All That Is Gold, Does Not Glisten

It was Tuesday evening before I had a response from Gary. I'd just got home from my weekly pop choir rehearsal, my head filled with various bass harmonies for U2's "With Or Without You". Not to blow our own horn, but it had sounded pretty amazing by the end of the session! Our choir leader was debating mashing it up with Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" - I had no idea how she was going to do it, but we had full faith in her genius musical abilities to pull something brilliant out of the bag. The choir was definitely one of the highlights of my week - I'd been involved with every singing group at my school, even setting up an a cappella group in my final year, but Edinburgh didn't offer many singing opportunities that weren't religious or classical in nature. This group had been a god-send, and despite being one of the youngest members by a good few years, I couldn't ask for a better group of singing buddies.

After locking my bike up whilst humming away, I noticed that little 'new message' symbol at the top of my phone. Swiping down and seeing Gary's name, I quickly closed the screen and ran up the stairs. This was a message I wanted to read sitting down, not whilst walking up stairs where I'd undoubtedly trip over and end up in hospital with concussion, or something like that.

Reaching my room, luckily I'd left my computer on sleep and didn't have to wait 15 minutes for it to turn on. Opening up facebook, I clicked on the little message bar at the bottom of the screen.

Hey, yeah the weekend was fun. I dunno though, was just planning on seeing how things went... but I quite like you so if you wanna try and make something more of it we can give it a go? How do you feel about it?

Well. That was a good question. I was secretly quite pleased that it hadn't just been a drunk thing, but at the same time I didn't want to rush anything - plus that wasn't the most romantic message ever received. In reality, it had only been two months since I broke up with Lee, and although I wasn't hung up on him I didn't feel the need to jump straight into another relationship. Plus, however much I wanted it to just disappear, there had been all that awkwardness with Bob, and maybe his flatmate wasn't really the best next step.

But then again... might I not be missing out on something wonderful with Gary if I didn't at least try? Clearly the chemistry was there, and we were able to talk... Plus, I was young, I was single, and I had no solid reason not to go for it!

Taking a breath and hoping I wasn't making a mistake, I replied:

Good, because I quite like you too! And yes, I'd like to see if we could maybe make something more of it... I'm away this weekend, but we can talk next week on Glee night?

I also realised I didn't have his number, so I sent him mine so we could chat over the week. Feeling weirdly proud of myself for having taken the first step with a guy, I closed facebook back down and set myself two hours of assignments to do before I let myself collapse into bed. Still, getting all my uni work done would all be worth it to properly enjoy my parents' Golden Anniversary this weekend!

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On Friday morning, our 11am double lecture was cancelled due to a family emergency for the lecturer (although nothing life-threatening, the email reassured us). This suited perfectly - after a few worried phonecalls to the specialist cheesemonger I'd ordered my dad's present from, it turned out that the postman had in fact tried to deliver a full week ago but hadn't left any 'missed delivery' slip for me to rearrange delivery. Luckily, the cheesemonger was able to give me the tracking number. Despite arguing, the Royal Mail refused to resend the parcel until today, where they'd promised that I'd be able to pick up the parcel after 12pm. As my train out was at 4pm, there wasn't much space for any delay.

Otherwise, our plans for the weekend were running smoothly. My parents had booked us a lodge in a country hotel that was right in the middle of Scotland, roughly equal distances from Edinburgh, Glasgow where my brother and sister were at, and home up north. We'd been there many years ago, and the hotel was very dog-friendly, so all together it was the perfect place to meet up.

However, first task of the day: acquire the cake! Ray had kindly offered to drop past my flat on the way to his group meeting so I wouldn't have to walk in and back to uni. He texted me as he found a space outside, and I flew down the stairs to meet him.

He was already leaning into the boot of his car as I reached him and peeked over his shoulder.

"Oh, Ray! It's beautiful!" He turned and proudly smiled at me as I gazed at his amazing creation. It was beautiful - he'd textured the green icing to look like grass, had somehow drawn in ripples in the mini pond, and the flag on the green proudly sported a golden '50!'. And the sand in the bunker - it actually looked like sand? How on earth?

As I leaned in even closer, trying to figure out what he'd done, Ray nudged me. "Don't worry, I've not used sand on your cake! It's coloured sugar crystals, I tinted them all yellow."

"Ray... I don't even know what to say, this is fantastic. But first, put the cake down." He gave me a look but did as I said. As soon as he'd put it down I flung my arms around his neck and squeezed.

"Seriously, you're amazing! They're going to absolutely love it! Have I ever mentioned how brilliant you are?" I was already so excited to show my parents this cake - it was going to be the icing (quite literally) on top of what was shaping up to be a great weekend.

"So, how much do I owe you?" I asked, pulling away.

He shrugged. "You don't owe me anything, don't be silly."

I raised my eyebrows. "Uh, yes I do! I'd have paid at least £50 for something like this in a specialist cake shop." He was still shaking his head at me. I narrowed my eyes at him and started pulling money out of my purse, but he locked his arms behind his back. Giggling, I tried to stuff it down his t-shirt instead, causing Ray to swat at me and swipe the money out of my hands.

I shrieked and started grabbing the notes off the ground before a car could appear and take it away. Ray immediately knelt down and started helping me, babbling apologies. Luckily, for once it wasn't raining or particularly windy, so we managed to get it all back without any financial casualties.

"See! Bad things happen when you try to give me money!"

"Ha, I think that may have been something to do with you... but fine, I give in for now." Ray nodded as I capitulated, and started putting the lid back onto the cake box. I hadn't finished though.

"However... I should warn you, you will be paid eventually." Grinning, I put on my best Liam Neeson voice (by which I mean a horrible copy of an Irish accent). "You cannot hide from me: I will look for you, I will find you, and I will... give you cake money!" I couldn't keep it up and burst out laughing at the end as Ray shook his head at me despairingly.

Hugging each other goodbye, I carefully carried the cake back up to my flat and started running through my packing list one last time.

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My train arrived a few minutes before Alyssa and Peter's train, so I had time to walk over to their platform and wait near the exit. The train was almost empty as it pulled in, so I was able to spot them in a carriage and run over (carefully, with the cake!) to greet them. Due to this year of university being so heavy, I hadn't been home at all this semester and it felt like forever since I'd seen them!

After half hugging each other around the cake box, we dragged all our suitcases over to the nearest taxi rank. With it being so quiet, we were able to get straight into a taxi and start heading over. As it only took about 20 minutes to get out to the hotel, we planned to still have an hour or so to set up before our parents arrived with the dog.

Alyssa and Peter demanded to see the cake as soon as we were buckled into the taxi.

"OK guys... here it is!" I removed the top of the box with a flourish.

Alyssa burst out into a grin. "Oh thank god, that looks really good!" My head shot up and I gave her a funny look.

"Um, did you not trust me?"

She had the good grace to blush a little. "No, no, but you know when someone home bakes a cake, you're never quite sure how it will turn out...

Peter had been inspecting it whilst we talked and suddenly burst in. "Aw nice, the flag's even got a 50 on it!"

"Yup! Ray thought of everything, I didn't even ask him to do that."

Conversation turned to our various university courses, TV shows and the general sibling teasing that we always fell back into whenever we all came home. Before we knew it, the taxi was pulling into the hotel driveway. I paid the driver whilst Alyssa went inside to check in and grab the room key.

Ten minutes later, we were into our lodge and ready to set up. The cake of course went as the centrepiece on the table, surrounded by the basket of food (including the cheese, which luckily had been waiting for me at the post office!), the wrapped pictures of our dogs, and dad's cricket tickets, along with a beautifully handwritten note I'd created. Mum's big present, the golf bag and clubs, was already at home and we'd decided that it wasn't worth our parents dragging it all the way down here when she had already been using them for the past week.

As we laid down the finishing touches of balloons and '50' confetti, mum texted us that they'd be at the lodge in five minutes. We turned off the lights and rushed round finding hiding places, before all settling in to wait behind the sofa. Soon enough the lounge was lit up by the headlights of a car turning into the lodge driveway, and a few minutes later we heard the key turning in the lock.

The lounge door opened and we heard footsteps. Alyssa poked Peter and I, and started whispering the countdown of "3, 2-"

Before we could jump out, a furball of excitement came flying round the back of the sofa and cannoned into us, licking as much of our faces as she could at once. Laughing, we all scrambled out belatedly yelling "Surprise..." at mum, who was standing in the middle of the room almost crying with laughter.

"You really should know better than to hide in a room when the dog's coming with us, she just thinks it's a new game!" giggled mum, leaning down to stroke Isla as she ran over to sit at her feet, tongue lolling happily out of her mouth.

Dad appeared a second later, coming back down from putting the suitcases upstairs. After we'd filled him in on our attempted surprise, we shooed mum and dad to the table to start opening presents.

They absolutely loved their shared foodie hamper. As dad opened the cheese I held my breath, dreading what would happen if it was mouldy. I love my dad, but he does have a really short temper that can get set off by the littlest things, and I just wanted this weekend to go by without any issues. Luckily all three of the cheeses seemed to have survived, but I stuck them all in the fridge as soon as I could just in case.

As mum had already had her big present, we made dad open his next. Making him open the handwritten note first, he seemed a bit confused, but that was quickly replaced by the happiest smile as he realised I was trying to recreate our amazing trip to the Ashes a few years back. Giving me a huge hug, he promised that he'd frame the note and hang it up at home so he could always read it. Alyssa and Peter rolled their eyes a bit as they'd both thought the note was a bit overkill, but I'd been certain that dad would love it.

Finally, we got both mum and dad each to open a perspex print of our current and past dogs. Mum gasped a little when she opened hers - we'd managed to find the most beautiful picture of Isla looking away from the camera. It was one of those photos that just seem to capture her essence, as hippy as that sounds. Dad was exclaiming over his, a picture of the two dogs we'd had when I was born frolicking together in the snow outside our house.

I sat back on the sofa, a warm glow in my chest. All that planning and organising to get the perfect presents seemed to have paid off, and seeing my parents so happy made it a million times worth all the effort.

Later, after we'd all eaten a picnic tea of cheeses, grapes, mini sausages and other finger food, we all collapsed onto the sofas and turned on the TV. I sat on the floor leaning back onto my mum's legs, with Isla curled up and snoring against my leg. The recent cold weather had done her good - her fur was silky smooth and she smelled of frosty grass.

As I leaned back and closed my eyes, I missed the conversation between dad and Alyssa. The first sign something was wrong was when mum's legs tensed behind me, immediately followed by the sound of Alyssa bursting into tears.

My eyes flew open to see Peter glaring at dad, and Alyssa covering her face. Turning to look behind me, dad's red angry face filled my vision.

"It's just one phone call, it's the minimum I'm asking of you! I find it incredibly ungrateful that you won't even speak to them, it's bloody pathetic if you ask me." My stomach clenched as my dad yelled at Alyssa, his face growing even redder and blotchy as the anger took hold. I could feel the tears building up behind my eyes; I'd never been able to deal very well with family arguments, it was like the moment my dad started yelling, the tears started.

Alyssa spat back from across the room. "I've told you! I never want to speak to them! And especially not today, today is meant to be about us, not them!"

Mum tried to intervene and calm everyone down. "Matt, calm down. Can't this wait until tomorrow? This is our family time, let's just watch the film together, please..."

Dad shrugged her off and stood up abruptly. "No. No, I will not calm down! I do fucking everything for this family, out working all day, earning money so I can pay for overpriced hotels like this one, and what do I get? Any gratitude at all, no I don't think so. She won't even deign to spend a couple of minutes on the phone for me, that's how little she thinks of me. And the rest of you, taking her side!"

He paused for a second, breathing heavily, as we all sat there stunned into silence, staring at him. "Well, if you won't do that for me, I'm not doing this weekend for you. See if I fucking care." He turned and stormed out the room, and a second later we heard the front door slam and the car start up.

Alyssa burst into a sob and ran upstairs. Mum got up and followed, calling after her up the stairs. Peter and I sat and stared at each other across the room before I shook my head angrily, letting loose the tears that had been threatening. As always, if there was anything that would ever set off a family argument or ruin a family holiday, it was them. My dad's parents, ruining everything yet again from across the country.