Serena stared down at the thin box sitting half unwrapped in her lap. She'd barely begun to tear at the wrapping paper when her boy friend had disappeared into the other room and reappeared in a hideously tacky Christmas sweater. She had stopped right then and there and spent a good five minutes staring at him, taking in all the sweater's horrid details. The three dimensional holly leaves on the shoulders, the tacky line of winter deerlings across the chest, the painful clash of too many colors. She stared at it, mildly horrified as Augustine grinned down at her.

"Go on, ma chere, open it," he urged and Serena finally pulled her attention away from the train wreck of yarn. She looked down at the box in her lap with a sinking feeling in her gut. The size and shape of the box made it abundantly clear just what was in store for her. Augustine plopped down next to on the couch, swirling his glass of wine excitedly.

She picked at the remaining wrapping paper, torn as to whether she ought to rush and get the whole thing over with or delay the inevitable as long as possible. She could tell her beau was getting antsy the longer she stalled. Serena ignored him. If the box contained her own ugly sweater then he could just sit there and wait for her to mentally prepare herself for it. With what she hoped was a silent sigh she pulled off the lid of the box.

"Oh Augustine, you shouldn't have," she said unable to keep the flatness out of her tone. She barely contained the urge to wince.

In truth, the sweater innocently sitting in the box on her lap was not quite as utterly hideous as her boyfriend's. For one thing, its pattern was limited to three colors and they did not clash. Well mostly. They didn't clash with each other but they were far too bright to be considered anything but gaudy.

With a morbid curiosity, she lifted the top half up out of the box to get a better look. Augustine turned away briefly to hide his laugh at the way she'd lifted the thing with only the tips of her fingers, as if it were poisonous or radioactive. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" She asked tone snide. He responded by breaking down into full on laughter. She chucked the offending article of clothing at him and it flopped across his head with a soft thump. Setting his glass aside, Augustine peeled the present off himself and motioned for Serena to try it on. "Please, ma chere, for me?" He urged, managing to get through the whole line with a straight face.

She sighed and tugged the idiotic thing on, stupid dancing abomasnows and all and crossed her arms with a huff. Augustine reigned himself in enough to drape an arm over her shoulder and pull her closer.

"Vous regardez merveilleux, ma chere," he said, managing not to burst into another bout of laughter, though he did snort a bit at the end. She studied her tacky new garment her mind already formulating her revenge. At least he hadn't insisted she wear it in public.

"I will get you back for this. Since I wore the thing you have to wear whatever I get you. Promise?" He smirked and then agreed his doubt that she would out do him evident. Serena laughed quietly to herself. Come Valentine's Day she was going to have plenty to laugh about herself.