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“You promised!”
Bobby looked slowly between both his sister and his best friend.
“I know, Em’, but can’t we just do it next time? It's already getting late and we've still got practice!” he pleaded while he was certain Johnny had no desire whatsoever to waste his time in an hour-long Santa line. Bobby really hadn't thought much of the simple promise at the time when he had made it, but evidently, it had meant quite a lot to his little sister who wasn’t about to let him worm his way out of the commitment with a simple bat of his puppy dog eyes and some smooth-talking.
“Yeah, c’mon, let's go already. You're too old to visit Santa anyway, Em. Just look at the line, it's all filled with babies…” Johnny’s voice chimed in dully as he glanced over at the Santa meet and greet area.
“No way.. check it out, Bobby! It’s her!” John suddenly cried out much to the sibling's dual surprise.
“Her who?” Bobby retorted flatly.
“That chick from the movie theatre. Over there in the elf costume.” Johnny nodded towards the young woman as he elbowed Bobby lightly in the ribs.
“You know one of Santa's helpers?” Emma stared up at him in wide-eyed disbelief.
Bobby gave the blonde a swift kick and a glare before turning to his sister, “Uh, well, you know, sometimes Santa gets locals to help out because all the elves in the north pole are all really busy getting ready for Christmas…”
His sister nodded eagerly, naively accepting of the answer.
“Dude, she's like 12 and way too old for this bullshit…” Johnny whispered to him.
Bobby shrugged, “Hey, I'm not gonna’ be the one to burst her bubble, okay? That's someone else's job.” He hissed back.
Johnny cleared his throat. “You know what Emma, since Bobby’s being such a Grinch, I'll take you to go see Santa.”
Bobby rolled his eyes. “Wow. Throw me under the bus, thanks.” He quickly turned towards his sister; “Don't listen to him, he's only interested in that blonde wearing red and green.”
“Whatever,” Emma huffed as she grabbed Johnny's hand, “as long as I get to talk to the big guy.”
Bobby reluctantly followed along after them as he glanced at this watch and then the winding line of tiny tots and miserable looking parents in tow. At this rate, they were going to miss out on practice just because Johnny wanted to try swinging for a girl who was clearly way out of his league.
The line probably took at least 20 minutes to get through but it had felt to Bobby more like hours, all the while Emma was prattling on and on about all the things she wanted to tell Santa while Johnny continued to drool over the curvy blonde in the pointy shoes.
When his mom had told him he needed to babysit his sister at the mall for the afternoon Bobby should have just told Johnny they’d hang out another day.
After all, Emma could be such a pain and Johnny was right, she was getting far too old for this make-believe kiddy stuff. Unfortunately, his parents hadn't quite dropped the Santa's not real talk on her yet and the last thing Bobby wanted to do was upset his sister this close to the holidays.
“Well aren't you the prettiest Elf around,” Johnny smiled as they finally made their way up to the front of the queue. “Not to mention the tallest.”
The blonde girl offered a small, hesitant little laugh before turning to greet Emma, “Aw. Isn't that nice of your brother to bring you to see Santa?”
“Oh, he's not my brother,” Emma blurted outright, “He just thinks you’re cute and wanted an excuse to talk to you. Can I see Santa now?”
Johnny shot the little girl a dirty look, hissing her name while Bobby covered his mouth, trying desperately and failing to hold back a snicker.
The lady elf was laughing too as she quickly nodded, unable to speak as she guided Emma a few steps over to the man in Red.
“I'm Bobby, her REAL brother.” He smiled before motioning towards his totally embarrassed best friend, “And this impostor here is Johnny.”
“Nice to meet you,” The Elf said once she had finally gotten control of herself. “My name’s Ali, and I've got to say this is the weirdest way anybody has ever tried to flirt with me.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Johnny said with a roll of his eyes, avoiding making direct eye contact with her.
“I told you it wouldn't take long!” Emma announced, apparently having finished her very important conversation about Christmas presents as she rejoined the group, beaming proudly.
Bobby wanted to point out that it wasn't the time with Santa he had been worried about, more the time wasted in line, but the argument wasn't worth it, he thought with a peek at his watch.
“If we go now, we can still make it for most of practice. We’ll still have fifty push-ups to look forward to for being late but it’s better than missing it completely.” Bobby insisted as he took his sister by the hand and began to lead the way as the trio turned to leave.
“Johnny, wait!” Ali called after them.
The blonde turned to face her, meeting Ali’s beautiful brown eyes for the first time. She took his hand in earnest and began scribbling something down onto his palm with a pen.
“That’s my number, call me sometime.” She said to Johnny with a playful wink as she offered a little departing wave, her dress and boots jingling softly. “Have a Merry Christmas!”
As the two boys stared awestruck after Ali’s retreating form it was Emma who piped up first to effectively shatter the magical moment, both Johnny and Bobby shooting her a look as she huffed indignantly with her hands placed on her hips.
“Why’d he get a present, huh? I thought you said he was on the naughty list, Bobby!” Emma eyed her brother warily with a childish pout just as Johnny turned slowly towards his best friend, eyebrow arched.
Shit, did it just get colder in here?
“So, about that practice…” Bobby swallowed dryly, trying desperately to salvage the moment and hoped that his best friend would let him off easy. It was the holidays, after all, goodwill towards men, peace on earth and all that holly jolly junk, right?
Johnny’s lips slowly formed a small smirk as he placed a hand on his best friend’s shoulder.
“No Mercy.”