Page 13 of Hands off his Dudette

"Well, don't just stand there. Get some."

He turned to find that, indeed, a complete stranger was talking to him. Strange thing, in New York City. Although it was perhaps due to the fact that the stranger was a little old lady with ringlet curlers in her hair.

"Excuse me?"

"You've been staring at the flowers for a good two minutes like an idiot, dammit. That means you know you should get some. Your lady—or gentleman, who knows, these days—will like it."

He stared at the flowers some more.

"Men," said the little lady, snorting.

"Look, it's complicated. She's a friend. And roommate."

"Ah!" she exclaimed, beaming. "But you want more than friendship, or you wouldn't still be looking at flowers."

He shook his head. The old lady rolled her eyes."Here's what you're going to do, young man. You'll take these ones home." She pointed to a basket of red, white, and green flowers. "That's a Christmas thing. Very casual. You just put it in the house, without a word, if you want to. But if you grow balls, you can just give them to her like a grown up."

And so, he bought the basket, and did what he was told.

"What is that?" were Anna's first words when she got home, ten minutes after him.

He'd just gotten started on the red wine beef sauce.

He turned to find Annapointing to the flowers on the breakfast counter.

Finn shrugged. "An old lady bullied me into it. She said something about having Christmas flowers."

"We never decorate for Christmas. Ever."

She was right, they'd never bought a tree. Her own family had celebrated Hanukkah in style, and Finn's mother had been big about Yule, but since they'd been left to their own devices over the last few years, they'd just exchanged gifts and called it a day.

He shrugged. "That's hardly decorating. Why, don't you like them?"

She was quick to reply, "Hell yeah, I like them. I'm just surprised, is all. You should hang out with old ladies more often."

Finn frowned. "Would you want to? Decorate, I mean."

He'd never asked her before. To his surprised, Anna smiled and nodded. "Sure. It'd be fun to have a tree."

What the hell?

"Why didn't you say so before, then?"

She shrugged. "It's your house, Finn. I don't even pay rent."

Now he was pissed.

"You're being ridiculous. It's our place. If you want a damn tree, you should have said so."

Anna rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"I don't.Wait, anything else I should know? That you won't do because you don't pay rent?"

Another shrug.

"Anna..."

"The sofa is ugly and uncomfortable."

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