Zarina x Elodie Oneshots

Happy Holidays

Growing up in a Lebanese household, Zarina never celebrated Christmas. In truth, her family didn't celebrate many holidays. However, Christmas did fascinate her. During her high school years, the school's halls would be covered in Christmas decorations and posters. Beautifully decorated Christmas trees could be found in every classroom.

Zarina quite enjoyed the basics of the holiday, never really getting into the religious stuff of it. She always exchanged gifts with her friends, learned the catchier Christmas songs, and even dressed up a little to match the overall theme of the holiday.

Elodie, on the other hand, celebrated Christmas every year. Before her parents' disappearance, it was a special time she shared with her family. The few times they celebrated on Dyer island, Elodie made sure to buy gifts for all her friends, to show them how much they meant to her.

That was her problem. She had no idea what to get Zarina. They'd been living together for about seven months, yet Elodie was dumbstruck at the idea of getting Zarina a gift. She'd always thought long and hard about gifts, but with Zarina, she had no clue.

She thought about the gifts she received, looking at what she was wearing. It was her gift from Felix, though it had arrived in the mail about a week and a half early. An ugly Christmas sweater with a compass on it, referencing her love of exploring. 'Of course, he'd get me this, it's obvious,' she thought. She appreciated it, of course, but she wanted her gift to Zarina to have more meaning.

She called Felix and asked him about her problem. She scoffed when he reminded her about an ancient architecture book she'd given him one year.

"Hey, I really liked that book," he told her, "It meant a lot to me!"

"But it's too obvious," she retorted, "Everyone knows you like architecture, and now it's your whole career. If I just bought Zarina a camera it would carry little thought at all! 'Oh, Zarina likes filming, photography, and reporting. I'll get her a camera'" she said sarcastically.

"Doesn't that sound stupid!"

"Elodie," Felix said, calmly, "I think you might be looking too much into this. She doesn't even really celebrate Christmas."

"She's celebrating for me, Felix," she vented, "That's what she does. She thinks about everyone else all the time. She never thinks about herself, you know that."

"Well, do the thinking for her, what does she really need? What does she want? What does she want from you?"

Elodie thought about Felix's words long and hard. Still, she had absolutely no idea. So, she thought she'd try asking people Zarina is close to. Elodie didn't really know her friends that well and she thought about asking her mom at first, but Elodie and her mother's relationship is awkward at best. That left only one other person, Zarina's brother, Immad.

Since this was a very personal matter, at least to Elodie, she decided to see him in person. They had met before, her came to visit her and Zarina soon after she moved in, she'd even been to his apartment before. However, Zarina was always there with her, this time she was going alone, obviously.

It had been awkward at first, Elodie isn't always the most talkative person. Luckily, Immad was the opposite, just like Zarina. He small talked with her, then once she was comfortable, she told him the true reason why she was there. He immediately piped up with advice, eyes lighting up at the chance to help her.

"You know how she likes to help people, right?" he asked.

"Obviously," she deadpanned.

"Well, she uses that as her personality to cover up her real one," he explained, Elodie furrowed her brows in confusion, "Of course she genuinely loves helping others, but its hard for her to open up about herself, that's why she focuses on everyone else. She hid everything about herself when she was in high school."