-Get A Life Girl-
The following day, Riza awoke before the alarm. Then she relized, she doesn't need to go in. However, she did need to call her mother. She rose from the bed and was glad to find her house was warm. She left the fire burning last night when she went to bed. After checking on it, she added a few more logs to the fire and then went into the kitchen for breakfast. She made her small meal and jumped up on the counter. A though hit her.
"Why did I never by a dinning room set?"
She shrugged as she picked up her phone and dialed the familiar number. She swung her slipper feet back and forth as she watched her dog eat. Three more rings and the answering machine answered. She waited for the message to finish.
"Mom, it's Riza. I got your letter Monday, sorry I didn't call. My schedule has been crazy and with the sudden snow yesterday, I lost track of time. I'm RSVP to tell you I will make it. What time do you want me over? I'll bring my puppy with me, his name is Black Hayate, not dog. And please don't make me sleep in my old bedroom."
Riza said goodbye and hung up. a smile playing at her lips. She had a twin brother named Andrew, the first child to get married. He was also the first to get his own room, well, unless you count Riza go hers at the same time. All though childhood, Andrew and Riza shared a bedroom. It was a large bedroom that held two closets, a bathroom, two dressers, two desks and a large bunk bed which held two full-size beds. To the best of Riza's memory, she remembered the room being a soft purple with dark purple sheets. She smiled. She may of been the youngest, but when she was three and they first got the bunk bed, 'daddy's little girl' got the top bunk.
When the twins turned nine, their mother separated them into their own rooms. Riza kept the original room and Andrew moved to the room next door. soon the others got their own rooms too. Riza's room was soon changed to fit her, it had a queen sized bed with posts and a dark purple canopy that was always down. One of the closets were transformed into a toy closet, since she was the only girl, she was often spoiled. One dresser was removed and a desk with a large mirror was moved into it's place. Before long, Riza had her room the way she wanted it. Even if to this day, that room doesn't fit her style, it did when she was younger.
After breakfast, Riza got dressed in simple jeans and sweater. She pulled out her suitcase and packed up a few outfits ranging from casual hang out, fancy Christmas day outfit, pajamas, and then special Christmas morning pajamas. Her mother was so picky about what her family wore. Christmas Eve was the most elegant night. everyone had to dress their best. Then, Christmas morning, everyone needed to wear special fancy pajamas. Pajamas for the rest of the vacation were different and simple. Christmas day was a fancy day, and the rest of the vacation was casual.
After packing, she went back into the kitchen for lunch. Her puppy wanted to play in the snow, so she let him out, and an hour later, she let him back in, freezing cold and wet. He ended up sleeping by the fire as she flipped through the catalog again. It was a special catalog. It didn't just sell clothes, it also jewelry, home furnishings, and etc. When you order one day and paid a little extra, you could pick it up the following morning at opening was also something special.
"I wonder if Andrew would like that?"
Riza looked over at her mantle at the pictures of her family. She wrote down the item and page numbers on a note pad as she flipped through the catalog. After picking out a few new outfits for her twin, she moved on to her older brother Shawn. Unlike Andrew, who was a casual boy, Shawn was a prince. The total opposite of James and Aaron, the middle brothers, who were messy since birth. Jotting down a few more items, Riza moved on to her mother. No outfits, just jewelry. Once that was done, she picked up the phone and ordered everything. One last flip through the book and she ordered her outfit and matching jewelry.
By night fall, Riza had everything ready for tomorrow. Her bag was packed, gifts were ordered, and she even remembered to pack extra dog food and the gift for her puppy's first Christmas.
By the following morning, Riza awoke... late. It felt good to sleep in, but she hated the sound of her alarm clock when she wasn't awake. She messed around, eyes closed, until she hit the snooze. For once in her military life, she fell back asleep. Ten minutes later, she repeated the process. From the warmth of her bed, the lack of sleep from the past five years and the though of Christmas, she just didn't want to get up. Two hours after she was suppose to be up, Riza shut down her alarm clock and rose to sit. She stretched and yawned and looked down at the foot of her bed where her dog was wagging his tail.
She crawled from the bed and let him outside. She yawned and stretched again as she took a hot shower. For once, she leaned against the shower wall and let the warm water roll down her back. This felt good, and she didn't want to move, until she remembered the gifts. Like always, she rushed into dressing and then ran outside. With three black winter outter clothes, she added a black fur trimmed bucket hat and walked her dog down the streets.
The train was finally opened and it made her trip to the store much quicker. She walked down the street window shopping. something in her head was different.
'What is with me today. It's not myself. Yet, I don't mind.'
She smiled as she entered the store and picked up her two large bags of gifts. $357 later, she left the store and continued window shopping. She had a few people on her mental list she had not yet bought things for. She stepped into a toy store and purchased a gift for her little niece Hannah, Andrew's daughter. She was deaf and mute since birth and she loved 'Auntie Riza'. Hannah was only four years old and always wrote letters and sent pictures to Riza. When she had the time, Riza wrote back. For Christmas, Riza bought Hannah the newest doll in Eastern called Trinity. It was 12 inches tall and had long wavy blonde hair. She was your stereotypical female. The doll was created by a local shopkeeper and only Eastern stores had it for the holidays. It was made of a hard, yet soft plastic and had moveable arms, legs, hips and head. The doll was dressed in a beautiful red and silver dress that sparkled.
Before leaving, Riza bough a small gift for Elisia. She knew Elisia had dolls like the new Trinity doll. She found an outfit that looked just like a military uniform. It was designed for Trinity, but it would fit any 12 inch doll. Elisia would love it. She loved playing soldier on Halloween. After the toy store, Riza headed home, needing to pick up only a few more things. As she approached the next store, snow began falling. She pulled the scarf tighter around her neck and continued on walking. She was about to enter the store when she saw Roy at the counter. He had a woman clinging to his arm. He was also flirting with the shopkeeper. Both girls were life size Trinity dolls, without the dress. They were the type of woman Roy was always with.
Roy turned around to leave with a promise to take the shopkeeper out tomorrow and his current date on his arm. Riza jumped out of view and ducked down the back alley next to the shop. She watched as he walked by with his newest girl. When he was gone, she walked out of the alley and watched as he walked away. Her heart seamed to leap into her throat. She always scolds Roy for torturing himself over Maes' death. When here she was torching herself over a man who is a complete jerk. A womanizer and a drunk who only sees her as a lieutenant of the military. Yet for some reason, she couldn't keep him out of her thoughts.
She continued to watch him leave. She walked back to the store and turned to enter. She bumped right into another man.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry... Havoc?"
Riza looked into the face of her fellow subordinate Jean Havoc. He had a cigarette sticking from his mouth, hands pushed deep into his pockets and a scarf pulled around his neck.
"Hey, what brings you here?"
"Shopping for my large family."
Riza replied lifting the bags higher into the air for him to see. He smiled. Together, they walked into the store and Riza ordered a silver chess set. The box it was kept in was engraved with his name and rank when he retired. After she paid, Havoc walked her back to the train, carrying some of her bags for her.
"Thank you Havoc, I really appreciate the help."
"Any time, sir."
"Please, it's holiday, call me Riza."
Riza smiled and waved as the train pulled away, taking her back home. She sat down and thought. Why was Havoc so nice to her. He was the total opposite of Roy. Sure, all men drink and chase skirts, but none as much as Roy.
At home, Riza unpacked everything and pulled out the wrapping paper from her closet. Shinny green, silver, red and gold paper covered her bed as she began to pack the individual gifts in the boxes she bought from the catalog store. She pulled out the outfits for her brother shawn and folded them neatly and wrapped them in tissue paper. Two outfits, two boxes. Once everything was boxed, she relized she forgot where everything was. She began laughing. She opened the small box to her left and pushed aside the white tissue paper. It was for her mother. She placed it on her bed and carefully wrapped it. Soon, everything was wrapped and labeled. Now all that was left were the ribbon and bows.
She took this time to shower and dress. She came out of the show in her towel and shuffled to her bedroom. She pulled out her new outfit and began to dress. It was fitted black flare pants, and a red sweater that slightly glittered. It was sleeveless and the collar was like a stretched out turtle neck which hung off her shoulder. She placed on a silver necklace and the half coin from the bathroom. Diamond stud earrings later and Riza was standing before her bathroom mirror applying a soft perfume. In the mirror, she fingered her golden hair. It was wavy by natural and she always straightened it and pulled it into a clip. Tonight, she pulled it straight into a pony tail and allowed it to hand wavy behind her head.
Back in her bedroom, she grabbed her silver watch and adorned her boots. She began to ribbon the gifts. Adding extra color and curls to Elisia and Hannah's gifts, Riza finally packed everything into three large shopping bags. She placed Elisia's gift in a different bag and took it with her. She would drop it off tomorrow. She tossed her shoes in with the gifts.
"Black Hayate, come here boy, time to go."
Riza called her puppy as she pulled on her coat, gloves, hat and scarf. She leashed her dog and grabbed her suitcase. She somehow managed to carry three bags, a suitcase and a dog leash down to the train station where she caught the next train to the other side of Central.
A/N - This might be more then five or six chapters. I will prove a point soon. I promise.
Please review. No FLAMES (Thats Roy's job only). Please look in my profile ooOAnimeChildOoo for all my other stories. And again, thanks for reading.
"Write a wise saying and your name will live forever"
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