Welcome to Gaia! ::

Yvette Weaver.

18 years old.

Felt like a prison escapee.

She shouldn't have felt that way. The young adult had been given permission by both Mommy and Daddy to go to the Carnival. It was just her way of going about it made her insides feel like jelly. Horribly guilty jelly. While riding the bus to Topher's house, she felt all wobbly with each stop the bus made. There were a few on the bus that were very evidently prepared for the Halloween festival. There was one little girl in a princess outfit shyly peeking around her seat, eyes absolutely wide with wonderment as she seemed to stare innocently at Yvette.

"Oh honey, stop that, you are being rude!" the mother sitting next to her gently whispered. The child obediently did as her mother told her.

Dejectedly, the small adult couldn't help but think ...I can't help it if this is all I can do to dress up...

Why did she have to feel so different during Halloween time? When her stop came, the girl stepped out of the vehicle and began to walk towards her friend's house. It was still light enough outside to see well enough, but that really didn't seem to help as she approached the Coral residence. The neighboring houses were decorated for the holidays. Not being a very brave soul, she couldn't help but feel nervous with all of the tombstones and spiderwebs.

What if something jumped out at her?!

It was vaguely comforting for her to see as she approached her target destination that one house seemed to stand out. The Coral property wasn't spooky in the slightest. It was actually rather calming in comparison, with mostly autumn themed decorations livening up the yard. With a slight sigh of relief, she rang the doorbell.

Yvette was right about the outside of the house but, from the moment the door opened, the true horror of the decorations were revealed. Webbing hung from the door frame, accented by Lucas standing the doorway. He was normally beyond formalities of asking but the little pointed fangs hanging over his bottom lip was probably impeding his speech more than they thought they would. That fact was made more clear by the fact that he just pulled the door open a bit more and pointed towards the stairs, which were appropriately lined with gravestones.

The tapping of Chief's claws on the wooden staircase proceeded Topher's voice down the stairs. "Chief! Stop jumping! Right now!" The black and white greyhound was happily climb down the stairs, which was unusual in itself, followed by a flustered Topher would was fiddling with the orange ascot around his neck. The ends of his ruffled blue hair bleached blond in an attempt to escape the horrible itchy nightmare of a wig he'd bought hastily the night before. Topher stopped at the end of the staircase as Chief bounded towards the door, knowing the identity of their guest from teh moment she knocked.

The rather brilliantly painted girl let out a rather uncharacteristic yelp as the door opened. However, whether it was strictly the decorations or the presentation of Lucas' costume would remain unknown for now. It was a good thing her face had plenty of colors to hide all of her embarrassed blushing underneath the paint. The man waited, and the girl for a moment awkwardly stood there, as if uncertain about the house now that it was decorated for the holidays. It almost felt like the house was going to eat her.

Houses don't eat people, don't be so stupid!

The only thing that got the girl scooting into the house was the familiar sound of a certain doggy making his way to her. Without realizing it, the girl scooted past Lucas and in towards the rushing Chief. She ducked down between the tombstone path and readied herself for the increasingly familiar collission of dog and girl.

"Chief!" she squeaked out with a tiny laugh, attempting to hug the animal as gently as possible. For a moment, she almost seemed to forget that she was wearing face paint, and was leaning in, as if encouraging the dog to give her kisses.

Wait...

Rather suddenly, she pulled herself away and stood up. Carefully, she dusted off the bottom of her dress, making certain it hadn't ridden up slightly, making it too short to walk around in. She glanced to her friend with a tiny smile, which only seemed to grow slightly bigger upon seeing his costume.

"I really didn't think you'd go through with it, Topher!" He had mentioned something about changing his hair slightly for his costume. The shy girl really hadn't thought he'd go through with it, but that was because he always had such nice hair.

Speaking of blue hair.

"Oh, is Eva out?" It was rather strange for Lucas to be the doorman. A small worried frown managed to creep upon her painted lips. After what had happened before with all of the comas, it was only natural to worry.

Lucas was thankfully far enough behind the door to miss being barreled over by the greyhound who was still trying to get at the girl who'd come through the door. Up until the tall man grabbed his collar and escorted him to the kitchen. Topher snickered as he finally pull the ascot tight enough. "He's come out of his shell but I think he's gone a bit stir crazy since he just got back from my Aunt's ranch up north. I think he misses being able to run!"

He'd been unaware of what Yvette's costume would be. The bright face paint was definitely...Yvette. Even if she wasn't allowed to wear costumed, he figured it would have been something she'd wear anyway. Yvette's style had always been...different but at least it was seasonally correct this time. At the mention of his hair, he pulled nervously at the blond strands that hung over his eyes.

"Yeah...Mom didn't want me to do it but I guess the tips are okay. I can always just get it cut." He shrugged. "I'm probably due for a hair cut any what come to think of it." Topher quickly grabbed the keys out of the whicker basket near the door before escorting the girl to the small, light green coup his mother normally drove. "My parents are having a party and she's still getting ready. She said hi though and thank you for getting my son out of the house tonight."

The girl giggled a bit, as if it was a form of relief to hear that Eva was indeed safe. "I think both my Mommy and Daddy would scold me if I did anything super drastic with my hair color, even if it was just the tips." As if checking to make certain her hair hadn't magically caught the blonde disease, she took a small bit of her hair and seemed to look it over. Nope, it was still that dark indigo color she had always had.

When they got to Eva's car, the girl scooted in, putting her seatbelt on almost immediately. "You going to keep your hair about the same length? Or are you going to shock us all with a buzz cut or something...?" Almost like a cat testing a new cushion, the girl seemed to shift her weight over the car seat. The seat was much softer than the one in her Daddy's pickup truck. It was things like this that honestly made her jealous at times. Even if this wasn't her friend's car, it was still a really nice car, AND he got to drive it around. And here Yvette didn't even have her driver's license yet. Heck, she didn't even have her learner's permit!

Not wanting to leave any sort of awkward pauses, the girl attempted to bring up something remotely conversational. "I-is it a costume party?"

"Indeed. She made an appointment for me to get it cut tomorrow. She wasn't too happy. She said that her family's hair color was something I should wear with pride or something." Currently, his hair did have the magical blond disease but, by this time tomorrow, he'd be back to blue. "Oh god no. It'll probably just be how it was when it was before summer. It's almost long enough to put in a pony tail or at least the back is..." His hand delicately brushed his shoulders to indicate where it had been before putting it back on the wheel. There would be no tickets in his mother's car because he looked 'distracted'.

Topher shrugged. "I know that a few people are coming over so it's probably just costume optional but you know my Mom. She'd probably give everybody a costume if they showed up without one. No one is going to ruin her Halloween by showing up in a business suit." He chuckled at the thought of the poor person who showed up in business casual.

Though the mood was light at the moment, having to turn the headlights on reminded him of a very important fact. "Um...when should you be home? I don't want anyone coming at me with a sledgehammer if you're late."

The girl let out her little hamster laugh. Yvette could easily see how her friend's energetic mother could easily make such an appointment. It was always amazing to think that their hair was naturally such a lovely color. Yet, the shy girl had been told on multiple occasions her own hair color was apparently very lovely and uncommon.

Pausing from the infamous musing of hair color, she glanced to her friend. Had she been a braver soul, she would have probably reached right over and touched the back of his head to test this theory about tying it into a ponytail. Her fingers reached out for a moment, as if she was tempted, but then she pulled them back into her lap, flattening the edge of her dress again. "I-i... I bet it probably is..." As if retreating, she shifted her eyes back in front of them onto the road.

She only nodded a bit at the mention of the costume party, and nodded again at the mention of Eva having spare costumes. It must have been nice to have a disposable income. Or something like it, since last she checked, Eva was a homemaker.

It would have been foolish to think Topher wouldn't ask the infamous question. However, he was her best friend, and he honestly knew her Daddy much better than most boys. If it had been under normal circumstances, she probably wouldn't have had a problem telling him the answer. Unfortunately, given the current circumstances, she couldn't help but remain quiet for a moment.

She had snuck out.

She had snuck out.

Oh god, she had snuck out and Daddy was going to kill her.

None could accuse Yvette of hiding her emotions very well, and a tiny frown found its way on her lips. She would have remained quiet for the whole evening if it wasn't for the fact she knew Topher would wonder. He'd catch on if she didn't give him an answer. In a withdrawn tone, she uttered "10 'o clock...I need to be home by or before 10 'o clock..."

Oh god, Daddy was going to kill her!

Topher leaned against the window, letting out a frustrated sigh as a group of children and parents went as slowly as they possibly could across the crosswalk. The crowds were definitely the only thing that sucked about Halloween. "Eh. It's not quite long enough to do that." He once again pulled at the tips of his hair, almost like he still couldn't believe they were blond before the group eventually got to the other side of the street.

Had Topher known she'd snuck out, he probably would have panicked and driven her straight home before fleeing the country as fast as he could. Thankfully, he was blissfully unaware as they got closer to the carnival. "10 'o clock? I will make sure I get you home before 9:59 then!" He wasn't the most punctual boy but a promise was a promise.

Still totally unaware of her plight, Topher finally pulled the car into the last parking space he could find that was close enough. He slowly motioned for her to stay in the car before he got out and rounded the corner, leaning down over the small car to open the door on her side. "ready to go?"

The girl was quiet, but when the car stopped, she seemed to return back to reality just in time to notice the signal her friend gave her. Her head tilted to the side slightly, not quite understanding why he'd want her to stay in the car. It was only after he had rounded the car and her door was already open that she realized why he had done it.

"Oh, um... y-you d-didn't have to do that!" Her mind was definitely not in the right place at the moment, embarrassment seeming to ruin her better judgments. The girl completely forgot about the seat belt holding her in and attempted to exit the vehicle. Fortunately, the belt did its intended job and the girl was stuck.

OH GOD!!!!

She flailed almost uselessly for a moment before she finally began to fumble with the contraption holding her in.

OH GOD OH GOD!!!!

She finally managed to get herself out of the car, almost crashing into her blue (and blonde) haired friend in her haste. "ohgodI'msosorryaboutthat!" Yvette could have swore that the redness of her face was showing through her face paints.

Had it been anyone else, he would have leaned over to help but he figured that Yvette needed to figure it out on her own. "It's the gentlemanly thing to do right? Help a girl out of a car?" Topher may not have been the smartest tool in the shed but being rude was not tolerated when eva was around.

As the moments dwelled on, Topher looked around him. The lights were brighter than ever and the amount of children seemed to increase exponentially every street. It was nice to see the city so happy and lively considering that just weeks before it had been compared to a graveyard by many.

Topher barely managed to get out of the way of the flailing girl, dodging her movements with a quick step to the side. "It's alright! That car can be a bit tricky if you're not used to it." He chuckled before offering his arm to her. "Shall we?"

Her eyes were upon the ground again. This was a sign that the poor girl was embarrassed. Though she had heard his questions about gentlemanly manners, she said nothing. Her head nodded slightly, but even that looked a bit hesitant. Yvette really didn't know much about how a gentleman acted. This would require much time with a gentleman to understand it, and she definitely was never in the company of a gentleman for very long due to Daddy.

Her eyes eventually glanced up quickly before darting back down to the ground. With the quick glimpse, she did manage to notice her friend's elbow almost jutting out. Finding it to be a rather curious gesture, she glimpsed up again, taking a slightly better look. Topher was looking at her with a smile as if she was supposed to do something. "Uh... okay..?"

She shuffled forward slightly, at first, seeming to ignore what most would have considered an obvious gesture. However, she eventually offered her hand. It was perhaps the boldest thing the girl had ever done, but she took her friend's hand, wrapping her small fingers around his pinky and ring finger. "I... I don't remember the last time I got to go to a carnival..."

Topher smiled as she took his hand. It wasn't his intention but Yvette actually did something which made it all the more worthwhile. "You really haven't?! My Mom and I go to the state carnival all the time. Well...I don't think it really counts as a carnival. It's more like a fair but you should go with us next time!" He smiled down at her, swinging their arms as they walked. "You'd probably love it!"

There Topher was getting ahead of himself again. Though, he would love it if Yvette could come with them. She definitely needed to get out more. Blue eyes gazed over the crowd as a bright flash went off not too far in front of them. "Hmmm...there must be a photographer or something. Maybe it's one of those japanese photo-booths where you can take all those pictures and then decorate them. I did that once on a school trip. They were pretty fun once you figured out that you only had 30 seconds or so to finish before it printed them out. Lots of spelling mistakes with that one..."

"Carnivals require money," she pointed out with a tiny frown. That was always an issue with the girl. It always had been. The last time they really had a big family trip was to the zoo when she was in 3rd grade. Mommy and Daddy and even Grammy was there. It had been fun, and everyone had laughed and laughed as if the world was not a cruel place. Then Grammy had gone to the retirement community, and the family's budget for everything had gone to heck.

Stop thinking about that... you are here to have fun.

So distracted with her current thoughts, she didn't seem to notice the flashes of light in the crowd. The only thing to catch her attention was a random stranger with a mustache and a camera. He was dressed up as a crocodile (or was it an alligator, it was hard to tell) with two toothy grins. One that belonged to the costume, and one that belonged to the man. He stepped forward and with a wide gesture of the arm that was not supporting a camera, he called out "Hey, get close you two." The man gestured again, and this time seemed to speak to the blue (and blonde) haired boy. "Put your arm around your girl, if you could please?" He held up the camera, as if he was ready to shoot regardless of their actions.

Your... girl?

If her cheeks hadn't been visible from under the painted mask from her earlier embarrassment, her blushing should have certainly been visible now. Her mouth almost seemed to pop open in a perfect "O" shape.

This man was most certainly mistaken! Topher was her friend, wasn't he?! Yvette wasn't anybody's girl (well, except for Daddy's maybe).

Money. Everything was money with Yvette. It made him sad to think that she didn't get to do much just because of that especially since his vision of it was her cooped up in her house for hours on end watching paint dry like he figured bored people did. "Eh. I'll take you places then! You won't need money for that!" it was true. If anything, Topher was rather generous when it came to friends. Whatever they wanted, he was normally there to get it for them if the need was dire. Or maybe he was just that nice of a guy?

The appearance of the photographer wasn't all that surprising. They seemed to get around quite fast through large groups of people. "A picture?" He gave a knowing smile to the photographer. "How much?"

The photographer chuckled lightly, holding up the camera once again. "Just $3 plus tip...but only if you'd like of course, sir."

Topher shrugged. "Might as well!" Almost lightening quick, his arm slid around Yvette's shoulders, pulling her a bit closer as he rested his chin against the top of her head just to make sure it wasn't just half of his face in the $3 plus tip picture. "I guess that means you're my girl for the night, yes?"

What in the world planet was Yvette on?! She couldn't recognize it or anything that was going on anymore. Her friend, her best friend, had pulled her up close and planted his chin upon the top of her head. At least the chin wasn't digging into her scalp. Maybe she would have welcomed such a sensation at this point, for the next thing that happened almost made her eyes bug out of their sockets.

"Y-y-your girl?!!" The camera flashed before the dark-haired girl could recover. Most certainly, her expression wasn't anything remotely similar to a smile. In fact, it almost looked like she had learned that she was about to topple over from a heart attack. It probably wouldn't have been an inaccurate assessment either. She could only hear the sound of her heart pounding in her head, her own thoughts getting drowned out by the speed of her heart. The girl wobbled a bit in her friend's hold. It felt as if her head wanted to pop off. In all of her confusion, she was beginning to feel rather weak, her knees threatening to give out on her. Almost as a sign of defeat, she leaned her head against her friend's chest.

She was Topher's girl?!

Topher was unaware of poor Yvette's plight, paying the man and taking the picture to place in his wallet which had been rather hard to do with one hand. Thankfully it was small enough that he didn't need to carry it around for the rest of the night. His arm stayed around her shoulders, having only slackened so he could lean closer to the photographer. "Ready to go?" He chuckled as he tried to pull her along, still not knowing that what had happened had pretty much blown the girl's mind.

It didn't seem to affect the blue haired boy as much. He was just being a good friend and trying to give her a good time. Nothing too suspicious right? "Would you like a copy of the picture? I could probably make a copy and give you the original if you'd like!"

She wasn't trying to be rude. She really wasn't. However, her ears weren't working quite right at the moment due to how loud her heart was being. Yvette was dragged along, much like a ragdoll partially hugged against her friend's arm. Everything seemed to blur together for the rest of the evening. Even in the poor girl's silence, Topher continued to treat the evening as if nothing unusual had happened. There were carnival rides, and Topher even managed to win some sort of toy. Yet, the girl with the painted face was so clouded up mentally, that she couldn't really recall the rest of the evening.

However, she occasionally was caught leaning into the boy's body.

The whole evening had passed her by, and she hadn't even seemed to notice. She was once again buckled into the seat of Eva's car and getting driven home.

Am I really Topher's girl?!

Topher tried to be as nice as possible. He bought them cotton candy, won her a giant electric blue zebra off by knocking down a bunch of milk bottles and even fended off any unwitting employees trying to get a quick scare out of her by grabbing his companion. However, even Topher knew there was something wrong. She was normally quiet but he thought they had moved beyond silent a long time ago. It was...discouraging to say the least.

Even her subtle touches against him didn't console him. Had he done something wrong? Had touching her been too much? He was fairly certain he'd done it before but he just nervously laughed it off and they continued on their way. It wasn't his fault. He was just touchy as his mother put it. The smile on his face melted away during the drive home, trying his best to look at her out of the corner of his eye without swerving off the cliff adjacent to the road. They were slowly getting closer to her house. The late night road had finally gone quiet after the children had headed home to eat their fill of candy. Suddenly, the car pulled over and jerked to a stop, the boy rather aggressively switching off the engine out of frustration. "Did I do something wrong, Yvette? You can tell me if I did something..."

The one thing to finally seem to wake the girl from her daze was the relatively rough drive home. She had smacked into the door slightly at one turn, and for the rest of the drive she seemed to notice where she was again. Her deep purple eyes glanced over to the driver, finding it was still her friend there. Yet, there was something different about the person in the driver's seat. He had turned to her and all of a sudden, the question had been asked.

"Did I do something wrong, Yvette? You can tell me if I did something..."

She could hear again. No longer were all of the words masked by the sound of her heart pounding in her head. Instead it was her and Topher, silent after he had made his question known. It was just the two of them. Nobody could answer the question but Yvette herself. Her mouth opened up slightly, but no sound came out initially.

Nobody but Yvette could give the answers that the boy wanted. This boy, he was her best friend. He hadn't done anything wrong. It was probably all Yvette's fault again. Yvette knew it was definitely her own fault. Her eyes fell for a moment, glancing upon the steering wheel where Topher's fingers looked like they were going to start drumming out of anxiety.

"...Y-you... you d-didn't do anything wrong..." Her hand managed to slip up to touch his fingers, curling slightly over them so they were almost both gripping the steering wheel. Her eyes were still focused upon both hands. "...I... I... I just..."

She paused before pinching her eyes shut. "A-am... am I really your girl, Topher?" Her eyes remained closed, as if she was expecting him to shoot her down. Her fingers gripped onto his slightly harder against his hand, trembling slightly. She wanted to know. Was Topher her friend? Was he more than a friend? For those few seconds in the car, it felt as if her heart was getting eaten by some sort of parasite. It didn't feel very good. She felt sick. She felt almost as if she could die.

It wasn't hard to see that he liked her. His mother had already been teasing him that it was their real first date. And yet they both either refused to admit it or just felt like the best friends that they were...or had been...or weren't anymore or whatever they were. Topher leaned back against the plush seats, sighing in an attempt to keeping the car from being silent. The only noise was when another car sped past, making the little car shake a bit. He still figured he did something wrong. Why else would Yvette be so quiet? She was always quiet when something was wrong.

Topher's entire body went tense as her small fingers wrapped around his much larger hand. Whether it was because of the unexpected sudden contact or if it was just the fact that she was acknowledging him was lost to the ages.

"A-am...am I really your girl, Topher?"

His fingers gripped around the steering wheel, hard enough for his knuckles to grow even paler than they already were. Was she his girl? What did she mean by that? Was she asking whether or not they were together? As in boyfriend and girlfriend because of what the photographer had said? Because of what he said? The boy's mind was definitely pumping out questions at the rate that he wanted to speak them but this was another time where a combination of shock and better judgement won out against his better nature. "What are you talking about?..." The moment he uttered the words, he almost immediately wanted to take it back. There were way too many ways Yvette's could react to it.

What had she expected? What had Yvette really expected Topher to tell her? Even with all of the preparation, she still couldn't help but feel as if she had just been shot in the shoulder. It was an invisible wound that bled invisible ink. She wanted to pull her fingers back, away from her friend's, but even then, her fingers seemed to refuse abandoning the only sense of comfort left now.

When she finally was able to open her eyes and look back to the boy's face, it almost looked as if her mask was melting. Tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes, smearing the colors painted onto her face. "I... I just thought..."

It almost felt like a lump had grown in her throat, which she swallowed slightly. Maybe that lump had been her tongue, for she fell silent again, eyes seeming to slowly slip away from the boy's blue ones. However, the indigo orbs bounced up again when it almost seemed as if she was going to completely retreat.

"...I... I l-like you... I just thought... m-maybe..."

Maybe you liked me too. Her fingers twitched against his. "...I... I guess I am just a stupid girl..." Her eyes sank completely this time, falling upon the bright colors of her dress. Self doubt. It was something the girl had way too much of for her own good.

Topher sighed and fell forward against the steering wheel, suddenly grateful that the horn was activated by a button off to the side rather than to square center on the wheel. She liked him. She actually liked him. After all this time and everything they'd been through she waited that long to say something when he'd pulled over to the side of the road in the middle of the night after what he thought had been the biggest mistake of his life.

This was almost unreal...

He couldn't help but chuckle, shaking his head against the console as he did. Slowly but surely, the chuckle grew in volume until it was a full blown laugh. It wasn't long until the boy was leaning back against his seat and laughing up at the roof of the car. He didn't care that Yvette was probably starring at him like a lunatic or that she might have thought he was laughing at her feelings. All that mattered was the cruel irony at how their night had turned out.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, it calmed to a loud pant as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. Only then did he remember that she was still next to him in the small car. Still hanging on his every word like she normally did.

"And here I was thinking I did something wrong!" His words were still marbled between short bursts of laughter and the stifling of tears. "I wish you had said something earlier. We could have made it a date!" After all this time, it was good to finally get that out. He liked her for awhile but his energetic, frantic, oblivious self didn't even realize it until that very moment. He quickly turned the key in the ignition, still laughing sporadically from his chest. "Let's get you home, Yvette."

She could hear a bit of movement. Actually, there was a lot of movement. Nothing very reassuring. It wasn't like she could see how he was thrashing about in contentment. It left her imagination to toss about all of the possibilities. And in all honesty, most of the possibilities weren't exactly very reassuring. A little finger snuck of to her face and began to rub away some more of the tears from her face, getting a small mess of white paint swirled with various colors upon her skin. His laughter was sudden, and also didn't add anything to her already viscious imagination.

He's probably laughing at me... Her heart felt as if it was deflating slowly from a puncture wound. Her fingers twitched against his.

And then his voice actually formed words. Unexpected words. "We could have made it a date!" She let out a soft squeak as she finally dared to return her eyes to her friend. Well, maybe more than a friend.

The car began to move again and for a moment her eyes were fixed upon the grin upon his face. "...A date?" She had never been on one of those for the 18 years she had been alive. Never ever ever. Even as the car began to make its way to her home, her fingers still remained with his at the steering wheel. It was as if she forgot she had them there in the first place.

Topher finally learned how hard it was to drive with someone grabbing his hand but he made do. Yvette was a sensitive, fragile girl and there wasn't much he could do about it.

"Sure. Why not?" Unlike Yvette, Topher had been on enough dates to know that they had reached the awkward friend stage. Where every outing felt as if it were both a date and a friendship. Awkward times. When the car finally came to a stop in front of her house, Topher was silent for a moment. The laughter had completely died down in favor of the sounds of the coupe's engine rumbling.

Still in silence, Topher turned to her as best as he could in the small car. His hand slowly left the steering wheel and delicately rested against her hand that had been there the entire time. "Just let me know when you're off work. We'll go on a real date." With that, he leaned closer, placing a barely there kiss on her cheek, wet paint and all aside.

Yvette, under normal circumstances could have thought of a million and a half reasons why a date would have been a bad idea. Almost all of those reasons revolved around a very overprotective Daddy. However, it just felt wrong to tell Topher any of those reasons. He was one of her best friends. There was that, and the moment he had leaned in and touched his lips against her cheek, she seemed to forget everything bad.

It had been 18 years, almost 19 years, and she had only just now gotten her first kiss. Topher pulled away again after the delicate touch, a hint of painted color lingering on his lips as a reminder of what he had just done. She finally pulled her fingers back and looked at him. She was normally so skittish and shy, but for that brief moment, she seemed calm, almost at peace with everything that happened. In Yvette's quiet voice, she uttered "I will..."

It was then that she realized something.

She had snuck out and Daddy was probably going to kill her (or at the very least, kill Topher) when he figured it out. Her eyes all of a sudden returned to their usual nervous energy. "...I... I've got to go... N-night..." Somehow, the girl was able to get out of her seatbelt without getting tangled this time, and let herself out. The blue (and blonde) haired boy would be safer if he stayed in the car. Doing gentlemanly things while even remotely near her home would cause her dad to go into a berserker's rage.

Shyly, she turned to the car and wiggled her fingers at him. The girl then trotted back to her home. She had completely forgotten about the toy zebra. She didn't mean to, but there were other things. More important things.

Like that date. That kiss. That feeling that was tickling her heart at the moment. It was all so new. Carefully, the girl tried to crawl in through her window. Things were changing, and for the girl, she hoped it would be for the better.

[FIN]