[gathering] All My Bells Are Ringing

[drownondryland]

Meredith was clear, when the idea of a party came up, that she's never done anything like this before. Thrown parties, yes, but the kind with loud music and copious amounts of drinking that mostly got way bigger than she intended them to and wound up with her waking up either on the couch surrounded by everyone else's trash or in bed with someone,

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[daretodo]

There are things you do for love. Sometimes they're hard -- sacrifices that need to be made for the greater good. Sometimes they're easy -- picking up your dirty socks from the floor the first time you're asked instead of the tenth. And on that hard to easy scale, attending this party with Mary Jane is somewhere around the middle. I've been doing my best to avoid Meredith since November, having not been entirely comfortable in her presence for a while, now, the inherent nature of our acquaintance awkward as all get out despite a solid effort to get over that obstacle. Being in her house makes me a little nervous, truth be told, but while Mary Jane might be the actress in the family, I'm perfectly capable of acting like everything's a-okay. It helps, too, that it's the holidays, I know most of the guest list by sight, if not personally, and that I was invited at all suggests the good doctor doesn't harbor any ill will towards me for requesting a new physician in the future.

And so, never much of a drinker, I nurse a glass of plain ol' juice, doing my best to keep my spirits up without the help of, well, spirits. With MJ off being social, though, I figure it's high time I do the same. It's a good turn out, after all -- small, but cozy -- and I'm not about to be the Grinch.

[justsookie]

You know, there are a lot of people I admire in this small little house, a lot of people who make me feel like I'm a bit of the fish out of water, the country bumpkin among all these greats. But if there's something I can say for myself, it's that being on the island has slowly but surely opened up more opportunities to me, those with which I can prove myself, which has me holding my head a little bit higher than I used to. Not that I've ever been precisely ashamed of myself, and certainly not of my grandmother, but there is a certain satisfaction in putting one's efforts toward something completely new and not coming away entirely empty-handed.

Everything's still a bit humbling, though.

Spotting a familiar face, and one who doesn't seem entirely bombarded by guests in the way that Meredith is, I walk on over with a still shy smile on my face.

"Hey, Peter," I grin and raising my own glass of juice, having sworn to myself to cut off alcohol consumption if at all possible (even though I've only ever made a spectacle of myself once in the Winchester, that single transgression is already more than I'm willing to deal with). "Glad to see you here."

[daretodo]

There are times, I've gotta say, that I'm not the smoothest guy in all the world. In spite of my go get 'em holiday attitude, actually being spoken to -- and by Sookie Stackhouse, no less -- catches me by surprise, and I'm forced to gulp down my mouthful of juice in one go, eyes widening

"Miss St-- Sookie, hi!" I reply quickly, not quite breathless, but a little out of sorts. Fortunately, at least, I'm not too bad at fast recoveries. "I didn't realize you and the good doctor were close... Uh, unless you're pals with Sean, in which case, I... Obviously didn't know you were close with him, either."

[justsookie]

Sometimes it's a bit strange to me, how people can have such different aspects to their personalities that seem to contrast or even conflict. Surely, no one who simply watches the speeches that Peter gives, carefully worded and delivered with no small amount of emotion, would guess that the man currently choking on his orange juice is the same guy. I stifle the urge I have to laugh a little, not out of derision or to make fun of him, but just from thinking how cute it is that he's still a humble guy at the end of the day. I bury it because I'd really rather not give him the wrong idea.

"Oh stars," I say anyway, tone apologetic as I reach for a napkin to hand over to him. "I didn't mean to catch you off guard or scare you, I'm sorry. But um, yeah! Meredith's a good friend of mine and she asked for a bit of help setting up, so here I am! She did most of the work though, don't let her tell you any different. It's my first time meeting Sean, though."

[daretodo]

Reaching for the napkin with a grateful nod, I mop up around my mouth on the off chance I managed to dribble anywhere. For a second, I wonder if I ought to have known that, if Mary Jane might have mentioned anything, but the truth of the matter is, I've never been all that great about remembering other people's relationships to one another. My own are complicated enough as it is.

"And does he pass the friend test of approval?" I ask before catching myself, and frowning. "Uh, then again, I guess I'm not supposed to know that, am I? That's gotta be a breach of some sort of sisterly protocol."

To this day, I'm not entirely sure I've passed muster with all of Mary Jane's friends.

[justsookie]

Everything down to the way that Peter dabs around his mouth like he's afraid that something's out of place is just endearing, from where I'm standing. Not all men make the effort to honor the peculiarities that women keep to (and if there's any woman out there that tries to argue against having them, I'm calling her out on that, because most of us really are beyond male comprehension in ways). It's the kind of thing that should be appreciated when you see it.

Smiling, I shake my head to ease his worry and look at Sean with slightly narrowed eyes. "Sisterly protocols are more guidelines than anything else," I tell him with a tilt of my head. "But no, I don't mind that question at all, since the more of us lookin' out for each other, the better. Right now, I still don't feel like I know him well enough. It's hard to judge people on how they behave at a party, you know? Especially when they're hosting."