Grabbing a poinsettia print gift bag and some green wrapping paper, Zelda turned back to go check out, choosing one of the self checkouts rather than waiting to get manually bagged and rung up. She swiped the items absentmindedly, pausing to pick a piece of lint off of her uniform shirt.
Wait. Zelda looked down, feeling a mild sense of panic rising in the pit of her stomach. Uniform shirt. Uniform.
The unflattering black polo tucked into the worn jeans with a pair of converse and the messy ponytail she only wore for work. The party was in 15 minutes and she was still in work uniform. She frantically shoved the giraffe plushies into a plastic bag, grabbing the decorative bag under her arm as she swiped her debit card and punched her passcode into the red and yellow pad. Snatching her receipt and darting out of the double doors at a speed-walk, Zelda cursed her boss and herself for saying yes to a noon shift on Christmas Eve.
Who needed frozen yogurt on Christmas Eve? Apparently enough goddess-damned people that she had to take a shift on the day to get her holiday pay. They loved milking the teens for free labor, the bastards.
She dumped everything into the backseat of her Stratus, ignoring the fact that the receipt fell under the car in her hurry. Zelda ripped open the green tissue paper and stuffed it into the poinsettia bag around the soft safari stuffed animals. She leaned forward to grab the card she had made earlier, slipping it into the bag along with everything else. She was yanking her car out of park in record time, pulling out of the grocery store parking lot as fast than her chilled engine would allow her.
She took a sharp left onto the side road that led to the Lon's, nearly running a red light and cursing under her breath. The dirt road had been shoveled of the slight snow they had received the night before, and Zelda could see the tire tracks of the past visitors. A quick visit, that was it, no lingering. She would drop off the gift for the tree and run back to her house to change before the Christmas dinner. Simple.
Link was standing on the porch when she pushed her tiny car into a tight park. She saw the light of his cellphone glaring off of his cheeks, highlighting his features and the
Wait. Zelda looked down, feeling a mild sense of panic rising in the pit of her stomach. Uniform shirt. Uniform.
The unflattering black polo tucked into the worn jeans with a pair of converse and the messy ponytail she only wore for work. The party was in 15 minutes and she was still in work uniform. She frantically shoved the giraffe plushies into a plastic bag, grabbing the decorative bag under her arm as she swiped her debit card and punched her passcode into the red and yellow pad. Snatching her receipt and darting out of the double doors at a speed-walk, Zelda cursed her boss and herself for saying yes to a noon shift on Christmas Eve.
Who needed frozen yogurt on Christmas Eve? Apparently enough goddess-damned people that she had to take a shift on the day to get her holiday pay. They loved milking the teens for free labor, the bastards.
She dumped everything into the backseat of her Stratus, ignoring the fact that the receipt fell under the car in her hurry. Zelda ripped open the green tissue paper and stuffed it into the poinsettia bag around the soft safari stuffed animals. She leaned forward to grab the card she had made earlier, slipping it into the bag along with everything else. She was yanking her car out of park in record time, pulling out of the grocery store parking lot as fast than her chilled engine would allow her.
She took a sharp left onto the side road that led to the Lon's, nearly running a red light and cursing under her breath. The dirt road had been shoveled of the slight snow they had received the night before, and Zelda could see the tire tracks of the past visitors. A quick visit, that was it, no lingering. She would drop off the gift for the tree and run back to her house to change before the Christmas dinner. Simple.
Link was standing on the porch when she pushed her tiny car into a tight park. She saw the light of his cellphone glaring off of his cheeks, highlighting his features and the