I had been nervously pacing the room since an hour after Tony left. By the gods! That had been hours ago! Could it really take this long to get some costumes? I mean really! Walk in, find something that at least slightly resembles whoever it is you're dressing up as, buy it, and get out!

"Erik! I'm back!" I heard Tony call from the foyer

"About time! I yelled back as I started to walk towards him, "What in the world took you," I paused to look at my watch, "Four hours and fifty-seven minutes?"

Tony just quirked his eyebrow at me in a silent question. "Er, I just so happened to glance at my watch when you left, and remembered the time."

"Whatever you say Erik," Tony laughed, "I took two women shopping, how long did you think it was going to take?"

"Well I sure as hell didn't think-wait, two women? What do you mean two?"

"Oh, that's right. I forgot that you didn't know about Meg."

"Meg? Tony if you had wanted to invite a date all you had to do was ask."

"No, you misunderstand," He replied with a smile, "Mlle. Megara is Kristina's friend. They came to France together. Kristina said she would not go if Meg could not accompany her. I figured you would rather have them both than neither."

I sighed, "Of course you're right Tony. But may the gods help you if you allowed them to spend too much of my money on needles, frivolous items."

"I assure you that didn't happen sir. You only had to pay for one costume. And Kristina made sure it was not too expensive."

"Funny, I would not have assumed Kristina would allow me to pay for her. I figured you would have to force her to allow me to do so."

"Well then, you would be partially right, Kristina would not allow you to pay. I tried my hardest, monsieur, but she refused. However, Meg had no such qualms."

"What? I didn't even invite this Meg, yet she feels it is okay to spend my money? Why would you allow that, Antonio?"

"Like I said before, Erik. I figured you would prefer I did whatever necessary to ensure that Kris attended tomorrow's ball. And Meg did not have enough money to buy a costume, and she said that since Kris would not allow you to pay she would just have to take you up on your offer instead."

"Ugh, women," was all I could think to reply. Tony just smiled patiently. "Fine, fine. Just, I don't know. Try not to let it happen again."

"Oh," Tony mockingly said, "You're planning on inviting another foreign stranger to the next ball? I did not realize that. If I had, I would have made sure that Mlle. Meg did not spend so much of your money."

I just glared at him until his words sunk in. "Wait. What do you mean 'so much?' Antonio, exactly how much did she spend?"

"Are you sure you really want to know?"

"No, no I suppose not."

At this Tony laughed and started to leave the room. "Wait!" I called.

"Yes Erik?"

I was suddenly embarrassed at my outburst, "Uh, Kris, does she um," my blush deepened, and I asked shyly, "How did she look?"

As a look of understanding crossed Tony's face, he smiled in remembrance, and replied "Stunning, sir. Simply stunning."

AN: I know, I know, it's reallllllly short. But I haven't had much inspiration for writing, but I really wanted to update, besides, this chapter isn't important to the story. I just thought it was too cute to forgo