December Kisses || chaennie

Chapter 10

Perhaps there was a certain degree of freaking out and maybe my outlet was the only person who'd accept my call while I was in the bathroom at Jennie's apartment. The location didn't help. Everywhere I turned, there was a mixture of my stuff and Jennie's like our lives had merged together and was indistinguishable from each other at this point.

Everything came to light now. How much time I spent with her, how I always wanted to show her things that I found funny or even tell her some exciting news. That's how friendship worked, right? But, I wanted to tell her first and maybe only her too. I didn't even think about sharing news with someone else other than her. If it came up in conversation, it did and if it didn't, it didn't.

I sat on the toilet seat, lid down, obviously and held the phone up to my hear, listening as Lisa began to outright laugh at my predicament.

"You're blaming me for not telling you that you're in love with Jennie?" Another fit of giggles echoed down the phone. "I dropped so many hints, Rosie. So many."

"Hints?" I scoffed. "What hints? You didn't give me any hints?"

"Too many. Let me ask you a question."

"I'm not taking questions at this time."

"Too bad. So," she dragged out, clearly enjoying this situation too much. "When did you figure it out?"

"Yesterday," I mumbled, reluctantly.

"Yesterday?!" Lisa yelled out, hooting. "No, no, you just accepted it yesterday, maybe. You knew long before then."

I rolled my eyes and mocked. "What, subconsciously?"

She hummed. "Yes."

I looked down at the phone. "I'm hanging up now."

"Okay. Go kiss your girl."

"Fuck off."

"Mwah."

She hung up before I could.

That bitch.

I shoved the phone into my pocket and eventually left the bathroom, even if it was ten minutes later. The tree we managed to cut down stood in the corner of Jennie's sitting room, tall and broad.

A bunch of decorations were in brown boxes on the floor, ready to be untangled and positioned in their rightful places.

Jennie was in the middle of untangling the Christmas lights, sat next to one of the boxes and as soon as she noticed me, she kicked a box in my direction with her foot and inclined her head toward the tree.

I heaved a deep breath and shuffled toward the tree and dragged the box further away from Jennie and began sorting through the box.

"You're quiet," she commented, after officially untangling the lights.

"I'm just a little tired," I lied.

"Are you feeling sick?" she asked, eyebrows furrowed as she made to stand up. The concern made me really guilty, forcing me to look away. "Maybe we shouldn't have built that snowman yesterday. Are you feeling cold? Warm?"

"I'm fine," I said.

"You won't even look at me," she said, suddenly right in front of me, hand on my forehead.

Okay, so I may have stumbled back and nearly bulldozed the tree.

Maybe it was a little dramatic.

Jennie stared at me, wide-eyed. "What's going on with you?"

I cleared my throat and sat up, shaking my head. "I'm just a little on edge for some reason."

"I can see that," she said, wryly. "Any particular on your mind?"

"No," was my quick answer.

"Right." She sat back down and handed me one end of the lights. Of course, she couldn't help herself. She just had to muse about the subject. "You do sometimes get a little...anxious before going to a party. Maybe that's it."

Finally, I looked at her, properly. "Party? What party?"

She looked at me like I was crazy. "The one Pete's throwing tomorrow night."

My lips parted. "I—Uh, I have plans."

"Plans? Do you have a date?"

"Yes," I answered, honestly.

Now at that, she dropped the Christmas lights and stared at me, hard. "With who?"

I scuffed my fluffy sock against the floor and laid the lights on the tree. "A date with my bed and Netflix."

Jennie crawled over to me, wearing a hopeful smile and laid her hand on my thigh. Yes, it did make me flinch and yes, she did notice. She withdrew her hand and crossed her arms, studying me with her head tilted to the side.

Shaking my head, I offered an apologetic smile, because it wasn't her fault that I was in love with her. However, to keep going on like this? To maintain a friendship that now was discovered on my part was more than platonic? Was it really fair to her? No.

"Rosie," she said, quietly.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine." She brought her head so that it peered up at me as I looked down. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

"Yeah, just a funny mood."

"Okay," she said, not believing me but accepting it. Then, she smiled and backed away. "Come with me to the party tomorrow?"

"Jennie..."

"I promise to let you have control of my television and its Netflix for a full day," she offered, lightly, knowingly.

"Ugh."

"Thank you." She stood back and admired the lights on the tree. "I wouldn't want to go without you."

"Okay, okay, you got me hooked."

"I know."