"Woohoo! I’m so excited. I’ve always thought martial arts were so cool."

The drive was nice, we chatted about anything and everything, Haley excited for school to get out.

"Can you believe this is my last Christmas in high school?" my stomach fell, but how could I let her know I was bummed when her voice radiated so much excitement? I knew that like me, Haley just wanted to get on with her life, go to college, and begin her career. "So what will you do without me here?" She smiled at me; I glanced at her. I shrugged.

"Celebrate?"

"Andi." I grinned as I felt her smack my leg.

"Well, I’ll miss you." I looked at her as I stopped for a traffic light. She was already looking at me.

"Will you?"

"Sure. Where else can I find a nut who dresses up as a plain M&M?" She smiled, very sweet, her head falling back against the head rest.

"I’ll miss you, too, Andi." I was surprised for some reason. I mean, logic tells you she will, but my self-confidence, well, or lack thereof, told me differently. "I mean, we can still write emails, and call on the phone, and stuff."

"Where are you going for school?"

"I’ve been accepted at UCLA." I looked at her briefly as the light turned green, and I drove on.

"Outstanding, Haley. Congratulations."

"Thanks. What about you? What do you want to do, anyway?"

"I’m not sure. I have looked at some schools on the east coast, MIT, Dartmouth. They have a wonderful doctorate program there for what I want to do."

"Which is?"

"Molecular biology."

"Wow. Well, I know you certainly have the grades for it."

"Well, a lot will depend on what kinds of scholarships I can get. There’s no way my mom can pay for that, and I can pay for some, but tuition at those places are unreal." I felt Haley’s hand on my arm.

"I know you’ll figure out a way, Andi. You’re just smart like that." I smiled at her.

"Thanks. Hey, what do you plan to do at UCLA, anyway?"

"Well, as of right now I’m looking into psychiatry."

"Wow. A good ol’ headshrinker, eh?" She glared at me, I smiled.

I pulled into the parking lot of the mall, which was, of course, already filled with cars. It was, after all, the biggest shopping day of the year. Row after row of cars of every make, color and state of health. Finding a spot near the very back of the north lot, I turned the car off and turned to Haley, who was nearly vibrating in her seat.

"Are we a little excited?" I grinned. She nodded vigorously. "Come on, you nut."

"Have you ever been here, before?" she asked, zipping her coat. It was a cold one today, already. I hated to think what it would be like once we left.

"Many moons ago. I must have been around ten or eleven."

"Oh, I love this place." Haley got the cutest look on her face, so excited and happy. We had made plans to do this last weekend, and I had been looking forward to it all week. I had never gone Christmas shopping with a friend before, nor had I really had any friends to buy for. I had spent much of last night trying to decide what I’d get her. Now I also had a birthday gift to find, though I had an idea for that.

"Wow." I looked around the massive building as we walked through the front doors, the ceiling seeming to go on forever with stores lining the walls, and venders in the center of the large hallways. People walked, many already carrying packages. Christmas trees were everywhere, wreaths hung, Christmas music piped in. Green, red and gold were everywhere you looked. Even the mall’s trash cans looked festive with snowflakes all over them.

I could already hear the music and laughter coming from Camp Snoopy, the theme park in the middle of the mall.

"Okay, so where do you want to start? Do you like Legos?" I looked at her to see if she was serious.

"Legos?"

"Yeah, you know, the little plastic building blocks?" I narrowed my eyes.

"I’m not quite that out of the loop."

"Well, good. Because before the day is over we’re heading to the Lego Imagination Center." She began to walk, I hurried to catch up.

* * *

I licked my ice cream cone, the chocolate beginning to run down the waffle cone to my fingers. Haley laughed at me as I attempted to lick up the mess, but I just succeeded in making an even worse one.

"Here." She managed to gasp out between bouts of laughter. I grabbed the napkin she offered, wiped my mouth and hand. I still had about a third of my ice cream to go, yet I was afraid to see where it would be by the end if I was already able to make such a mess. "Just like a little kid, I can’t take you anywhere." Haley stuck her tongue out to lick her own cone.

"Yeah, bite me." I muttered around a mouthful.

"Where?" I glanced at her, and saw her smirk. "Come on. I want to go there." She pointed at the Odyssey Café. I looked at her, then at her nearly finished ice cream cone, and back to her face.

"Haley? How can you possible eat anything substantial when you’re about to finish a massive ice cream cone?" She shrugged, popping the last bit of the cone into her mouth. "Can you wait like even half an hour? If I stick anything else in my mouth right now, it will come back out, looking not as pretty as it did going in, for certain." She swallowed the cone, and nodded.

"I can wait."

"Cool. Hang on, I want to see what’s nearby." I walked over to the mall directory, and a grin spread across my face.

"What?" I slowly looked from the directory to Haley.

"I have a confession to make." Her brows drew. I pointed to a store on the map. "I am obsessed with this place." She looked to see where my fingers was, then at me.

"Eddie Bauer?"

"They have got the greatest hiking boots there." Haley looked down at my feet.

"You have a nice pair on right now."

"I know." I turned, and headed for the elevators to take us to where Eddie lived.

"Never in a million years would I have pegged you for someone who shopped in a place like that." She grinned as she stepped inside the car. The doors closed, and we headed up.

"I know. It’s not something that I’m particularly proud of, but I have a thing for great boots and tank tops. Where Eddie may fall short on those, he definitely makes up for them in boots, and nifty little gadgets. Old Navy, now that’s the place to be for tanks."

"Eddie? You two do lunch often?"

"All the time." She shook her head. I looked at her as she watched the crowds below us through the glass walls of the elevator. My gaze traveled down her profile, the straight nose, full lips, nice, defined jaw and long neck. Haley was beautiful, there was just no other word for it. As I watched, one of her hands came up and absently pushed her hair out of the collar of her jacket, and back to lie in dark, shiny waves around her shoulders. I don’t think I had ever seen her with her hair down before, except for first thing in the morning when one of us would stay at the other’s house. Her hair was gorgeous, thick and dark, healthy. The contrast with her blue eyes was stunning.

Realizing I was staring, I turned away, though reluctantly.

"Eddie, I’m home." I grinned as we walked into the store. Of course, as soon as we walked through the door we were bombarded by sales people. Just like swarming flies. I hated that.

I made my way to the back wall where all the boots were displayed in all their glory. Haley stood beside me.

"So, shoes are your fetish, huh?" I nodded. "I have one, too." I glanced at her. "It’s sunglasses. Would you be sickened to know I have seven pairs?"

"Seven?" I headed toward a particularly beautiful boot that I had to see up close and get personal with.

"Yep. Seven." Suddenly a quiet, but shrill ringing began to sound from Haley’s purse. "Hang on." She took the small cell out, and turned it on. "Hello?" I watched her for a moment, then walked away a few steps to give her some privacy. "Hey, Kelly. What’s up? I’m at Mall of America with Andi. Yes, Andi Littman." I could hear irritation in Haley’s voice. "Yes I did. Kelly, I did, too. I told you last Tuesday. We’re Christmas shopping. Of course we’ll go, too. Yeah, bye." With a sigh, she closed the phone up, and stuck it back in her purse. She walked over to me, not looking happy. I had an idea of what had happened, and decided to just keep up our other conversation so she wouldn’t be upset.

"My, lord. Well, I guess you have one pair for every day of the week, then." She grinned and walked away to look at a pair of shoes.

I asked a store clerk to find my size in the boot I had in my hand, knowing full well that chances were slim to none that I’d actually buy them. I had my car to think about. Every penny I saved would get me more money and a better car in the long run.

"Oh, those are nice." I heard in my ear. I felt Haley behind me, looking at the boot I held in my hands, over my shoulder.

"Thanks. I had the guy get my size from the back."

"Really?" She moved around to face me, taking the hiking boot in her hands to examine it better. She looked at me. "You going to buy them?" I shook my head.

"Nah. Just torture myself, you know."

"Oh, come on, Andi. You’re making the guy do the work, and how many bills do you really have?"

"Well none, but,"

"Then, what’s the problem?" She dangled the boot in front of my face by the shoestrings. "You know you want them."

"Stop. You’re trying to make me be irresponsible."

"Yeah, basically."

"Here you are, miss." I turned, and found the box with the boots in them in my hands. "Can I do anything else for you?" He looked at us both. I shook my head.