An hour later, the duo was casing store windows and racks. Everything from chiffon to linen, lace to suede, cotton to silk, corduroy to nylon met their expert eyes. Sizes were checked, colors coordinated, trends observed, old styles mocked, and fitting rooms visited. After another hour, though, no conclusion was reached, and so with a few catalogues picked up without charge from storefront displays, the two girls headed back to Elyon's house to plot and plan for another such outing when the time was right. To that effect they sprawled out across the bedroom floor amid their swag, and prepared to pass the time until dinner.

"I still think this sweater is perfect for you", Elyon said as she indicated an open page. "The V-neck is just the accent it needs."

"Yeah, if you forget that V-necks are summer clothes. Three months ago sure, but these days no way." Cornelia pointed to a page of her own. "Look at this... fleece hoodies are more like it. Functional and stylish in their simplicity."

"For most people, sure. But I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those. Elyon's rule number one: no outerwear that doesn't go to the knees."

"Are you serious? When did that rule come up?"

"Last month, when Cheryl DuBrowne wore that pink raincoat."

"The one with the white dots around the bottom?"

Elyon nodded. "When I saw that, I swore off anything that even vaguely looked like it."

"Guess I can't blame you for that one."

The next twenty-odd minutes were quiet as both girls flipped pages, until Elyon turned to her friend. "Cornelia?"

"Hmm?"

"I need to ask you something important."

"If you're talking about those sandals on that page, it's definitely a 'no'."

The younger girl shook her head. "Not about that." She rose from the floor and sat on her bed. "Something more serious than clothes."

Cornelia looked quizzical for a moment, but then followed suit. "Well then, what is it?"

Elyon hesitated a moment before speaking. "Would you kiss him? Y'know, Rick from the bookstore? If he wasn't all creepy, I mean."

Normally Cornelia would have wondered why Elyon's face looked so serious at that moment, rather than bearing the sly smile that usually accompanied a question like that. Unfortunately she was a bit too distracted by the image of sharing a lip-lock with a monstrous snake, and she reflexively responded with a revolted "No way!"

Her friend started at the strong reaction. "Are you sure? He is cute..."

Cornelia wanted desperately to tell Elyon exactly why nobody would ever want to kiss 'Rick', but with all the things that would entail, it just wasn't in the cards. It was time for a different strategy. "It's just... he's too old. It'd be like kissing your dad."

A sour look on Elyon's face clearly said that the tactic had worked. "Okay then, how about Jimmy Dinkirk?"

"That guy who sits in the front of the room in Math?"

"Yeah, him. He's not bad-looking."

"Still a 'no'. Sitting in the front of a class means you like it, and anyone who likes Math can't possibly be worth it." Elyon seemed to be getting at something, but just what it was was a mystery thus far. Best to play along, then, until she got the main point.

"Okay then, suppose you talked to him for a while and it turned out he was interested in fashion. Suppose he would go shopping and help you pick stuff out, like we did earlier." Elyon made an interrogative shrug. "What about then?"

"A guy who cares about clothes?" Cornelia sniffed. "You'd have an easier time finding birds under the ocean."

"I know, I know. But I'm saying what if?"

"Okay... assuming that he had an eye for color coordinating and knew his designers, and he could spot a bad outfit combination right away, then I'd say he might be date material."

"Okay. So then, would you kiss a guy who was your friend first? Like, someone you knew for a while and then went out with once or twice?" This time the sly smile made an appearance. "...like that Caleb guy?"

Years of practicing her poise allowed Cornelia to both recognize and sidestep the blush that tried to rise. "Oh come on... Caleb's not a bad guy, but look at him - he's too gruff and has about as much concept of politeness as he has of that 'quantum physics' stuff." Which of course was probably because he's spent most of his life fighting Phobos, she thought to herself. But still... "Not to mention he wears nothing but earth-tones all the time."

"But he looks good in them, doesn't he?"

"Well, yeah." The guardian had to concede it - Caleb looked disheveled most of the time and combed his hair maybe once a week, but somehow it looked right for him. Like he was an actor td disheveled most of the time and combed his hair mad disheveled most of the time and combed his hair maybe once a week, but somehow it looked right for him. Like he was an actor tat being the case, then, there was no point in dragging things out any longer. Time to do or die. "Okay, okay, big question. Would you kiss me?"

So that was the point of the twenty-questions game. However, not unlike winning a lifetime supply of sponges in the lottery, it wasn't the end result Cornelia had expected. "Elyon, why would I do that?"

If the ending question as a cake of a surprise, Elyon's look as she replied was the icing on it; plain with an undertone of... could it have been anxiety? "Well, maybe because I want you to?"

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