There were many, many ways to spend one's Christmas Eve, and if previously asked, never in his life would Zack have pictured himself actually choosing to willingly spend the aforementioned date with his girlfriend's mother.
Now, Elmyra was a fine lady and she made the best stew he had ever tasted in his young life; however, Aeris and him had only been going out for a couple of weeks—could anyone really blame him for dreading any kind of interaction with the woman who gave him the evil eye every time she caught them kissing, letting him know without any need for words that she knew exactly what he wanted to do to her young only daughter and just what she thought of his attempts at corrupting her sweet, pure innocence with his devious advances?
"Zack?"
The soft call disrupted the eerie silence that he had somehow not acknowledged before, and allowed him in turn to return from his unsettling musings.
"Hmm?"
"You've been standing in front of the door without saying a word for about five minutes and I was getting hungry, so I figured I would check whether you had made up your mind yet. Are you coming in or should I tell my mom you ran for the hills?"
There was a playful tone to her question, yet Zack knew better than to ignore the uncertainty hidden behind the otherwise teasing remark. They had only been going out briefly, but it had taken him weeks of hard work to convince the brunette to accept to go out with him on a date in the first place. Needless to say, he had had a fairly long time to study her and the little signs which betrayed the underlying question beneath her inquiry. It was still hard to believe that a girl so beautiful and full of confidence could have such a hard time convincing herself that his interest in her was true.
He was awfully aware that it was a time to choose his words carefully, and he was very surprised at the ease with which the right words just seemed to come to him in response to the hidden question in her eyes. A gentle smile settled itself on his lips, and he found his right hand emerging from the confines of his pocket to stroke the cool, soft skin of her face in a reassuring gesture. Aeris seemed to relax slightly into his touch, eyes drifting closed as she nuzzled the palm with a smile that lightened up her face and that made Zack's heart skip a beat with its beauty.
"And to miss your mom's cooking? You'd have to kill me first."
There was no doubt in his mind. His voice was full of gentle playfulness, and he felt himself breath easier as his words drew a giggle from the girl.
"That's what I thought." She took hold of his right arm, wrapping both of hers tightly around it and resting her face against his shoulder with a contented expression,"Always thinking with your stomach. Well," She paused to shoot a sidelong glance in his direction, "Don't eat too much, or you won't have enough room for dessert And that'd be a shame." She grinned up at him, releasing his arm with one last squeeze and running into the household with only a mischievous wink over her shoulder directed his way.
Zack stood there a moment, attempting to make sense of her words and the reason for her having ran off, when his face turned about three different shades of red as he finally came to realize that Aeris was probably not talking about whatever dessert her mother had prepared for them. He gave a growl which had nothing to do with anger and more to do with his own reaction to her statement, and followed her quickly inside, snorting in amusement at his own previous thoughts regarding Elmyra's concerns about their relationship as he chased his still giggling girlfriend into the living room.
Corrupting the "innocent young girl" was not likely to happen. Elmyra obviously had nothing to worry about. Now him, on the other hand...