Elegant Savagery

The light atmosphere that they had worked so hard to maintain these last few weeks was slowly dissipating the more they continued this line of conversation. It had been difficult in general, trying to navigate all the awful and heart-wrenching emotions he had felt up until this point without be able to talk them out with the one person who could console him and make him feel better. Telling her would mean having to be honest about what he had gone through and that their breakup had effected him more than he had let on. “Most of them,” he nodded eagerly, glad she had steered the conversation away from the former. “Dad’s been busy at the hospital and mom’s trying not to rip her hair out between all her freshman classes so I think we’re all waiting until winter break to have a moment to ourselves… You?” Eric’s eyes followed Lexi walking upon the white snow, her tail wagging. He couldn’t help, but smile at the sight. He was so glad to spend some time with her… and her owner. “What about you guys? Has Tripp been back in town long enough to pretend he cares?” 

Tilly bit her lip, instantly regretting her question. She didn’t want to think about Eric decorating his house with anybody else, even if it was just his mom and she had no reason to be jealous. She hadn’t put her own up yet, shooing Maria away every time she suggested pulling them down from the attic. However, she couldn’t let her ex know that he and the now painful happy memories it stirred was the reason the Worthington house wasn’t dripping with its usual extravagant Christmas spirit. “Not yet, we decided to get a new tree. We were meant to go pick one last week but Connie had book club, so,” They’d known each other long enough to know that Mrs Worthington’s book club was more of an excuse to guzzle glasses of wine in the middle of the day and make herself feel better about her misery by catching up on the town gossip. Obviously that took priority over spending time with her daughter, even if it was a lie it was a convincing one. Her mind flickered back to memories of getting Lexi as she watched the dog wander beside the boy, unconsciously smiling as she felt the soft fur brush against her own leg. She was a good barrier, a way to pretend that being this close was appropriate for exes. “You know him, he doesn’t like to feel lazy,” She chuckled, although she believed it was more a case of he couldn’t stand the sight of his own family when the alternative was making money, but she had no reason to complain, “He was back last week but that didn’t last long. He said he’d be back for Christmas but my Grandma said I could have dinner with them anyhow.” She wasn’t sure she should ask, she wasn’t sure she wanted to imagine that he had made plans for Christmas without even considering her for the first time ever, but she did anyway, “Got any plans for Christmas?”

anne gave a little turn as tilly looked her up and down, as if to make it easier to spot any possible snowball remains on her coat. “ for now, ” she noted, though she still doubted any kid would try it if they wanted to win their round of the competition. “ yeah, i checked the stall and they said they hadn’t seen him all morning. ” she said, pursing her lips a little but doing her best to smother anxiety on the issue. it was probably nothing. but then a chuckle as tilly continues, “ oh, he already asked for advice. don’t worry i suggested something nice, elegant, it’ll be fine. ” she nodded with a smile. 

Tilly gave Anne a smile of reassurance, not pointing out that she’d hit their own snowman referee with several well crafted snowballs back in third grade. It was unlikely that there was anybody like her after all, for the sake of Northlake anyhow. She furrowed her brow. That didn’t seem like Blake, he wasn’t exactly the type to volunteer and back out at the last minute. He certainly didn’t keep such things from Anne. “Weird,” She muttered, going onto suggest, “Maybe he slept in. Have you tried calling him?” She was already reaching for her own concealed phone, smiling even though she was aware he would turn to his girlfriend, “I expected nothing less.” 

“Yeah, sorry about that. The break up I mean. It seemed rough.” Cole winced. He noticed Tilly’s weak shrug; he didn’t want to make it worse. “I won’t make you talk more about it,” he said. “It’s cool that you can still be close with the Bradfords though. You’re pretty strong.” Cole couldn’t imagine himself doing the same, not that he had any exes to even be in that situation. With school, lax, work, and that damn bike, he just simply didn’t have the time for anybody else. Regardless, this elf costume wasn’t doing him any favors. “Man, I hope no kid comes over to me. I don’t think I can bend down to say hi without ripping this thing.” He blushed. “To be honest, I was hoping to be Santa. Guess I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“It was fine. Totally fine,” Anybody with any sense could tell Tilly was lying, even without the weak defence her actions and even-more-than-usual irritable attitude was enough to prove that she was anything but fine. But Cole was not her friend, they were trapped on the same stall at the Christmas market and it was in their best interest to pretend that she wasn’t lying. “I’ve known them my whole life, they literally live less than a hundred feet from me, so not being close sort of isn’t an option,” She chuckled at her own joke, but that at least was the truth. It was odd that she was in a strange place with Eric’s parents, but they certainly didn’t hate each other. How could she hate them when they’d treated her like family long before any of the unpleasantness. “Yeah well I can’t squat without showing my ass to their pervy dads so it looks like you’re taking one for the team,” Despite the jovial tone it was clear that was an order, “Nah, you don’t want bratty kids telling you what they want for Christmas. At least here we get to interact with people over the age of eight.” 

“Alright, so no Dairy’s then.” He laughed at her comment, knowing just how true it was. “Last year was… an exception. I’d be down to watch it if you are.” He looked at the ground as they walked, his eyes on the white snow and Lexi who trotted before them. “Last year was an adventure wasn’t it?” he mentioned as casually as he possibly could. He should have let the topic drop, but for some reason he found himself thinking about it like he had many times before. Christmas, New Year’s Eve. It was all a giant whirlwind of emotions between the two best friends. It wan’t until after the fact that she had revealed to him she had feelings at the end of the prior year. How badly he had wished she told him then. Things between them and Rory Daniels wouldn’t have been so complicated. 

Tilly’s mouth suddenly felt very dry, a sudden intake of breath following the direct comment that Eric had made about the last year. Sure, she’d been the one to bring it up but she hadn’t expected him to actually continue the conversation - just nod and then awkwardly shift onto another topic before it came up again and they had another opportunity to dance around it. “Yeah,” She agreed, less because she did and more because she couldn’t think straight to formulate a proper answer. Of course the last year had been an adventure. If she thought back to this same time last December everything had been different. They were best friends, planning a stupid prank and since then they’d confessed their feelings to one another, gotten together, fallen in love and subsequently fallen apart. It was almost crazy to think of the roller coaster they’d had in just 12 months, that this time last year she’d never have believed everything that would happen but she certainly wouldn’t even consider that they would be apart. They’d always been best friends after all. She cleared her throat, breaking her own train of thought and quick to move on, “Yeah it was. You put the decorations up yet?” Maybe that wasn’t the best segway, considering they had always done that together - she’d even foregone looking over at the Bradford house in the likely event he’d done it without her, but it was the best she could think of it the moment.

“I, uh, yeah. I guess I’ll take it,” he says, reaching out to hold the cane-shaped candy. It’s probably the path of least resistance or whatever they call it. He wouldn’t want to risk upsetting Tilly with a cup of hot chocolate in hand. It’s once he has the candy cane that he finally notices what Tilly is dressed up as. “Uhhh.” He presses his lips together to keep from making a reaction he assumes Tilly might not like. Instead he asks, “Was this like, a punishment for you or..? I mean, not that you look bad or anything. I just didn’t think Santa’s Village was your thing.” He doesn’t mean it in a malicious way or anything too, he’s honestly just curious. It really doesn’t seem like Tilly’s vibe. Not that he knows her well at all or anything. Other than she’s kind of a bitch and super popular.

Tilly rolled her eyes, unimpressed by Bellamy’s lack of cooperativeness - really she was beginning to question Imogen’s judgement, first with Aiden and now this clown - but at least he hadn’t made a scene like last time. It was the Christmas Market after all, they were meant to be full of cheer, and she doubted Penelope would take kindly to one the small children present being traumatised by Santa’s little helper injuring one of her fellow students. She rose an eyebrow, obviously unimpressed with his line of questioning regardless of his warning of no offence or its validity, “What? I’m not allowed Christmas spirit?” Her arms crossed over her chest, glare still pointed as she answered truthfully, “Penelope and I talked about it ages ago, she thought I should still be a part of it. What about you? Or are you just sulking in the corner being awkward about candy canes?”

Violet laughed at Tilly’s question, glancing back at Imogen’s father before looking back at Tilly once more. “He’s a miracle worker, to be honest. I don’t know he does it, but they’re just as good as my grandmother’s. It’s another Hanukkah miracle.”

“I’m not so much a photographer as much as I am someone with an iPhone and a desire to have all the memories in the world of Eric Bradford in an elf suit.” It’s a mystery to Tristan how Eric still manages to look cool in an elf get-up. But that’s Eric for you. It’s impossible for him to come off lame. “I figured since the Bradfords are all so busy bringing Christmas cheer to the children of Northlake that I’d snap some memories for them. Penelope would appreciate it.” He smiles a little. What begun as something that was perhaps selfish now has a new purpose that will likely earn him points with his pseudo-family. “I do, actually,” Tristan says before he thinks, already reaching into his pocket for his phone. It slips his mind that he has 2 or 3 photos on there that are solely Tilly. He opens up his gallery and selects the first photo that isn’t just Eric in all his elf glory and hands his phone to the Bee. It’s a candid wide shot with the Bradfords and Tilly in action. Everyone’s all smiles and it looks good, so Tilly likely won’t have a problem with it. But you never know with her. Tristan should only hope Tilly doesn’t have an itchy swipe thumb because the photos escalate from wide shots of everyone to just the elves and then a few photos of just Tilly. Tilly the way Tristan sees her.

Tilly laughed, having seen the sight with her own eyes all day she could only imagine just how glorious the pictures were. She almost asked Tristan to send her some before thinking better of it, her old pictures might be stored safely between the cloud and an old shoebox under her bed, but having pictures of her ex on her phone made her seem needy and as though she hadn’t moved on. Maybe she hadn’t, but it was nice to at least pretend she had. Besides, she didn’t know if Justin would fix her phone without judgement the next Imogen threw her phone out a window and she didn’t need her best friend’s nerdy little brother thinking he had anything over her. She wasn’t sure what to expect from the photos as Tristan willingly began to show her, considering he seemed intent on embarrassing Eric who knew what shockers he’d manage to capture of her. Apparently he’d been kind, her hand gripping the phone as she smiled at the screen. “That’s a nice one,” She commented almost absentmindedly, so focused on how happy they all looked together than she hadn’t even noticed her finger instinctively swiping left. “That one too,” She hadn’t realised how fabulous her legs looked in her skirt until seeing the photos...and then she noticed something else. “I hadn’t realised you were so close,” Sounding confused, she looked from the screen up to the owner of the phone. Had he zoomed in on her?

Emerson couldn’t believe that Tilly was still volunteering after she had broken up with Eric. She had to commend the girl; she was handling things better than Emerson thought the girl would. “Uh… I think nice?” she asked, uncertain of the fact both objectively and in Tilly’s mind. “I’ve got to hand it to you, you actually make being an elf look good. I don’t know how you do it.”

with a grin she caught the tossed candy cane, smiling at their favourite christmas treat as she pulled it open. “ you know, i’d like to say no because i have the prizes, but i’m wearing so many layers i really don’t know if i’d feel it if it didn’t hit me in the face. ” she admitted, chuckle following her words. “ odd follow up question but you haven’t seen blake around, have you? i haven’t seen him all day. ” she asked, confident that if anyone would know: it would be tilly. 

Watching Anne dig into her own candy cane, Tilly dug into her bucket to get one for herself. Sure she was meant to be giving them out, but having just one herself wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Sucking on the treat, she looked her friend once over for any obviously snow prints, granted that was a little hard considering just how bad their Winter was, before shrugging, “You look safe.” She crinkled her brow, torn between asking what exactly her best friend needed the redhead for and simply answering. She decided on the latter, “Not today. Isn’t he meant to be cutting the firewood? Less weird segway, he started asking about my Christmas present last week - he thinks he was being subtle, but don’t be shocked if he asks for advice.”

Was she talking… to him? Bellamy slows to a stop in his tracks, turning to face Tilly and simultaneously kind of regretting that he has a cup of hot chocolate in hand right now because who knows if Tilly might dump that on him too. “Uhhh, did you mean that… to me?” He asks, clearly very confused. But he looks behind Tilly and sees the whole set-up so maybe she’s just trying to be a good elf in Santa’s Village or something.

Tilly rolled her eyes, dropping the extended hand before she fulfilled the sudden urge to facepalm. “I have to offer it to everybody,” She explained, very cautious that Bellamy didn’t somehow think that he was specially singled out and now considered a friend - although hadn’t Imogen told her that he wasn’t too terrible after the water bottle incident? Still her friend’s advice didn’t seem to matter to Tilly as she stuck the candy back in the boy’s direction, more aggressively offering, “Well? Do you want one or not?”

Cole took his hat off and hung it over his shoulder. He ran his fingers through his hair, grimacing at the buildup of sweat. Gross. “Alright, alright,” he said, withholding another eye-roll. Cole would refute Tilly’s remark, but he wasn’t doing anything different. He joined the lacrosse team right after moving into town and didn’t really branch out from there. Maybe that would be a New Year’s resolution. This was probably stupid, but he felt bad for not knowing those guys that went missing last month. Sure, it would’ve been worse actually knowing two dead people, but in the aftermath, they were just names to him and that…that didn’t really sit well with him. Cole shook his head. He wasn’t going down that train. Gotta keep up the Christmas spirit for the kids, yeah?

He laughed, watching Tilly pose. “If only I had your self-confidence in, I don’t know, fucking calculus or something. God, that class gives me anxiety.” Cole shifted his weight until the other foot. “So, what made you sign up for this booth? Trying to get on Santa’s good side?”

Tilly scrunched up her nose in disgust as she watched Cole trail his hands through his sweaty hair, subconsciously tossing her own curls over her shoulder. Unlike the boy in front of her, the fact that the Queen Bee didn’t care about those around her even after they went missing should have came as a shock to nobody - maybe if you were new in town, but most of their peers knew better than to expect so much. “Please don’t make this day worse by talking about calculus,” She moaned, reminding exactly why it was important that she keep on track with graduating and not allowing herself to spiral back down that awful rabbit hole. She rubbed her lips together, sparing a glance back at the happy family behind her before she answered, “Penelope and I talked about it ages ago and she didn’t think it was fair that I didn’t get to be a part of it just because Eric and I broke up.” The nonchalant shrug was meant to seem like she didn’t care all that much, but it came off a little weak. 

“I’m only a little disappointed but I know your parents are here so we can save it for another time.” he retorted, eyeing off Mr and Mrs Claus. “If you can get me into that man’s arms,” he started quickly, “I’d owe you.”

“Actually my Grandma brought me. Apparently Tripp was needed elsewhere,” It wasn’t as thought Tilly was that disappointed that her parents couldn’t be there, in fact she almost seemed happy to be catching glimpses of Frances instead - and not just because she tampered with the hot coco. She laughed, looking over her shoulder to Harrison before turning back to Aiden quickly, “You wanna see the big guy? You must have been a good boy this year.”

“Ah, I’m sure Santa will forgive me for my misdemeanors,” Cole said with a grin. “Maybe you haven’t met the right kind of people yet.” He shrugged. Sure, the cheerleaders hung out with the jocks a lot, but they didn’t usually cheer at lacrosse games. Cole only saw Tilly in passing at parties and it was a little weird being with her now despite their circles. 

He rolled his eyes teasingly at Tilly’s exclamation. It was true, but the costume seemed to be designed to flatter girls more. And Tilly was one of those girls that could pull off anything, even a potato sack, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. 

“This is Northlake, anybody that I don’t know obviously isn’t worth knowing,” Tilly pointed out. Of course if you asked her anybody who wasn’t at the top of the social ladder, on her level, was hardly worth a glance. Even if she didn’t know Cole very well she’d rather stand outside the grotto with him than intrude on the family she’d long been considered part of before the nasty way things ended. She might not be at her ex’s throat anymore - and she still adored the older Bradfords - but she didn’t need to reminded of the distance she’d had to implement and how different it had been before. “Don’t be jealous,” She laughed, jutting her hip out as though to prove just how much better she looked, “Not everybody can be this perfect.”

“Naughty. But in a past life maybe,” Cole answered, scratching at his neck. “I don’t know what I did then to deserve this.” The collar of his vest was a little rough on his skin, but he did sign up for it. The heat of the gym certainly didn’t help with all these bodies moving around. He sighed. Oh, well. Struggle built character and all that jazz. And the company wasn’t so bad. “At least, you look nice. I just look like a Chinese bootleg of Buddy the Elf.” Cole chuckled.

“I literally don’t think there’s a kid in Northlake who can say they’re on Santa’s nice list this year,” Tilly laughed, her eyes flickering around the room. Of course she wasn’t exempt, in fact she might even have a permanent spot on life’s bad list, it was a pity good things always happened to the wrong sort of people. “Of course I look nice,” She shot back, snorting as she observed Cole’s obvious uncomfortableness. It seemed at least Mrs Bradford had been nice while picking out her costume.

although inside the gym wasn’t hot, it was certainly far warmer than it was outside and as a result anne had peeled off her gloves, undone her coat and had it hanging off her shoulders as she wandered through the fair. spotting tilly in elf costume she’d quickly wandered over, answering her question “ naughty, always ” with a little shimmy of her shoulders and a grin. “ how’s life being santa’s little helper? ”

If Tilly didn’t love Anne so much she’d be incredibly jealous of her lack of costume - not only because she felt ridiculous in her holiday themed getup but also because it was proving to provide next to no warmth. At least she didn’t have to stand outside for a snowman competition though. “I don’t even know why I asked,” She laughed, tossing the candy cane over to her friend, “Oh a delight. Any kids hit you with a snowball yet?”

Damn. The leather jacket. He should’ve went with that one. Next time. “I, uh… I’ll keep it in mind. December’s long. I think it has time to make a reappearance.” And it’ll definitely be his leather jacket this time. Not Eric’s. “Oh, Eric made a decent attempt at recruiting me. You know, he has a way with words. But I managed to opt out. I figured: with a future of being seen with Nik ahead of me, I’ll try to reduce the embarrassing situations I’m in. Besides, I probably can’t pull off an elf outfit like you can. I’m genuinely impressed you’ve somehow managed to make it a Look.” He tries to make it a subtle glance at her but he thinks he fails, eyes darting back up quickly to meet her gaze. “I’ll settle for being a behind the scenes photographer. I have a couple of good shots already.”

“We live in Wisconsin, a jacket is required all year round,” Tilly laughed, pulling her own coat closer to her chest as she reminded herself of just how cold they were. She was almost jealous of Tristan, wishing she could have been strong enough to say no to Penelope’s insistence that it definitely wouldn’t be awkward - it was, she still hadn’t been able to look Harrison in the eye after the whole incident. “I never knew you were a photographer,” That at least was true, despite the multiple dates he’d crashed, it was hardly news that she didn’t know much about the boy in front of her. “You know if you have any of me in there I expect to see them,” She might have been smiling but she wasn’t joking. As if she was letting the wrong photo make its way into the school paper...or worse, the yearbook. 

“I don’t know how well my coat will go with your…” He looks Tilly up and down. “…get-up but whatever you want, I’ll hand over.” That’s a little forward but also true. “In the name of being a gentleman, so–” He adds to cover up his slip-up. This is all just in the name of gentlemanly behavior, right? And it’s not like that outfit offers much protection from the cold. He’s being considerate. “Aw c’mon, I feel like Santa can spare his helper for a moment longer. At least finish your drink you know, you’ve been working hard.” It’s a lame excuse, but it’s nice to spend time with Tilly after slumming it with Nik for so long.

Tristan might have had a point about the outfit, it was a miracle she was managing to pull it off without an extra obstacle, but Tilly couldn’t help but chuckle at his eagerness. “Anything I want?” She questioned, the small laughter still running through her voice, her eyes glancing over him. “You should have worn leather,” She said, her mind travelling back to their conversation at Halloween. Sure, it had mostly been a guise to get some points, but it hadn’t all been lies. She still made no move to actually go back into the gym, even relaxing as she said, “I’m surprised Eric didn’t talk you into this.”