Where The Sage Shrubs Grow,

Chapter 3

Third Person POV

It was Christmas Eve and Sage was strolling through a small part of town. On her way to a coffee shop that she had agreed to meet up with Hallie at, sadly MC lived to far away for her to go. So it was just the two of them for now. She paused when she reached the door and turned looking at her boot prints in the freshly fallen snow. The warm light streaming out from the window of the coffee place caused her shadow to stretch across the street, she looked up admiring the cloudy night sky with the promise of snow hanging above her. She looked around taking in the scenery, warm light streaming out of all the shops with dainty Christmas lights hanging from all the doors. The lamp posts in the streets stepping up in the moons absence, like hundreds of little moonlit orbs. The benches lining the streets with lovers initials carved upon the sturdy wood. She couldn't help but feel warm and cozy despite the chill in the air.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see someone waving at her. She turned to see who it was, it was her brother. He was gesturing to the book store he was headed to. Letting her know where he would be in case she needed him for anything. She nodded letting him know she understood what he was putting down. He smiled at her and went inside, Sage sighed and stood there waiting for her friend to arrive. "Sage!" Hallie exclaimed apparating into existence with her sister Serenity in step right behind her. Hallie strode to the door of the coffee shop and wrapped Sage in a hug. Sage returned the embrace "There you are, I thought you had died or something." Sage teased quoting Hallie from when she had been late to dinner. Hallie playfully rolled her eyes "well naturally I had to make sure I looked like a pretty princess" she retorted, dramatically flipping her imaginary long hair.

    As they entered the little shop the warmth of the place engulfed them and so did the scent of coffee. As they took off their coats they realized they had ironically chosen the same cream colored turtleneck to wear. Only Hallie had paired it with a forest Green Day dress to wear under it, with wool tights and black leather boots. Her hair was done into two low space buns with stands of hair falling in her face, and she pulled the whole look together with dainty gold jewelry. Sage, however had worn it with a pair of dark brown trousers and worn her coat as a long Blazer with a pair of black converse to finish it off. Her hair was pulled into a half up half down hairstyle secured with a claw clip in the back, she paired all this with gold earrings and gold rings.

    They laughed about their similarity and went to the counter to order. Hallie ordered a hot peach tea, and Sage ordered a hot caramel cappuccino, and they both ordered a blueberry muffin. Once they had each gotten what they ordered they sat back down. Sage took a sip of her drink and Hallie laughed at Sage's glasses fogging up from the steam. They sat and talked for hours past finishing their drinks, eventually they decided to go to the bookstore their siblings were at, to look at books.

    They crossed the snow covered Street and made their way to the bookstore. They had been talking so much that they hadn't noticed the snow falling from the sky like powdered sugar. As they walked through the powdery snow they looked and admired the vintage buildings and thrift shops. When they had reached the entrance of the bookshop they stopped and stared in admiration for a moment.

    As they entered they heard a small bell ring signifying someone had entered the store, there were shelves in lines through she shop filled with books, even the walls were stock full of books. It was one of the most incredible sights she'd ever seen, right next to Hogwarts Library. She shop smelled of vanilla and mahogany, it was warm and inviting. Just as a bookshop should feel. Apollo spotted the two girls standing at the entrance and walked over to them "Is something wrong?" he questioned, "nope" both girls responded at the same time. "We just wanted to come look at books" Hallie stated "maybe walk away with some" Sage suggested. Apollo laughed at the girls and meandered away. The girls gave eachother a side look paired with a smirk and they were off.

    Sage personally preferred the fiction and or mystery side of the reading world, on the other hand Hallie preferred the romance drama, plant science side of it. They browsed and grabbed books for a good hour and by the time they found each other again they both had a large stack of books. The girls found a nice corner to look at the books they had picked to see wich ones they liked the best, by the time they had finished half the stack of books still remained. They gave each other nervous glances knowing neither of their siblings were going to pay for their drinks and an absurd amount of books. They slowly approached Apollo and Serenity, knowing that they couldn't put any of the books back. They were all too good, too perfect to ever put back on the shelf to never be touched again.

    Apollo and Serenity stared at the two girls in disbelief. How? How could they go from buying drinks and muffins at the coffee shop to wanting to buy a whole stack of books. Of course, it wasn't their money. "Oh well," Apollo thought "I already know I wont be able to say no, and its Christmas Eve anyway" Serenity seemed to pick up on his resign to buy the books, "Alright" she conceded as Apollo simply nodded. The girls eyes lit up brighter than the Christmas tree outside, and they made their way to the check out. "That'll be $250.78 for each stack of books" the cashier acknowledged, Apollo and Serenity stood there in disbelief before reluctantly handing over the payment.

    "You better treat those books like your children" Apollo muttered "I already do!" exclaimed Sage, and Hallie looked so happy she could cry. "Well I think it's time we head home before you two can do any more damage" Serenity joked, Apollo agreed profusely and both the girls gave eachother saddened glances. "But we wanted to go look at the thrift shops" Hallie pleaded "No-" both the older siblings expressed "Besides its getting pretty late" Apollo stated. After many attempts to convince the older two to stay longer, Sage and Hallie eventually lost the fight and it was time to return home. They said their goodbyes and promised to write to eachother, then they were aparating out of the little area and Sage was back in her house. She made her way up the stairs with her stack of books and went to her room, she put all her books in the correct organization. Naturally by genre and alphabetical order within those genres. She finished putting her books away leaving one out to start reading, she went down stairs and told her brother goodnight though she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Not before Christmas, not knowing that in just a few hours she would be opening all those gifts under the tree downstairs next to the brick fireplace with her brother.

    She went back upstairs, turned on all her room ambiance and got in her bed. She created a corner nook with pillows on her bed, laid under the covers and began reading. She looked over at her clock on the nightstand 2:05am it read. She let out a content sigh and was absorbed into the world of her book.

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