then fianlly last night she had received the news she wouldn't beable to fly at all and everything was cancelled. She wasn't going home. She wouldn't get to see her family. And understandably, it had hit her quite hard. She thought though it wasn't anything a good night's sleep couldn't fix and so after a little cry she went to bed thinking she'd be ok this morning, however, she hadn't been. Joe had woken up a few minutes before her and then subsequently woken her up with their usual morning cuddle which for the first time in their whole entire relationship, she totally dismissed.
She hadn't expected to feel the way she did when she first woke up, but from the second she had opened her eyes, everything about the night before came back to her. She wasn't going home and that was heavy on her heart. She felt empty and she missed her family, her emotions were up in the air so much that when joe had asked her if she was alright she took offense. His question felt as if he had forgot, that he hadn't been listening when she told him everything and she felt obliged to talk more about the family she missed and she didn't want to talk about them. Right now, it was really hard to. She had been quite angry and after a few words, she had made her way downstairs and not returned after leaving their bedroom with a very clear 'whatever' and a slam of the door.
