17: THERE ARE BILLIONS OF MUSICALS WE CAN WATCH THAT DON'T INVOLVE ABBA

« typical, isn't it? you wait twenty years for a dad and then three come along at once. »

ALLISON HATES ABBA.

It is a simple fact of life, and never has she come across one song by the damn band that's given her even the slightest reason to reconsider it. She just hates their songs.

For this reason, she isn't exactly thrilled when Toby points out the next musical on their list the day after they watch The Book of Mormon, which Allison has to admit has probably been one of her favourites, if she had to pick any favourites.

But this one – no. So yeah, maybe Allison's never really been thrilled at the prospect of watching a musical, but this one – this one is a completely different thing altogether.

"I'm not watching it," she announces, straight off the bat, because she figures then Toby will realise she means business.

Toby puts on his pleading puppy dog face but Allison is immune. "Allison..." he says, dragging out the syllables. "We have to!"

"We do not," Allison says flatly. "There are billions of other ones we can watch. That don't involve ABBA."

"You don't like ABBA?" Toby gasps.

"No, I don't," she scowls. "And nothing you say is going to make me watch the musical, so quit while you're ahead."

"But –"

"No."

"If you just –"

"No."

"It's better than –"

"No."

This probably would have gone on for quite some time if not for the sudden appearance of Laura, who rushes into the library and heads straight for Toby and Allison's table, looking breathless but still very perfect.

"There you are," she huffs at Toby, and whether that's from annoyance or exertion, Allison isn't really sure. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Uh, here?" Toby frowns.

"Well, you're not supposed to be," Laura grits out, grabbing his hand and hauling him up. "Me and you have a rehearsal? We're running through all the duets in the second –"

"Act," Toby finishes in horror. "Oh, shit, he's going to kill me –"

"Yeah, he is, and he's going to kill both of us if you don't hurry up," Laura hisses. Allison suppresses a smile, and it seems that that point is when Laura notices her for the first time.

"Oh," she says. "Allison. Hey. You don't mind if I –" she gestures to Toby, "Do you?"

"Hm? Uh, no, of course not," Allison responds, and for some reason her eyes keep straying back to Laura's hand, which is still gripping Toby's. "I mean," she takes a breath, trying to articulate better. "Don't worry about it," she offers Laura a small, genuine smile, which the girl returns almost immediately. "You guys have fun at your rehearsal."

"Allison, we're still watching Mamma Mia," Toby asserts, although it has less punch when he's simultaneously trying to stuff all of his things into his bag hurriedly.

"Whatever," Allison rolls her eyes. "Hurry up, you're already late."

"Wait, is that a yes?"

"Toby," she says sternly. "Not now."

"Come on," Laura snatches up Toby's hand once more and squeezes, and it doesn't escape Allison's notice. "Before lunch ends or we'll miss the whole thing."

"Okay, okay!" Toby's got everything ready by now, and he turns to Allison, being simultaneously dragged away by Laura. "I'll text you!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Bye, Allison!" Laura calls, flashing her another smile. "Sorry I stole him away from you."

"Have fun," Allison says lightly. She watches as Laura drags a flailing Toby out of the library, and smiles slightly to herself. She doesn't think she's seen two better matched people in their entire school. Apart from maybe Daniel and Emmett.

(But considering how Emmett has now started up a habit of turning slightly pink whenever Lydia is present or even mentioned, Allison has a few ideas of some things that are probably going to happen before the year is out.)

✦

The fact that they're now on break until January should probably make it harder for Toby to find her and push her into watching Mamma Mia, but Toby has always been the exception and not the rule, so he naturally finds about a million different ways to bug her about it. Allison has received dozens of texts, three emails, and she's pretty sure his car has been parked outside her house once or twice, but he's clearly thought better of physically knocking at her door. She's also had about five pleas from Lydia to watch the fucking musical, already, because Toby has apparently gone to her in order to try to convince Allison.

All this and it's only the third day of break.

Allison calls Toby.

"Fine, I'll watch the fucking musical," she says straight away, not bothering with a greeting.

There's a pause during which she imagines Toby is doing something incredibly nerdy and stupid like fist-pumping or performing a celebratory dance. He returns to the phone a few seconds later.

"Great," he says, clearly attempting to keep his tone level. Allison rolls her eyes even though he can't see her. "Do you wanna come round tomorrow? I mean, I know it's Christmas Eve and all, but we can do it earlier in the morning if you need to be home by a certain time..."

"Yeah, that's fine," Allison says in a slightly dampened voice, partly because she's literally agreeing to watch Mamma Mia, i.e. the fucking bane of her existence, and partly because the words Christmas Eve are just bringing to mind the shitty picture of what hers will be, just her and her mom at the dinner table and a glaringly obvious space where her dad would probably be if he wasn't a complete jerk, both of them silently wishing Christmas wasn't all about family all the time.

"You okay?" the question comes out muffled from the other side of the line, but Allison can tell that it's gently put, and she can literally just imagine the concern that will be painted across Toby's face as they speak.

"Fine," she says shortly, then, when she notices the sharp tone in her voice, she repeats it, attempting to sound a little more normal; "I'm fine."

"Okay," he says in the way he has when he doesn't really believe her but knows better than to push it. "Mine at eleven?"

"Toby, I refuse to wake up at any time before midday."

"Fine. Mine at two?"

"Better. I'll see you then. You better have a lot of food," Allison says, before pausing and adding, "Although that's still not gonna make up for it," as an afterthought.

Toby laughs. "Sure. See ya."

✦

Toby's house is completely covered in Christmas decorations.

Allison is pretty sure there isn't one square inch that isn't covered in tinsel, and every other room has a Christmas tree of one shape or form in it. There's baubles, holly, tinsel, ivy, more tinsel, various banners, and even more tinsel. The sight is really quite comical. She'd probably be more amused by the mistletoe if not for the awkward encounter that it had caused at the front door.

"Hey, Allison," Toby had greeted with his usual amount of brightness, then frowned suddenly. "Wait," he'd said.

"What?"

"Sorry, please don't kill me," Toby had said quickly in a rush, before stooping slightly to plant a soft kiss on her cheek.

Allison had already felt the blush blooming on her cheeks. "What –?"

"Mistletoe," Toby had shifted uncomfortably, pointing above their heads. "Please don't kill me?" he'd repeated.

"I'm not going to kill you," Allison had managed to roll her eyes, and yeah, maybe she was still kind of flushed, but whatever. It was just from the surprise, not from the idea of Toby kissing her cheek, or anything.

And if Allison still sometimes brings her hand to her cheek occasionally without realising, that's whatever. Completely irrelevant.

"Are you okay?" Toby is glancing at her while he stands in front of the microwave as the popcorn heats up. Allison realises with a jolt that her hand is on her cheek, and brings it down immediately, determined not to blush.

"Fine," she says, and if it comes out a few octaves too high, that is totally not anything to do with anything.

"Okay..." Toby turns back to the microwave, before seemingly thinking better of it and turning back to her. "Want hot chocolate?"

"Sure," Allison hops onto the counter across from him as he reaches to open the cupboard, stretching slightly to retrieve the powder that's on the top shelf. Toby's shirt rides up slightly, exposing a sliver of bare skin, and for some reason, Allison feels her eyes drift towards it. She doesn't even realise she's been staring until she blinks and Toby's gone from in front of the cupboard at all, already spooning the powder into two mugs.

Shit.

Allison shakes her head. Oh no. No way. This is not a thing. This is so not a thing. This is completely and totally not a thing.

Shit.

She squeezes her eyes shut. This is Toby, she thinks to herself. Get a grip. This is Toby. Toby Martin. That annoying little brother who's actually older than you figure that you've always been missing in your life. That guy you're always rolling your eyes at. Your ex-boyfriend's best friend. Toby Martin.

"Allison? Are you sure you're okay?"

Allison's eyes snap open. Toby is looking at her concernedly, taking a few unsteady steps towards her, a mug of chocolate in each hand. She notices for the first time that his hair is unbrushed, sticking up slightly. Like he just rolled out of bed. Or something.

Oh no, Allison practically yells at herself. No way. Stop right fucking now.

"Yep," she slips off the counter, grabbing a warm mug from Toby's hand and being extra careful not to let their hands touch. "I'm gonna...I'm gonna go put the film on."

She can feel Toby's eyes on her as she leaves the kitchen and makes a beeline for the television. After finding and retrieving the DVD of Mamma Mia, which has Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep among others all beaming brazenly on the front.

Allison scowls, even through her weirdly dazed state, and jams it maybe a little too violently into the player, pressing pause when the title credits begin to roll and letting herself sink deep into the red fabric of the couch. She tries not to think about the fact that she literally just ogled Toby Martin in his own kitchen, even though three days prior she was already thinking about how him and Laura Bell were probably going to get married and wondering whether or not she'd get invited to the wedding. Also if they'd name one of their kids after her. Since she pushed them together and all.

Of course, the fact that she's trying not to think about it means it's all Allison does think about. By the time Toby's come into the room and pressed play, and Amanda Seyfried is reading her mom's diary whilst singing Honey, Honey, Allison has come to the conclusion that she's just sexually frustrated and Toby, being the first guy she's seen in a few days, and, she will admit, pretty good-looking, is just a current victim of her frustration.

And that's all.

Having convinced herself of this, Allison puts her mind now to trying her best to watch Mamma Mia without actually watching it, because Allison hates ABBA a whole fucking lot. She shovels popcorn into her mouth while Toby sits next to her and hums along to the songs under his breath with what would be a worrying amount of accuracy for most teenage boys but is nothing but normal for him. She sips at her hot chocolate and comes to the conclusion that, honestly, the thing that happened in the kitchen was just a glitch, because here she is, sitting right next to Toby, and she does not feel anything but pretty comfortable, if annoyed at the film they're watching, so it's fine.

It's all fine.

The film ends after what feels like far too long on Allison's end of things; Toby gets out the video camera and she tries to do the video log with him as genuinely and sincerely as possible, with as few snide remarks in regards to the music as she can manage. To her surprise, Toby is almost as critical of it as she is.

"Generally speaking, Mamma Mia doesn't really have much realism in it at all," he says to the camera with an apathetic shrug. "It's a jukebox musical, like We Will Rock You – fashioned more because people liked ABBA and it was a way to exploit  rather than to tell any real story. You'll probably only enjoy it if you're a fan of the music, which is what Allison found out," he pauses to send her an amused sidelong glance. "If you're not an ABBA fan, you probably won't love it. But it's an entertainment musical, and the good thing about it is it doesn't take itself too seriously. It knows that it's not the most moving or poignant of musicals, so it doesn't try to be. Instead, it puts the effort into making itself as fun and entertaining as possible. And that works out."

✦

"I'm back," Allison calls when she enters the house.

"In here, Allison," her mother calls from further inside. Allison goes into the kitchen-dining room to find her mom standing on a chair taping tinsel to the walls – and, below her, Lydia, holding a cardboard box filled to the brim with their Christmas decorations.

"Lydia?" Allison asks, unable to keep the surprise from her voice.

"Hey," Lydia offers her a smile, and Allison frowns, noticing the despondent tone to her voice. Before she can question further, her mother explains.

"Turns out Lydia's parents are going to be away for a little longer than they planned, so she's staying with us over Christmas," her tone is gentle, and she turns to exchange a look with Allison.

"Awesome," Allison tries for a light tone. "Maybe this year we'll actually finish the turkey and not be eating leftovers till New Years'."

This is all it takes for Allison's mom to start ranting about how Christmas is a time to remember how blessed and lucky they are and that some people have never eaten a turkey in their lives, Allison, and maybe we could remember that next time complain about having too much to eat, hm? Allison shares an exasperated look with Lydia, who suppresses a smile.

It's not much, but it's a start.

✦

Of course, three people is an improvement on two, but it still doesn't mean they finish the turkey, even after Allison has third helpings and Allison's mom forces Lydia to do the same.

But even so, Allison thinks to herself that whoever came up with the phrase two's company, three's a crowd was either drunk or high or just not remembering Christmas when they did, because God, it's the best Christmas Eve Allison's had in ages, and there aren't awkward silences because Lydia's always been able to see those coming from a mile away and therefore employs the many conversational devices at her disposal to avoid them, and sometimes they all talk at once and it feels good, having to wait your turn to speak instead of an empty back and forth between two, and her and Lydia tease her mom and her mom and Lydia tease her and Allison mentions Emmett and Lydia scowls as Allison's mom immediately begins questioning and not believing Lydia for a second when she says he's just her English partner, and then Lydia brings up Toby and Allison's mom talks about what a great guy he is for ages and Allison practically rolls her eyes into oblivion, but God, it is totally the best Christmas Eve Allison's had in ages, and she thinks that it's probably the best Christmas Eve her mom has had in ages too, and all because they've added one extra person to the mix.

Later, her dad calls, and the phone call never gets past the two minute mark, too filled with perfunctory How are you doings and Fines and How's schools and Goods and I'm okays, but Allison's used to it, because phone calls with her dad never really have been all that great.

He asks about her mom and Allison tells him she's doing fine. He asks how things are going with Lydia and she says great and then he asks how things are going with Daniel and Allison kind of stops.

"He's doing okay," she says slowly.

"Yeah? That's good to hear. I always liked him, he's a nice boy. And how're things with the two of you? Okay?"

"We broke up," Allison manages.

"Oh." Her dad sounds kind of concerned, and it makes her unnecessarily angry. She guesses he couldn't have known, since they barely talk anyway, and even they do it's not about the state of her relationships, but she's still angry.

"Yeah."

"Well, uh, I'm sorry to hear that, kid."

"I was too," she says, fully aware that she's just getting worked up over nothing. "When he broke up with me. Five months ago."

There's a long pause, then her dad exhales slowly on the other line. "Quite some time ago, huh?" he says quietly.

"I guess."

It's awkward after that, not that it wasn't before. He apologises again, although for what exactly, Allison isn't really sure, then tells her to say hi to her mom and to Lydia. He's only met Lydia a few times, but Allison knows he prides himself on being able to remember her, to know that she's his daughter's best friend, a little part of her life that he can pretend he's familiar with even though he lives on the other side of the country.

 Lydia and Allison go to bed and they don't even try and divide the bed, Allison just ends up big-spooning right from the off, and Lydia only complains a little bit when pretty much the entire comforter ends up with Allison. They don't talk about Allison's dad and they don't talk about Lydia's parents. She considers mentioning the fiasco that had taken place earlier that day with Toby, but notices that Lydia's eyes are already beginning to flutter shut, and thinks that they can talk about it another time. Allison falls asleep to the steady sound of Lydia's breathing and the smell of her body lotion that she bought the last time they both went to the mall.

_______________________________________________________________

a/n:  [allydia and alliby game aggressively intensifies]