It Doesn't Even Matter

Snowflakes

Hey guys! I'm going to start trying to put out chapters a little quicker again so fingers crossed that goes well! Uploading another one by the end of the week so hopefully you like them! Anyways, without spoiling anything too much for you just know we have hit a cute mushy section... happy reading! ☺️💕
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Brit took Christmas really seriously. I didn't know that until she called me today and I was learning just how much from our video chat. She was dressed completely in red and green and her room behind her looked like a craft store. I smile at the way she lights up giving me a tour of everything nearly dropping the phone every two seconds from the way she talks with her hands. "Max!" She says suddenly stopping. "Will you come over today to celebrate my family's snow tradition with us? We make a million paper snowflakes and then hang them all over the house. It's really pretty and I promise it's a lot of fun too! Plus my mom really wants to meet you."

"I don't know, it sounds sort of cold and I don't love the snow." I reply jokingly trying to avoid having to answer her. She was inviting me to a family event with her, a tradition even, that felt like a big deal. Meeting the family, invading something special, trying not to ruin it.

"Maxxie if you're nervous about it you don't have to be, it's a really laid-back day. That's why we do it the day after Christmas." I love it when she calls me that. I never thought I would like my own name again after everything that's happened yet the more she says it the more in love with it I become. "I know it seems like a lot of pressure but everyone is super nice and this way we don't have to do a personal family dinner with just the six of us because they'll know you already from this."

"I uh, it's more than just your parents and brothers then?"

"Yeah, my cousins, aunt, and uncle come too. My grandparents come sometimes also but that's sort of up in the air right now... anyway if it will make you too uncomfortable then I get it, don't come." I think about how to answer her and how going feels like a big step for us, a big step for me in general. One I sort of actually want to jump into especially after the other night. I want Brit and I's relationship to be moving forward into things like this, and I feel ready. "I would just really like you there so we get to see each other and so you can be a part of the tradition this year, I sort of thought it could be special."

"It would be wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, it would. Is that a yes then?" She says grinning so big I already know my answer.

"Yeah, that's a yes."

I haven't been nervous in this way in a long time. The version where you are so uncertain of yourself that you start questioning if the words you already spoke made any sense to the people around you. Or if they were just made-up sounds fit into shapes sort of like words. The version where you fall into a space between wanting them to like the real you and feeling the need to be different to impress the person in front of you. That was how I felt the second Brit opens the door to her house to invite me inside. "I'm so glad you came!" She smiles as I pull her into me hugging her tight.

"Me too. I missed you."

"I-"

"Ahem." Brit and I part quietly as women behind us who I'm assuming is her mom not so subtly clears her throat to get our attention. Was this considered a bad first impression? I'm not sure but if it was then at least we hadn't been caught kissing. "Brit aren't you going to introduce us all?" And that's when I realized that it's not just her mom but an entire group of people trying to casually spy on us from the dining room.

"Right, of course. Sorry Mom." Brit looks uncomfortably nervous too as she weakly acknowledges her mom stepping back further to create more space between us. "Mom this is Max, Max this is my mom, and-" she pauses noticing the group now too. "I'd better do all of these at once huh? Max these are my brother's" she says moving us fully into the room motioning to one end of the table. "Tucker, Scott, and Riley."