Chloe was so grateful that Rose had covered her while she went off on her manhunt. “Well I think! He’s got my number, and a picture of me, so here’s hoping… I think I made it clear I was interested. Do you think he understood?” She questioned in one long flurried sentence. “That woman over there properly thinks I’m a whore. You might need to deal with her kids.” She raised her eyebrows knowingly. 

The young girl smiled with a shy thank you, taking the red and white swirling candy and holding it closely. She looked happy, and that made Chloe feel all warm inside, and less icky about why she’d actually come over, especially when she saw the guy smiling down at them. “Do you think daddy wants one?” She asked the little girl, giving her a cheeky smile, and the girl looked up at the man, nodded big and yipped a ‘yes!’. She stood up to her full height and smiled at him, automatically reaching out and touching his arm. That was her standard, and usually effective, move. “She’s really sweet.” It felt as if her heartbeat was audible to the whole room. He laughed and looked down at his daughter, nodding. 

“Yeah, yeah, apple of my eye.” He agreed, taking the candy cane when Chloe held it out. She was already out of words, but couldn’t walk away when all she wanted was to pull him somewhere private. Instead, she introduced herself and made him laugh with a silly anecdote about an incident with Santa that had happened when they were setting up, but it was top secret and not for his daughter’s ears, which meant whispering and leaning in closer. After a little while, when one of the mothers down the queue started audibly tutting, Chlo took his phone from his hand, took a selfie (first shot was a winner) and added herself as a contact. “Call me, if either of you need a direct line to Santa.” 

There was an audible “Oh good god” from the mother further down the queue, but Chloe just lifted her shoulders with a cutesy smile, said goodbye to little Abigail, and turned back to Rose with her mouth open wide in a half silent scream and half ecstatic grin. She stayed silent until she reached Rose, then let out a quiet, but high pitched, squeal of excitement. 

“Mm,” Chloe hummed sarcastically, widening her eyes and tipping her head to the side. She eyed the man again, drawing her fingers to her mouth as she thought over the idea. “I could do that. I could do that!” The honey blonde reached into their stash and grabbed a handful of candy canes, steeled herself and nodded. “Cover me. And wish me luck.” Chloe walked over to the queue, gave a candy cane to a couple of the kids along the line, until she reached the one holding his hand. “Hey sugarplum, want a candy cane?” 

Chloe turned towards Rose with an excited smile, “Do you think so?” She raised up on her toes, holding her hands together in front of her chest. “You’re terrible, but you’re absolutely right.” Chloe glanced back to the man, hopeful. “What do I even say? Hey, your kids real cute, fancy making out?” Chlo said in a faux flirty voice. 

Chloe nodded, because it was awesome. That’s not to say dorm life couldn’t be cool, sometimes when Seb was being cringe she wished she could live the solo life in there - and then she remembered they couldn’t afford the fancy apartment style dorm and would have to double up with a roommate. Then she loved her brother and his place again. “So fit!” She exclaimed, eyes wide and mouth agape as she turned back to Rose after looking at him again. “Oh god Rose, it’s been forever. I haven’t touched a guy since I got to this place. And just look at him!”

“Oh yeah totally.” Chloe waved it off like it was nothing, that having a cool older brother that bought her drinks was nothing. “He used to go to the school but he graduated, but he’s still living in town. I actually live with him rather than in the dorms.” She explained, holding onto a strand of her hair and twirling it around her fingers. Chloe was looking through the crowd while she’d been talking and she paused, eyes stuck on a guy who was bringing his daughter to see Santa. “Hey Rose,” She leaned sideways and covered her mouth with her pretty manicured fingers. “Look at that guy, isn’t he so hot?” 

“Plum?” Chloe questioned, she supposed it wasn’t that weird when you thought of all the other kinds of liqueurs, but the idea of it felt unpleasant. When were plums ever ripe and tasting good? Only for about a minute. “Ooh, yeah, I bet they have a billion different cute Christmas cocktails in festive colours.” Chloe giggled, waving at a kid in the queue. “Oh don’t worry, my brother’ll do it.” She gave a single finger gun to Rose with a click of her tongue

“Well I love super sweet.” She stated with a slight lean back, it was practically her entire personality, all bubblegum and lollipops. Chloe waved another little girl over, stepping towards her and Santa to help her get up. “Here you go sugarplum, now smile.” She skipped back to Rose, her outfit jingling. “I don’t even know what slow gin is… is it just a new name for gin?” She laughed to herself, shrugging her shoulders. 

“That’s sweet,” She smiled sideways at her friend, glad that Rose had applied with her. The whole thing was cute, but if she’d been standing here alone the time would probably pass extra slow. “Oh, I would love that! I’ve never tried eggnog, I really want to, it looks interesting.“ Chloe smiled down at the little girl, “Have a nice day!” She grinned at the mother, giving a little wave. “Are there other Christmas drinks? I can’t think of them.” 

over mulled wine || open

Chloe kneeled down and tucked her hair behind her ear when it fell forward. “Hi sweetie, are you excited to meet Santa?” She asked the little girl who was chewing on her sleeve. The girl nodded dramatically, making Chlo smile. “Yeah? Well it’s your turn now! Come on..” she stood and held her hand out, walking the girl over to the acting Santa and lifted her onto his lap. “Okay, big smiles!” She pointed out and moved out of the way so the photographer could do their job. Chloe went and stood near Rose, fixing up her elf dress since it had bunched when she bent down. “Don’t you wish Christmas was as magical for us as it is for them?” She asked absentmindedly.