Hey everyone, welcome to day 18 of the Hart of Dixie countdown to Christmas!

Enjoy!

Zoe

She would have rather stayed in her room, curling up with Wade under her blanket and watching more Christmas movies. She voiced as much, but he talked her into going to the dance. She has no reason to doubt what she had witnessed. It's only reinforced the fact that she doesn't know Wade. She doesn't know the tells that are purely him when he is lying. She believes him, she does. He hasn't given her a reason to distrust him.

One look at the dress her mom bought for her, does bring a smile to her face. It would be a shame to waste the money spent on the dress. Wearing the dress at least once ensures that the dust it will collect in the coming years is well worth it. The memories to come from one piece of clothing will last a lifetime. A few years from now when she's going through her clothes to head off to college to become a doctor, she hopes she can look back at this time in her life with a smile on her face to remember the fun times she has had with Wade.

One shower later, where she took her time shaving her legs, not wanting to knick herself and draw blood, saw Zoe drying her hair with the small hair dry that is built into the bathroom wall. Grabbing her brush, she pulls it into a ponytail, not sure what else she wants to do with her hair. Putting it up is the easiest and fasted thing to do. With every strand of hair in place, a half can of hairspray keeping every stand in its place she moves on to getting her makeup done.

Black eyeliner, foundation, powder, a dark shimmery beige eyeshadow with a hint of a rosy blush, and a pink lip finished off her look. She wanted to keep her makeup looking very light and minimal. She doesn't want her makeup look to overpower the way she feels about herself. A light dusting to enhance her natural beauty. Making sure that her hair and makeup look flawless, she enters her room, hearing the knock at the door.

"Tell him, I'll just be a few more minutes," she informed her mom, entering her room, and shutting the door behind her. Figuring out the shoes to go with the dress, it's not going to be all that hard, as she hadn't packed any of her favorite shoes that would work. She saw no need in bring heels with her. It would be hard enough to walk in them when the ground is covered in ice. Breaking a leg on winter break wasn't all that appealing to her.

The pair of flats will have to do. More than do. If she's going to be dancing the night away, she wants to have comfortable yet stylish shoes and not a pair that is going to hurt her feet, nor a pair that will clash with the dress she's wearing.

Her one problem happens to be that she doesn't want to take a purse with her to keep her key card safe, as keeping an eye on a purse is more hassle than she wants to deal with. Yet her dress doesn't have any pockets. She'd ask Wade to hold onto her key card for her. He hasn't really told her no to anything she has asked of him. And holding onto a small slim piece of plastic isn't going to put him out. Not that she wants to make him do anything. She'll ask, the worst he can do is say no.

Not able to waste any more time, she checks her reflection in the mirror in her room, heading out to greet Wade.

Wade

Walking into his room he is beyond relieved to see that Jesse was still out. The one good thing about this vacation, other than Zoe, is that he hasn't had to put up with his brother as much as he thought he would have to on a family vacation. That alone made the vacation worth it. He's had to deal with his brother for the past 16 years, and the very last thing he wanted to do was spend a vacation stuck with his brother.

When it comes right down to it, he has his brother's back. Not for a second does that mean he wants to spend his free time with his brother. He wants to live his life, without judgment from his brother.

He too liked Zoe's idea of staying in her bed watching cheesy Christmas movies to fill their Christmas eve. He's not sure how much fun he's going to have. He's not one for being the center of the party in a place like this. Back home it's easy to be smack dab in the middle of all the fun.

His only problem is that he doesn't have anything for a dance. An outfit for a dance didn't cross his mind at any time they had discussed going to it. Tees, jeans, and a few flannel shirts is all he had packed. He can get away with wearing jeans, that's not a problem. What he's not sure about is if he can get away with wearing a white tee with a red flannel over it. He can't make that stylish enough. Either way, it will have to do. Flannel is Christmas-y, right?

After having a quick shower and getting dressed in the outfit he has no choice but to deem it good enough for the night, he stands in front of the mirror, working on getting his hair perfect. Granted that was no work at all. A little gel goes a long way. The only downside is that he would have liked to put some cologne on, but he didn't have a size small enough allowed for travel.

Leaving the bathroom, where he had debated with himself over how many buttons needed to be buttoned, he went with leaving the top three undone, showing off his white tee. He grabbed his sneakers, sitting on the bed, to slip them on.

After a quick check of the time, he sighed. He's not sure if Zoe is ready yet or not. But it beats pacing around the small space of his room waiting for the right time to head up to grab her.

Each step taken closer to Zoe, the more it felt like a date. He didn't mind that feeling. He rather enjoyed feeling the nerves in his body radiating. He can say that he's never felt so giddy over a first date, that can't exactly be classified as a first date.

Pushing his nerves down, whilst wiping the palm of his hands on his jeans, to ensure they're dry, to lightly rap his knuckles on the door.

After the awkward moment in the living area of their hotel room, Wade slipped Zoe's key card into his back pocket. They complimented each other on how the other looked. Shared nervous smiles. And ditched her mom, before Candice could snap any more pictures of them, making them feel more awkward than they were already feeling.

"Thanks for letting me have one of the polaroid pictures," Wade told Zoe, as they stepped off the elevator.

"You can have more than one of them. There is no need for me to keep over 10 of them," she shared with him. "I don't know what my mom was thinking," she said, shaking her head.

"She just wanted you to have a reminder of tonight," Wade told her. "I'll have a look at them and we can decide who gets what ones before we both head home," he told her. "Now should we hit the dance floor while Frosty the Snowman plays or should we hit up the refreshment table?"

"I'll take 200 for the refreshments," she laughed, linking her arm through his.

"What is a good call, because I have yet to figure out how to dance like a snowman," he teased, making Zoe giggle leading the way to the refreshments. "Snowman or Christmas wreath?" He asked, looking between the choices of cookies laid out.

"Tough choice, but I think I'm gonna go with," she paused, looking over the array of cookies, picking a frosted sugar cookie up, "the star," she told him, taking a bite out of the soft sugary confection.

With treats and lemonade, they found a spot to sit and watch the festiveness of the dance going around them. They found more fun in watching than actually dancing. They did dance to a few songs, mostly the slower ones. They enjoyed their night and ditched out an hour or so before the dance ended.