Jisoo works as a Christmas elf in the mall. Jennie works as a baker. One thing they have in common?
Muffins
-
Jisoo gave a silent thanks as the last kid hopped off Santa's lap and rushed back to his parents. With Christmas so close, the mall was a haven full of parents and rambunctious kids. Jisoo had had a long day of posing with Santa while she held an oversized fake candy cane next to him. She adjusted her red and white striped stockings as she took a seat on the arm of Santa's chair.
"You can sit on my lap you know."
Jisoo rolled her eyes. The guy playing Santa was a nice guy, but not Jisoo's type at all. "I'll pass."
She was graciously saved from giving an awkward explanation as her friend, Chaeyoung, walked by. Jisoo ran up to her and gave her a half hug. It was kind of hard due to all the bags that Chaeyoung was carrying.
"Late minute Christmas shopping?" Jisoo teased.
"You can say that."
"Let me rephrase that; late minute Christmas shopping for yourself?"
Chaeyoung gave a wink. "You know me so well."
Jisoo laughed. "You want to get something to eat? I'm starving."
"Is Santa out here starving you? Do I need to have a word with him?"
"No, it's just been a really long day. Luckily I have tomorrow off. I feel like I could eat a horse."
"Please don't."
"I'll try not to."
"Are you going to change?" Chaeyoung asked, looking Jisoo up and down.
Jisoo knew she looked a little ridiculous in her elf costume. Despite posing with children, the photographers had given her a skimpy outfit. Her outfit consisted of a green crop top that had white fur around the sleeves, a red skirt with green white fur on the waist, peppermint striped color stockings, and a pair of silvery heels.
Jisoo shrugged. Majority of the mall had already seen her basically half naked in this terrible costume, so who even cared. "No."
"Okay," Chaeyoung replied cheerfully.
The two of them made their way through the mall. Christmas music was playing all around. The mall had a dozen Christmas trees lit up, illuminating the place with pretty lights. Jisoo could faintly smell something sweet. Her stomach rumbled and she knew that she needed something quick. She quickly pulled Chaeyoung into the direction of the sweet smells and they found themselves in front of a small bakery shop.
"I've never seen this place before," Chaeyoung said. "And I shop a lot, so that's saying something."
Come to think of it, neither had Jisoo. According to the sign in front, it was a bakery named Jennie's Sweet Stuff. Jisoo walked in along with Chaeyoung, who put her bags on one of the small tables and sat down.
"You're not getting anything?" Jisoo asked.
Chaeyoung shook her head no. "I'm a dancer. You know I have to watch my weight."
Jisoo rolled her eyes. "You're beautiful Chaeyoung."
"I know."
Jisoo laughed. She walked up to the counter and looked at all the sweets. There were cookies decorated as penguins, snowmen, reindeer, and Santa Claus. But then there were also the cupcakes with green and red icing. Jisoo's mouth was drooling. She couldn't decide.
"Can I help you?"
Jisoo looked up. The cashier was a girl wearing an enormous red bow in her hair. She had long hair and had a gummy smile that made Jisoo forget what she was going to say.
"I... ugh...."
"Are you looking for something to eat?"
"Yes! That's exactly what I was doing."Jisoo blushed as she heard Chaeyoung snickering in the background. "I can't decide though. Everything looks so good."
The cashier, wearing a nametag that said Jennie, giggled. "I made these treats so every time someone compliments them, I just wanna dance and hug the person."
Hug? Jisoo was definitely down for that. "Do you have any recommendations?"
"Hmmmm." Jennie clapped her hands. "The banana muffins! Most people go for the Christmas sweets, but personally, I think you can never go wrong with a banana muffin. I made them just a few minutes ago, so they're still fresh." She smiled, showing off her pearly whites.
Jisoo couldn't say no. "That sounds great. I'll have that."
Jennie quickly put on a pair of gloves and handed Jisoo a muffin. "Would you like anything to drink?"
"A water please."
Jennie hummed as she grabbed a bottle out of the refrigerator. "Is that all? Your friend doesn't want anything?"
"She's picky," Jisoo chuckled. "And yes, that will be all."
Jennie rung Jisoo's food up and Jisoo paid for it.
"Thank you Jennie," Jisoo said with a shy smile.
Jennie smiled even wider, if possible. "You're different, you know. People around here never really like to have a friendly conversation. They're always in a rush to be places this time of year." she said ecstatically.
"Well I'm not like most people," Jisoo winked. "I'm Jisoo by the way."
"It was very nice to meet you Jisoo. Be sure to stop by again. I like your outfit by the way. I always wanted to be an elf when I was younger."
Jisoo suppressed a giggle. Jennie seemed so sweet and naïve. "Well, I need to go. Maybe I'll see you sometime soon."
Jennie gave a thumbs up. "That would be amazing!"
Jisoo walked to the table and sat across from Chaeyoung.
"Flirty much?"
"Shut up."
"Really Jisoo, you're usually more subtle than that."
"Chaeyoung, please!"
"I thought you were going to crawl over the counter and lay one on her."
Jisoo scowled. Was she really that obvious? Jennie either went along with her or genuinely didn't realize that Jisoo had been flirting. Sighing, Jisoo took a bite out of her muffin. She almost moaned. It tasted like heaven.
"This is so good," she said between bites. "Holy shit."
Chaeyoung raised an eyebrow. "It can't be that good."
Jisoo handed her a piece. "Yes, it is."
Chaeyoung hesitantly took the piece and put it in her mouth. Her eyes instantly widened as she chewed. "Woah," she said after swallowing. "I'm gonna need about twenty more of those."
Jisoo swallowed her last bite and nodded in agreement. "Same."
Christmas music played softly in the background as Jisoo and Chaeyoung sat in a comfortable silence. Both of them were on their phone, checking texts, sending Snaps to each other. Jisoo had a nagging feeling to talk to Jennie, but for some reason, she was nervous. She felt tongue-tied and scared that she wouldn't make any sense if she tried talking.
A few minutes passed and Chaeyoung yawned. She checked the time and gasped. "Wow, it's getting late."
"Yeah, we probably should be going."
Chaeyoung stood up with all her bags. "Are you gonna walk me out or talk to Miss Thang over there?"
Jisoo shushed her.
"Why? She's on her phone over there. She's been looking at you a few times."
"Really?!"
Chaeyoung laughed. "Excited much? I didn't want to tell you because then you might turn around and that would just be awkward for all of us."
"I'll talk to her another day. Like you said, it's getting late. I'm surprised my mom hasn't called." Jisoo stood up and stretched. She turned around, almost hoping to see Jennie looking, but the other girl was on her phone, fingers moving rapidly across the screen.
"You can talk to her tomorrow," Chaeyoung reassured her.
Jisoo silently agreed. Other people had come in and out of the bakery, so it's not like Jennie had been free the whole time. "Let's get going."
They made their way through the slowly emptying mall. It was dark outside as Chaeyoung and Jisoo said their goodbyes. Jisoo shivered, her elf costume not providing much warmth. She climbed in her car and turned the heat on. The radio soon came on, Mariah Carey Christmas carols blasting. Jisoo sang along as her car slowly started.
She soon drove home, her mind on Jennie the whole time until she closed her eyes and went to bed.
And even there, she had dreams of a giggly girl with a red bow.
----
The next morning, Jisoo was rubbing sleep out of her eyes while sitting at the kitchen table. Her parents and siblings were sitting alongside her.
"Have you thought about what you want me to make for Christmas?" Jisoo's mom, Dara, asked.
It was a tradition in their house they had had since they were little. Dara would cook whatever the kids would want, no matter how ridiculous. Once year, Jisoo's brother jokingly said that he wanted a brownie pizza sprinkled with gummy bears. And when they woke up that Christmas morning, there was a huge brownie pizza with gummy bears all over it.
As if suddenly waking up, Jisoo snapped her fingers. "Banana muffins!"
"Really?" Dara asked.
"Yes," Jisoo said, recalling the one she had yesterday.
"Okay," Dara shrugged. "I'll have to check your grandma's cookbook."
Jisoo felt suddenly more excited for Christmas.
----
As much as Jisoo loved having a day off and free from the elf costume, she found herself very bored. All her friends were traveling to spend time with family. It seemed like everybody had somewhere to be but her.
She was sitting in the living room, lying on the couch, her feet dangling off the edge. Her sister had left the TV on some random show. Uninterested, Jisoo looked at the Christmas tree. Seeing the big red bow on top made her think of Jennie.
Jennie!
Jisoo sat up. She suddenly had somewhere to be.
----
Jisoo walked up to Jennie's Sweet Shop and took a deep breath. She had no reason to be nervous. It's not like she was about to talk to the most beautiful girl she had ever seen in her life. She walked through the open door and was relieved that it was still early and therefore relatively empty. There was an older woman sitting in the corner drinking a coffee who smiled warmly at Jisoo. Lauren felt her stomach drop as she saw someone that wasn't Jennie at the register.
"Hi," the girl at the register said brightly. She had dirty blonde hair and she seemed to be rather tall.
Jisoo managed to muster up a smile. "Um," she cleared her throat, feeling more awkward by the second. "Is Jennie here or..."
The girl, whose nametag read Lisa, continued smiling. "Yeah, she's in the back getting a few things settled."
Jisoo felt relieved. "Wait you're Lisa? Is this your shop?"
"Yes! I just opened it the other week. I love it. Baking has always been my thing, so I'm really pumped about this." She looked at Jisoo with a curious expression. "Pardon me if I'm wrong, but are you Jisoo?"
"Yeah, how did you know?"
Lisa looked to the back before answering. "This morning Jennie came in raving about some girl with the most beautiful brown eyes who came to our shop named Jisoo. She was going on and on about you."
Jisoo couldn't believe it. "Really?"
Lisa laughed. "Yes! I've never seen Camila that excited and that's saying a lot. She's so sweet."
Jisoo felt elated. "Is she coming out here soon or? I would really like to talk to her."
"How 'bout this? I'll tell Jennie that you're out here and you two can talk at one of the tables. I can handle the register."
Jisoo had just met Lisa, but she could tell the girl had good intentions. "I would love that. Thank you so much."
Lisa went to the back quickly. She soon came back with a very shy looking Jennie. Jennie had tried hiding behind Lisa, which she was doing a terrible job at.
"Hi," she said as she walked up to Jisoo.
"Hi," Jisoo said back. "Do you want to sit?"
Jennie nodded. They sat at the same table that Jisoo sat at yesterday with Chaeyoung. "So," Jisoo started.
"Soooo," Jennie giggled. "You look different with clothes on."
Jisoo blushed. She didn't know what to say. Without thinking, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Your muffin tasted really good." As soon as she heard the words come out of her mouth, she froze.
But Jennie either was unfazed or oblivious. "Thank you! They really are my favorite. I make them with lots of love." Jisoo took a deep breath. "I bet your muffin tastes really good too," Jennie said with a twinkle in her eye.
Jisoo couldn't believe it. Jennie had been playing innocent this whole time. Jisoo had known when someone was flirting back, but something about Jennie had stumped her. She just seemed so innocent "Wouldn't you like to know," Jisoo teased.
Jennie ran a hand through her long hair. "Was that too forward? I'm sorry. I was just scared that you didn't think I was into you yesterday. I'm usually not this blunt, but I couldn't stop thinking about you yesterday, especially your eyes. You probably get that a lot, but it's the truth."
Jisoo had heard compliments about her eyes her whole life, but none of them felt as good as hearing it come from Jennie. "I couldn't stop thinking about you either. It's mostly your bow I thought of," Jisoo giggled.
Jennie sheepishly pointed at the silver one that was on her headband. "Yeah, they're kind of my thing."
"Are you doing anything this weekend?" Jisoo asked.
"No," Jennie said. "Next week I'll be busy. My family from Korea is coming over for Christmas."
Jisoo couldn't believe her luck. Besides finding the most adorable girl, Jennie was also Korean. They soon had a long conversation about Korean traditions and food. They ventured into other topics, like music. It turns out that they both attended the same concert of Dua Lipa.
"Wow," Jisoo said incredulously. "That's so cool."
"You know what would be even cooler? If you went on a date with me."
"Hmmm. I'll have to think about it."
"Please," Jennie whined. She grabbed Jisoo's hand from across the table. "We can go look at Christmas lights and watch all the holiday movies at the theatre. We can go to the beach and pretend that the sand is snow. Pleaseeeeeee!"
It didn't take much to convince Jisoo. "Yes Jennie, I would absolutely love that."
Jennie leaned over and gave Jisoo a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. Just come by here later. I feel bad for making Lisa take over the register."
"I totally forgot," Jisoo admitted.
Jennie shrugged. "Lisa's so nice, she probably doesn't mind. It's just that she's been giving me thumbs up for the last ten minutes and it's making me feel like a little kid."
Jisoo turned around just in time to see Lisa's eyes widen, and pretend to be busy inspecting the cookies, making the both of them chuckle. "Okay, I'll drop by later."
Jennie stood up, walked over, and gave Jisoo a hug. "Thank you," she whispered in her ear. "Promise me that you'll come by later."
"I promise," Jisoo assured, holding her pinky up.
Jennie wrapped her pinky around Lauren's, sharing eye contact, and getting lost in it. "Well, I'll get back to work now. See you soon Jisoo."
Jisoo winked. She began walking out, but stopped to give Lisa a quick thanks. Lisa smiled and waved goodbye.
Jisoo walked out of the store feeling on top of the world. It wasn't even Christmas yet, but she had already gotten the best gift; Jennie.