Twenty or so minutes later, I make my way into the living room to see that Monica has settled into her favorite spot on the love seat, stretching her feet across both cushions and buried under a pound of blankets and a hoodie pulled over her head. James is on our L shaped couch with his feet resting on the coffee table, his hoodie also pulled up over his head. They’re both scrolling through their phone as they chew on their thumbnails and I smile at the fact that they’re so similar. I want nothing more than to climb into James’ lap or cuddle up next to him but I settle for the other side of the couch, stretching my feet out as well. James pulls his gaze away from his phone and lands on me. He does a quick glance towards Monica before turning back to me and giving me a not so innocent look that causes a spark between my legs.

“What did we decide on?” I ask as I try to calm my racing hormones that wants me to climb into James’ lap.

“Well, do we want something scary or action or funny? Or Christmas?” Monica says as she pushes her glasses up on her nose and begins scrolling through the On Demand channels.

“Michael”: Why are you all the way over there?

I look down to see that he’s texted me and also not answered Monica.

“Whatever you want, Mon, you know I’m always down for a Christmas movie,” I respond before turning back to my phone.

Me: You know why.

“Michael”: I brought a blanket up here for a reason.

I peek up at him to see him smirking at his phone and I bite my lip at the implication of what he wants to do while we watch the movie.

Me: With Monica in the room? Too risky!

“Michael”: You’re no fun.

I resist the urge to glare at him knowing that Monica will notice and surmise that we’re texting each other. I see her putting on The Family Stone which is a movie Monica and I watch every year together even if we have to do it virtually.

“Really?” James says before turning to Monica.

She waves him off. “You know you secretly love this movie too.”

“That’s a no, and I’ve seen it too many times already because of you two.” He gets up and I frown.

“Come on, stay!” I say, knowing that if I asked him, he’d stay. It’s been a while since the three of us have been home and it would be fun to do something together. This is more than likely the last Christmas of normalcy, assuming that this time next year we would have already broken the news to our family about James and me.

“I’m just making us another drink.”