Page 82 of Choose Us
Brooke came bounding around the corner from the living room as I stepped through thefront door.
“Hold on! I have one more thing to finish. Wait there.” She was forceful with her request, so I stood in the entrance hall adhering toher demand.
The entrance hall table had been turned into a confetti bar according to the sign. There were five different plastic bowls; three of them contained confetti, in pink silver and white, which I could only assume was the theme of the party. The fourth bowl housed enough party poppers to get the whole street involved, and the fifth bowl had clear circle shaped lollipops with pink bows and pink writing that said—
I looked closer.
A Brolly NYEParty 2023.
“What do you think?” Brooke appeared at my left and planted a quick kiss on my cheek. “Do you love the lollipops?”She grinned.
“Brolly?”
“Yeah, as in Brooke and Holly. I toyed with a few messages, but it’s a play on words; instead of jolly I used Brolly; I thinkit’s cute.”
“Interesting.” I laughed.
Never once had she referred to us as “Brolly”. Paula would have a field day with that one.Who do you think you are with your own nickname, Brangelina?I could hear her already. She hadn’t quite moved on from their untimely demise.
Brooke laced her fingers with mine and pulled me towards theliving room.
“Anyway, why is it Brolly and not Holoke? Or Hooke?” I asked.
“Because they sound ridiculous.” Brooke laughed.
And Brolly doesn’t?
I stopped by the large vintage floor mirror in the hall. It had fairy lights draped from head to toe. It gave off a warm glow and almost a magical feel. Never had I ever thought of anything in my apartmentas magical.
“Ilike that.”
“I thought you might because it’s the least extravagant thingI’ve done.”
The heavy wooden door to the living room had a silverHappy New Yearsign sagging from one side to the next and about twenty paper fans and stars creating a symmetrical festive feeling.
The far wall that held the TV was covered in clock themed balloons in a variety of colours. The coffee table had been moved over by the window. It was covered in pink glitter, a giant cocktail glass display, and mini disco balls. Brooke managed to hang a giant disco ball from the ceiling too; I almost hit myhead on it.
“This is the dance floor.” She’d removed the large rustic beige rug we’d purchased a few months ago and used a strip of lights to outline a square and segregate that part of the floor from the rest.
“That’s a genius idea.” I had to hand it to her, she had a knack for party planning.
“I know. I thought so too. I enquired about a portable dance floor, but it was quite pricey, and I did already massively overspend on alcohol.” She mouthed the word “oops”, in the most adorable way.
Out the corner of my eye, I saw a large garish display. It felt like it was closing in on me like a tissue paper covered giant. I had a feeling the car sized box that got delivered the week before had something todo with it.
“Wow.”
It was a genuine response.
“It’s amazing, right?”
“Erm... yeah. It’scolourful.”
“The theme I’ve gone for is disco glitz. I saw it in a magazine. What doyou think?”
“I think there’s a lot of colour, glitter, and confetti all over my apartment.” I was going to be hoovering it up for months to come.
“It’s actually our apartment now, and people are goingto love it!”
