Sunday, December 25th

108.)

Christmas was predictable, with one exception. I did indeed get a handful of gifts from Santa. I also got a handful of gifts from my mom. A lot of it was clothes and cooking stuff, but I also got a Switch Lite. It really put into perspective Lin's gift to me, which I had accidentally opened first: a download code for Splatoon 3. When I first met Lin, I thought she was kind of a selfish gift giver, but she wasn't. She liked to buy things that we could do together. She valued time a lot more than money, though she had so little of both. Last year she got me a board game. It had a story and everything, and we beat it before the end of January. I probably wouldn't beat Splatoon 3 by the end of January.

But Christmas was predictable, with one exception. That exception came in the form of a series of very long and very rambling texts from Blossom talking about her weekend with her dad.

>>So I know that we cannot be together for Christmas because you are with your Mom and I am with my Dad, and I know that it would be really nice to have a Christmas together, especially in the context of us being 🍼 together, so I decided I would chronicle for you my weekend with my Dad.

>>Dad always tries to have Christmas off, and he usually is successful because he has the kind of job where he can decide to have the time off if he really wants to. Sometimes he really wants to, and other times he is very invested in work. It is okay, because I love him, even though I am kind of a shitty daughter.

>>We have traditions! On Christmas Eve, we always hand each other gifts, but we do not open them. Instead, we try and guess what we each got the other. And if we are right, we get to open that gift early. If we are not right, we have to wait until the morning. Dad is a really good guesser!

>>I am not 😦

>>This year, I got him that new Apple Watch. The Orange One. I think it is too big, but he talked to me about it when it was announced, and he was so excited just like a little kid.

>>He guessed right, and got to have it on Christmas Eve! He did not guess the other 🎁 I got him, but I think he knew! He just wanted to leave some for Christmas morning.

>>We drank warm custard with bananas, and we watched Die Hard and Gremlins 2. He does not like Gremlins 1 very much, and I do not know where I stand on this.

>>But with as much brandy as he puts in our custard, I do not think he would have known the difference by the time we watched it! 🤣

>>On Christmas morning, we exchanged our other gifts, and then we talked about our lives. He is probably getting promoted again! 😮 He asked about my love life, and I told him about you, and he asked if we were dating. I do not think we are, so I said so, but he said he would love to meet you.

>>I think he is just happy I'm spending my weekends with someone who is not named Chad or Brad or Chris or Cory 😅

>>We had Chinese food for Christmas Lunch, and he is still not good with chopsticks, but he is trying! He wore the new shirt I got for him; it has Captain Picard and Optimus Prime shaking hands on it, and says "World's Best Dads". Dad loved it. He loves stuff like that.

>>Becky got me a new dress, and I cannot wait to show you! Dad got me a flower pendant necklace and I think it will go very well together, too

>>I miss you and I hope your weekend with your Mom was awesome!

>>💚❤️💚❤️💚

>>Merry Christmas!

>>Also Ai's fiance is named Cory I think??

>>Gosh that story was so long ago...

>>I low-key wish I didn't give Ai a fiance because I ship her with another character atm

>>Maybe A:P for Past and Ai is a time traveler and Cory is secretly the villain??

>>And future Ai breaks them up to save the universe??

>>But also that leaves room for my fanfic

>>Yeah I have fanfic ideas of my own stories

>>Sue me

>>Also I'm trying to be vague with my AW references in case someone sees your phone

>>Cuz I know how you are about that

>>Oh I got a Nintendo Switch but not one that can play on the TV 😭

>>I thought we could do a game together or something but idk if we can do it on the small screen

>>Also idk if you like games?? 🤔

I paused. I wasn't sure what else to say, and I wasn't sure how to respond to her thing about us not dating. Usually I just ignored stuff like that, but it felt harder to ignore in texts. Of course we weren't dating? Why did Blossom's text sound so unsure? Probably because she literally saw me naked. Probably because we were doing fetish stuff at her family beach house. Okay, so maybe it wasn't as crystal clear as I thought.

>>Merry Christmas, btw 🎄

>>Merry Christmas, too! ⭐

>>I have not played very many games since I was a kid.

>>I had a Nintendo when I was Braided Blossom.

>>But I have not played many since then. Sometimes someone will want to show me one and I will be pretty bad at it and people think that is cute for some reason.

>>I would love to play something with you though! 😮 I will not be very good at it, though. Is the Switch the one with two screens? That is the one I had when I was a kid.

>>And I like it when you write fanfiction for your own stories, nobody else can do you justice so you have to!

>>Uh, no

>>The switch has controllers that come off the sides

>>Or, I guess most of them do?? Mine doesn't

>>We don't have to play games though

>>I was just saying we can now since I have a console

And I could finally contribute something to the beach house experience. Then again, Blossom could probably just buy her own Switch.

>>Speaking of gifts

>>I finished yours

>>I can give it to you next weekend??

>>I swear it's done though

>>Oh! Yes please!

>>I am so excited! You are so nice to me 🥺

>>I can not wait!

>>And I do not want to let it go unsaid

>>I would ❤️ to learn how to play games with you!

>>Maybe there's one where we can take turns, or a puzzle game or something??

>>I'll ask Lin

>>Or Twitter

>>Idk

>>Ok anyway

>>Mom's making breakfast

>>TTYL

>>Have fun w your dad

>>Thank you! Give your Mom a big hug from Blossom!

Blossom set her phone down in her lap and exhaled deeply. She was worried about a lot of things; worried that Amy wouldn't like her gift, worried that her circles would collide - always - but most of all, worried about the feelings in her chest she got when she texted Amy.

They were either very very good feelings, or very very bad. And she didn't know which it was.