Living Silently

Holiday

"Austin"

I couldn't help but smile at the little white plastic Christmas tree I had set up in my living room. It was a small fake evergreen tree with thin silver foil to imitate needles. I was feeling festive especially since Noel had invited me over to his house for Christmas Eve. It was an unexpected gesture most likely coerced by Chloe. Either way, I was happy to spend more time with him also a little nervous since his brother would be there and based on the fact that he found me online before Noel and I's date I knew he'd be protective of his younger brother.

Standing in front of my mirror I made sure that there wasn't even a little bit of lint lingering on the surface of my obsidian colored sports coat and the white dress shirt that I wore with an open collar. When I was sure that I was finished, I made my way out of my home and walked to my car. It was a chilly journey, so I quickly cranked my vehicle on and blasted the heat once I was finally inside my vehicle. When I was comfortable I looked through Noel, and I's thread of text messages and found where he sent me his address and pressed the blue hyperlink that brought me to my maps app, and I began the navigation feature. After making sure my seatbelt was secure I pulled off following the direction that the robotic voice was navigating me. I ended up parking in the garage of a building that looked to be a great deal out of my price range. Giving myself a moment to marvel at how Noel was living I then proceeded to get out of my car and walked to the door that allowed people into the building and had to look for his name on a keypad before selecting the call function. I heard a dial tone for a solid ten seconds before it was followed by a mechanical click echoed through the air around me and a green light above the door blinked.

I pulled the door open and walked into a warmly lit hallway and looked for his apartment finding it near the end of the corridor. Before I let the nerves get to me I took a deep breath, knocked, then waited for someone to answer. It took them thirty seconds to respond and when the door opened a light-skinned guy my height with a smaller build mean mugged me.



"JoJo let him in, you're not scaring anyone, and you're letting all of the heat out," a sultry feminine voice said from behind him. He made a face before stepping to the side letting me in the apartment. Still not having said a word to me.

"Hi I'm Chanel, and this is Noel's intrusive, pigheaded, older brother Joseph," Chanel said with a smile on her face. She was tall for a girl with
Shoulder length hair and bangs. She was pretty and seemed to have a light personality.



"Oh Austin, how are you, take your coat off you came just I time for dinner," Chloe said as she walked into the room wearing an ugly Christmas sweater that was large enough for the hemline to grace her kneecap, and her hair was pulled back by cloth antlers to resemble a reindeer. She even had festive colored makeup.

"Jojo I swear to god if you don't stop staring at the man," Chanel said before grabbing him by the ear and pulling him deeper into the house, I could hear cries of pain as she pulled him away.

"Don't worry about him he's just a harmless realty nerd when he's not pretending to be a guard dog," Chloe said with a smile before turning on her heels and yelling, "Noel your guest is here."

She walked away, which brought my attention to the bells jingling from the bottom of her sweater where they had been attached. I decided to trail behind her into the living room of his apartment which was nice and tidy with a decent sized Christmas tree with a bright multicolored light placed next to the television that was playing some old black and white movie. All of the details of his home were automatically uninteresting when Noel came into the room wearing a silk jumper with doves stitched on the area covering his chest. I could see that he knew he looked good in it, but he also didn't pick it out based on how he had a hint of shyness in his face.

"Hey," I said to him unable to not smile.

"Hey," he responded and began walking over to me before his brother interrupted.

"Hey, come and help me set the table, Noel," He said while walking from the kitchen holding a turkey in his arms Chanel not far behind him with a casserole dish full of baked macaroni and cheese.

"Sure Jojo, Austin please take a seat at the table," he said turning and going into the kitchen. I watched him leave then walked to his dining room table and took a seat near the middle watching as the siblings shuffled around placing dishes on the table taking their positions. Jojo sat at one end of the table, Chloe taking the other while Chanel took a seat next to me and Noel was left to take place directly across from where I was sitting.

"Alright start passing the food around, I slaved on that stove all day," Chloe said after clapping her hands together.

"You went and bought the drinks, and that took you almost two hours," Chanel laughed. I could see the band-aid on her finger and knew she was probably the one who had done the bulk of the cooking.

"Can you pass me the greens," Jojo said to me while pointing to me instead of saying my name.

"Sure," I said picking it up only for Chanel to push it back down to the surface of the table.

"Joseph I swear to god if you don't start acting like you have some god-damned sense I will end you. Talk to the man. You are being rude, and for the twentieth time, Noel is a grown ass man who can make his own decisions without the need for you or anyone to approve of his actions. TALK before I shove these greens up your ass," she said then began passing the food in the opposite direction of Jojo.

"Talk or starve,"Chloe chimed into the conversation with a curt smile.

"Fine, what do you do Austin," he asked glancing at his brother than at me.

"I'm a firefighter for money, and a law student," I responded to him with a smile on my face. I was prepared for him to try to shake me and knew that he wouldn't.

"So what do you want with my brother," he said as he leaned over the table and grabbed the platter of honey glazed chicken wings next to Noel.

"Well, we are just getting to know each other right now. I don't have any underlying intentions other than making your brother happy," I replied only to receive a grunt in response from his brother.

"Jojo could you please try to be nice it's Christmas, please apologize...for me," Noel asked in a tone of voice that I hadn't heard from him. It was soft almost childlike; he was vulnerable but not authentic. I knew that if everything turned out as I wanted it to he'd be using that voice on me to get what he wanted in the future.

"Fine," Jojo said and put on a fake smile then turned to me, "sorry."

"Its cool, can you pass the rice," I asked him.

"Look at that an adult acting like a fucking adult," Chloe said then proceeded to take a sip from her wine glass which she had overpoured.

"I'm sorry how's the job search going," Jojo responded which caused Chloe to seethe.

"Hey we are going to finish eating then open the five gifts under the tree, after that we are going to watch Elf without all of this playground bullshit," Chanel ordered before sinking her fork into a carrot ending her sentence. We ended up eating discussing how good the food was followed by an impromptu game of UNO which apparently Noel was a master. We then moved onto gifts which were all gift cards to their favorite restaurants followed by a movie.

Chanel had pulled Jojo into a snuggling position, and his hand reached down to her abdomen where his child was busy growing. Chloe was sitting on the other end of the couch with them already having asleep. Her lips were stained a faint red-violet hue from all the wine she had consumed. I, on the other hand, had managed to get my arm over Noel's shoulder, and he was leaning into my side making it one of the better Christmases I've had in a long time. It wasn't much we didn't even talk much but we got to spend time together, and that's all that I wanted.