Yellow was about ready to strangle the next person who tried to blame her for the fact that all the popular Christmas items their store had advertised were out of stock. She'd been at work since the ungodly hour of six because her coworker had oh-so-conveniently come down with a cold the week of Christmas and couldn't make her shift, leaving Yellow to take it. She'd already dealt with hundreds of annoyed and annoying customers, and she was genuinely considering smashing the whole intercom system to pieces so she wouldn't have to hear it play "Jingle Bells" for the thousandth time.
"Next customer," she called in the direction of the line.
A slender wisp of a woman came to stand in front of her, with hair dyed a pastel blue that had no right to look so perfect on anyone. "Good morning," she said, before Yellow even remembered that that was supposed to be her line.
"Good morning," she returned, eyes darting to the plastic bag that had been set on the counter. "Are you here to make a return?
"Yes, please," the woman said quietly, hands darting to her purse and pulling out a receipt. "I bought my friend this DVD, but when she opened it, the disc had a scratch on it…"
"I'm sorry to hear that," Yellow replied blandly, reaching for it. "If you're interested in a replacement copy, I can check and see if we have any in stock." They didn't, because another customer had just asked her about it, but she would go through the motions.
"No, that's alright, thank you." She smiled, adjusting the blue knitted scarf that was looped around her neck. "She's going out of state for the holidays, so I'll wait for the after-Christmas sales."
"Smart," Yellow commented, then lowered her voice. "You'll save at least five dollars."
The woman laughed. "Thanks."
"I'll need to see your credit card," she added.
She handed it to Yellow quickly. "How's business today?"
She looked over to the rest of the shop, which was overcrowded and messy. "Loud," Yellow muttered. "But I suppose that means business is good."
"True." She accepted the credit card and receipt that were passed to her, signing quickly. "Thank you for the help," she said, genuinely grateful as Yellow finished the return. "Happy holidays."
"Happy holidays," Yellow repeated with a faint smile.
She was back the next day and Yellow wouldn't have noticed but for the cheerful "Hello again!" and the distinctive hair and the way everything about her radiated warm.
"Hi," Yellow replied. "What's the problem?"
"Oh, there isn't one. It just turns out I need the next size up, my cousin's had a growth spurt." She held up a kids' shirt.
"Okay. If you go pick out a new one, I can exchange them for you."
When the woman returned, she placed the neatly folded shirt on the counter and leaned forward slightly. "Are you working through the holidays?"
"All week," she confirmed, nodding.
"Even Christmas?" she asked sympathetically.
"Yeah, but the store's only open part of the day."
"I hope you still have time to see your family."
"Haven't got any around here," Yellow said bluntly. It was a white lie; technically she didn't have any at all, but she wasn't going to tell a stranger that. It was hardly the cheerful small talk they told her to give the customers. "Here you go," she said, handing over a new bag and placing the receipt inside. "Hope your cousin likes it, after all this trouble."
"I'm sure he will," she said with a smile. "Happy holidays, again."
"Happy holidays."
It was absolutely freezing and Yellow only had a plain blouse and two thin sweaters she'd grabbed from her car, layered on semi-professionally to try and stay warm.
Of course the store's heater had broken. Of course.
She hated the cold. She hated that there were still hundreds of people swarming in. She especially hated that she had to stay at the returns counter and couldn't do something that required less interaction with irritated customers.
"Returns?" she asked the next one, not even looking up.
"I'm afraid so."
The soft, melodic voice made Yellow snap to attention. The cute one from before, she realized. She was wearing the same huge scarf wrapped around her neck, coupled with a tacky Christmas sweater that made Yellow cringe but looked invitingly cozy and warm compared to her own ensemble.
"It turns out my mom already bought one of these," she continued, placing a large bag on the counter.
Yellow glanced down at the bag. "You couldn't bring it in with the DVD or the shirt?"
The woman looked mildly surprised that she remembered. "I only just found out," she said apologetically.
"It's fine, it's fine." Yellow ran through the usual routine.
"It's rather cold in here today," she said conversationally.
"Should be fixed by tomorrow," she replied, trying not to shiver. "We apologize for the inconvenience."
"I doubt it was your fault," she returned lightly. "Here," she added suddenly, unwinding the scarf from her neck. "Take this."
"What? No, I can't do that," Yellow said, looking alarmed.
"You must be freezing having to stand here all day right by the doors." She held it out again. "Really, I don't mind, I made a whole bunch of them as gifts."
"No, honestly, I'm fine. I don't even know you." She passed the receipt across quickly. "Have a nice day."
She was heading out to lunch when her manager stopped her and handed over a small gift bag (purchased from their own store; she recognized it) and told her that a friend had dropped it off for her.
Yellow opened it up to find a familiar, neatly folded scarf and a small note.
Merry (early) Christmas! Keep warm! -Blue
She rolled her eyes and slipped the scarf on tightly before walking out.
"Welcome back," Yellow said dryly as a familiar face appeared at her register the next day. "What are you returning this time?"
"What? Oh!" Blue pulled her eyes away from the scarf Yellow still had tied around her neck, a warm blush appearing on her cheeks. "This watch; it doesn't seem to be working properly."
"Right." Yellow watched her out of the corner of her eye as she got things started up. "Do you always leave Christmas presents for strangers?"
"No, but you looked like you were going to murder someone and I figured I'd be doing everyone a favor by keeping you warm."
She snorted, surprised by the bluntness in the response. "You're not wrong."
"I'm Blue, by the way."
"It said on your note." She jabbed a finger at her nametag. "Yellow. Apparently we both have horribly uncreative parents."
"Mine's a nickname."
"Shame, just me then." Yellow tugged lightly at the scarf. "Thanks, by the way. You're one of the few customers I might actually be starting to like."
"That sounds like a great honor," she laughed, covering her mouth with one hand. "Thank you for being patient with me, I'm usually not so absent-minded about these kinds of errands."
"Uh huh." Yellow narrowed her eyes as she handed over a pen and receipt. "See you tomorrow."
"See you tomor—" Blue broke off suddenly, face bright red. "I mean—bye!" She scribbled down her name and rushed off, leaving Yellow trying to hide a smirk as the next customer came up to the counter.
Blue came in a grand total of seven times that week, once per day, and also came up with increasingly vague and unbelievable excuses to return items each time.
Yellow found she didn't mind it too much, and she actually started looking forward to seeing her each morning, especially as the constant holiday cheer continued to wear her down.
What she wouldn't give for some quiet.
She didn't expect Blue to come in at all on Christmas but she did, filtering in just before closing with a small crowd of last-minute shoppers. Seeing that—by some miracle—there was no line, she came straight over to Yellow.
"Hi," Blue said, cheeks flushed from the wind and cold.
"Hi." Yellow looked her up and down. "You're not going to pretend to return something today?"
She looked away, ears red as she tucked her hair back. "I just wanted to wish you a merry Christmas. And, um, this is for you." She placed a small box on the counter, complete with an immaculate ribbon. "You said you didn't have family to celebrate with and, well, I just thought you might be a bit lonely working on Christmas Day." Blue pushed it across the counter. "You don't have to open it now, just…whenever you have time. I know you're not really supposed to stand around talking to people while you're working."
Yellow stared down at it, trying not to be touched by the effort and failing miserably.
"I'm sorry, this is weird," she said quickly, misinterpreting her expression.
"No," she said quickly, voice sounding odd to her own ears. "No, this is—thank you."
"You're welcome," Blue replied faintly.
"I have another half hour," Yellow said awkwardly, "but, uh, if you're not busy…"
"I'll wait," she said, looking relieved.
"You don't have a Christmas dinner to get to?" she asked doubtfully.
"My family likes to have Christmas lunch, actually. Don't even talk to me about food right now, I'll be sick."
Yellow smirked. "Okay. I'll meet you by the door then. Feel free to browse if you can find anything in this mess."
Blue smiled. "Okay, see you."
"Hey," Yellow said as she approached Blue, who was waiting for her as expected.
"Hey." She stuck her hands into her coat pockets and rocked back and forth on her feet. "So, um, I wanted to take you out somewhere, but it's Christmas and nobody's really open."
"Yeah, not the best date night."
Blue's face reddened.
"What, did you think you were being subtle?"
"No," she said defensively, "I just couldn't tell if you were interested!"
"If I wasn't interested, I would have been a lot less accommodating as your cashier." Yellow lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Look, I know the owner of a little place not too far from here. It's not technically open, but she'll let us in."
"Really?"
"Well, I prefer a nice date to an evening alone trying to find a movie that isn't about Christmas."
Blue's eyes lit up. "Let's go then. Open your gift first, though!"
"Right," she said with a quick smile, turning her attention to the small present she'd set in her purse for safekeeping. She carefully slipped the ribbon off and opened up the box. Inside was a delicate beaded necklace with a small pearl in the center.
"I made it," Blue offered, embarrassed. "I tried to make it coordinate with what you've been wearing and—"
"It's great. It's—It's really great." Yellow could feel tears threatening at the corners of her eyes and forced them back, frustrated, not sure what she was reacting to.
"…Yellow?"
"I'm fine," she said briskly, blinking quickly. "Thank you for the present. It's just…been awhile." Since anyone had put that much thought into something for her. Since anyone had really cared to give her a gift at all.
"Well, you deserve something nice," Blue said firmly. She held out a gloved hand. "Lead the way?"
"Yeah," Yellow agreed, hesitantly slipping her fingers into Blue's and pulling her carefully towards the door.
Blue reached up with her free hand to fix Yellow's scarf as it got whipped around by the wind. "I guess after today I can't use my old excuse to come see you anymore."
She smiled, fingers tightening on her hand. "You'll just have to come up with a new one."
"I will."