Christmas with the Bad Boy

Chapter 3: The Christmas Party, Part 1

A/N: Merry Christmas eve :) Remember: like, comment and subscribe <3

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There was only a a handful of people there by the time me and my mom arrived. 

My mom's office was on the fifth floor, so we took the elevator up. As we were waiting for the elevator, one of my mom's coworkers and who I was assuming his daughter had arrived, and they got into the elevator with us. My mom instantly got to talking to him, asking him about the container of baked goods he was holding. I looked awkwardly at the daughter, who seemed to be a couple years younger than me, maybe not even in high school yet. She looked at me and gave a small smile, and I nodded back in acknowledgement, but then we turned our heads away from each other. I guess we were both a bit nervous about having to interact with unfamiliar people tonight.

The fifth floor was decked out in Christmas decorations, completely covered in red and green and white. The hallways had streamers along the walls and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. I followed my mom and her coworker further down the hall, where there was a set of double doors with two wreaths covering the windows. My mom pushed open the door, and then we were in her office, where the real party was going to happen. 

So far it was just us 4, plus a few other people who were hanging around the food table. I was pretty impressed with the place, with how much decorations and food there was. The tree was in the middle of the room, fairly bigger than the one I had at home, and was covered in lights and tinsels and orbs. I saw out of the corner of my eye the daughter take out her phone to take a picture of the tree, then turn around the room to take some more of the rest of the place. I was almost tempted to do the same.

"Fiona! Jack!" I heard a woman call from over by the food table, which caught the attention of the people next to her. Fiona was my mother's name, and so I assumed the man who rode with us in the elevator was named Jack. My mom and the man both walked over to them, and I followed, so did the daughter.

"I did not expect this place to look like this" Jack said.

"Me neither, this is so much more than last year" My mom added in. 

"Well this year I was placed on the party planning comity, and you know I can't half-ass anything" The woman who called out said. That caused a couple chuckles, and I guessed she must have been known to be a very hard worker. 

"Oh yeah, we know that. Did you do this by yourself, or did someone help out?" Jack asked.

"I decided to help Danielle, after she begged me to." The man next to her said. Danielle just pushed at him, and a few others laughed. 

"I did not beg." Danielle huffed. Then she sighed and shrugged. "I did have to bribe him with a week of free coffees though"

"Carl does love his coffee" My mom teased. 

It was fun watching my mom and her coworkers tease each other, talking animatedly about the decorations and the party that would be starting soon. I felt a little awkward though, and decided to just walk around the office, checking out the rest of the place. 

My mom was the receptionist, so she worked at the desk right by the front door. I examined her desk for a bit, smiling as I saw a couple framed pictures of me, my sister, and my dad. As I was examining her desk, a few more people came in through the doors, most of whom I was guessing were coworkers. They all made their way to the food table, some caring baked goods, one person holding a cooler full of probably alcoholic drinks.

They had family members as well, all of them being probably their kids. There was that girl younger than me I rode with in the elevator, a boy, Kyle, who I knew because he was in my grade, and a couple girls older than me who I didn't recognize. Either because they were older, or they just didn't go to my high school. 

As more people came in, it seemed that everyone started to mingle more. I got introduced by my mom to her coworkers, recognizing a couple names that she had told me about in her work stories. I also met the kids, who all seemed friendly, and Kyle and I got to talking about our shared like of our chemistry teacher, who we both had but at different periods. It had been around a half hour or so that this party had been going on when the front doors opened again.

"Finally! Robert it took you long enough!" Carl called out, as the new party goer walked farther into the office. 

"Sorry about that," Robert said. He didn't look very happy at the moment. "I had uh, some trouble getting my son here." 

A lot of the coworkers hummed, as if in pity for Robert. I wondered who his son was, and if he was a known troublemaker.

The door opened again, and I then I saw who his son was. 

It was Aiden.