Bishop Bash: Better Late than Never (Anthony)

[Kailin Bishop]

So Kailin was waiting for one of the two people she invited to the Bishop Christmas bash to arrive. Wren and Anthony. Both were really close friends of her's by this point, especially Tony. They had known each other for three years and a few months, and Kailin was afraid that this would be the last Christmas they may ever be able to spend with each other, assuming he enlists in the army as soon as he graduates. Kales didn't know his plan after highschool, all she knew was that his goal was something along the lines of Army based.

Kailin made small talk, occasionally looking toward the door whenever it was opened to see if Tony had made it. He hadn't. Kailin bit her lip gently and readjusted her Santa hat on her head. Throughout her time making small talk and trying to corral everyone in the right direction, she managed to sit right beside the door. Taking it upon herself to have 'door duty', she allowed person after person in the house with a forced smile.

The blonde was beginning to lose hope, honestly, when more and more people entered and it wasn't Tony. Well, so much for the present she made him. She'd have to give it to him when she came back to school, then. There was a slow down of the influx of people, which both relieved and discouraged the blonde. She still held onto the hope that he was coming, but apparently--

Ring-ding

At this point, she didn't have her hopes up too high. A pout was on her lips, replacing her usual smile, as she opened the door. And the minute she saw him, her eyes brightened immediately.

"Tony!" She squealed, moving towards him and hugging him tightly. Her arms were wrapped loosely around his neck as she did so, and when she pulled away, she realized the position she was in. A blush quickly flushed her face. "You made it," She breathed, her tone more contained, and even a bit embarrassed.

[Deleted]

Anthony was SO glad that he had a great friend like Kailin to hang out with. She was such a bubbly young lady, every time they hung out, he was practically fawning over her every word to the point that he was probably stupid. Well, if the cost of having a cute girl smile at you was looking stupid, then Anthony was more than willing to accept that. And since he was too chicken-shit to go home for the holidays and brave his parent's rivalry over their son, he was very pleased and grateful that Kales had invited him to her family's home for Christmas.

Going to a girl's house for Christmas. That had to mean something right?

Was he dressed Ok? Was he overdressed? It was just black slacks and a long-sleeved black shirt. Actually, when he looked in the mirror, he looked a little like a priest, but Anthony wasn't happy with any of the other things he came up with. He even got a haircut, cut it short and sweet instead of leaving it a fluffy mess.

And the present. That was a special thing he hoped Kailin would love and use forever. It was a small package, he could hold it easily in one hand. Anthony could picture how in love she would be when she saw it. Heck, she might even throw herself at him! Good times.

Despite a few delays, the biggest one being a few rather long phone calls between his mom, and dad, and little brother, Anthony finally managed to arrive at the celebration. He rung the bell and waited, bouncing on his heels. When the door finally opened, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Kailin in the flesh! "Kales!" he greeted with an equal enthusiasm, arms stretched out. He wrapped his own arms around and gently pat one against her back until she pulled away.

Was he blushing?

"Yeah, Umm, sorry, I kind of got held up." Anthony twitched his head into a shrug. "Merry Christmas!" he said, holding up his small gift with an eager smile.

[Kailin Bishop]

Kailin had color in her outfit for the entire ordeal. Festive, really. So when she noticed Tony was in all black, she shook her head slightly, though his presence still kept the smile on her face. She'd really have to take him shopping one day. She laughed inwardly at the thought.

"It's fine. At least you came," Kailin reassured him. If he didn't come, she probably would have spent the night pouting, and maybe even possibly snapping at Savvy at one point. That would have been fun (read:terrible). "Merry Christmas!"

Her gaze fell to the package in his hands and she blinked. He didn't have to get her anything. However, she took the package with a grateful smile and said a 'Thank you'. Kales would have to get the present for him from underneath the tree. It was almost time to open presents, but Kailin didn't necessarily want to wait for this one.

The blonde adjusted herself so that he had space to enter the house. It was beyond cold outside, and well, Kailin couldn't handle it much longer. "Come in, it's freezing." Funny how their first meeting involved him being the cold one. Roles were reversed, she supposed.

"12 Siblings and two parents means a lot of people in our house at one time," It was a way to sort of apologize for the crowded group of people. Kailin could handle it, being that she was one of the youngest of the 12 siblings. People were over all the time.

[Deleted]

Red. Wow. Red.

Red is the color of sex….and Christmas, but it was easy to think the other way especially when worn by such a cute girl. Her blonde hair and blue eyes really made the look work. Kailin outclassed him in every way, Tal Bachman was wailing in the back of his mind "She's So Hiiiigh" as he looked over her and tried not to seem to excited.

To Anthony, it was just common sense to get the girl who invited you to her home for Christmas a Christmas gift. But…was it sad to say he was overly excited about this? He'd known Kailin for a couple years now and she has always been a girl that he felt like he could connect with. If he was going to try and woo her with his mad skills, then it was even more common sense for him to get her something nice. And be charming.

Anthony strutted in like he owned the place, cheesily bobbing his head up and down to the beats in his head. "Twelve people, 100 people, doesn't matter. I'm here now," he announced. "The party don't start 'til I walk in." Anthony snapped his fingers, rocking his head around in a circle.

Yup. He was sooo cool.

"So where do we…what do we do now?" he asked, flashing a smile down at her.

[Kailin Bishop]

Kailin covered her mouth, trying to muffle her laughs. He was walking in, in the cheesy grease kind of way. It didn't help the look that he was wearing all black. She was also completely oblivious to all of his male thoughts going on in his mind. Kailin loved blue mostly, like the ocean and the sky at its clearest. However, she loved the color red as well. It reminded her of roses and valentines day, though she never associated it with Sex. The virgin, innocent girl mind that Kailin sported never even considered that option.

"Aha, I see. I'm guessing you are going to making the speech at dinner too, right?" The blonde rolled her eyes, her hands instinctively trying to cross. But at the realization that she still held the gift in her hand, she put her hands down for a moment. Her blue eyes fell to the present when he asked what to do then.

Well, opening gifts was going to happen soon, and it goes from youngest sibling to oldest sibling, but honestly, now that Anthony was there... she couldn't wait for him to open his gift.

"Uh, hold on a second. I'm going to sneak over to the tree and see if I can go get your gift, and then we can open them up in my room."

If she had known that Tony was thinking of her in such a way, maybe she would have been more hesitant about taking him to her room. But clueless Kailin only saw him as her best friend, the guy who could make her laugh and make her feel better at a moments notice.

Kales handed him the gift and gestured for him to wait a moment. A few minutes later, she returned with a box, wrapped in reindeer wrapping paper and a green bow. It was a silly wrapping paper, but it didn't exactly matter which paper it would be, because it would be on the floor anyway.

"There you go," She handed him the gift, grabbed her gift from his hands, and gestured for him to follow. "Come on."

[Deleted]

"Of course! I prepared a whole speech and everything." Anthony cleared his throat. "My fellow Americans, we are gathered here today to celebrate the holy birth and celebration of that birth of the guy from the Lord of the Rings…no, wait. Jesus, right?" His smile grew broad, indicating the horribly bad joke he thought was actually good. Though if she wanted him to, Anthony wasn't above giving a speech at dinner. He could single her out that way and get her to smile and fall for him after he demonstrated his absolute perfection.

Yeah, Anthony easily got ahead of himself. He had no idea that Kailin only though of him as a friend. Well, he kind of knew, but was always hoping he could do something to change that opinion. She was adorable, after all.

Anthony waited patiently by the stairs while Kailin went to go steal his gift from the tree, giving a few "hey's" to people as they walked by. Wow, there were a lot of people here. He only knew a few of them. Like the ones who were actually family. Then there were some students wandering around that he'd seen from around campus, like that short asian kid that always seemed like he was sporting a lobotomy.

Upon her return, he broke into a smile again. "Welcome back! I missed you." He laughed. "I'm right behind you!" he assured her, and he started to follow her to her room. Yeaah, Anthony was going to be in a girl's room. Not that he hadn't been before, but it was somehow different when it was at her own family's home.

[Kailin Bishop]

"You're such a dork, I swear." Kailin rolled her eyes, but yet, he had her laughing. That was expected, being that it was how things worked between them. It was a poor joke, but that was what made it funny. He looked so serious, and with that combined with the awful joke, it made for a rather amusing one. Kailin was childish, yes, but she would never go as far as Anthony did at times. The blonde wasn't complaining, though.

When he announced that he missed her, she stuck her tongue out. "You just want your present quicker. Well, we'll have to climb about two flights of stairs before we get to my room." Most would hear that as abuse. Living in the attic sounded bad, but it was actually convenient. The room stayed relatively quiet, unless the two girls were listening to music. Lany wasn't a loud girl at all, and that much she appreciated. Well, she also appreciated the very tidy nature that her older sister held. It made Kailin's job much easier.

Stepping up the stairs at a reasonable pace deemed difficult, and by the end of the first flight, the blonde took her heels off, bringing her back to her normal height. She turned to Anthony with a sheepish smile. "Don't judge me," She said, "This is my house."

Oh yeah, she went there.

The next flight seemed much less of a hassle as she entered the top floor of the house, Her room on the far right. It was almost like a one bedroom apartment. It was never messy (thanks to Kailin) and was decorated with furniture as if it were merely a living space. They hadn't even gotten to her room, but she figured it was good enough. She slipped over to the couch that was directly in front of the staircase. But nobody was going to come all the way up to their room unless it was Lany, and she'd never say anything.

"Okay, we're in the clear. Phew," Kailin said dramatically, falling back into the couch and crossing her legs when she adjusted. "Welcome to the attic, aka my humble abode. I promise I'm not Cinderella though. My room is just over there," Kailin pointed towards the open door to her left, also on the far side of the room.

"There is a bathroom here too, it's the first door on the left when you're facing my room. It's like my own miniature apartment, well, without a kitchen."

[Deleted]

Of course he was a dork. But didn't she know, dorks were cool these days! They were in. At least he liked to tell himself that. It gave him some extra confidence for his confidence.

His grin widened playfully. "Am I that obvious?" he teased.

The trip up the stairs was nothing for someone as health conscious as Anthony. The boy as on the basketball team and spent his extra hours at the gym for physical training. Though clearly he was the only one of this duo. "I'm not. Heels or no, I have a great view from down here." Was that too much? Man, maybe he shouldn't have said that. What if that just ruined the whole night?

Stupid Anthony.

Once up in the attic, though, he was about to make the Cinderella joke before she denounced it. "You sure? Because, you know…Cinderella was pretty hot." He shifted his weight back and forth as he panned his eyes around the room. This was actually pretty nice. It was just like she said, like a mini-apartment…though Anthony had never really had or lived in a small apartment like that, so maybe he shouldn't judge. "So…you pretty much have this whole floor to yourself?" That must be a relief with such a big family.

[Kailin Bishop]

"I may be blonde, and I may be really clean... and my favorite color is blue..." She trailed off there. Crap, was she Cinderella? Well, in every aspect except for the wicked step-mother and step sisters. Kailin just had a huge amount of siblings and parents that were rarely even around.

"Shut up, okay?" Kailin laughed, sending a playful glare his way. "I'll take back the gift I so graciously snuck from under the tree for you."

Honestly, she probably wouldn't even be able to do get it from him. Kailin was tall, but Anthony was far stronger, and could maneuver quicker than she could. She was in track for a few years, but even still.

"No, my sister Lany and I share a room. I don't mind, though. She's the closest female sibling I have that is my age. She's 17, and such a sweetheart." There was also Savvy, but well, Savvy was annoying.

"So, presents?" Kailin glanced down at the gift in her hand. "You first, though. And before you tell me it's me first... My house. My rules. Go go!"

[Deleted]

Anthony just nodded as she listed off all of her other Cinderella correlations. "Uh-huh….Next you're going to tell me you have a fairy godmother and mice that turn into horses." He grinned wide to show he was just playing.

He held up his hand in surrender. "Oh, well, we wouldn't want that now, would we?"

So she shared a room with her older sister? That wasn't too bad, he supposed. Anthony had always had his own room, even at the dorms, so he wouldn't know what it was like to have to share that space with anyone else. However there were a few times when his little brother would sleep in Anthony's room when they were younger because of a nightmare or a spider or something. "Yeah, I wouldn't know. I only have a little brother. Good kid, but I guess he can be annoying sometimes too." Though it'd been quite a while since he last saw him.

The kid was probably mad at him.

Anthony gave a sharp nod, blinking his eyes hard when Kailin moved the conversation to opening their gifts. He was about to object to opening his first, but apparently Kailin had anticipated that. "Well, guess I gotta follow your rules then. Don't' wanna be kicked out." He grinned and took the gift from her, beginning to peel back the wrapping methodically. Anthony wasn't exactly a preserver of wrapping paper, but he didn't like just ripping it off like most people did. The package was opened to a very pleasant surprise.  A matching knitted winter hat and scarf, both in camouflage army colors. To a military nut like Anthony, that was awesome!  "Wow, this is perfect! Please tell me you made these yourself."  

[Kailin Bishop]

"Dangit, you weren't supposed to find out about that. I have the glass slippers and everything, too." Kailin teased lightly, elbowing him gently. It was like this all the time. Anthony seemed to make it his mission to make her smile in whichever way he could, which the blonde appreciated immensely. He was always there when she needed an ear to vent to, or a shoulder to lean on.

He was such a great friend.

A simple shrug ended that conversation. She was far too interested in him seeing his gift to continue with the Cinderella comments. She had made them herself, and to be honest, it was the first gift she worked on and wrapped. It took a ton of yarn to actually do that, both the hat and the scarf, but it was totally worth it.

His reaction only furthered that excitement, and the girl nodded at his statement. "I did. It took me forever to make, but I'm glad you like it." Kales bounced in her seat for a moment before realizing it was now her turn to open the gift.

"My turn, yes?" She glanced up momentarily at him as her hands grasped and examined the small gift.

[Deleted]

"Glass slippers, huh. Do they magically transport you home when you click your heels three times?" he asked stupidly with a flashy grin.

If Anthony knew how Kailin thought of him and would ever likely think of him, he might've decided on something else as a gift for this Christmas occasion. But Anthony was a guy who poured himself 100% into impressing a girl who could be a potential girlfriend. Like, a real live, in the flesh, girlfriend. One he could kiss and dote on and take on dates and hang off his arm while other guys got jealous because she was just so darned cuuute!

Well, it was too late now. Money already spent, he was already here, and she was already getting ready to open her own gift. Anthony immediately set the beanie hat on his head, snuggling it close against his scalp, and then tossed the scarf over his shoulder. He turned to Kales and posed. "How do I look?" he asked in a light, yet sultry voice.

Anthony nodded, eager to see her reaction. It actually wasn't much, nor was it that expensive, no more the $30, but it was definitely pretty. It was a simple silver chain with a dolphin shaped charm hanging from it. He thought it'd look very pretty on her.

[Kailin Bishop]

"I wish. Going up two flights of stairs four or five times every day can get exhausting after a while." It didn't bother her, since her body was used to it, but it still got annoying at times. This was a daily cardio workout. No wonder she could eat chocolate on a daily basis and not gain any weight. She wasn't in track anymore, mainly because Kailin wanted Savvy to enjoy herself without any interruption by her, so this was the only thing she was doing aside from the periodic gym visit just for fun.

Kailin was beginning to open the gift when her ears picked up one of Tony's many voices. This time it was almost suggestive in tone, asking for a compliment. Of course, Kailin would never deny him the pleasure of such a compliment, especially when it involved him wearing something she made for him.

"Attractive, as usual."

The blonde thought nothing of the comment, mainly because she did find him very attractive. Who wouldn't, really? He had a goofy grin that lit up his face. He was fit, being the 'army brat' that he was, and he had the most adorable brown eyes Kailin has ever seen. Any girl would be lucky to have him.

Peeling back the wrapping a bit further revealed a tiny box, one that was typical for holding jewelry. Kailin's eyes lit up immediately, without even having looked at the gift. The blue eyed blonde absolutely adored jewelry. However, she didn't say anything until she saw the dolphin charm on the simple silver chain.

"Oh my god," She breathed, gently removing the necklace from the box. "It's beautiful, Tony. Thank you."

[Deleted]

Anthony shrugged. "Well, we kind of do the same thing in the dorms, so I guess I can relate." But Anthony was more than built for strenuous exercise, having done it on a daily basis for several years. Stair climbing happened to be one of them, sometimes.

And it was because of this stupendously physically fit body that Anthony had the rights to think he was awesome enough to pull off the glamour look. He smiled at Kailin's generosity.

He might have been reading too much into that comment though. So she did find him attractive. Well, Anthony found her attractive. It was a win/win situation, right? There's no way he was coming out of this night empty handed!

Kailin's initial reaction to the box, obviously one to hold jewelry, was promising. And then…Anthony's grin widened as she exclaimed her thanks for the beautiful necklace. "You like it? Well, of course you do, uh…you should…try it on!" Great great, this was going so great!! Though he was starting to feel the flushes start to boil up from beneath him. Anthony tried his darnedest to push them down, though.

If Kailing agreed to try on the necklace, then Anthony would promptly assist her, clasping it behind her neck.

[Kailin Bishop]

“I envy Gaige at times,” Kailin admitted in reference to the fact that he was closest to the ground floor, though those moments of envy were few and far between. She was never very close with the Pyro, though as a child she’d sit by the basement door and just listen to her brother play. The blonde had to wonder how many times Devlin had to pick her up and take her to her room.

It was saddening, really.

For a short moment, her smile faltered, though she quickly regained her composure. She focused on Anthony’s smile, something that instantly made it easy to pull her lips up into that signature grin of hers.

It helped that he faltered over his words when his cocky demeanor made its appearance. He should really know that she didn’t mind it, and in fact, she appreciated the confidence. Kailin quirked an eyebrow, “Should I? Sounds like a plan.”

She pulled the dolphin chain from the box with a small amount of hesitance. The blonde didn’t know how fragile the necklace was, and she really didn’t want to risk damaging it.

“You going to help me, or what?”