#gamecfchance

eden watches, a little too closely, as he pulls the little lacy number out of the bag. it’s become a bit of a game of sorts for her but she does her best not to grin, chin tucking down towards her chest as she at least attempts to appear bashful. she doesn’t pull it off very well. “i don’t know — it might look good on you,” she muses, reaching out to unhook it from his finger and looking over him slowly as if she was trying to work it out. “but it is maybe for the best we don’t find out. i paid a lot of money for this, you know. so it’s awfully considerate of you to bring it down for me.”

the crisp december air bites at cecelia’s cheeks as she wanders through the rows of particularly enormous trees, her boots crunching against the frost-kissed ground. the christmas tree farm bustles with families, their laughter carrying on the wind, but she barely notices. she’s too busy scanning the options, looking for the perfect one to drag back to her father’s house. it’s tradition, after all. every year, she's tasked to come pick out the tree, and every year, she pretends not to feel the weight of all the things she hasn’t done, all the places she hasn’t gone. but the choice has been made. the choice has been made for years. years since she stayed behind while everyone else left. years since they left. cecelia shakes her head, forcing the thought away. she doesn’t have time for 'what ifs.' not today. not ever. she reaches out to touch the needles of a particularly full douglas fir, her fingers brushing against the soft green. it’s perfect. just the right height, just the right shape. she’s about to call out to the farmhand when a voice stops her cold. her breath catches in her throat. she knows that voice. she’d know it anywhere. slowly, she turns, her heart pounding in her chest.

"i don't wanna fuck with your head, please. it really is breaking my heart to keep breaking yours again ... this situationship has to end." steff avoids their gaze. she knows she can't refuse them if they so much as bat their eyes.