Chapter 1: Black and Rose Gold

A Pleasant Melody wakes Tris from her deep sleep, and she taps the green icon on her phone, glaring at the photo of her and her best friend from her birthday party.

"What?" Tris groans into the phone.

"Tris, please. I woke up late and I'm supposed to be at Sofia's. Please, please, please, will you go in early for me?" Christina asks in a panic.

Tris groans again in protest, but she'll do it. Christina lives a good thirty minutes from the mall, while Tris only lives five. Also, Christina wears four times as much makeup, so she takes way longer to get ready. "Fine."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Christina squeals. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Tell Sofia I'm sorry!"

"Yeah, yeah," Tris says, swinging her legs over the edge of her bed, and letting her feet hit the cold hardwood.

"I owe you one! Gotta go!" Christina hangs up before Tris can even respond. She sets her phone down and heads into her bathroom to get ready. So much for the evening shift she was so excited about. She really doesn't mind though. She loves working at Sofia's. The little boutique and the other girls she works with have become her family, and Sofia is like their mother.

She quickly gets ready for the day. As soon as she steps outside, she shakes her head. "Nope," she mumbles to herself. Tris goes back inside, puts on a heavier winter coat and a pair of gloves, and then decides she is okay to face the cold Chicago winter.

Tris takes her car to the strip mall, just a short drive from her apartment. She parks in the back, and realizes she is the first one there when she needs to unlock the back door. During business hours, it's always open because Sofia likes to enjoy a cigarette in the back – every hour, on the hour.

Tris enters the back of the shop, turning on lights as she goes. She makes her way to the registers and powers them on. They're powered by computers, so they take a minute to warm up. She goes back into the break room and leaves her jacket and her purse in her locker. Making her way back to the front, she organizes and cleans little things she sees until she deems it ready for opening. The registers beep, signaling that they are ready for the day, so she goes to them. Just now does she realize the date: the Sunday before Christmas.

"Oh God," she mutters. The Sunday before Christmas is comparable to Black Friday in the shop. Everybody is trying to get their last minute gifts. It's also comparable to Valentine's Day as far as a tally of male shoppers goes. With that thought, Tris powers on the extra register in addition before going back to the break room to search for a quick breakfast. She shuffles through the fridge until she finds an apple.

A noise behind her startles her and she looks up to see Sofia. "Tris, why are you here so early?" Sofia asks.

"Christina woke up late," Tris says.

Sofia looks totally unsurprised. "Again, that girl!" Tris just nods. "She's lucky to have an early rising friend like you!" Sofia laughs as she leaves the break room.

Tris quickly eats her apple, leaving five minutes for a bathroom break before they have to open. When she comes out of the bathroom, she finds Marlene perched at the counter, flipping through one of the shop's catalogues, and Tori tapping away on the screen of the end register.

"Hey, Tris! Covering for Sleeping Beauty this morning?" Marlene laughs, jumping down from the counter.

"How'd you know?" Tris asks in mock surprise. She goes to the window and turns on the open sign. A light-up white, gold, and light pink sign Sofia made – one of her do-it-yourself projects that actually went really well. The shop gets compliments on it all the time.

Customers are already walking around outside, so it's just a matter of time before a few begin filing in. Tris goes back to the registers next to Marlene. Marlene is always smiling, so much so that the girls have nicknamed her Smiley – just the same as Christina's nickname, Sleeping Beauty. Tori is like their older sister, the one who will hang out with them if all of her other friends are busy, but prefers to keep to herself.

"Is anyone else coming today?" Tris asks as the girls wait.

"Other than us, I saw Shauna's name on the schedule, but last I talked to her she sounded kind of sick. Molly and Lynn are on the schedule too, but who knows with them." Tris nods. Molly and Lynn have been known to just not show up to work. Sofia is on the brink of firing Molly, but she keeps Lynn around because she is crazy fast at her job.

The first customer enters the shop as Tris is about to respond. It's a man. "How can we help you today?" Marlene asks as she approaches him. Tris watches as Marlene leads him to a shelf of pants.

Sofia's women's boutique happens to be pretty popular in Chicago, with items that are classier and quieter than typical, larger department stores. Walking into Sofia's is like walking into a cotton ball. It's light and inviting. This time of year, there are less pastels and more warm colors on the shelves, but they're all pretty muted – not overtaking the neutral colors next to them. The walls are an ivory color with flecks of gold, and the floors are the same but in the form of large, shiny tiles. The shop has a uniform, yet creative feel that is unique, and part of why Tris loves working here.

Marlene checks the man out at her register just as another group walks in. It looks to be a mother and two daughters, and they go directly to the shoes. Tris doesn't bother asking them if they need assistance because by the determined look on their faces, they clearly don't.

The rest of the day goes by, and to say it was busy would be the understatement of the year. They had a line out the door all day. Christina and Shauna both eventually came, helping out at the registers. Lynn came too, restocking the shelves at the speed of light. Marlene was helping customers shop, and Tris worked the fourth register. They all had to work as quickly as possible, in a pitiful attempt to keep the lines short.

The store usually closes at ten, but they stayed open until eleven, simply because there were still people shopping. Finally, they shut down the registers and sorted through the tornado-like destruction that was the shop. Clothes, shoes, handbags, and accessories were strewn all over the shop. Sofia herself was ecstatic about how she'd never seen her shop in so much chaos; she loved it. Tris is the last remaining employee, because Sofia's husband called and begged her to come home. Tris is exhausted, but she doesn't mind. She finds the quiet, empty shop peaceful and beautiful, and she definitely doesn't mind the overtime Sofia is going to pay her.

Tris sighs as a shirt falls off its hanger and onto the floor. She picks it up as a sudden tap on the window behind her startles her half to death. She whips around and squints out into the darkness to see a tall man standing on the other side of the window. He looks frantic, and usually she would dismiss him as crazy, and probably dangerous, and ignore him, but something about him intrigues her, and she approaches the window cautiously.

"Please tell me you're still open," he says, his voice muffled from the other side of the glass. Tris stares in shock, but automatically shakes her head. She watches a puff of breath leave his mouth in response, visible by the freezing temperature outside. He bends his neck and rests his forehead on the glass. She hears him mutter something, but she can't hear what. He looks up at her again and his eyes are pleading. "Please, my sister will kill me if I forget her Christmas present… again."

He watches through the window as the short young woman cracks a smile. His expression reminds her of her own brother. She stares at him for a moment, and he watches as she takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. She nods, and he smiles. She looks into his eyes, and something about him tells her that it's okay. She doesn't know what crazy part of her brain sent that signal, but she opens the door.

"Thank you so much," he says graciously as he steps inside. His voice is deep, and she feels as though the sound waves from him go straight into her core. As he walks past her and she shuts the door, she catches a hint of his scent. He smells manly, and like something straight out of a very expensive perfume shop. "I really appreciate this." She has the sudden urge to touch the short, dark stubble on his cheek, though she has no idea why. His dark eyes look black, and it takes her a moment to realize there are actually blue.

"No problem," she says, shaking herself from her stare. He stares at her for a second too long, too, looking at the peculiar gray-blue color of her eyes. She clears her throat. "Is there anything I can help you find?"

He nods as he takes his phone out from his jacket pocket. He taps on it a few times before showing her a picture. "My sister has been hinting at one of these since her birthday." Tris looks at the picture of a black, leather, hobo style bag with rose gold hardware. "She said this store would probably have it."

Tris nods and leads him to the wide array of purses. Sofia has a certain place in her heart for handbags, so the shop carries more than what is normal for a shop that doesn't specialize in them. Tris quickly sorts through the shelves and finds one nearly identical to the photo. "Will this work?"

He looks at the bag and smiles. "That is perfect. Thank you so much," he pauses to read her name tag, "Tris." She returns his smile, stunned by the perfection of his. A full bottom lip and a spare upper lip framed a row of perfect, white teeth, forming a very sexy smile that reaches his eyes.

They walk to the counter, and she checks him out at the register. She scans the bag and tells him, "This will be 465.49." He nods and hands her five 100 dollar bills. She wonders momentarily what he does for a living to carry around cash like that. As he hands her the money, she can't help but look at his left hand and notice no ring on any of his fingers. She does notice a colorful bracelet made of string and beads peeking out from the sleeve of his coat, which she thinks is a bit strange. A weight drops on her chest when she realized that even if he isn't married, he must have kids.

She shakes her head internally, and he watches as she expertly wraps up the purse in the custom gift wrapping. She retrieves his change and holds both out to him. He takes the purse with a small smile. "Merry Christmas," he says with a nod of his head, and he turns to walk away.

"Wait," she says. "Don't you want your change?" It's just short of 35 dollars, and she doesn't understand as he shakes his head.

"Merry Christmas," he says again, stopping to look at her one last time. "Thank you for opening the store for me." She stands in shock, with the money left in her hand as he smiles and leaves the store.

"Thank you, and you, too," she says quietly, even though he is gone, leaving her in a daze.

Author's Note: Hello, everybody! I wanted to have this up for Christmas, but it just wasn't ready. I really miss writing, and this was so much fun to do. I don't have much time in life at all, but I've decided I don't care. I want to write, even if it's not often.

This will be a story. How long, I don't know. I also have zero idea how often I'll update.

I love you guys, so I hope this is okay with you. In the beginning of each chapter, I'll give a short summary of what happened in the previous, just to remind you. It may be entirely direct quotes, or it may be just me telling you. It may be long, or it may be short - either way, I hope it is helpful. Of course, let me know if it's not, and I won't do it.

Sorry that this note was so long, and please enjoy this story!
-GerdyGertha