25 Days of Cadnis

Day 10 • Christmas Party

Cady rushes through the kitchen, a raw chicken held in her hands on a tray. She opens the oven, stuffing it inside and taking out the cake she had put in a while ago, putting it on the counter and then closing it, turning it on and starting a timer.

She grabs the frosting from the cabinet under the counter, along with gingerbread man sprinkles and edible glitter.

The clatter from the kitchen wakes Janis up, even though she should've been awake by then considering it was nine in the morning.

She stumbles out of bed and goes to the closet, lazily throwing on her silky black robe and slipping her feet into the bunny slippers, grabbing her glasses and walking downstairs.

Cady looks up from frosting the cake, about to put the second layer on. She smiles, bringing the cake over to the island counter and walking to Janis, hugging her and pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Morning, baby. How'd you sleep?" Cady asks, walking back over to the cake and continuing to frost it.

"Mm, good. What's going on?" she asks, rubbing her eyes.

"Christmas party tonight, remember? Speaking of which, could you set the gifts under the 'tree'?" Cady asks, referring to the paper tree they made and stuck to the wall considering they didn't get theirs yet.

"Mm, okay." Janis mumbles, walking over to the dining room table and placing them by the paper tree and walking back to the kitchen, "Can I make coffee?"

"Already did!" Cady says, handing her the mug of coffee.

"Thanks, sweet pea." Janis mumbles, sipping on her coffee.

"Do you think you could help decorate the cake? I need to make the salad and put together the cheese and cracker platter. Also, I need to get drinks and—" Cady gets cut off by Janis cupping her cheek, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips and smiling, Cady tangling her hand in Janis's hair.

They break apart, Janis looking down at her, smiling, "I can help with this, love. Just make a list of things you need me to get from the store." Janis speaks, tracing her cheek with her fingers.

"Janis, I can't ask you to do—"

"You didn't, I offered." Janis says, smiling.

Cady smiles, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, "Why don't you get started on the cake?"

A couple hours later, Cady and Janis have successfully made the chicken, the salad and cheese platter, decorated the cake and got drinks. Janis also ran out to the store to get mini sandwiches, along with mini pizzas.

"Everyone should be here by five or six." Cady says, grabbing the wine glasses.

"Oh, who's coming?" Janis asks, realizing she wasn't told.

"Damian, of course, The Plastics," Janis chuckles at what Cady referred to them as, "Aaron, Amber, of course. Taylor Wedell, I think, Kevin, Marwan was invited, so was Tyler Kimble—"

"So, basically everyone from High school that we liked?"

"Correct."

"Great."

Everyone has arrived and Cady and Janis have both changed from pajamas to party dresses, Cady's being a pretty white and red sleeveless one and Janis's being a black and green one.

A decent amount of people showed up, the people Cady listed along with her parents and Janis's mom and sister, Holly.

The table is set with a gorgeous white tablecloth, the silverware rolled up in cloth napkins, glass plates placed in front of everyone's seats.

Regina brought her famous fruitcake (which was actually good) and Karen brought cupcakes and wine.

Shockingly, there has been no family drama.

Yet.

It was nice having no family drama, but of course, it didn't last.

At dinner time, Cady stands up, mentally bouncing off the walls as she gently clinks her fork against her wine glass three times.

"May I have everyone's attention?" she says loudly, Janis now standing up, grabbing her shaking hand, "Janis and I, we have an announcement to make."

Everyone stops eating along with talking, all looking up at Janis and Cady.

"We're thinking of having a baby."

Cady hears Damian squeal and everyone starts congratulating them, happy for their decision when she hears her mother's fork drop onto her plate.

"Nonsense." her mother scoffs.

"Excuse me?" Cady asks, her mouth hanging open.

"A woman and a woman can't have a child, they don't have the right body parts to make it." her mother 'explains'.

"We would do it artificially, mother, and it actually is possible if you weren't so blind to other options." Cady snaps, her voice noticeably raising, "could everyone excuse us for a moment?"

Everyone besides Janis and Cady's parents leave to the living room, continuing their chatter.

"You should've just married a man, then you could've done it properly—"

"Get out." Mrs. Heron looks up at her, shocked, her father no different.

"Pardon me?" her mother says, her eyebrows furrowed.

"That's no way to talk to your mother, Cady."

"Oh, really? Then she's not my mother anymore. Do I have to repeat myself? Get. The hell. Out." Cady orders, grabbing her present from under the 'tree' and throwing it to her.

"It's a book about close-minded views, I think it was meant for you." Cady hisses, not even looking at her. "Oh, dad, nearly forgot my gift for you."

Cady draws her left wrist down her right arm to the bend of her elbow, non verbally telling him 'fuck you'.

Her father gasps, same as her mother who slams her utensils down again.

"Get the fuck out of my house before I file a restraining order." Cady says firmly. Her parents don't move.

"Get out!" she yells and that moves them finally. They grab their bags and coats, storming out the door. Janis stands partially behind her, her jaw dropped to the floor.

"That was..."

"Bad ass." Janis finishes for her.

Cady laughs, deeply inhaling, "Everyone, you can come back in!" she yells, letting out a breathy laugh. She takes her seat and the questions pour in.

Even though it ended up having family drama, the party was a success. Everyone got their gifts and got a little bit tipsy.

Janis finally got a chance to see Holly that wasn't a college presentation and learned she's the top of her class in physics and takes debate, very good at it as well.

Janis smiled to her ears at that, already imagining her smashing the patriarchy in thirty minutes.

A couple hours later, they finally cleaned all the dishes, picked up the wrapping paper (they archived it of course) and put the leftovers away.

They now played gentle Christmas music, of course a Lindsey Stirling song, both holding mugs of hot chocolate and rewatching My Babysitters a Vampire since they finally put it back on Netflix.

After parties that included just the two of them could be Cady and Janis's favorite thing ever.

They were both set on that.