mistletoe

eight

When Elliot heard the beeping alarm of her clock, she almost just wanted to stay in bed, forget about this whole plan with Chase and the fact that she was to be a fucking elf for the day (in her defense, the costume was embarassing enough-- even worse than the caroling her parents forced her to do every single damn year). Especially when she'd rather just appear in a Satan suit and scare the hell out of the spoiled children. 

"God, I hate my life," she muttered, holding her covers even closer to her, "Just five more minutes." 

Closing her eyes, Elliot was in a rather peaceful place-- well, at least until her phone rang with some annoying ringtone she was too lazy to change. With a groan, she grabbed her phone from her drawer, and without looking at the caller ID, answered the call, "What the hell could anyone possibly want at this hour?" she spat, her irratation not at all hidden. 

The voice on the other line chuckled, and responded sarcastically, "Aren't you just a joy in the morning?" 

Elliot recognized the voice immediately, and in simple terms, it wasn't exactly the first voice she wanted to hear to start off her wonderful morning."How the hell did you get my number Chase?" 

He paused awkwardly before laughing nervously, "I don't know how to say this without sounding like a stalker, so uh, I'm not." 

That was... reassuring, Elliot thought, slightly wondering if it would be wise to change her number and/or move across the country, but she shoved that thought out of her mind."Whatever. You still didn't answer my question-- what do you want?"

"Get your ass at the mall," he responded in a mocking, sing-song voice, "It's already six forty-five." 

She cursed and jumped out of her bed, before adding in an accusing voice, "Why didn't you call me earlier?" In a hurry, she tore off her pajamas and searched for her elf costume.

 Where the hell is it? It shouldn't be this hard to find a damn green and red elf costume, she thought frustatingly. She could have swore she put it on top of one of her drawers. Dammit, I don't have time for this! 

He sighed, and Elliot could imagine him rolling his eyes from the other line, "Well, Green, sorry if you thought I was your personal alarm clock, but newsflash--- I'm not." 

Crap, where is it? 

"Whatever, I have to go," she said hurriedly, "See you there." With that, Elliot hung up, seconds away from a minor heart attack. 

Finally, Elliot spotted the familiar Christmas colors of the elf costume and quickly put it on, struggling briefly with fitting her feet in the small shoes that she was sure was meant for an actual midget. Well, I'm definitely getting blisters from this. 

She rushed down the stairs, grabbing a muffin from the kitchen and her mother's car keys (because apparently her mother didn't trust her with a car and the 'kind of freedom' that came along with a car). Elliot sprinted to the car and quickly got in, shoving the key to start the car.

Come on, come on! Start! Elliot pleaded, realizing that her mother's car wasn't the most... reliable, especially during the winter. Her mother's prized car was around fifteen years old and Elliot knew that the only place the car belonged, was in a junk yard.

But it seemed that God had decided Elliot had gone through enough in the period of twenty four hours, and miraculously, the car started to life. 

Without another second of hesitation, Elliot hastily drove off, praying that five minutes was enough time to get to the mall. 

***

"Claus! Nice of you to finally make an appearance!" Chase hollered, a smug expression on his face.