Eric groaned when he saw the crowd of people that were between him and Victoria's Secret. Had everybody decided that tonight would be the perfect night to go shopping? Of course he had expected it, being the Christmas season and all, but honestly, was it too much to hope for even a small pathway? The crowd surged and he decided to flow with it. Eventually he'd get there.
He walked into the store and tried to act like he knew exactly what he was doing. The sad thing was, he sort of did. This was a yearly operation for him since his sisters asked for lotions, creams, sprays and other such nonsense whenever he asked them what they wanted for Christmas. He wondered if they thought that, by giving him that answer, they were making it simple for him. Well, maybe it was for them.
He sighed and walked into the separate section for body care products. It was almost as crowded as it was outside the store. And it didn't help that there were display tables placed randomly around the store that were decorated with things that looked breakable. He felt like somesort of humanoid klutz, larger than life since most of the other customers were women and he could see clear over their heads.
Gritting his teeth, he scanned the walls for what looked the most expensive and the classiest. He carefully made his way over and settled in for several sniff tests. They may be his sisters but he didn't want them to smell bad.
He had just picked up a bottle of Vanilla Lavender body spray when he felt someone brush against his arm.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" the woman said, turning with an apologetic smile. The smile quickly turned to surprise at the sight of him. "Eric!"
It was Calleigh. Calleigh was standing with him in a lingerie store. He couldn't help it, he let his eyes slide down to what she was holding in her hand. He immediately wished he hadn't though, because it was a baby blue bra and panty set. Suddenly, all he could see was Calleigh. Wearing it.
Calleigh's face then turned from surprise to embarrassment as she realized what he was looking at.
"It's for a friend. For Christmas. You know," she stammered.
Uh-huh. He knew. He knew women didn't buy lingerie for each other, which meant the sheer bra and skimpy panties were for her. He wondered how he was going to survive working with her, everyday wondering if that set is the one she's wearing that day. It might even eventually kill him but damn, what a way to go! He just smiled, accepting her story. She looked a tiny bit relieved.
"Eric," she said, reaching for the bottle in his hand, "I don't think Vanilla Lavender is your scent."
He smirked. "Thanks for the advice," he said.
"No problem," she said with a chuckle. "Who are you buying it for?"
"My sisters. They always want this stuff and I never know what to get."
"Have you ever tried Bath and Body Works?"
He looked slightly confused, which she took to mean no.
"Come on, it's downstairs, let me ring up and I'll show you."
Rather than embarrass her further, he walked outside of the store to wait while she checked out. Ten minutes later she came out with the tell-tale pink bag clutched in her hand.
"Where did you say this place is?" he asked, trying to keep up with her as she seemed to melt through the crowd.
"It's downstairs, we have to find the escalator," she called back to him.
When they entered the store she made a beeline to the right hand wall. Eric found that the setup of the store was much like Victoria's Secret and he felt gargantuan as he followed her.
He finally made it to her side in time for her to stick a bottle under his nose. "Do you like this?" she asked.
He pulled back a little. "It smells like lemons."
"It's Verbena and Lemon. Le Couvent des Minimes. It's a fantastic line. Look, they have Honey and Shea too. Ooh, and Lavender and Acacia."
Again he almost got popped in the nose. "Calleigh, since you're helping me why don't you just pick out all the things a woman needs and I'll buy it?"
"Eric!" she scolded, "you've got to put some effort into this, they're your sisters!"
"You don't understand," he said, bordering on whiny, "every year they ask me for this stuff without a hint to go by. Every year they unwrap it and get excited. And, I'm sure of this, every year they take it back to the store to exchange it."
Calleigh rolled her eyes at him. He was such a man.
"Ok, so I'm going to help you. But you have to participate."
Eric nodded his agreement and then his eyes wandered to the next display over, where he picked up a tube of cream. He smelled it and held it out to her.
"It smells like chocolate," he said.
This time it was her turn to pull back.
"Ugh. No woman wants to smell like," she looked at the tube, "like Chocolate Fondue."
He thought about it. Calleigh's scent was never that sweet, it was more subtle and clear, and interestingly enough, somewhat lemony. Well, at least he knew she was speaking from experience when she praised the Le Coov business. He took the tube from her and put it back.
"Good boy," she said.
He looked back at her with his own look of surprise, which made her laugh. He attempted to scowl at her but it just made her laugh harder, and Calleigh laughing was too nice a sight for Eric to remain scowling so he ended up laughing as well.
When they finally emerged from the store, Eric was weighed down with two full bags and a much lighter wallet. He didn't care though, for once he felt he'd gotten the right things for his sisters and he got to spend time with Calleigh without having to mess with dead bodies. It was certainly a step up.
They both walked slowly past the other shops, each feeling like the evening was coming to a close and neither of them wanting it to.
"What time is it?" she asked.
He turned his wrist up to check. "Almost 9:00," he answered.
"Oh." She stopped and faced him. "Eric, you want to have some fun?"
He looked at her with what was probably the millionth confused look that evening.
"Uh, sure. How?"
"How long has it been since you've been in a pair of ice skates?"
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A/N: Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works are real stores (I actually work at Bath and Body Works.) Le Couvent des Minimes is a real line of body products sold at BBW and all three scents mentioned exist. The Chocolate Fondue scent Eric picked up is from the Tutti Dolci line which has six different scents, all of which smell like some sort of dessert.