I knew by Lorna’s smile she wanted something. “Okay, what is it you want?” I asked.
“Damn, I can’t fool you, can I? Mum and Dad are having a party on New Year’s Eve, they have invited us.”
I liked Lorna’s parents, being that they seemed a bit reserved I wondered how exciting the party would, or wouldn’t be. “I guess we can go, weI have no other plans.”
“Great, I’ll tell Mum we will be there. Now what costume will you hire?”
“Costume, what costume? You never said it was a fancy dress party.”
“Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to mention that part.” I looked as Lorna just smiled at me.
Lorna called her Mum back and informed her we would be there. “Thank you,” she kissed my cheek.
“Not fair, you tricked me, Lorna. I’ll make you pay for that.” Lorna was still smiling, she knew the punishment would be sexual.
“So what costume will you get?” Lorna asked.
“No idea. Is it a themed party? You know, like Star Wars or something.”
“No, there’s no theme, just fancy dress. Mum said anything you like, so long as it’s decent.” I nodded my head and fired up my laptop. In a way I was glad it wasn’t a Star Wars party, with my height I was perfect to be Chewbacca or Darth Vader. I didn’t want to spend the night in a hot sweaty costume.
“What are you going to wear?” I asked Lorna.
“Not sure yet. There are loads of costumes, but Mum said it has to be decent.” I laughed, Lorna would have worn something very sexy and revealing if it was possible. The list of costumes was overwhelming. Lorna made a few suggestions, most of which I shot down because they were not decent or I didn’t like them.
“I like that one.” Lorna piped up. It was a sexy cop uniform.
“You can’t wear that, look at the shorts.” Lorna’s back side would have been on display for all to see.
“I can always wear black trousers with it, the rest is okay.” The outfit had a blue shirt, peaked cap and a belt. There was a plastic gun, nightstick and handcuffs.
“Okay, if you wear trousers it will be okay. What are your parents dressing as?”
“No idea, Mum didn’t know.”
I kept looking at the choice of outfits, most of them looked uncomfortable or too heavy to wear all night. In the end I settled on a convict outfit, a short sleeved orange boiler suit. I planned to wear a white t-shirt and plimsolls with it. I ordered the outfits, they would arrive just before Christmas.
As we had no kids we spent alternate Christmas with our parents, this year we would spend it with my Mum. On the year we spent Christmas day with Lorna’s parents, my Mum went to spend the day with her brother, my Uncle Joe.
It was absolutely freezing on Christmas day, we dashed indoors, Mum’s house was always nice and warm. We exchanged gifts as we drank some mulled wine. We bought each other gift cards as gifts. I never knew what I wanted anyway, and Mum wouldn’t buy clothes for me or Lorna. The three of us had a great day, we found out Mum had been invited to the fancy dress party as well.
“I can’t go. I already promised Joe I would go to his house for the new year, sorry maybe another time.” Naturally the subject of costumes was raised, Lorna showed Mum a picture of her outfit.