The meeting was coming to an end and before anyone could stand up, Tanisha Moore raised her hand for a final comment. She looked like she had been up sick all night. Mr. Walker motioned to her to speak.
"I'm really sorry Mr. Walker, but I'm too sick to do the Christmas Banquet Series this year. I really...can't," she finished sneezing.
"Okay. That's--," he sighed and looked at his watch, "fine. I'll find a replacement. Have a good day everyone."
He walked quickly out of the meeting and down the hall toward his office. Peri, his secretary was on the phone taking a message.
"Two o'clock on the 29th? No, Mr. Walker will be on vacation from the 26th until the 5th of the New Year...Yes...January 8th at...? 10am. Great. Oh, thank you. You have a good day too Mr. Taylor. Goodbye."
Peri hung up the phone smiled at Mr. Walker.
"Hello, Mr. Walker. How did the meeting go?"
"It went," he grunted, "and apparently so did Tanisha."
Peri looked confused.
"She quit?"
"She should. That damn girl is always sick. Coughing and sneezing and whatnot. Good worker but gives me the willies."
Peri laughed.
"I need a favor of you Peri," he said sitting on the edge of her desk and crossing his arms.
"Yes, what is it?"
"The Christmas Banquet Series," he said pausing. She looked at him waiting for him to continue.
"What about it?" she asked.
"Tanisha's sick."
He paused again.
"Right..."
"Well, she was supposed to do that thing...you know. With the kids?" Realizing what was coming, Peri sighed and leaned back in her chair, looking away from him.
"Yes, Mr. Walker, I know."
"Well, I'm going to need a replacement and--"
"And you want me to do it," she finished for him.
"Could you? I'll pay you double time."
She sighed and began to protest.
"Mr. Walker, I would but--"
"Triple time?" he asked. "Peri, I need two helpers and I'm not going to be able to find anyone else to cover on such a short notice. The kiddie thing is tomorrow. You know I wouldn't ask you if I didn't really need the favor."
She sighed again and shook her head.
"Mr. Walker, I'm sorry but I really can't tomorrow. I mean, of course I'll be at the banquet on Saturday but I--"
"Peri," he said giving her puppy dog eyes, "Please? For me?"
She laughed.
"Mr. Walker--,"she stopped. "Fine. I'll do it," she said standing up and walking towards the hallway. "And it's not because you're paying me triple overtime. I mean, triple overtime and a half is a lot to pay for a few hours of extra work. So, since you're paying me four times as much as I usually make an hour and giving me a raise, I'll be there."
She smiled and started to walk away but stopped as he called her.
"Yes?" she asked smiling.
"Get the costume from Tanisha. And thank you very much," he smiled and walked into his office and closed the door.
* ***** *
"I can
NOT
believe I agreed to this," Peri sighed as she pulled on her green pantyhose.
"Oh Peri stop! It's for a good cause," her friend Alina laughed. "How bad can it be? Really."
"It's too short and Tanisha's boobs are like, half the size of mine."
"Damn, what is she, flat-chested?" Alina joked. "Let me see it. Come out."
Peri peeked from around the Japanese folding screen in her bedroom.
"Don't you dare laugh at me," she threatened.
"Oh come on."
Peri stepped from behind the screen so Alina could see her entire outfit and her face lit up when she saw the costume.
"Oh Peri, that is too cute! Turn around!"
Peri stood in front of the mirror and turned around looking at herself. She had on a dress that was half red and half green with a collar and bells that resembled that of a jester's. She also had on a green hat with furry red trim, green pantyhose and red booties.
"Just please do my ears so I can go and get this over with," Peri huffed sitting down in a chair.
"What's wrong?" Alina asked.
"I feel ridiculous. I can't believe I'm going to leave my house like this."
"You look fine Peri, really. You are the sexiest elf I've ever seen," she laughed.
"This is not exactly what I want to do on a Friday night; I have to go romp around with kids all night and help them take pictures with Mr. Walker, aka Santa Claus," she said rolling her eyes.
"You'll have fun," Alina smiled as she began to apply Peri's pointed ears, "you know you will."
Peri crossed her arms.
"Hey you never know," Alina said suddenly, "maybe Jacob will be there."
Peri looked over to her dresser where the silver shark necklace lay and smiled.
* ***** *
"My feet are killing me,"
Peri thought to herself after an hour of greeting children and helping them sit on "Santa's" lap.
"It feels like I'm standing on the bare floor. Why do I always give in so easily? This is ridiculous! Next time he asks for a favor, I'll just have to --"
Her thoughts were cut off by a poke in the ribs. Annoyed, she turned to see who it was and was surprised to see that it was--
"Jacob!" she said grinning from ear-to-ear. "Hey."
"Hey, sorry I'm late," he said looking at the line of children. He was wearing a male version of the elf costume that she wore.
"It's okay, Santa didn't even tell me you were coming," she said rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, well if he would have told me you were going to be here instead of Tanisha I would have made a better effort to be here on time," he smiled down at her. His light-brown curls stuck out of his hat and perfectly framed his face.
"I didn't really have much of a choice. Tanisha got sick at the last minute and here I am."
"Well, I'm glad you're here," he said as the child on his father's lap climbed down and ran toward her mother giggling.
"Peri!" Mr. Walker grinned broadly at her, "Come here please."
She quickly strode to his side.
"Yeah?"
"I need to go to the bathroom, can you announce my break after the next child?"
"Sure," she said as Jacob walked the next little boy over to Santa.
She smiled and stepped aside as the little boy climbed onto Mr. Walker's lap. When he was done, Peri faced the kids, grinning.
"Okay boys and girls! Santa is going to go take a milk and cookies break but he'll be right back. Make sure you're ready with your lists!" she said as Mr. Walker headed to the bathroom.
Peri and Jacob stood next to each other and played Christmas songs while they waited for him to return.
"So how have you been?" Jacob asked.
"Pretty good, how about you?" she said looking up at him. His blue-gray eyes sparkled.
"Good. Pretty bored, but good."
"Do you do this every year?"
"Yeah, my uncle is a manager at this store. My dad volunteers me every year... Go figure."
Peri laughed.
"It's not so bad though, right?"
He scoffed and shook his head.
"I'm just looking forward to the banquet tomorrow. That's the fun part."
"Oh really?"
"Hell yeah. Open bar, free drinks and free food. Can't really beat that," he shrugged, as he noticed her dress. "That dress is kinda short."
Peri looked down and shook her head.
"I know, it's Tanisha's and as you can see I'm quite a few inches taller than she is."
"That's so hot," he said feeling a slight tingle in his crotch as he looked at her long legs.
Peri grinned as she thought back to her first encounter with Jacob. He started off to be a jerk and turned out to be a wonderful sex partner. They were forced to ride to a business conference together and got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and ended up sexing for more than an hour.
When they finally got to the hotel, she pulled out her jacket and found that he'd left his silver shark necklace there for her. She got moist just thinking about it.
"Here comes Santa Claus," she said as Mr. Walker finally came back. The kids cheered as he took his seat. Jacob began to help the next child onto his lap. After about an hour it was time for them to take a dinner break. That meant they got to leave the screaming children for about 45 minutes. It was Jacob's turn to announce the break this time.
"Well boys and girls, it's time for Santa and Elf Peri and me to go feed the reindeer! Don't worry though, we'll be back to make sure Santa gets to hear all of your Christmas wishes. Please don't cross into the North Pole because we don't want anyone getting hurt, okay? We'll be back; you be good!" he grinned waving goodbye as they all headed to the back of the store.
When they got back there Peri pulled her hat off.
"Finally!" she sighed wiping sweat from her forehead.
"Peri, thank you so much again for replacing Tanisha. It means a lot and besides, if you weren't here, there would have been no elves for the first hour," he finished glaring at Jacob.
"Dad, I called to tell you I'd be late. You should stop signing me up for this every year."