Split

Christmas

It had taken a while for Dennis to accept what had happened, but with time the incident was forgotten about, along with the memories of the beast. Sure, he still lurked at the back of our minds-the occasional nightmares of the creature who was no longer a man prodding our heads every now and then.
But we had moved on.
I moved back into Barry's house and we lived together once more, getting back into our little routine. I was happy again, and so were the others, Barry even more so with the new job that he was loving.
It had been months since the stress of the beast and Christmas was right around the corner. This would be the first Christmas I'd spent with my friends and Dennis, and Susan asked us both round for Christmas dinner. She had a few friends and family round as well, so Barry was a little reluctant, and it didn't help that Susan had always been clear in showing her distaste whenever he saw her, but I told him that I'd talk to her. Besides, it was Christmas, everyone would be in a good mood.

The day came around quickly and it had been nice so far, most of the alters were back now and they all had presents for each other. It was all very confusing, but that meant I got quite a few things too so I couldn't complain! Barry had made me a beautiful top from scratch, Hedwig had drawn me a tiger and stuck some sweets to the paper, and Dennis had bought me a beautiful silver necklace. I got a few more things from the others, and almost all of them wanted to wish me Merry Christmas. That included Patricia; she hadn't bought me anything, but I hadn't gotten anything for her either. It hadn't seemed appropriate, and apparently the feeling was mutual, but she hugged me and wished me well all the same.
It was soon time to get ready for dinner and I went to my room when we'd finished with the gifts.

"Uh-uh, you're not wearing that," Barry snagged my arm as I walked out of the room.

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

He looked me up and down, "Yeah, best not to open that door..."

I looked down at myself. It was only a Christmas jumper and jeans... what was I supposed to wear to a Christmas dinner?

"We are going formally."

"What? No, it's only a family meal, they won't be dressed up."

"Even so, it's nice to make an effort."
I wasn't going to argue with him and let him take me back to my wardrobe.
There was a large variety of clothes in there now, ever since Barry had started his new job he'd been buying me beautiful dresses and outfits, saying that I couldn't be trusted to choose my own clothes. It was true, I didn't have the best fashion sense.
"Try this," he pulled out a purple dress that wasn't too fancy.

"I'm going to be freezing," I complained.

"We'll be indoors, won't we?"

"Fine. What are you going to wear?"

"A smart shirt and trousers."

"Better not be that pink one..."

"There is nothing wrong with my shirt," Barry argued, "and it's not pink."

"It's pink."

"Whatever, who's the one that has a job deciding what looks good on people?"

"It's still pink."

He waved the comment away and went to get changed, leaving me to try on the dress.
He had thrown a small coat on the bed as well to cover my arms from the chill of the winter air.

We left the house, Barry ignoring one last dig about the colour of his shirt, and got a taxi to Susan's.

She greeted us cheerfully when we got to the house, looking at my dress in awe, "Oh don't you both look lovely! I feel underdressed!"