Twenty For A Dozen

06 || Dates and Devilry

06 || Dates and Devilry

         Kira tapped on her steering wheel with a satisfied smile on her face.

         “Why is it always me?” came West’s grumbled complaint from the passenger seat. Kira fought a grin and responded by handing him a makeup removal wet wipe. West scrubbed at his face, and the lipstick stains from the senior ladies birthday party came off.

         This time she did laugh, and put the car into gear. Her hair was coiled into a tight bun to match the classy theme of the party held at the retirement home. It was impromptu, and Kira had dialled West for company before she and Monique even got to ordering the Audrey Hepburn invitation cards.

         “Well, you should have known that it wasn’t only little kids who celebrated birthdays,” Kira said.

         West was combing down his awry hair with his fingers and for an odd moment Kira wanted to lick her finger and wipe away the remaining lipstick smears on his sideburns.

         "What?" he asked when he felt her stare.

         She bit her lip and shook her head but couldn't keep the small chuckle in. "Nothing."

         He drew his eyebrows together but continued to wipe his face with the tissue Kira gave him.

         The weather had been well enough lately, and Kira rolled down the windows before putting her car in gear. "Where are we going?" West asked.

         Kira looked over at him, observing the sun light up gold flecks in his eyes. "Do you have somewhere to be?"

         "No, but you just passed the intersection leading home, so... are we going over to yours?"

         Her cheeks strained with the effort to keep away from laughing and disrupting her focus on the road. "You know, that could be taken in so many ways, West." She didn't have to look over at him to know he was blushing.

         "Oh, I know." How he stayed cocky yet shy was a conundrum to Kira, but she was starting to think their kiss deal had been made in the spur of the moment.

         "I guess it could be something like that. We're actually heading to Joy-ful Planners business headquarters." Kira said. She jerked her chin towards the piles of Diana Happy Balloons boxes in the backseat. "Martin was sick, so I'm just dropping off some grunt work at the office."

         "Martin? Who's that?"

         "I suppose you could say the one who picks up and delivers any goods from our suppliers to a client's party. You've seen him around, haven't you? The redhead kid?"

         "I just always called him Weasley in my head," West admitted with an abashed shake of his head. "You mean our delivery boy?"

         Her seat shook as she laughed out loud. "No, not a Weasley. And no, we don't have labels in our company."

         When West frowned, she could practically feel the shift in the air as his perpetually upward lips tilted down and lines appeared on his forehead.

         "No labels?" he asked.

         Kira put the car in park and got out, shutting the door behind her. West followed her and they both carried a box each. "You'll see."

         Joy-ful Planners had started out in a small downtown second-floor office floor. Her father had scraped by with performing magic tricks at birthday parties, until he started his own planning business. He taught Kira the ropes, and she worked as well as he did.