Briar shivered as another gust of wind crashed into her. Why had she decided that a garden party was a good idea for this year's Winter Extravaganza? And of course she had been busy helping her friends with their winter parties (and attending them, and posting about them) and had left setting up her own until the last minute so she didn't have time to come up with another idea to dazzle her guests with.
And it dazzled, don't get her wrong. The commissioned ice and snow sculptures were a stroke of genius, sparkling under the glow of the fairy lights. The plants wrapped up in pink and gold lights created a beautiful ambiance. The skating rink she had gotten was sure to be a hit. The problem was how cold it was. It didn't mix well with her cute outfit!
And, sure, maybe she could have picked a warmer outfit since she knew she was planning an outdoor party, but, in her defense, she had ordered heaters. Their shipping had unfortunately been delayed. And now Briar had her current predicament and no time to change either her party or her outfit.
She wrapped her arms around herself tightly, but it barely made a difference. She didn't even have sleeves. At least her legs were fully covered, even if the legging material was thin. She went back to hanging up lights, but she quickly discovered it was hard to do with elbows. No, it was impossible to hang lights up with elbows.
"Are you cold?" She jumped at the sudden question. Her girlfriend, Raven, had been helping her set up, but she had been inside grabbing more decorations and tending to the cookies. Briar hadn't heard her come back outside.
"What? Are you kidding?" she said, laughing to conceal the chattering of her teeth. "I'm not cold at all."
Raven raised an eyebrow skeptically and shrugged off her sweater. "Here."
She eyed the sweater. It was cool-toned, black and dark purple with silver accents, everything Raven tended to gravitate towards. In other words, it totally clashed with her outfit! When she didn't reach for it, Raven sighed.
"Come on, Briar, just take it. You don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine. Unlike you, I wore long sleeves."
Briar hesitated. Raven lowered the sweater. "You don't like it, do you?"
"No, I do like it. I just like it on you."
She frowned."Is it because it's an ugly sweater? We're you lying to me earlier when you said you liked my outfit?"
Briar blinked. "What?"
The tinsel and lights adorning the sweater hadn't even crossed her mind. She did like Raven's sweater, and another time she would be dying to wear her girlfriend's clothes. But she had planned this outfit. "No, Rave, it just doesn't go with my outfit. Like, at all. It clashes completely. Plus it would cover the whole thing up."
Raven gave her a look that seemed to say does that really matter? "Ugh, you just don't understand fashion."
"Nope," she said, tugging the sweater over Briar's head. Briar let her without protest. Raven smoothed out the sweater and her hands came to rest on Briar's hips."I think it looks great on you."
Briar rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll wear it. But only because it looks better on me, anyway."
Raven smiled at her and pulled her in closer. Her breath felt warn against Briar's cheek. "It does."
"No, you're supposed to say 'does it?' an-"
Briar's eyes shot wide open as she felt Raven's lips against hers. She leaned into the kiss, pressing against Raven. When they separated, Raven gave her another small peck. "It does."