Gift for Violet18

Gift from ???

Title of the gift: Official Anyways

Pairing: OCxMark

Word count: 5085

Rating: PG

Warnings: none


Note to my giftee: Hello Violet! Sorry that you're receiving your gift pretty late, but I hope you enjoy this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Also, I wasn't originally your Secret Santa, so I really hope that the wait was worth it! Honestly, I do like fluff stories, but I've never really been one to do fluffy fluff fluff scenarios. so I've tried my best... and hope it's okay. lol Anyways, I also tried to include what you wanted to read, and so I combined in doing all three of a Confession, a Kiss, and a First Meeting of sorts. Oh and with a good ending. I admit I love good endings compare to sad ones. lol But yeah, I hope you like it and happy holidays to you and I hope you're enjoying the new year so far! Take care! Oh yeah, I also had a friend make a poster for me for this story! =] Hope you like that, too. ^^v

Official Anyways

"Here you go, Vi." Violet's supervisor, Lara, hands her a call-in ticket with a grin. "The customer, J.F, wants you to make these." "Again?" Violet said a bit confused. "That's like the fifth one today and it's almost six." "I know, I know. But that's what the customer wants. They'll be here in an hour." Violet pouts. "But I'm off in two minutes and you know how Lyle feels about us milking the clock." Lara smirked at her. "I guess you'll be getting those fifty-eight minutes of overtime this week. And 'milking' is part of our job, Violet." Violet glares at her lead's lame joke who just continues to grin at Violet. "Oh, haha, funny, Lala." She scrunched up her face and then remembered something. "But it's Christmas' Eve. I thought we were supposed to close at seven thirty?" She looked at the monitor screen and saw that it flashed 6:02 PM and frowned. "Why haven't we done the pre-closing yet?"

"Why are you so worried? Got a hot date with Mark tonight?" Lara . "What? No." Violet answered slightly flustered. "There's no hot date or anything of that sort. We're just talking. That's it." "For like how long already? It's been at least three months by now since you've guys been 'talking'." Lara shot her a weird look. "Please tell me that something must be going on between the both of you. Tell me you're at least official." Violet remained indifferent. "I'm not telling you anything except that we're not official and so what? He's a friend of Jackson and technically, my friend, too. Anyways, what does it matter to you? We just talk and that's it." "Uh huh." Violet continued to convince her supervisor otherwise. "There's seriously nothing going on between us. We just talk like how friends talk to one another." "Yeah, like friends until late at night at four in the morning. Friends. Sure." "Shut up. I don't know why we're on this topic. Let's go back to why we're not closing early."

Lara grinned, but dropped the topic and continued with the previous one. "Well, Lyle changed his mind at the last minute. We're closing at nine thirty instead today." Lara informed her. "Didn't Minnie tell you?" "No." Violet groaned. "And she left two hours early, too." "Well, that's Minnie for you." Lara chuckled as she patted Violet's back. "Also, we had the notice on the door for two weeks now. You didn't see it?" "No, I didn't." Violet groaned again as Lara continued to rub her back. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Tomorrow's Christmas and we're off!" Lara then whispered the other part in a teasing manner. "And you can enjoy more late night talks with your boy toy." "He is not a boy toy!" Violet exclaimed and then toned down her voice when her co-workers shot her knowing looks. Lara laughed beside her and Violet elbowed her. "That was totally not cool, Lala." "Hey, you're the one that overreacted after hearing 'boy toy', Vi. Not me, but you."

"Whatever and again, he's not a boy toy, or mine for that matter." Violet grumbled shooting her co-worker a glare. "I don't even know how that even came about." "The boys in the back talk, Violet. Remember that." Lara told her with a chuckle as Violet rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever. I forget that some of them are friends with Jackson and Mark, too. Ugh." Violet let another grumble. "Stupid back house boys always messing with me." Violet then glanced down at the piece of paper and her eyes widened upon how many custard drink items were on it. "Are you serious, Lara?" She holds up the list. "There's like ten drinks on here." Lara had walked away to do something else while still replying. "Technically it's sixteen, but that's all on you since the customer specifically asked for you to make them or they don't want it at all if made by someone else."

"That's messed up, Lara. You couldn't lie or something?" Violet frowned and then glanced at two of her co-workers. "Hey, Carol or Megan can do it." She pointed at them when Lara turned to face her. "This J.F person wouldn't even know the difference." Lara gave her a firm look. "Look, Vi, that may be true, but that's close to a hundred dollar bill right there, and I already told them that you were here. So get going as ten minutes have already passed." Lara interrupted her from thinking otherwise. "And no, the others can't help you as they have other things to tend to." "But it's a lot, Lara." Violet tried, but Lara shook her head. "Just focus on that call-in and don't worry about anything else." Lara's face softened. "Besides, the faster you get it done and over with the faster you can go home after you're long shift."

"Fine." Violet let out a defeated sigh as she thoroughly read what was on the yellow slip with a pout. "Sixteen. Gah, sixteen drinks." She then noticed another co-worker walked by. "Ugh, kill me, Austin." "Why?" He asked as Violet showed him her list and he let out a low whistle. "Wow. Good luck, Magenta." He before going back to the back of the house after getting a refill of his soda. "Tch. Stupid Jackson for sticking with that nickname after Mark accidentally called me that." She let out another sigh as she grabbed her pen and started to numbered the list so that she would know to make the 'least likely to melt' item first and then work her way to the 'most likely to melt' item last. "List done and now the actual tall cups." Violet then grabbed her black sharpie and wrote on the cups of what kind of dessert drink they wanted. This helped her to keep track of it all. "Wow. That's a lot and I haven't even started putting in the custard yet."

Thirty minutes later, Violet finished the last custard item, placed it onto the fourth drink carrier with the ticket list and last three items, and placed them into the retail freezer with the other three drink carriers. "Alright, I'm done and I'm going home now." Violet announced happily as she began to untie her apron while walking towards the back of the store to put it away. Lara stopped her. "Not uh, missy. You're staying until the customer shows up." "What? Why?" Violet asked confused. "I finished the ticket. They can just pick it up without me being here." Lara shot her a wry look. "Didn't you read what was written on the back of the call-in ticket?" "No." "I think you should read it." "C'mon, Lara. It's Christmas' Eve, I've been here all day and I'm tired. Can't I just leave and go home?" Violet let out tiredly as she removed her apron while Lara shot her an understanding look. "I know, but not yet." Lara took Violet's apron. "Just clock out and sit in the office as you read the note. I'll let you know when the call-in is here."

"Fine, but can I at least changed out of my uniform?" Violet asked hoping she would say yes and noticed a smirk appearing on her supervisor's face. "What?" "Oh so you do have a hot date with Mark and it is official?" "No! I don't and we're not official. Sheesh." Violet groaned. "I just thought I had today off, but apparently I didn't. Luckily my work uniform was in my car though." Violet defended herself as Lara's face was still amused. "So you're going to be wearing your pj's around work?" "What? No. I went clothes shopping before coming to work." "Are you sure you're not going on a date with Mark?" Violet shot Lara a look. "What's up with this whole me and Mark going on a date thing?" Lara just shrugged with a small smile while waiting for Violet's real reason on going clothes shopping. "Anyways, it's because my parents want to do this Christmas' Eve dinner thing later tonight before they drive off to Texas to visit my mom's side of the family for the holidays and I needed newer and nicer clothes, too. Okay?"

"Hey, I'm not judging you, Vi." Lara told her with that same smile. "Anyways, just kick it in the office until then. I'll let you know when that call-in order comes through so you can take care of it." "Are you serious? Are you sure that the other girls can't do it for me?" Violet pleaded, but Lara shook her head. "Nope. No can do, kiddo." "I'm the same age as you." "Don't care. Anyways, hurry and clock out so you can change and not milk my clock." "I thought 'milking' was part of our job, Lara." "It is, when you're actually doing anything milk related, duh, Violet." "Tch, whatever, fine." "That's a good girl." "Not funny." "It wasn't supposed to be." "You're a jerk, you know that?" "I am the boss and need to make sure the kids listen to me." Lara grinned at her. "Now, go. You're bringing up my labor." "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it even though earlier you said it didn't matter." "I changed my mind." "Mmhmm."

Violet walked back to the front of the store and told her fellow co-workers that she was done for the day, but would be in the back chilling if they wanted to disturb her or whatever. She then clocked herself out, made her way to the retail freezer, grabbed the call-in ticket, headed back to the register to print out another ticket just in case someone asked about the items, and replaced the one she took. Violet entered the office, grabbed her bag, and went into the employee bathroom to change. After doing all of that did she finally make her way back to the office to wait for this J.F customer to show up. Not sure what to actually do, Violet just settled herself onto one of the rolling chairs and played some random movie on the work's computer did she finally remembered about the ticket. "I guess I could read it and prepare myself when they arrive." Violet began to read the message out loud.

"Dear Lovely Lady Between the Shades of Red and Blue..." Violet stopped reading after reading those words. "Why does this sound like Jackson? And how did Lara keep a straight face when she wrote this?" She shook her head with an amused look and continued reading out loud. "Thanks for always making our drinks. We greatly appreciate it. Hope to see you soon. So please don't leave yet. Sincerely, J.F." Violet raised an eyebrow after finishing the note. "That's it? So simple." She flipped it back and forth, and then placed it onto the desk. "I don't even know what I was expecting, honestly." She told herself as she ran a hand through her hair. "Well, at least I can watch this Tinker Bell movie, Secret of the Wings, until then." Violet then shot a glance at the monitoring screen next to the computer screen where cameras were placed throughout the store to monitored it and noticed a large group of people entering the place. "Too bad I'm off the clock."

Violet was so engrossed with the film that she didn't hear the third knock coming from the door until she heard her name being called when the person opened the door to get her attention better. "Violet?" "Yeah?" Violet answered as she turned to look over her shoulder at the person. "What's up, Tim?" The younger male pointed behind him. "Lara said something about serving the call-in because they're here." "Ah, okay. Thanks, Tim." "Yup." Tim returned back to the kitchen leaving Violet to pause the movie. "Ugh, and they were about to stop the Freeze, too." Violet stood up, stretched, and glanced at the monitoring screen once again. "Hmm, should be okay. Doesn't seem busy now." And then noticed the time. "Huh, they showed up a little later than said. Oh well." She left the office and made her way to the front of the store and came across Lara. "Hey, Lara. Tim told me J.F is here?" "Oh yeah, his party is around the corner at the last booth." Lara informed her while pointing in that direction with a smile. "Have fun."

"A party?" Violet let out questioningly as she gathered the drink carriers from the retail freezer. "I thought it was only one person picking it up the order and then leave right after?" "Nope, it's a pretty big group and they're actually dining in instead." Lara stated as she helped Violet put the carriers onto two eating trays for her to carry them better. "Alright, go ahead and send these out to them and let me know how it goes." Lara grinned and patted Violet on the back. "Are you serious?" Violet just shot her lead a look. "You're not going to help me?" "Nope. No can do, kiddo. I gotta take this order as I sent Carol on break." Lara smirked as she pressed a button on her headset to take the guest at drive thru. "Hello. Thank you for choosing Roman's Truffles. My name is Lara and I'll be tending to you tonight. Our flavor of the day is Oreo Overload. Which is amazing, I might add. What can I make fresh for you?" Lara waved at Violet before walking away to the drive thru's register.

"Sheesh, some friend you are." Violet mumbled as she balanced the two trays and began making her way to the customer while muttering to herself. "When this order is delivered, I can go home, then the dinner with the fam bam, and my precious bed afterwards." Once she was nearing the group, she put on a friendly smile for some good customer service, and greeted them in a cheery voice without actually paying attention to the faces. "Hello." She placed the tray onto a nearby table so she could hand them their drinks. Although she didn't have to, but she always did this so that the customer would get their right order without having them to figure it out and then asking for a remake even though it wasn't needed. "So I have a call-in for J.F?" "Yes." One of them answered and Violet finally paid attention to the faces and recognized him instantly. "Jackson? Seriously?" She shot him a look. "You're the one that's been doing all these call-ins today?"

Jackson grinned at her and let out his hyena-like laugh. "Yes ma'am." He then waved his arms around at the other people around them. "I don't know if I told you, but some of my family and friends came to visit from out of state and I'm treating them out." He then looked at the others while pointing at her. "This is my good friend, Violet." "Hello." They greeted her as Violet waved at them with an awkward smile. "Uh, hi." She then remembered about the drinks and started to distribute them. "Blueberry Cheesecake mixer with extra Oreo's and cheesecake pieces?" No one claimed it and Violet repeated it once more. Still no response and so she put it back and grabbed another one and moved on. She then returned to the Blueberry Cheesecake mixer with extra add-ins. "Is someone missing?" Violet asked as the others looked at one another. "Jackson, did you order an extra one?" Jackson thought about it and shook his head. "No. Everyone got what they ordered."

Violet still held the dessert in her hand while giving her friend a weird look. "But there were sixteen on the list. This one is still unclaimed for. Jackson, are you sure?" "Yes, Violet, I'm sure." Jackson answered with a roll of his eyes and smirked at her. "Maybe you miscounted or something." "I did not." Violet then remembered she was still at work and talking with a customer and so backed off. "Alright, well enjoy. If you need anything else, please do let us know." She smiled at them as Jackson grinned at her. "Will do, Viola. Thanks." Violet cringed at the other nickname, but continued to keep the smile on her face. "OK. Once again, please enjoy." She bowed her head as she backed away. Just as she turned around, she ran into another body who just turned the corner, and the custard spilled between them due to the collision.

"Oh my. I am so sorry. I wasn't looking. Oh, I'm so sorry." Violet apologized as she stared at the custard cup where it was still leaking the sticky substance before looking up at the person she had ran into. "I'm so sor- ah, Mark. Hey." She suddenly greeted him, but then remembered what happened. "Oh, I'm so sorry about this. I didn't see you." Mark cast her an understanding look. "It's alright, Violet. It's my fault." He touched the spillage on his shirt. "I wasn't looking when I rounded the corner either." "Ah, no, no. It was totally my fault. Ah, wait, hold on." She quickly walked to the condiment's bar and grabbed some napkins. She returned to Mark's side and handed him some of the napkins. "Here. And again, I'm really, really sorry about the accident, Mark." She then picked up the broken cup and threw it away before crouching down to try and clean up the mess.

Mark joined her after wiping away at the stain on his shirt. "Violet, it's okay." "Ah, Mark, you don't have to do that." Violet told him as she was surprised by his actions. "I might as well helped you since it was my fault, too." He grinned at her as Violet just shook her head. "No, it's okay. I got this." She finished up and took the dirtied napkins from him and threw it away. "Thanks though." "You're welcome." He smiled at her as the two just stood there while she kind of remained awkward about the whole ordeal after wiping away some of the mess from her sweater. Violet then heard Mark chuckled and she looked at him. "What's so funny?" "This reminded me on how we first met." "Really?" Violet asked as she tried to recall the memory. "Yeah, the same thing happened that time. I rounded this corner as I was running late and you had a drink in your hand and we bumped into one another. Don't you remember?"

Violet let out an embarrassed laugh. "Um, not really, but it isn't a great first impression that I really want to keep though." She then asked why he was there. "Oh, Jackson invited me to hang out, but I just got done dropping off Joey at his girlfriend's house for a Christmas party, and the reason why I was late." "Ah, I see." Violet nodded her head as she assumed the custard was for Mark and that Jackson had lied to her. "Well, um, I'll let you go then." Violet said with a sheepish laugh. "I just hope you have another shirt, well sweater, to change into though. Although you can just zip up your jacket to covered the stain." Just as Violet was about to her heels and walked away with embarrassment, Mark stopped her. "Ah, Violet, wait." She turned back to look at him unsure as she was still embarrassed about the whole thing. "Yes?" Mark looked at her a bit embarrassed as he didn't know what to say or do next.

"Just kiss already!" "Just confess already!" The duo heard two different people called out and turned to look at Jackson's party where Violet noticed Lara was apart of watching her and Mark. "Why are you there?" Violet asked her lead as Lara waved like it was normal sitting with the customers. "Because she's my girlfriend." Jackson stated as he wrapped his arm around Lara's shoulders. "Am not." Lara shrugged off his arm and moved away from him while Jackson just played it off coolly. "We were trying to help Mark out." Violet then glanced back at Mark. "Help you with what?" "Well..." Mark trailed off as he was still trying to figure out the words. "Violet... I..." He let out unsure with a shy look as Violet was wondering where he was going with this although she could feel her heartbeat quicken its pace and thumping hard against her chest.

"Ugh, this is going nowhere." Jackson let out frustrated as he patted Lara on the arm. "Go with Plan B." "Plan B?" Both Mark and Violet let out confused. "What's Plan B?" Violet asked Mark as he shrugged being equally confused as her. "I have no clue." "Leonidas! Zacharias!" Lara called out the nicknames of two boys as Violet's tall co-workers suddenly appeared and held some sort of long tinsel over Mark and Violet's heads with some plant-like thing directly hanging over them. "Oh, look. It's a mistletoe." Lara feigned surprise. "Now you guys have to kiss." Everyone who was in the lobby witnessing this started clapping in merriment. Violet cast Mark an embarrassed look. "This is so embarrassing and I'm so sorry for Lara's action. I didn't know anything about this." She then rubbed her burning cheeks and avoided looking at Mark. "You seriously don't have to go through with it, Mark."

Mark watched her with a small smile while letting out a chuckle. "It's okay, Violet." He then grabbed a hold of her wrists and removed them from her cheeks while meeting her gaze. "There's something I have to confess." Violet bit her bottom lip wondering what it was although she had an inkling feeling of what it may be. "And that would be?" "Well, honestly there's two, but can I kiss you first?" He asked softly as Violet grinned at him suddenly wanting to . "I don't know. Can you?" His lips quirked up following along with her. "May I kiss you?" "Um..." She continued to . "I'll think about it." "Oh c'mon! Just kiss him already, Violetta!" Jackson let out frustrated using another nickname as Lara elbowed him. "Don't ruin the moment, idiot." "I'm not ruing anything. Besides, they're official anyways since the day they met." "Please, you're loud voice is disturbing their moment."

Due to Jackson and Lara's bickering this snapped Violet back to reality with the others watching her and Mark. She removed her wrists from his grip and used one of her hand to rub her elbow nervously. "Um, could we do this somewhere else without them, y'know, watching?" Violet asked Mark while tilting her head to the group behind them and Mark looked over and then back at Violet. "Ah yeah. How about we go and talk outside?" "That would be great." Violet let out with a relieved sigh. "Wait!" Jackson called out interrupting the duo again. "You can't just leave us hanging even though I know you guys are already official and what not." Jackson stated with a pout. "Just confess and kiss and we we'll be the witnesses to your guys' love line making." "Dude, shut up. Why are you always putting in your two cents?" Lara asked annoyed.

"Because it's a free country and it's my free speech." Jackson defended as Lara rubbed her temples to calm herself as to not hit the idiot. "1, 2, 3..." "Why are you counting?" Jackson asked cluelessly as he looked at his family and friends for an explanation, but none of them provided him with an answer. "Maybe Lara and Jackson should be the one hooking up." Violet chuckled as she whispered this to Mark. "If it makes you feel better, he does have a crush on your boss." Mark admitted with a laugh as Violet looked at him intrigued. "You mean Lara right? Because my boss is actually the owner, Lyle, who is married. There's Minnie, too, but she is also married." Mark rolled his eyes playfully. "Lara of course. Don't you notice the two bantering left and right?" Violet rolled her eyes while shaking her head as she and Mark made their way outside. "I just figured it was a Jackson thing." "Yeah, it can be that too."

Once the duo was outside and had settled themselves on the patio, did Violet questioned him. "You tried to reenact the first time we met, didn't you?" "How did you know?" Mark asked surprised that she had figured it out. "Well, it's not that hard considering Jackson wants us to kiss and Lara doing the mistletoe thing and making me make all those custard items." And Violet paused to let out a slight annoyed sigh. "To which I believe the one that was destroyed was supposed to be yours." Mark rubbed the back of his neck as he let out a sheepish laugh. "Yeah." He let out lamely, but recovered. "At least it worked out, didn't it?" Violet nodded her head in agreement. "It did, but it was not cool that I had to make them all." "Well, that was Jackson's idea." "Really? Figures. Anyways, what does J.F stand for?" "One of his many nicknames. J-Flawless." "Should have known it was something like that."

The two sat there while the silence lingered between them for a moment before Violet broke it. "Um, so earlier, you said you had something to confess about or something like that. What was it?" Mark looked at her a bit lost and then a smile graced his face. "Well it's now or never, so I might as well just say it since it's already kinda out in the open." Violet waited for him to continue on. "Violet, I like you." Mark confessed as Violet just stared at him shocked by his sudden confession. "Um..." Mark let out unsure as she still didn't react to his confession a few seconds later and assumed he just made it even more awkward between them. "Violet?" Violet shook her head and focused back to reality. "Yeah?" "Did you hear me?" "That you like me, right? Yeah, I did." "And?" "And..." She let out slowly while gazing at him a bit shyly. "I like you, too, Mark."

Mark let out a relieved breath. "Oh, good. Because I really wanted to do this for a long while now since we first met." Before Violet could asked what that was, Mark had leaned across the table and tenderly placed his lips against her sharing their first kiss. He pulled away with a smile as Violet softly touched her lips. "Wow, I wasn't expecting that." She then looked up. "Well, at least the mistletoe didn't make you do it." She chuckled while glancing back at Mark. "Well, I wanted to do that then, but it was kind of awkward at the time." "Tell me about it." Violet indirectly confessed in wanting to kiss him back then as Mark raised an eyebrow intrigued. "So you wanted to kiss me then, too?" "Yeah, but I didn't know how you felt about me." Mark leaned closer with a wide smile. "Well, now that we both know how we feel about each other. Let's try that kiss again." Violet leaned forward as well with a smile. "I agree."

Just as they were about to lock lips once more, they heard a thump against the glass and turned to see the others watching them. "BE OFFICIAL ALREADY!" Jackson yelled through the glass with Lara pulling him away in annoyance. "I don't know if to be embarrassed for myself or for them." Violet let out with a laugh as she used her hand to block them from her sight and looked over at Mark who also let out a laugh. "How about we just ignored them." He grabbed the collar of his jacket and raised it up and leaned even closer to Violet blocking the both of them from the onlookers. "Is this better?" "Yes. Much better." The two shared another kiss before pulling apart and Violet remembered she had other plans tonight. "Hey, I gotta go. I have this Christmas' Eve dinner with my family and I'm kinda running late." "Don't you have to change?" Mark pointed at the stain on her sweater. "I need to, but I'm already late as it is and my house is kinda far where I need to go."

Mark shook off his jacket and handed to her. "Here, take this." Violet didn't reach for it. "Oh, but that's yours. Don't you need it?" "I have another one in the car. Besides," He grinned at her as he still held out the jacket for her to take, "You can always return it to me tomorrow and borrow it again and returned it again and again." Violet took his jacket, slipped it on, and zipped it up. "Why tomorrow and I don't I'm the type to borrow things that belongs to others?" "Because it's Christmas and oh, you'll be borrowing from me a lot." "We'll see and yeah I already knew that it was Christmas. So?" "And so Jackson having his annual Christmas party. We can meet there for you to return my jacket, if you want to." "Oh right, I forgot about that." Violet laughed. "Thanks for reminding me." "No problem." Mark smiled at her as he stood up. "Let me walk you to your car." "Well, I have to grab my things first." Violet let out slowly as she stood up and Mark saw her hesitation. "And?"

"Well, they're going to hound me about you and our status as everyone already believes your my 'boy toy'." Mark cast her an amused look. "You're 'boy toy', eh?" "It wasn't even like that. The boys just like to tease me, a lot." Violet tried to defend herself, but Mark just smiled at her understandingly. "I know. Austin and Michael do the same thing to me about you." He then took a hold of her hand in his. "How about we tackle this together since technically it was my fault that it became like this and we'll be official anyways as everybody's been saying it since the first day we met." "I'll like that." She smiled up at him. "And I'm good with the whole official part too, although it was a week for me instead of day one." "Good, because I already accepted it the day I met you." "Wow. But, thanks, Mark." She tip-toped and planted a kiss on his cheek. "You're welcome, Violet." He returned the same gesture.