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Had she really put this off for so long? Fair enough, Halloween was at the end of October, but all of November had managed to pass them by. Life had just been kicking the poor girl's butt after she had promised Topher that they'd go on a real date. Daddy had been putting so much effort into getting through his physical therapy, and work had been keeping her busy. Even now, it was still pretty crazy at work with the holidays nipping at her heels.

Topher had been more than patient with her, every time he had seen her after Halloween he looked like an eager puppy was about to wag his butt off. Yet every time he had been disappointed with the fact she was so busy. Who wouldn't have been disappointed? She was disappointed in the fact she had been so busy. Every time she had told him she was busy, it felt like an excuse. A big heavy excuse that weighed down Yvette for at least ten days.

Now it was the Saturday before her birthday. She was working with a constant flush upon her cheeks. Even the regulars could tell it was a deeper flush to her cheeks than usual. A couple even asked if she was feeling alright. Yvette rattled her head from side to side, assuring them there was nothing wrong with her. It was just every second she spent at work as another second closer she got to going on her first date. Topher had been the one to propose that they go for that first date after she finished her shift at work. Her shift ended at 3pm, which gave them plenty of time to do things before she needed to be home. All day, she remembered the way her friend's face looked as he asked for this date after her work day was over. Thus, all day that extra blush was touching her cheeks. At least she wasn't daydreaming so much and was able to get her work done.

And if all worked out, Daddy didn't have to find out that a boy took his baby girl out on the town. Topher would live to see another day. As her shift grew close to ending for the day, she could feel a few butterflies fluttering about in her stomach. Any second now, she'd spot a blue haired boy. She loomed about the entrance, tidying up a couple racks in an effort to look busy.

Any second now...

Topher was excited to say the least. It was their first real date and it felt good to finally get that over with. Even his mother had hinted that they were "meant" to be together. She'd even leant him the green coupe once again even though he was just going to the mall where she worked and the only time they would actually be in the car was when he would take her home. The Christmas season had made parking a nightmare but, after being cut off more times than he could count, finally found a parking space. Crowds weren't really his thing but he would definitely brave them to find Yvette.

Any nervousness he felt started to build as he got closer to the mall for no other reason than it was a date. They'd gone places before. They'd done things together without any prompting. Hell, she'd even bitten him in that horrible zombie incident but this still made him feel more nervous than ever. Of course, every second that he couldn't find her, the nervousness grew until he swore an entire migrating flock of butterflies were currently taking up resident in his stomach. It wasn't until he gave up, sat down and dialed her number into his cell phone did it subside a bit.

A short buzzing sound rattled in the girl's work locker. Her phone was on silent and it was somewhere she wasn't at. Yvette, blissfully ignorant of such, continued to work at tidying the front area until she managed to catch a faint glimpse of blue hair outside of the store. Almost forgetting for a moment she was still working, she began to wave her hand enthusiastically in his direction. However, when one of her coworkers began looking at her like she had turned orange or some other random color, the dark-haired girl quickly stopped.

Oh, right... still five more minutes!

They would be a long painful, overly anxious five minutes. For those five minutes, the girl loomed around the front of the store like a puppy wanting to squeeze out from a fenced off area in an effort to play. Each second was at least 3 times longer than she last remembered. Eventually, the curly haired girl at the counter simply said "Look, Yvette... I'm not going to tattle on you for leaving early. Go get changed and I'll clock you out when your shift is over!" Yvette glanced back to what seemed like a bored teenager.

"Uh... um... kay!" Quickly the girl scampered off into the backroom. She changed from her work uniform into one of her favorite and most comfortable outfits. Sure, the velvety green top had shorter sleeves than was probably good for the current snowy weather, but a majority of this d. a. t. e. was going to take place in a heated mall. She could feel her cheeks warm just mentally spelling the word date in her head. The girl eventually shyly peeked out from the back room and waved to the girl at the counter, offering a tiny "Thanks" before scampering out of the store.

"Topher!" she tried to call out, but her voice only got masked by the noise of the rest of the mall. So instead, she had to make do with scampering over to him, only getting pushed off course 3 different times during the journey. When she finally made it to him, she attempted to grab onto his sleeve, as if asking him silently to reel her in so she couldn't accidentally get pushed around by more shoppers.

Topher shoved the phone back into his coat pocket when it went straight to her voicemail. He figured she was probably still working. Yvette normally didn't just let his call go straight to voicemail unless she was busy. There was only two things he could do. Brave the frilly underthings that lined Elizabeth's Secret or people watch as he waited for his date. The teen rubbed his hands together, cursing himself for not bringing gloves with him. It may not have been the coldest night of the year but Topher's warm blood was running cold at the moment.

The semi-crowded mall was full of people shopping for Christmas gifts. He probably should have been too but this was a special occasion. There wouldn't be much time for shopping or at least not for presents. What would his mother want anyway? Flowers were a no. Lucas normally covered all of her jewelry needs throughout the year and splurged for something extra special around the holidays. Eva could bake whatever the hell she wanted. It was a conundrum sometimes. Though...Yvette probably needed something as well...

A small tug on his sleeve snapped him out of his thoughts. "Yvette?" His smile widened at the face of his date, pulling his arm a bit further in to stop her from being pushed around from the crowd to pull her into a hug. "You didn't answer your phone! I was worried." Topher gently kissed her forehead even while knowing something small like that could set her off. "Anywhere you wanna go? I havent been to the mall in awhile!"

Yvette couldn't even sneak in a second word when the boy managed to reel her in with a hug. A hug and a kiss. Had she any other words or greetings she would have wanted to share, they seemed to almost vanish instantly when his lips just touched her forehead so gently. She remained quiet for one minute. Two minutes. Two minutes and 17 seconds. It took her that long to stop all the flustered throughts from running through her mind and to finally address things that had been asked of her.

"Oh! Um... I was st-still working! Y-you could have come in..." Her face was already red, since even she wouldn't want to go into Elizabeth's Secrets under normal circumstances. Working there was not a normal circumstance in her mind. Shyly, her eyes looked up to try and meet his, but eventually seemed to get scared and sink back down again. She smooshed her face against his chest just as she answered the second question. "Oh... m-maybe we... we can go to the Imperium Greetings store? I haven't had a chance to visit it yet... b-but... I keep hearing that they have a contest going on right now." She paused for a moment. "The prizes are really pretty..." While working during the days, she had seen several girls come in giggling about the wonderful snow globes they had won. Every so often they came in with their newly acquired prizes in hand. Somehow, Yvette had managed to sneak a glance, and within seconds had fallen in love.

Shyly, her eyes once more attempted to creep up to Topher's, this time staying there two seconds longer. "Can we go... please?"

The girl squeaked a bit as she as guided through the crowd by Topher. However, she realized rather quickly they were going the opposite direction. She let out a bunch of "Um..." and "...wait..." sounds, but they were far too quiet for Topher's ears to hear apparently. She couldn't help it if she was quiet and the rest of the world around them were quite noisy. With the way Topher was tugging her along was actually getting her shoulder a bit sore too. Arm-leashes were not meant for comfort.

It was only when her blue haired date stopped at the mall directory that she given the opportunity to talk. However, it apparently wasn't necessary.

"Uh... yeah... sure... I g-guess that's okay..." she squeaked out, as if she was uncertain about the whole ordeal. She rolled her shoulder which had been vaguely abused by the whole ordeal before scooting closer to him. "...um... it's this way... um... j-just stay close... okay?" The arm-leash was tired. With that request out in the air, Yvette then began to try and do her best to lead the way. Unlike Topher who seemed able to barge through the crowds without any problem, the short girl seemed too meek to just break through the other people surrounding her. In a sense, watching her was almost like watching a dog who was trying to figure out how to get out of a fenced in area, but found no sort of exit available. The dark-haired girl almost seemed to pace from side to side behind one group of particularly giggly blondes, as if trying to find a way around them. When she couldn't find any reasonable solution, she let out a small sigh and seemed to settle with just remaining behind the slow moving teenagers.

"Oh... and... um... the contest... it's just a random drawing from what I remember. One of those spinners or something." For a moment, purple eyes glanced to the boy's face before looking back at the girls. "The prizes are snow globes... th-they are really pretty..." Her cheeks turned one shade rosier.



As Topher once again proved why he should be leading the expedition through the mall, the girl couldn't help but answer his question as best as she could. "Yes, those are snow globes! From what I've seen with from other people who have won them, there is a very pretty princess made of crystal or something on the inside. It also has a wind-up key that plays a pretty song too."

Once past the blonde patrol, the girl resumed her lead of the pair. She couldn't help but let out a stray comment, but it might have been too quiet for even Topher to hear. "...it'd be nice to have something so pretty for myself..." Her cheeks couldn't help but grow a bit rosier after such a selfish comment on her part, but it was how she truly felt. People were usually able to get pretty things by paying lots of money for them. Sometimes it would have been nice to have such a luxury. True, Mommy was sometimes able to get jewelry at discounted prices through work, but it wasn't the same thing in her mind.

Getting caught up in her thoughts, she almost missed Imperium Greetings. However, as they were about to step past, she seemed to realize they were there. "Oh! This one!" Still stuck to Topher's hand thanks to her arm-leash, she tugged him into the shop.

Practically at the entrance was a small set up with a young dark-haired man and the spinner contraption. He smiled at the pair that entered and easily greeted them both. "Welcome to Imperium Greetings. Would you like to try our promotional game for the holiday season?"