Chapter Twenty
Nico
I wasn’t worried about taking Toby home to meet my family until about two seconds before I opened the door when I remembered the only other person I’d ever brought home for Christmas was Megan. And that definitely wasn’t a romantic relationship.
Either my family were going to think this was really serious or they’d think Toby was just a friend. But I didn’t really know if suddenly having an international pop star as a friend was realistic for me considering I could be a really grumpy bastard.
But it was too late to do anything about it now. Not with Toby hovering nervously behind me.
He looked absolutely stunning in a pair of tartan trousers and a new cream and blue knitted jumper from Mrs N, a long pale blue wool coat thrown on over the top. I’d kissed him as soon as I’d seen him and I already wished it was time for me to take him home so I could kiss him again.
“Merry Christmas,” I called as I opened the side door of my parents’ house, because the front door was always locked.
It opened straight into the utility room, where a collection of shoes was jumbled across the floor.
A wall of warmth and delicious smells enveloped us as I ushered Toby inside, the sound of voices and Christmas songs pouring out of the kitchen.
“Merry Christmas!” everyone yelled, and I realised they were all waiting in the kitchen for us in the worst attempt at subtlety I’d ever seen.
“Have you not got a living room?” I asked as I shrugged off my coat and hung it on the end of the utility room door, adding Toby’s on top.
“We’re helping Mum,” Adam said, gesturing at the chopping board in front of him and waving the small knife in his hand like it was some sort of special prize.
“And I’m cuddling the baby,” Sian said from her seat on the floor next to the deep, fluffy dog bed where my parents’ very middle-aged and lazy bulldog, Winnie, was snoring. I doubted Winnie had even noticed she was there. Not unless Sian had bacon in her hand.
I rolled my eyes and glared at them. “Right, okay then, family, this is Toby. Toby, this is my family, who are incapable of acting normally apparently. We’ve got Mum, Dad, Granny, Sian, Adam, and the snoring potato is Winnie.”
“Hello,” Toby said with the tiniest wave, still hovering beside me as he looked around at everyone. “Thank you for having me.”
There was a moment of silence and I wondered if I’d fucked up by bringing Toby here. I’d told them all not to stare, not to take pictures or treat him like some animal in a zoo, but they were only human and I had randomly brought home an international pop star.
“Stop gawking, the lot of you, and let the poor boy breathe,” Granny said, walking across the kitchen with a glass of champagne in hand.
She held out her arms to Toby and gave him a hug, only coming up to his chest, before kissing his cheek.
“Lovely to meet you, Toby. I’m so glad you could join us. ”
Granny looked over at my brother, who was still holding a knife in mid-air. “Adam, make yourself useful and get these two a drink.”
“I’m busy! Sian, get them a drink.”
“What? No, it’s my day off! If anything, you should be getting all of us a drink.”
“Stop arguing,” Mum said with a laugh and a roll of her eyes. “It’s Christmas. You’re meant to pretend you love each other.”
“I love him—I just think he should get me a drink,” Sian said, climbing off the floor and walking over to give me a hug.
She was also petite, like Granny, with chest-length blonde hair that she’d put a tinsel hairband in.
She lowered her voice as she wrapped her arms around me.
“Holy shit, he’s so cute! Why is he with you? ”
“Because I’m charming,” I said as I squeezed her tightly.
She chuckled. “Yeah, and pigs can fly. I grew up with you! You’re not charming. You’re a dickhead.”
“Toby,” I said loudly as I let Sian go but threw my arm around her shoulder to keep her close to me. “This is my sister, Sian. And she once had a poster of you on her bedroom wall.”
“Dickhead!” Sian smacked me on the arm, her face tinting. “I’m so sorry. You’re going to think I’m so weird now.”
“You’re absolutely fine,” Toby said as he smiled at her.
He’d already said it was okay to talk about his pop career as long as it wasn’t the focus of the whole day.
But he’d insisted it would be odd if it was never acknowledged, like a very obvious elephant in the room.
“Was I your favourite or was it one of the others? It was Kane, wasn’t it? He’s always been a handsome bastard.”
“I did like Kane, but teenage me thought you were gorgeous. You still are.”
“That’s very sweet of you, but I promise you don’t have to say that just because I’m here.”
Sian chuckled. “Thanks for offering me the get out, but it was you. Adam liked Kane, though.”
“As he should. He’s very handsome. And a sweetie too, although his heart does belong to Austin, so he is very firmly taken,” Toby said. “Dai and Haru are still single, though, at least as far as I know.”
“See, Adam, you’ve still got a chance,” Sian said with a grin, ducking slightly as Adam threw a Brussel sprout at her.
“Ah no, thank you,” Mum said. “We don’t throw vegetables.”
“Be nice,” Dad said from his chair in the corner behind the small kitchen table where he was unwrapping a Terry’s chocolate orange.
“Would you like a drink, Toby?” Sian asked, stepping between my boyfriend and me. “We’ve got some champagne, if you drink, or there’s juice, tea, sparkling elderflower, Coke, fizzy orange, er… some sort of weird cream soda thing Adam brought.”
“Champagne would be lovely,” Toby said. “Oh, we actually brought some with us. And a few other bits. Nico had a list.”
He held up the large shopping bag he’d insisted on carrying, bottles clanking inside it. I’d told Mum and Granny that Toby would insist on bringing something, so they’d provided us with a list. Then he’d dragged me around Fortnum & Mason while he shopped.
On the Sunday before Christmas.
He’d bought me dinner afterwards to say thank you, so I’d forgiven him. Plus as busy as it was, it had been fun to shop together, despite the eye-watering prices.
“Perfect,” Sian said as she took the bag. “We can totally make some cocktails later too! Although I’m only having one because I have to be on stage tomorrow.”
“Nico said you were amazing,” Toby said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen The Nutcracker.”
“Well, let me know if you want tickets. We usually have a few for friends and family. I can’t guarantee the seats, but sometimes there’s a box free. Just let me know.”
“I’d love that, thank you. But only if it’s not too much.”
“Of course not,” Sian said.
“Speaking of dancing,” Granny said, giving Toby and me a delighted smile. “I’m looking forward to seeing how you two got on later.”
Toby looked at me in shock. “Didn’t you tell them what happened?”
“No, they can find out for themselves,” I said as I casually put my arm around his waist.
“You’re just mad because some of us have actual jobs and couldn’t make it,” Adam said with a grin. He did have a point, and I didn’t actually care that none of them had been there, because I knew that four on a random Thursday in December wasn’t exactly good timing.
But Adam was my brother and therefore I was entitled to be a bastard towards him.
“We can all watch together,” Mum said as Sian topped up her glass of champagne and Dad handed her a chunk of chocolate orange. My dad was a pretty quiet guy, but he and my mum had always been the kind of couple goals people talked about. They absolutely adored each other.
It was a shame they’d had two dickhead children and only one fabulous one.
“And then we can get live, in-person commentary,” Adam said, winking at me.
“Sod off, wanker. Get back to peeling your Brussel sprouts.”
“You could help me!”
“Fine,” I said, pushing up the sleeves of my jumper. “But only because you’re doing a shit job of it.”
“What can I do to help?” Toby asked as Sian handed him a glass of champagne.
“Nothing, sweetheart. Just stand there and look beautiful.” I didn’t care that I’d said it out loud. I didn’t care if my family knew Toby and I were together. All I wanted was for him to be happy.
He flushed slightly and lifted his glass to toast me. “Roger that.”
I smiled and winked at him.
This was turning out to be the best Christmas I’d ever had.
“You know, as orange as I looked in the mirror, I’m quite glad they gave me that fake tan now,” Toby whispered into my ear as we squeezed onto the sofa together to watch the Come Dancing With Me Christmas special later that afternoon.
It was a bit tight to get everyone onto the two sofas in my parents’ living room, so Sian had decided to sit on the floor and stretch instead, with Winnie now snoring from her other bed in front of the gas fire.
We were all full of food and most of us were slightly tipsy, but there were still tubs of chocolate being passed around along with some gingerbread Toby had brought. I’d switched to tea, hoping the boost of caffeine would stop me falling asleep like Granny was already close to doing.
“The lights would have really washed you out without it,” I said, sliding my hand into his and squeezing it. “You look fucking amazing.”
“So do you. That pirate coat is everything!”
“Yeah, I should wear red more often.”
It was weird as fuck watching myself because I very rarely rewatched the show.
Sometimes I would if I wanted to get an outside perspective of a contestant’s movements, but then I literally just found the relevant clips and watched them with the sound off.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d watched a whole episode.
As always, everyone looked great, and it was fun to watch the other routines without the added pressure of knowing we’d be up soon or preparing ourselves to go out onto the floor.
When it was our turn, Toby’s grip tightened on my hand as he glanced at me quickly, a nervous look dancing across his features. We hadn’t seen the edited training footage, and I knew he was nervous about how it would turn out.
There was nothing to worry about, though, because he looked adorable. And so fucking serious I wanted to drag him out the TV and kiss him.
“Oh my God, Toby, how the hell did you survive weeks of that?” Adam asked from my other side. “Nico, you’re bossy as fuck! I’d have walked out.”
“Sod off, I’m not bossy! That wasn’t bossy!” I rolled my eyes and tried to kick him half-heartedly, but I was too focused on the screen to look at where I was aiming my foot.
“You’re definitely bossy. Nice bossy, but still bossy,” Sian said.
“You always were more take charge,” Mum added. “That studio is nice, though. Where was it? Doesn’t look like one of the usual ones they put you in.”
“Oh, I hired it. The producers, and my agent, wanted us somewhere secure where people couldn’t just walk in and out,” Toby said.
“It was really lovely. I’m gonna have dreams about that studio.” I sighed, thinking about going back to rehearse with Megan in our freezing cold, damp shithole in January.
I was going to need more layers.
The montage faded and the familiar voiceover filled the room as Toby appeared on screen, standing alone in the middle of the dance floor. Waiting for me.
Everyone else oooh-ed and aww-ed, immediately complimenting his appearance. I thought someone tried to ask me a question, but I didn’t hear it. All my attention was on the TV, and the way Toby moved across the floor.
Watching like this gave me a chance to really look at him, to drink in all the tiny details I hadn’t been able to focus on during the show. He looked fucking gorgeous, but more than that, he looked like a dancer too.
There were a few things about the routine that I might have tweaked in hindsight and a couple of moves I’d have just polished a little more, but it was the closest thing to perfection I could have imagined. And I was so fucking proud of Toby.
“That was amazing,” Sian said, turning around to smack my thigh while grinning brightly. “You smashed it!”
“Agreed, that was awesome,” Adam said.
“Very lovely,” Mum added, an unmistakeable note of pride in her voice that I still loved hearing, even though she’d seen me dance a million times. She glanced at Granny, who was snoring in her chair. “We can rewatch it tomorrow.”
“She’ll be sad she missed it,” Dad said. “But I’d like to watch it again.”
They all kept chatting as I leant over to whisper in Toby’s ear, although it was hard to hear myself over my family and the noise from the TV. I’d known at the time the audience was loud, but fuck me. Half of them had even stood up.
I hadn’t noticed at the time.
“You fucking nailed it,” I said, my heart so full of pride and joy that it was almost painful.
“Thank you,” Toby said. “I can’t believe people gave us a standing ovation. I didn’t think it was that good.”
“You deserved it.”
I really wanted to kiss him, but I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable in front of everyone. So I squeezed his hand tightly instead.
Although that might change by the time we got to him being crowned the winner.
And if not… we had a whole evening to repeat the celebrations when we went back to his.