MADE A BREAK, A NEW ESCAPE ``

[felicity]

And through the rising and falling apart, We discover who we are

lissy, in every sense, was quite lovely. lovelier than most. she woke up in a good mood every morning, and always greeted people with a smile. she was the kind of girl who just had that general aura of optimism and happiness about her, even if she didn't say very much all the time. lissy was quiet, that was for sure, but she never gave off the impression of being upset unless she was upset - which was rare. you would never suspect she'd lived a hard life, or that she was secretly insecure about her appearance, which was why she tried hard to look good almost everyday despite her older brother constantly reminding her she was a very pretty girl in the typical brotherly manner. the only thing lissy was ever really confident in were her more artistic skills. she could draw, paint, cook, and she was a pretty damn photographer. so good that she had landed a cushy job at a media magazine right out of college. it was her dream job. she got to travel, go to fun fashion and music events, and she got paid to do what she loved - to take pictures.

it didn't hurt that the office environment was to lissy's liking. it also didn't hurt that there was an extremely cute writer who worked right across the hall from her. devan, in her eyes, was perfection in human form. it sounded creepy and weird, but there wasn't a single trait of devan that she'd seen that she hadn't liked. even his obnoxious, immature, and loud side was kind of attractive to her. lissy found herself seeking every little chance to talk to him, and had even made a habit out of making small talk every morning when she first saw him. it wasn't anything huge; just the typical 'hey, how are you' deal. she also made a habit of reading just about all of his articles and complimenting them. it made lissy feel a little creepy at times, but devan didn't seem too bothered. he always greeted her with a smile, and thanked her for her compliments on his writing. however, when it came down to it, lissy still didn't know very much about him. which is why when christmas started creeping on the girl and the annual office secret santa drawing came around and lissy just so happened to draw devan's name, she kind of freaked out. what was she supposed to get him?

it was times like that one that lissy thanked god that lissy had run into asher when buying a present for her coworker's daughter the past year. sure, she'd been a little spooked at the fact that devan had a twin, but asher was nice and they'd become pretty good friends. lissy had interrogated asher on gift ideas, and made him promise not to tell devan that she was his secret santa. she'd made note of the gift ideas and gone out that weekend to shop - not just for devan but for her other friends and family as well. she'd successfully completely all of her christmas shopping in one day, thank god, and everything was already wrapped and ready to be handed out to her friends. her gifts for nick were placed nicely under their christmas tree. it was december 16th, aka the friday before break officially started. for her work, anyway. they had a nice, two and a half week long break and wouldn't have to be back until january 4 - excluding the fact that the office christmas party was tomorrow night, but that didn't exactly count since it wasn't actual work, it was just a party.

lissy had made sure to get up earlier, so she could sneak into work before everyone else got there and she could set up devan's present, or presents, rather. she hadn't gotten him a whole lot, but it was more than most were going to buy for whoever they were secret santa to. lissy had a habit of going over the top when it came to presents. she loved giving, and had more than enough money to spend during the holidays and for people's birthdays. there was something extremely satisfying in buying the perfect gift(s) for people and seeing their faces light up when they received them. lissy stood in devan's cubicle, setting out the little gifts carefully on the free space on his desk. there was a small box of devan's favorite chocolates, and a small box wrapped up in pretty paper with a bow on top. inside, there were a pair of earbuds (asher had mentioned something about devan complaining that his had broken a few weeks ago). she set his last gift on his chair; a medium-sized stuffed giraffe. at the sound of footsteps, lissy hurried back to her own cubicle, sitting down in front of her computer and pretending to be typing out an email.

YOU BETTER LIKE THIS AND BASK IN IT'S CUTENESS OMFG FOJDJGLDSF AND SHE'S WEARING THIS.

[devan]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 380px; border-left: 20px solid #7a9aa9; background-image:url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/fk5qwnjpg.png); padding-left: 10px; padding-bottom: 20px;] Senseless Denial, We spun like birds on fire right down towards the residence and i I took all that I desired even crooks have to pay the rent We swam like rats on fire right, right down the reservoir We took all that we could carry but we tried to carry more devan was a christmas guy. there was just no getting around it. he was a man who enjoyed good food, good charity, and good cheer, and when it come to holidays? christmas was filled to the brim with all three. he had always been a huge fan of the holiday ever since he was little. he used to be the first in the kitchen begging his mom to show him how to make cookies for santa (even as far back as august sometimes because he always needed practice if he wanted to give santa the best chocolate chip cookies in the world). he always put up the most decorations on christmas and once even trimmed their tree all by himself and he had smacked asher's hand whenever he tried to sneak a candy cane off of it. even long after he stopped believing in santa clause (something that took him much longer than most of the other kids) he was still the one who kept the magic alive long enough for their cousins and other little kids he would encounter at tree lighting ceremonies and business parties. when it came to christmas, he was always the one volunteering to dress up in the santa suit and make a fool out of himself gathering money for charity. this was his favorite time of year. the secret santa gift exchange they did in the office was just another thing that devan loved about the holiday season. he would admit that around the company he was a rather well-liked person and he sort of had a thing for being nosy and finding out things about other people anyway. so he usually wasn't at a loss when it came to buying people presents. it was his favorite thing in the world to do - arrange his timing so they'd never figure out it was him who got them the gift, sometimes even planning it perfectly so it looked like he stumbled upon them by chance when they were opening the gifts. there was just something satisfying in seeing the wonder in their faces, the grins that popped up. honestly, there was nothing better. oftentimes, he even wore a santa hat around the office to add a bit more cheer. and he had just gone off and dropped off his presents for an editor named james (skyrim, beef jerky, and some fat tire beer - james was a notorious gamer) that day and returned to his cubicle in high spirits. that's when he saw the giraffe. yeah, okay, he saw the other packages, too, but it was the giraffe that really had his attention. giraffes were, after all, his absolute favorite animals. they were just so cute with their soft, round eyes and beautiful patterns and adorable long necks. there was no animal that looked more awesome to cuddle with than a giraffe and though that wasn't the most manly thing to admit out loud, he didn't care. he loved them. he watched every animal planet special he could on the savannah just so he could see giraffes on his television screen. he watched documentaries on them, read books on them, frequented their exhibit at the zoo. asher liked to make fun of him for the obsession - like he could really talk when he was obsessed with a clothing line, honestly, but he found a way to make fun of him anyway. but devan didn't care. giraffes were adorable. and it was then that he realized that while he was off bringing cheer to someone, somebody else had dropped some off in his cubicle. he immediately walked forward. sure, christmas was more than the commercialization, the presents and the candy and the lights and the trees, but honestly, who wasn't excited to be greeted by a secret santa? he picked up the giraffe and placed it in his lap as he reached for the other two parcels. he unwrapped each carefully and shook his head in wonder - earbuds and chocolate. his favorite chocolates, too, not any of the nasty holiday chocolate that was always on sale during this time. honestly, he wasn't sure who was going through his personal files to find out what to get him but he was happy they were. but what really puzzled him was the giraffe - he was pretty sure that headphones and chocolate had probably come up sometime in conversation but giraffes were a late night i'm-bugging-asher-don't-disturb-me sort of thing. who in the office could have known that? he looked around as if the small room would give him answers and frowned when he didn't see anything. he glanced to his right. if he could see through walls, he knew that eventually he'd be looking into the cubicle of one felicity summers, a girl he would admit to being more than a little smitten with since they started working together. was it possible that...? no, impossible. they hardly spoke. sure, they made pleasant conversation in the morning but eventually he always got too nervous to continue talking and made his way back to his cubicle to work alone and just think of speaking to her. there was no way she knew enough about him to get him those. well unless asher told her but asher would completely hold it over his head that he knew who his secret santa was if he really did know so he was writing that one off. maybe, though....her cubicle was so close to his. maybe she'd seen someone...and before he could stop himself he was standing up with giraffe in hand and walking toward her cubicle. he knocked lightly on the frame of the entrance, looking around and poking the giraffe's head out with his own. "hey liss," he said, grinning widely. "look what santa left in my office while i was gone." he stepped forward more into view. "you wouldn't happen to have, uh....seen him, right? or her? i don't discriminate against santa genders." yeah basically this is tagged for paige/lissy and ahhhhhhh babiesssss c: c: c: c: c:

[/td][/tr][/table]
TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN OF CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY MODEST MOUSE[/center]

[felicity]

And through the rising and falling apart, We discover who we are

lissy glanced up from her computer to see just who the person was that had come in so early like herself. she nearly spit her coffee out, seeing devan. act natural, she told herself silently. if you play it cool, there's no way he'll know you're his secret santa. with the whole 'be cool' concept in mind, lissy relaxed in her chair and continued on with what she was doing - which was rereading an email from her mother that she'd read at least ten times. she rarely knew how to respond to her mother's emails - they were all long, detailed, and mainly contained random facts and little things that lissy didn't really care about, to be honest. and of course, there were whole paragraphs dedicated solely to the fact that her mother worried constantly about her and nick's wellbeing - a fact entirely known to herself and her brother, considering their mother still sent them monthly checks "just in case." not that it really bothered lissy, she did whatever she could to keep her mother's head from exploding with worry and gave her as little reason to bother her as possible.

she decided that now would be a good time to reply. it would keep her mind off the whole devan and secret santa thing. not to mention if she didn't reply soon her mother would probably have a heart attack and think she died or something equally ridiculous. lissy loved her mother, but her tendency to worry about every little thing was extremely annoying. she was just starting her reply when she heard a light knock against the wall of her cubicle. it had to be devan, and of course, it was. she looked up, smiling at the sight of devan poking his head out and into her cubicle, the giraffe's head following suit. it was a kodak moment, and if lissy had had her camera and didn't think it would be extremely creepy, she would've taken a picture. "good morning, devan." she greeted him with a smile. as he drew attention to what santa had left him in his office - the giraffe - she smiled a little wider. "very nice." she said with a slight nod. lissy took another sip of her coffee, trying hard to stay calm. she couldn't blow her cover. as he asked if she'd seen who the santa was, she shook her head. "i got here right before you did. didn't see anyone." lissy told him, frowning slightly. "sorry." she shrugged, taking another sip of her coffee.

YOU BETTER LIKE THIS AND BASK IN IT'S CUTENESS OMFG FOJDJGLDSF AND SHE'S WEARING THIS.

[devan]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 380px; border-left: 20px solid #7a9aa9; background-image:url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/fk5qwnjpg.png); padding-left: 10px; padding-bottom: 20px;] Senseless Denial, We spun like birds on fire right down towards the residence and i I took all that I desired even crooks have to pay the rent We swam like rats on fire right, right down the reservoir We took all that we could carry but we tried to carry more god she was pretty. it really wasn't fair, how pretty she was. devan wouldn't lie and act like he hadn't seen or dated his fair share of beautiful women. he had, and at the time he was around them he probably thought that they were the most beautiful things he had ever seen. not anymore. god no, especially not anymore. ever since he had met lissy everyone else in the world had been entirely tainted to him. he could be in a room with the ten most beautiful women in the entire world but if liss happened to walk in to ask if he wanted to get a cup of coffee, he had no doubt in his mind that those same ten girls would suddenly look like trolls. ugly trolls. hideous ugly trolls that no one could love and would instead want to push off a mountain like hera had done to her son hephaestus and then they'd laugh and all go get coffee with lissy. yeah, he had it bad and when she turned to look at him, he momentarily forgot what he was there for. then she commented on his giraffe and he remembered. right. secret santa. right. it wasn't his fault. honestly, devan got smitten like rain falls during a freak thunderstorm. hard, quickly, and spontaneously. and he can't get out of it easily either. he stayed infatuated for months upon months until he either found a romantic way to ask the girl out and then got dumped or got it smacked out of him by his twin. it was a long, hard, and difficult process, and sometimes it even sucked, like when it came to the ones he fell hard enough for that he could hardly get words out. the ones like felicity that just took his breath away. asher always told him that he belonged in a cheesy chick flick with the way he talked about the women in his life and maybe he did. was that really so bad, though? he came back to earth soon enough, the desire to know who had bought him such awesome gifts overpowering his shock at talking to lissy at a time that wasn't just bumping into one another during lunch. he was disappointed at first to know that she hadn't seen anyone. after all, as much as he did like the surprise of the secret santa, he had a particular knack for figuring his out and ruining the entire thing for the other person and knowing that he was able to figure out was something he was a little proud of. now he didn't have any clue, though, and liss was no help. he frowned but let it pass. no matter. he'd figure it out in due time, when everyone else showed up. he stepped further into her office. "isn't he cute?" he said, holding the giraffe to his chest. "i think i'm gonna name him geoffrey. geoffrey the giraffe." he grinned. "if you see anyone you think might have gotten them, let me know. best secret santa gifts ever this year." he paused for a moment before asking, "what about you? santa clause dropped by your office yet?" yeah basically this is tagged for paige/lissy and ahhhhhhh babiesssss c: c: c: c: c:

[/td][/tr][/table]
TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN OF CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY MODEST MOUSE[/center]

[felicity]

And through the rising and falling apart, We discover who we are

lissy was suddenly finding that she highly disliked lying to devan. a part of her wanted to blurt out that those presents - that, in devan's words, were the best secret santa gifts ever - were from her. of course, even if she was brave enough to say that, she'd have to give some credit to his brother. asher was the reason that those presents had been so great. without him, she would've been completely clueless as to what to get devan. asher had saved her ass, in the most simple of words. she kind of wished she did have the guts to tell devan she was his secret santa, but would he really be that impressed once he knew that she'd talked to asher? probably not. besides, it was secret santa. the whole thing was supposed to be a secret anyway.

the female smiled again as devan spoke. "he's adorable." she said with a slight nod. she took another drink of coffee, watching him. she crossed her legs, smoothing out her blouse. she let out a quiet chuckle. "geoffrey... isn't that the name of the toys 'r' us giraffe?" lissy asked, tilting her head slightly. she smiled, nodding slightly. "i'll let you know." she paused for a moment, her smile growing wider at his 'best gifts ever' comment. "gifts? what else did you get?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. she was surprisingly a pretty decent actress, even if she was struggling to keep up her act. at his question, she nodded slightly. "yeah. someone left me a nice little gift basket on my desk last night. went to the bathroom and when i came back, there it was." she smiled, nodding again.

YOU BETTER LIKE THIS AND BASK IN IT'S CUTENESS OMFG FOJDJGLDSF AND SHE'S WEARING THIS.

[devan]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 380px; border-left: 20px solid #7a9aa9; background-image:url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/fk5qwnjpg.png); padding-left: 10px; padding-bottom: 20px;] Senseless Denial, We spun like birds on fire right down towards the residence and i I took all that I desired even crooks have to pay the rent We swam like rats on fire right, right down the reservoir We took all that we could carry but we tried to carry more in spite of himself, devan couldn't help but wonder who lissy's secret santa was, too. maybe he was a little disappointed that he hadn't gotten her name in the random selection. it was a teensy, tiny bit possible that he had been hoping to learn something about her in his quest to buy her the perfect secret santa gift. then at least he'd have an excuse for being what asher described as a "fucking creep" or at least having googled her name the first time they met. then he wouldn't feel as weird as he did knowing things from eavesdropping and asking around the office because he would have an excuse for it - you were my secret santa, he'd tell her and everyone else who asked. what else was i supposed to do? and because he was devan and not exactly the brightest bulb on the christmas tree, they would understand and laugh it off and it'd be no big deal. and it was possible for him to obtain the perfect gift for her eventually (though he honestly had no idea what he'd get her) and then maybe she'd realize what an awesome guy he really was and it was possible he could get romantic and slip a compliment or a cheesy way of asking her out into it and then maybe...just maybe she'd realize he existed and they'd ride off into the sunset. or he'd make an ass out of himself by getting a shitty gift. but hey, that didn't make a fun fantasy so he preferred to think the way he did. not getting her name had been something of a disappointment and it just occurred to him when she said she got a gift basket that he was really curious who had gotten it instead of him. was it a guy? another person interested in her? because he honestly couldn't be the only one. the idea made him bite his lip. she didn't comment further on the gifts, though, so maybe they weren't anything big. or maybe it was too personal to share with him. but it didn't matter - no he couldn't get caught up in thinking about it. it wasn't important. not to him. she wasn't anything of his yet except a co-worker and that simple association gave him no reason to be jealous of someone simply because they had an excuse to get her a christmas present and he didn't. though he had to admit that he at least would have come up with something better than a gift basket. it would have to be something extravagant - something awesome to match how awesome he thought she was. but he couldn't get wrapped up in that. he could get lost for years in daydreams about what could've happen had her name been given to him but as it were, it hadn't and he was in the middle of a conversation as it were. he couldn't just be drifting off to think pleasant thoughts. it was rude. he wrinkled his nose at the mention of the toys 'r' us giraffe. "is it really?" he asked. "well in that case i can't name my baby giraffe that. this will take some contemplation." then she smiled and he felt his mouth go dry. honestly, that sort of behavior should be illegal. she wasn't allowed to do things like smile at him. it was unacceptable. it was...it was too cute and it made him freeze up and he could feel his train of thought stop. god, asher was right - he was pathetic. "i, uh...i..." oh come on devan, she just asked about other presents. "oh other gifts, yeah, uhm. right. i got some chocolate which is going to keep me unfocused all day long and then some uh...headphones, yeah, headphones. which is like they read my mind. my broke the other day. blew them out. i do that." he grinned stupidly. god she must think i'm an idiot. "sounds awesome though. a gift basket i mean. the office seemed to make good matches with santas this year." yeah basically this is tagged for paige/lissy and ahhhh so much cute i can't aksjldfa

[/td][/tr][/table]
TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN OF CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY MODEST MOUSE[/center]

[felicity]

And through the rising and falling apart, We discover who we are

the gift basket hadn't been much, to be honest. then again, lissy didn't really care much for the receiving part of christmas. she insisted against receiving gifts from friends and family every year - even if it was a lost cause and everyone still got her gifts anyway - and preferred to just give instead of receive. it felt almost wrong. she was so fortunate in her riches, the fact that her mother was definitely pretty wealthy and constantly sent lissy money made her more than well-off. of course, lissy didn't exactly advertise that. not a lot of her friends seemed to notice lissy's expensive spending habits, and hadn't really asked any questions. lissy treated herself with more than enough presents. the gift basket was nice, and had some pretty nice things inside, but lissy had more than enough lotion and soaps and such. a nice thought, though, and it had made lissy smile.

lissy chuckled as devan said he'd reconsider the giraffe's name, and nodded. "good idea." she said, picking up her coffee mug and taking a small sip. she raised an eyebrow as he seemed to get a little distracted, his face going slightly blank and he had started stuttering. she frowned slightly, taking another drink as she waited for him to talk. she held back a smile as he spoke about the headphones, trying not to appear smug. of course, she had only asked asher. it wasn't exactly rocket science, but she still felt pretty damn accomplished for finding the perfect gifts for devan, with or without help. "oh? how funny. maybe you have a stalker on your hands." she joked, chuckling softly. "my brother blows out his headphones almost every other month." she added in, shaking her head slightly. lissy took another drink, looking up at devan as he brought up the gift basket again. she shrugged. "i've always been more of a giver than a receiver, but it was a nice sentiment." she said, taking one last sip of her coffee before setting it down.

BABIES :3333333 AND SHE'S WEARING THIS.