The Christmas Party

A Hallmark Christmas

Me: What are you doing?

Luca: It's Sunday, so Christmas movies with Thea.

Me: What kind of movies?

Luca: Probably Hallmark movies and other crappy Netflix movies.

Me: Omg. Can we watch something better? Like Elf?

Luca: We?

Me: I'm obviously coming over. I'm bored.

Luca: I'll ask Thea. Bring popcorn and hot chocolate. Oh and wear pajamas.

Me: Done.

I arrived at the Amato apartment after a quick car ride and pit-stop at the store. Luca opened the door wearing fuzzy pajama bottoms, a hoodie, and slippers. I had warm fuzzy socks pulled over leggings and a hoodie.

"I come bearing gifts," I said, handing Luca the shopping bag of popcorn and treats.

"Are they gifts if I made you bring them?" he asked, peering into the bag. I shrugged and walked into the kitchen. "What else did you bring?"

"I'm making mulled wine, per Queen Thea's list of demands."

Thea walked out of her bedroom wearing a matching pajama set with reindeers and Christmas trees adoring the red material. She wore huge Rudolph slippers. "Did I hear mulled wine?"

"Cute," I said, appraising her outfit. "Yes you heard correctly."

"You didn't get the pajama memo apparently." Thea looked at Luca as she walked into the room and leaned against the counter. "And I didn't get the Louise memo, apparently."

"Do I need a memo when I practically live here?"

"Yes," Thea retorted unamused.

"I think at this point it would be more practical for us to all move in together."

"There aren't any three bedroom apartments around here."

"No? Oh well, I guess that means me and you have to share a room, Thea Dearest."

"You share with my brother."

"Ew no I'm not sharing a room with a boy."

"You're gay. So is he."

"I'm not sharing a room with her," Luca interrupted.

"I guess that makes us roomies!"

Thea shook her head.

"Hey, don't be mad: I made her stop for popcorn and hot chocolate."

"Plus you said I had to watch Christmas movies with you and bring mulled wine. I am doing both."

Thea's eyebrow curved upward in a look I was beginning to associate with her not exactly knowing what to make of me. At least it wasn't the death glare from the mall. "Okay, fine." Thea grabbed a pack of popcorn and heated milk for the hot chocolate.

We settled onto the couch while the wine boiled.

"What are we watching?" I asked, plopping down in between the siblings, who always claimed each side on the couch. They had fancy couches that reclined, except in the middle seat, which meant I always leaned toward Thea to put my legs up on Luca's side.

Thea flicked on the TV and started to go through the Christmas specials. "We can watch The Christmas Prince, The Princess Switch, Let it Snow, The Knight Before Christmas, The Christmas Inheritance—"

"Why do all of these sounds terrible? We can't watch Elf or Christmas with the Kranks or The Grinch?"

"No, Sunday's are for shitty Christmas movies with laughably predictable plots and happy endings. We wear pajamas all day and pig out. We went over this last year."

"I thought that was a joke."

"I don't joke about Christmas.

"Do you joke about anything?"

Thea blinked, then looked back at the TV. "Executive decision, we're watching The Princess Switch."

"Why does she always get the executive power?" I complained to Luca.

"She's the oldest?" He offered.

"That's not fair."

"Life isn't fair." Thea said, ending the argument that we all knew I would never win and started The Princess Switch. Luca, though trying to join me in our, what I believed to be a shared misery over being forced to watch a horrible holiday movie, grabbed his popcorn with a giddy smile. I rolled my eyes and begrudgingly grabbed my popcorn. I supposed this was better than just sitting at home all day doing nothing.

The movie opened and within the first ten seconds, I had to actively resist the urge to roll my eyes at how absolutely cringey the movie was. My resolved was expended within ten minutes and the flood of unwarrented commentary rushed from my mouth. "They're going where? Belgravia? Like Genovia in The Princess Diaries?"

"All of these vaguely European countries have to end in 'ia'; it's like an unspoken rule." Luca supplied.

I groaned and opened my mouth to make another comment when Thea cut me off. "No complaining." I shoved more popcorn into my mouth to comply. Not too long after my initial outburst, the main character was almost run over by the love interest. "Oh my god they're going to fall in love, because nothing says soulmate like 'I almost hit you with my car and you were so mad at how rude I was but now I love you'."

Thea smiled but shushed me.

Then the unthinkable happened: Vanessa Hudgens ran into a girl that looked exactly like her (also played by Vanessa Hudgens) and I absolutely lost it. "Oh no fucking way she plays the same character," I laughed out loud. "How are they going to explain this? Are they long lost twins? Oh my God her accent is horrible! Why do people let Americans play British characters?"

"She's not British, she's from Montenaro," Thea said with a smile. I gave her a look and the smile broke into a laugh. "Okay fine, I'll admit that the accent is pretty bad."

"That's your only complaint?"

"You knew what you were getting into here," Thea reminded me. I stuck my tongue out at her. "Do you even want a date to your Christmas party?"

"Ugh! Okay I'll shut up."

A short while later, the mystery of the doppelganger was revealed by explaining that the two characters must have had some great uncle or something in common. "I didn't study biology in college, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't make you look literally exactly the same."

"Please indulge Coleridge's suspension of disbelief and enjoy the movie," Thea quipped.

"You're not going to be allowed over on Sundays anymore if you keep this up," Luca said with a sly grin.

"Oh please, you're enjoying this?" I asked.

"Of course I am. I love terribly predictable plots."

I rolled my eyes but kept my mouth shut the rest of the movie, despite the need to comment on just how bad everything was. I didn't even comment on the mistletoe-kiss, which had to be a personal best for me. When the movie finally ended, I let out a huge sigh to show Thea and Luca just how much of a strain it was for me to keep my mouth shut. The siblings looked at me with huge grins on their faces.

"Are we watching the second one?" Luca asked.

"Of course we are," Thea replied.

"There's a second one?" I asked.

Thea pulled up the trailer on Netflix in which Vanessa Hudgens played a third character, who—surprise—looked exactly like the first two characters she played. It seemed that everyone was still okay with the idea that they all looked the same by explaining they were cousins. I laughed out loud when the third Hudgens came on screen.

"This is ridiculous. Let's watch it."

Thea grinned. "What, you like it now?"

"It's so horribly bad that I really just want to see what happens, like how you can't ever look away from a car accident." The siblings laughed again. "I am definitely not going to be able to keep my thoughts to myself though. In exchange, I'll get everyone some mulled wine and I'll drink every time I make a comment."

"You're going to be drunk by 11 am," Luca said.

"That's the plan."

I hopped off the couch and poured everyone steaming cups of wine.

"You had to invite her over, huh?" I heard Thea ask Luca.

"You're having fun and you know it."

"You love me, Thea Dearest, don't pretend like you don't," I called from the kitchen.

"Love is a strong word."

"We'll get there."

"I'm sure."

A/N: Hello everyone! One week down! Thank you so much for reading. I hope you're enjoying this as much as I'm enjoying writing it. If you like the story, don't forget to vote and leave a comment. Happy holidays everyone!