The Perk | Tuesday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

So the thing about waking up with a single, kind of unsatisfying cookie on your pillow is that it simply wasn't enough. Like, not only was it weird and mysterious as to how the hell a cookie got there, it was also just, like, a single cookie.

Thus, after her workout, Annie had headed into the Perk to get several more cookies, which she happily took over to a window seat with her accompanying peppermint mocha. And while, yes, she was answering emails on her phone (someone at Vought had finally deigned to answer a question Annie had sent over in September), she was also finishing up some last-minute Christmas shopping.

First of all: yes, December 8th was last minute. And really, she was pretty much done, but then she just kept stumbling across things she'd think people would like and adding them to little virtual carts. (Which was how Annie was going to also end up needing to get some more wrapping paper, while she was at it.)

The sheer festiveness of drinking a Christmas drink and eating Christmassy cookies while Christmas shopping had her in a very merry little mood.

[I have been given the holiday gift of an unexpected day off. Open!]

Comments

[bookbeltof_love]

"No, I think it's amazing he can do what he does," she agreed, nodding. She really did. "I mean, like, it helps that he's friends with the prince but if I was in his shoes-------even with my best friends, I don't want to be with them every minute of the day, every day, and always doing what's on their schedule, you know???????"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And like, what if you want to do something different?" Annie wondered. "Though there is totally a really good movie where, like, a woman falls in love with her bodyguard and it's really romantic." Plus, like, the greatest Whitney Houston song. "But I'm gonna say that's an exception, rather than the rule."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Ohmygosh, right????? Like, I've totally read so many romance novels where the dashing bodyguard falls for the princess he's guarding....... "

Nina sighed, a bit dreamily.

"But, like, I don't know that I'd want someone guarding me all the time anyway either, if I turned the scenario around......." Nina giggled. "In at least one weird weekend, I wind up a queen and I bet my bodyguards are so overworked trying to keep up with me........"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, no, I could like, never be president or queen or anything," Annie agreed, because that of course was the only reason she was not qualified for such a position. "I'd be tripping over my secret service all the time, and I do way too much, like, deciding I'm going for a run at five-thirty because I can't sleep or randomly running out because I have an Almond Joy craving."

[bookbeltof_love]

"My guards would just never be able to find me and, like, I'm pretty sure that's bad form in the world of bodyguards if you keep losing your charge..........."

Nina considered that thoughtfully.

"Though Dad's pretty good at tracking me down and he worked as a bodyguard......."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That is true," said Annie, whose player felt terrible for her egregious oversight a moment prior. "I thought I might've seen you getting busted at a certain party."

Annie had been pretty busy, what with her various drunken activities, but she was pretty sure she had heard someone getting middle-named, maybe.

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina squirmed a little, then laughed.

"I can't deny that!!!!!!!!" she admitted. "Though, like, he did let me stay with the caveat of walking me home!!!!!!!!"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, props for even trying," Annie said, nodding. "I would have never even attempted to crash a party at your age."

Let's be real: Annie would probably still not try to crash a party at her current, not-that-much-older age.