Frolic in the lights

Asher absolutely loathed shopping, but every so often it was a necessary evil. Particularly in this case, because everything depended on the success of today’s mission. Well, not exactly everything. Perhaps that was being a little dramatic. But he needed to buy a belated birthday present for Rosie, his daughter, whose actual birthday had occurred nearly two months ago. So much for father of the year, he supposed. He hadn’t come by to say hello, he hadn’t sent a card, he hadn’t even gotten her a present. Not so much because he didn’t want to, or because he’d forgotten, but more so because he felt like he no longer deserved a place in her life to begin with.

But running into Skaði a while back had changed everything, and he had been debating re-entering Rosie’s life once again. He couldn’t just walk in empty-handed, though, could he? Buying the perfect gift, however, was proving to be more difficult than he anticipated. As it turned out, he had no idea what two-year olds liked. Somewhat discouraged by his lack of inspiration, he headed for the café to reward himself – for doing nothing in particular – with a coffee. Just as he stepped of the escalator, he heard something behind him. Briefly, he furrowed his brows, wondering why ‘you with the broad shoulders’ was the thing that actually grabbed his attention. “What?”” he asked, turning around with a slightly bothered look on his face. He probably looked much more agitated than he meant to.

Nearly at the top of the escalator, he remembered that it was almost Christmas as well. If he was going to give Rosie a belated birthday present, he should probably get her something for the holidays as well, right? Pensively, he bit his lip, trying to figure out what the hell he could possibly buy for her. He had never been particularly great at buying gifts, nor was it something that he liked to do. But he couldn’t show up empty-handed. For once, however, he was quite glad that he had absolutely no plans for Christmas, except for ordering take-out and watching a shitty movie all by himself.

Caught up in his thoughts, he apparently hadn’t noticed that he had dropped something quite important. Fortunately for him, a young woman had noticed his wallet slipping out of his pocket and was kind enough to return it right away. “Oh, right,” he said, his tone softening up at once, reaching in to take it right back from her. “Thanks for returning it.” Not many people would have, he thought. He then eyed the girl again, furrowing his brows a little in thought. “Do I know you? You look familiar.” But he couldn’t really place her at all. Maybe she went to QCL, or maybe he was completely mistaken.

For a brief moment, Asher thought her to look somewhat familiar. As if he had seen her before, but he could not recall when or where. She had a pretty face, though, the kind that he was sure he would remember if he had run into her prior to today. But perhaps they hadn’t ever met at all, since her voice sounded pretty unfamiliar to him. Asher already knew this was going to bother him for the remainder of the day if he couldn’t find the answer. Maybe she knew.

Still, he took his wallet back, thanked her, and expected to be on his way again. After all, he still had plenty of things to do here in Harrods. Before he left, however, he decided to ask her where he could possibly know her from. Otherwise, this was going to end up going through his head all day. But she didn’t know either, or so she said. While telling him, though, she looked down at the ground like a child who had just been correctly accused of stealing a cookie. “You don’t think so,” he sceptically repeated, raising a single brow at her. He decided to back off, though. Clearly, she was uncomfortable, and knowing his own past, he might have easily done something upsetting to her that she’d rather not talk about. She then asked whether he’d been meaning to go to the café as well. He nodded. “Yeah,” he confirmed, wondering why… Oh, wait. She probably wanted a reward of some sorts, didn’t she? Well, he supposed he could miss a couple of pounds rather than his entire wallet. “Can I buy you anything?” he offered, hoping that she would say no.