FicWad

Chapter Twenty-Seven

At about eleven o clock there was a knock at the door. Joanna began to get up.
“Darling!” her mother cried. “Sit down and talk to your cousin.”
With a sigh Joanna did just that, as Lara resumed talking about something that Joanna wasn’t interested in. Mrs Wilkinson stood up and walked to the door, opening it. The dialogue that then occurred drifted through the open door.
“Will! How are you?”
“I’m fine thank you Mrs Wilkinson. And you?”
“I’m all right, thank you for asking. Now I’m really sorry, but Joanna’s busy at the moment.”
”Oh. Well, I brought you some flowers-“
At this point Joanna had to stifle a smirk.
“But, you see, we arranged to meet up a long time ago, and I was just worried about her because she hadn’t contacted me to cancel but she didn’t turn up.”
”I’m afraid that’s out fault Will. You see, my sister in law and her daughter have come over from England and they arrived this morning, so we had to go pick them up. Joanna had forgotten about this but she didn’t have chance to call you.”
”If it’s possible could she come out now? You see we were going to swap Christmas presents and I bought her a-well, I can’t wait to see her face.”
“Alright then dear. You’ve twisted my arm. Joanna!”
Immediately Joanna was up, out of her chair, and in the hallway. “Yes mom?”
“You can go, but your Dad will come and pick you up. Where will you be?”
”At my house,” Will interrupted. “Thank you Mrs Wilkinson,” and with that he dragged Joanna out of the house.
Once they were half way down the street, Joann burst into laughter. “You were flirting with my mom!”
Will looked ashamed. “We had to get you out of there somehow.”
She grinned widely and hugged him tightly, almost knocking his head off with the carrier bag full of presents. “Thank you.”
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I guess Will flirting with my mom was slightly weird. Funny, but deranged. And slightly sick making. But anyway, presents at Will’s house.
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“Well that pile’s is mine, that one’s Rick’s, that one’s Will’s, that one’s yours and that one’s Maria’s.” Mikey beamed.
“Thanks for the commentary Mikes,” Maria laughed as she lounged on the floor, throwing a Haribo at him.
“I’m just pointing out the fact that we’ve waited till,” he glanced at the clock on the wall. “Half elevenish to open out presents when they’ve been there. All the time…since eight.”
Joanna grinned. “I’m sorry Mikes. I guess you can open one of yours first then.” She was sitting on the sofa next to Rick, who had an arm curled protectively around her waist.
“Yes!” Mikey exclaimed launching himself towards his pile. “It’s off…Anna.” He tore open the wrapping paper. “It’s a copy of a CD.”
”You sound disappointed Mikey,” Joanna teased.
“I’m not- I mean, I- but- er…”
She laughed. “Read the card inside the case.”
His face brightened as he read the card. “Seriously? Anna that’s so cool!”
She beamed and shrugged. “I know.”
“What is it?” Will asked, interested.
“Shall I read it out in my super cool accent?” Joanna asked. Mikey nodded, handing the piece of card over to her.
“Dear Michael,” she read, making her accent decidedly posh English. “This CD which I’m sure you assume is merely a copy of another band, is in fact, not a copy of another band’s work. It is a copy of some of my work. All copyright belongs to me and as you may have guessed the music is fabulous. Love Joanna.”
“He got a CD of your work?” Will enquired outraged. “But what about me? What about the rest of us?”
“Oh stop whining and everyone open the presents from me,” Joanna teased. “You’ve all got the same.”
Amidst the tearing of wrapping paper, the girlish squeals coming from Will, the whispers of awesome form Maria, nobody saw Rick lean over and gently kiss his girlfriend. She smiled at him. “Don’t know what you guys expect. You haven’t heard it yet.”
“You open one Jo. Actually, open the only one you’ve got,” Will joked. But it was true enough. There was only one package with Joanna’s name on it.
“It’s from all of us,” Rick explained as she slid onto the floor to rip apart the fragile paper.
“No way!” she shrieked as the soft contents toppled out onto her lap. “But how? I mean-“ The package contained a black jacket, except it wasn’t so black anymore. It was covered in band patches and badges. “Thank you so much!”
Will beamed. “I think she likes it.
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Will was wrong. I didn’t like it; I loved it. Anyway, the presents that were left, Maria gave the boys chocolate; a very good choice. Will gave Maria a fashion scarf; florescent pink, and he gave Rick and Mikey, well I forget what he gave them. I just know it was a good choice.
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“Hang on. I already opened one from you,” Mikey began puzzled, looking at Joanna.
“This one’s a late birthday present. As I didn’t know it was your birthday in September,” she shrugged, with an easy smile.
“Oh. Ok.” He opened the present. “Aw Joanna. You shouldn’t have.
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I’d only got him chocolate, but he came over and hugged me like I’d got the Misfits to come and perform live in Will’s living room. Boys. Weird people.