Peace, Love, & Pogo Sticks

Boredom Baking

Shawn walked through the front door of his parent's house and made his way into the living room, his eyes scanning the room for any of his family.

"Hello?" he called out. "Anyone home?"

"In here!" His mom called out from the kitchen. He walked in to see her making a cherry pie.

"Something smells delicious in here...are you boredom baking again?" he asked as he greeted his mom with a kiss on the cheek.

"Yes," she sighed. "It's becoming a real issue. It's Tuesday and I've already made blueberry muffins, a chocolate cake, oatmeal raisin cookies, and now this pie."

"Well if it makes you feel better, I love when you boredom bake," her son said as he grabbed one of the cookies to snack on. "Besides, it's the holidays. You're allowed to bake extra this close to Christmas."

"Speaking of Christmas, your sister's boyfriend is spending the holidays with us this year. I assume you still don't have anybody to bring along?"

"Actually..." He dragged the word out and chuckled when he saw his mom's eyes light up with excitement.

"There's a girl?" she asked eagerly.

"There's a girl," he laughed. "Her name is Camila. We've, uh...we've been talking for a while but things became official last month and she's flying in to spend Christmas with us. Hopefully that's okay...I know I probably should've asked."

"Oh please! Don't worry about it - I'm just thrilled to hear that you're finally bringing someone home. Did you say she's flying in? Where is she from?"

"Miami, actually."

"Miami? Florida? How on earth did you manage to start dating a Miami girl?" she questioned. Shawn sighed.

"Promise you won't make fun of me?"

"What? Why would I make fun of you?"

"Because the people who know how we met have enjoyed poking fun at me...and by that I just mean Brian." Shawn rolled his eyes at the memory while Karen just chuckled. "She was actually a pen pal..."

"A pen pal? Oh that's just adorable."

"I guess it is," he shrugged. "It was this weird website that matches you up with someone to write to. I wrote a letter to her not knowing who she was or...really anything about her. I actually wasn't going to send the letter but I kind of ended up sending it accidentally. I guess it all worked out for the best, though."

"Hold on, you've met her in person...right?"

"Yes, mom." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "She's not a catfish, I promise." He pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture they took together while they were in North Carolina to show her.

"Oh wow, she's gorgeous. Are you sure she's really your girlfriend?" Karen joked. "I'm only joking, sweetheart. I can't wait to meet her."

"She's really fantastic. I think you'll love her. Funny enough, her best friend is flying in with her because she's kind of dating Brian."

"Kind of?"

"They're not official or anything...but I have a feeling they might be by the time they head back to Miami. Her name is Bristol and she's quite literally the female equivalent of Brian."

"So...how much time have you spent in person with the Camila girl?" Karen asked with a smirk.

"Not as much as I would've preferred," he admitted. "The first time I went to meet her Brian and I flew down to Miami for a weekend but nothing happened between us...romantically. We kept talking long-distance and then met up again for a weekend in North Carolina where we made things official."

"Spare me the details, honey." Karen chuckled and placed the pie into the oven as her son cringed in embarrassment.

"I didn't mean it like that..." he muttered under his breath as his face flushed, remembering exactly how they spent that weekend.

"I know you didn't," his mom laughed. "I can't wait to meet her and I'm sure your father and sister will feel the same. Oh, I can't wait to tell your dad. He probably won't believe me."

"Oh come on, is it really that hard to believe that I have a girlfriend?"

"It's just been a while, sweetie. You were so heartbroken after your breakup with Zoey that you just stayed single for seemingly forever. It's just a nice surprise to hear that you've decided to try again with someone new."

"I know. Things just feel...different this time."

"Different how?" Karen asked.

"Like when I was with Zoey I thought that was what it felt like to be in love. Then we broke up and I felt horrible about it so I assumed that was what heartbreak felt like. But now that I have Camila, I'm wondering if I was ever really in love with Zoey in the first place because everything is so much more intense with Camila. You know? And as much as it hurt when Zoey and I broke up, I think it would genuinely destroy me if I ever lost Camila."

"Sounds like you're really falling in love with this girl."

"I am," he sighed. "And it's terrifying but I love it."

Shawn had started dating Zoey at the beginning of his freshman year of high school. They were together for 4 years before she broke up with him; something about "needing to find herself". At the time he didn't feel like it was a good enough excuse to end a 4 year relationship and he definitely was extremely upset at the time. However, as with most things, he found that time heals wounds and eventually he thought about her less and less until she was just a distant memory. Of course it helped that Brian pretty much made him cut off all forms of contact with her, including unfollowing and unfriending her on all social media. Every now and then he'd get the urge to check up on her and see how she was doing, but he always restrained himself. Funny enough, once he started talking to Camila regularly he found himself wondering about Zoey less and less.

"It's good to let yourself fall in love," his mom said as she walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You deserve to be happy with someone." The sweet moment between the mother and son duo was interrupted when Shawn's little sister burst through the door.

"Your favorite child is home!" she called out.

"Their favorite child has been home, actually..." Shawn said as he took another bite of his cookie.

"Hate to break it to you, but you were demoted the day I was born," Aaliyah giggled as she set her backpack down onto the dining table.

"I heard your boyfriend is spending Christmas with us."

"He is, and please don't get all 'big brother-y' on him. I really like him and would prefer if you don't scare him off."

"I make no promises," he chuckled.

"You know...if Shawn gets all big brother-y on your boyfriend maybe you could just go little sister-y on his girlfriend," their mom said with a smirk.

"What? A girlfriend?" Aaliyah gasped. "Like an actual living, breathing, human girlfriend?"

"Yes, she's human." Shawn playfully rolled his eyes at his little sister's comment. "She's flying in from Miami to spend Christmas with us."

"Miami? What? How did you manage to even meet a girl living in Miami?" Aaliyah questioned. Shawn sighed and slouched back into his chair as he told the story of how he met Camila for the second time that day, this time to his younger sister as their mom cleaned up the mess from making the pie and began baking some brownies.