Flaky really hated winter.

It was cold. It was wet. The snow and ice covered roads were certain and only made driving even scarier for the timid redhead. So when she got a phone call from Giggles asking to come over to her house for a girl's night, she was more than nervous as the forecast called for a huge snow storm later in the night. But knowing her pink-haired friend, she'd be devastated if Flaky didn't show up. So now she was driving, barely above twenty miles and while it was already starting to snow slightly, towards Giggles' home.

She was able to make it to the pinkette's house without any major trouble and quickly parked her car. She got to the front door, wading through an almost knee-deep snow-covered sidewalk and knocked softly to let her friends know she had arrived. She didn't even have to wait five seconds before the door was flung open and she was pulled inside by a smiling Giggles.

"Oh, great! You made it!" Giggles pulled her friend into a tight hug, "I was wondering if you'd actually show."

"S-Sorry, I just don't like snow that much. . ." Flaky mumbled, hugging her friend with one arm as the other was pinned against her body by Giggles' own arms wrapped around her.

Giggles just nodded in understanding as she let go of the other girl. She then led her into the home's small living room where her other friends were waiting. Both Lammy and Petunia were sitting in chairs around the coffee table, chatting away and didn't notice Flaky and Giggles walked in and sat down next to them. Giggles snapped her fingers to get their attention and the other girls turned at her snapping with frowns, only for them to smile when they saw Flaky had joined them. After exchanging greetings, the girls started to talk about one of Giggles' favorite topics of conversation and Flaky's least favorite.

Relationships.

Relationships were always weird for the redhead. As she thought they didn't matter, Flaky never got into dating and boyfriends like her other friends. Even Lammy, the newest Tree friend, had managed to find a boyfriend within a year of living in town. But Flaky didn't care about all that lovey-dovey junk. Not one bit.

But her friends care. A lot of bits.

"So Flaky," Giggles had a mischievous smile as she leaned in closer towards the redhead, "How're things going with ol' Flippy?"

"H-Huh? What do you mean?" Flaky stuttered, caught off guard by the question.

"C'mon, Flakes! You guys sure do spend a lot of time together," Giggles nudged her friend while giving her a wink, "For being just friends."

"I already told you g-guys! Flippy's my friend," Flaky turned bright red as she shook her head, "Nothing else, o-okay?"

Giggles let out a little laugh, "Of course, but don't worry. I'm sure you'll find someone! Who knows maybe it'll be Flippy?"

"Yeah! And then you can go on the huge date nights with all of us!" Lammy cut in, a big smile on her face, "It'll be great, huh?"

Petunia decided to pitch in, and spoke up too, "You could try dressing cuter. Or trying different make-up. That'll surely attract "mister right" soon enough."

Flaky frowned slightly as she heard her friend teasing and unknowingly making fun of her. Was she really not dressing "cute" enough? Did she really only have Flippy as an option if it came down to it? While she loved Flippy as a brother, she didn't like him that way and she was sure he felt the same way. And this wasn't the first time her friend teased her over spending a lot of time with the solider or the first time they joked about the fact that she was still single after all these years.

But boy, was she sick of it.

So the girls continued to poke fun at her, not really being mean to her though it was pretty close. That ended up making her shoot up and yell out.

"Well, I do have actually have a b-boyfriend! So can you guys stop?"

That stopped the other's jokes and they all just stared at Flaky, completely silent at the redhead's outburst. Then after a few seconds of quiet, Giggles put her hand on her shoulder to get to her sit down, which she did, before speaking.

"Who?" Giggles had another smile on her face, though this one was one of surprise, "Who's the lucky guy?"

Shit, shit, shit!

Flaky really wished she hadn't said that. She should've just stayed quiet and endured their jokes. But no, she just had to make them stop. Even if it meant lying. Now she was mentally slapping herself as she racked her brain for a suitable answer.

Could she say Flippy? No. The other girls would think she was either lying cause she always said they were just friends or they'd try and call Flippy to prove it and he'd say no and then she'd be found out. Could she say Nutty? No, not him either. He loved nothing, but candy and sugary treats. There's no way he'd be a believable boyfriend. Her mind was racing and she knew she had to say, someone, anyone, to satisfy her friend's curiosity. So she just blurted out the first name she could think of.

And regretted it immediately.

"Disco Bear."

As soon as his name left her mouth, Flaky saw Petunia choke on her drink as she took a swig of tea right before she said the name, and caused her blue-haired friend sent coughing. Lammy's eyes just went wide and was completely speechless. Giggles was the only one able to speak as she grabbed her friend by the shoulders.

"Flaky. Did you just say. . .Disco Bear," Giggles shuddered softly as though even his name creeped her out before continuing, "Is your boyfriend?"

Flaky, not trusting her mouth to keep her secret, just nodded once. Giggles, however, didn't keep her mouth shut.

"You're joking, right? He's so weird, and cheesy, and just ew. And he flirts with all of us."

Flaky didn't answer, instead deciding it'd be best to get out of here as fast as possible and tell Disco Bear before one of the other girls tried to murder him. So she glanced at the clock and pretend to be surprised as she shot up from her chair.

"Oh! I didn't r-realize it was that late! I gotta go, guys. Sorry."

Then before anyone could even argue that it was only eight or question the girl's sudden urge to leave, Flaky dashed out of the living room, out of the house, and went straight back to her car. She sat in her car for a second before slamming her head against the steering wheel, which luckily didn't go off and start honking.

She just said Disco Bear was her boyfriend. Disco Bear. The guy was weird, even to someone like Flaky. He flirted with her a few times, but they never really talked much besides the occasional bad pick-up line from the ginger man. Okay, this wasn't that bad. She just had to explain the situation to Disco Bear and then get him to "break up" with her in front of her friends, and then everything would go back to normal.

But little did Flaky know, nothing was going to be normal from now on.

Love does that sometimes. Even the fake kind.

X X X

Instead of going straight home, Flaky made a detour into town. She parked her car in a parking lot and looked out at the store she just arrived at, a record shop called The Groovy Grotto.

She got out of her car and entered the store, listening carefully for a certain person. She followed the sound of someone softly singing and found Disco Bear rearranging some Vinyl records while listening to music from his headphones and dancing along to the tune, slowly shaking his hips and singing to himself.

Flaky walked up to him and shyly tapped the older man on the shoulder. He jumped, nearly dropping a record on the ground as he was about to put it up. Whirling around, Disco Bear pulled off his headphones and gave the redhead before him a slight glare.

"What are you doing, girl? Sneaking up on me like that. Not cool! Could've made me break one of my records."

"Sorry, D-Disco Bear," Flaky turned red again as she mumbled, "But I gotta tell you s-something."

"Okay, little lady. Shoot," Disco Bear's glare went away, replaced by a small grin, "Disco Bear's all ears, baby."

Flaky started from the beginning about how she was having a girl's night with her friends and then went on to say how they were teasing her about not having a boyfriend before finally ending with how she blurted out that he was her boyfriend.

"So," Disco Bear pinched a curly lock of his hair that dangled between his green eyes, "What are you sayin' exactly, Red?"

"I'm saying. . .could you pretend to be my boyfriend. At least until Giggles and they stop bothering me about it?"

"Uh-uh. No can do, honey," The ginger's grin tugged downward in a frown as he shook his head, "Disco Bear don't do relationships. Everyone knows that I can't be tied down."

"But. . " Flaky frowned, but then smiled as an idea came to her, "But you c-could do it and get the other g-girls jealous. Then they'd be all over you when we're d-done!"

Disco Bear's grin came back as he let out a low growl, "Oh yeah! That's perfect. Tell you what, little red, I'm in."

Flaky clapped happily and then wrapped her arms around the ginger's neck in a hug. She let out quickly, halfway through saying sorry before Disco Bear pulled her back, a smile on his face.

"No need to be sorry, baby," Disco Bear gave her a sly smile and wink, "I'm yours after all. So you can hug me anytime."

Flaky felt her cheeks heat up for the third time that night and just muttered out something either could make out before she sighed. Well, now at least she's got a boyfriend.

Sorta. . .