The Christmas Party

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

"Knock, knock," I said when I opened the door to the Kim apartment. Jennie was in the kitchen cooking breakfast; it smelled great. "Good morning."

"Morning," she said keeping her eyes on the pan. I walked into the kitchen and placed her coffee next to her. "Thank you."

"Anything for you."

A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "Hungry?"

"If you're offering. What's on the menu today?"

"Breakfast burritos."

"My favorite."

We sat down at the counter and ate.

"I have to say, this whole fake dating thing has really brought us closer; our friendship is thriving now," I teased.

"We're not friends."

"You keep saying that, but everything we are doing says otherwise."

"Is that so?"

"Totally. We hang out every day now."

"Because you bring me coffee."

"And suddenly you're cooking me breakfast." Jennie narrowed her eyes but I smiled, unperturbed. "We're friends now. By the way, your favorite Christmas band is Pentatonix."

Jennie quirked her eyebrow in what was becoming her signature 'Jisoo' look. "You're scared of spiders."

"Spiders are actually the creepiest thing in the entire world."

"So who kills the spiders in your relationships?"

"That is probably the only downfall of being gay: if both of us are scared of spiders then we just have to burn the building down. That's always a first date question for me though, because I can't marry someone who is scared of spiders; someone has to kill them for me."

Jennie laughed. "You're serious?"

"Yes I'm serious! I won't date a girl if she's scared of spiders."

"That's ridiculous."

I shrugged. "You're lucky: you'll always have a man to squish the spiders."

"I squish my own spiders."

"Of course you do. Why would I think otherwise?"

Jennie smirked and continued to eat.

"Is there any reason, ever, that you would need someone else for something?"

Jennie considered my question for a moment then shook her head. "Nope."

"Miss Independent." Jennie looked at me and I took this as encouragement to dive into a terrible rendition of 'What Happened to Miss Independent', singing very loudly and off-key. "Miss independent / Miss self-sufficient / Miss keep your distance / Miss unafraid / Miss out of my way / Miss don't let a man interfere, no /Miss on her own / Miss almost grown / Miss never let a man help her off her throne."

"Dear, God. Please stop."

I threw my head back in laughter. "You may not need anyone, but honestly: what would you do without me?"

"So many things."

I grinned at her and she held my gaze. Suddenly we found ourselves in a staring contest. I blinked first, because sometimes Jennie could look at a person like she was Medusa.

"You know, every time we reveal how much we know about each other it just proves my point that we're friends," I said after a few more bites.

"Or that you hang out here too much."