“What movie should we watch?” I smiled, plopping down on the couch in the basement next to Gemma. She was dressed in a pair of my pajama pants and an old sweatshirt of mine from high school.

I arranged the blankets around us and she cuddled into my side, smiling.

“Little Women.”

“Nooooo.” I groaned. “Not again. We watch it every year.”

“Not last year.” She pouted.

“What did we watch last year?”

“Last year you didn’t even come home for Christmas!” Gemma cried. “And you didn’t even call me or send me a text message or anything!”

“Oh, right.” I remembered, biting my lip thoughtfully. “We were practicing last year. And Kookie and I sang a cover of that Justin Bieber song.”

“Yeah, you hang out with your members but you can’t even spare a moment to text your best friend.” She pinched me and I jumped, hissing in pain.

“Sorry for working hard for my dream.” I muttered, feeling annoyed and guilty at the same time. “And you don’t even have the right to talk after all those years you were so late to our sleepover. Always ditching me to hang out with your boyfriends.”

“Young Jae was here, then.” She reminded me. “Can we invite him over?”

“Why?” I gave her a sideways glance. “Why do you want to hang out with him?”

“We’re still friends.” She shrugged. “I’m over it.”

“I don’t get how you could be over it when he treated you like that.” I said, an edge to my tone.

“I don’t get how you can take your ex-girlfriend back after she broke up with you like that.” Gemma pointed out, snuggling closer to me. I slung an arm around her, heaving a sigh.

“She’s a good girl, Gemma. She’s not playing me.” I assured her, kissing her hair.

“Are you still going to be my friend?” She asked in a small voice.

“Of course.” I promised.

I stood and popped in the movie, thinking. Would she be okay with Gemma and I remaining friends? She felt pretty certain that Gemma had more than just friendly feelings for me.

I sat back down and Gemma snuggled into me, her head practically in my lap. I her hair, reminiscing.

“Do you remember when we were little and my mom used to make the three of us little Santa Claus cookies? And we would leave them out for Santa and we always thought he ate them, but then one year we woke up and found my dad munching on them?”

“Yeah!” Gemma laughed. “I remember being so traumatized I started crying. And you and Young Jae had to comfort me even though you were on the verge of tears yourself.”

“Ah, it was a blow to my heart to find out that Santa wasn’t real.” I patted my chest mockingly.

“I miss those days.” She said softly, turning around to stare up at me. She tickled under my chin and I laughed. “I miss us being little and hanging out, all three of us.”

“Yeah, me too.” I agreed, running a hand through her hair. “Too bad Young Jae became an .”

“Sorry for screwing everything up with my feelings.” Gemma whispered, taking my hand and interlacing our fingers.

“It’s not you, it’s him.” I said, squeezing her hand.

“Yeah, but if I just tried to get over my feelings, you and he could still be friends now.” She persisted, looking up at me guiltily.

“Maybe.” I allowed. “But our friendship was already strained.”

“Jimin, I’d like to be friends with you for a long time.” Gemma said quietly, tracing her fingers over my collarbone. “I don’t want to screw things up with you.”

“Well, I would appreciate it if you didn’t call the girl I’m in love with names.” I suggested, pinching her nose. “She’s not a , thank you very much. Or a , and anyway, it’s not your place to say those things.”

“Sorry.” She said, rolling her eyes and pulling down in a grimace.

“I love her.” I told her. “So be nice. Even if you don’t like her, I’d like you guys to at least be civil.”

“Why doesn’t she like me?” Gemma asked, tugging on my earlobe.

“She thinks you’re in love with me.” I said casually, wondering what kind of reaction my words would have. I expected her to burst out laughing.

“Huh.” Gemma said, looking away from me. “Why does she think that?”

“She says she can just tell.” I answered, surprised by her nonchalance.

“Interesting.” She mused, a smile tugging at her lips.

“Why is it interesting?” I demanded, burning with curiosity. “Are you in love with me?”

Gemma snorted. “Do you think I’m in love with you?”

“No.” I said slowly. “But are you?”

“What if I said I was?” Gemma asked, blinking up at me. “What would you do?”

“Um…” I floundered for a response. “Ah…I don’t…I don’t know.”

“Would you still be friends with me?” She cocked her head at me, her tongue darting out to run along her lower lip.

“, Gem, I don’t know.” I replied, very flustered. I ran a hand through my hair. “Are you in love with me?”

She looked up at me and winked. “Nah, but it’ll definitely be fun to tease your girl.”

“Gem, don’t.” I pleaded, relieved. I knew she wasn’t in love with me. “Please, don’t. She doesn’t get the whole childhood friend thing. She gets mad about it.”

“Good.” Gemma shrugged. “Let her be a little possessive of you for once. She seemed kind of spineless when she came over here last time and just started crying.”

“She’s not spineless.” I said defensively, flicking her forehead. “She’s just very polite.”

“To everyone but you.” She pointed out.

“I like it that way.” I grinned. “Don’t say bad things about her. I’m very happy right now. She loves me. Said I was cute.”

“You’re so proud.” Gemma giggled.

“I’m so in love.” I groaned, flopping back against the couch. “She’s so pretty and sweet and she has the loveliest smile.”

“Oh my god, shut up.” Gemma whined, smacking me with a pillow. “I don’t want to hear about you being in love.”

“But she’s so wonderful that I just have to tell somebody.” I insisted, grinning down at her as she placed her head back in my lap.

After that, we quieted down and watched the movie in silence. Halfway through, the basement door creaked open and my mom came down the stairs, a plate of cookies in her hand.

“Do you guys want some snacks?” She asked, a wide smile on her face. “Oh, Gemma’s sleeping.”

“Is she?” I asked, surprised. I peeked down to see that she was, in fact, fast asleep on my lap.

“Yeah.” My mom stooped down and ran a hand through Gemma’s hair. “Wake up, sweetheart.”

I patted Gemma’s back in an attempt to wake up. She stirred and latched on to me, her hands wrapping around my waist.

“I’ll leave the cookies here for you two.” My mom said, patting my hair. “Are you back together with your girlfriend?”

“Not yet.” I said quietly, smiling at her. “But we’re going to talk after Christmas.”

“Good.” My mom leaned down and kissed my forehead.

She gave us one last fond glance before climbing the stairs and closing the door behind her.

“Gem.” I tugged on her hair. “Gem, wake up.”

“Nooo.” She moaned, holding me closer. “I just wanna snuggle with you.”

“Okay, but at least let me lie down.” I bartered, shoving her off. She fell onto the floor, scowling up at me.

“Jimin, I’m so sleepy.” She whined, scrabbling for a grip on my t-shirt. She pulled me down off the couch and I fell on top of her.

“Gemma.” I complained, lifting myself off of her. “Just go and lay down on the futon like a normal person.”

I looked down at her, wondering why she was so quiet. “Did you get hurt? Why is your face so red?”

“I-I’m fine.” Gemma stammered, staring up at me. Her cheeks were bright pink. “Just a little out of breath.”

“Well, let’s go to sleep.” I suggested, standing up and pulling her with me. I led her over to the futon and she laid down, tucking herself in. I climbed in next to her, stealing some blankets from her.

“Jimin, stop.” She yanked them back.

“Gemma, we have to share.” I flicked her forehead. “Just give me some blankets.”

“Agh, Jimin, seriously. Just let me sleep.” Gemma argued, yawning. She threw her leg over me, drawing me closer. I watched as she stared at me, biting her lip.

“What are you looking at?” I teased, pulling a blanket over me.

“You’re really beautiful.” She said quietly, reaching out to run her thumb over my lips. “Really ing gorgeous.”

“Uh…thanks.” I accepted the compliment, albeit hesitantly. “You’re not so awful to look at yourself.”

Gemma giggled. “I’m prettier than your girlfriend.”

“Nah.” I disagreed, burrowing deeper into the covers. “She’s the prettiest.”

“Spoken like a true man in love.” She laughed.

“Hey, whatever happened to you and Taehyung?” I asked, closing my eyes to try and drift off to sleep.

“He’s too far away.” Gemma told me. “And too busy. It’s hard enough to try and stay in contact with you. It’d be too much of a hassle to try and date someone in your group.”

“Sorry I’m so bad at keeping in touch.” I apologized, rather half-heartedly.

“Yeah, honestly, I don’t know how your girlfriend did it. I don’t like her, but I can’t imagine that it was easy to keep in touch with a guy who called at random hours of the night and never had any free time. I see you like what, three times a year if we’re lucky? I can’t imagine dating someone like that.”

“Well, you’re not in love with me.” I said softly, turning to stare at the ceiling.

“No, I’m not, but you still left me high and dry when you moved to Seoul.” Gemma said, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

“You have other friends.” I yawned and stretched. She snuggled into my side, her head on my chest.

“Not really.” She disagreed. “I have casual friends and acquaintances, but no friends like you. Even Young Jae and I were never as close as you and I were.”

“That’s true.” I closed my eyes, feeling quite tired.

“And since you started dating that girl, you never talk to me at all. We barely hung out the whole summer even though you were here.” Gemma said in small voice, sounding sad.

“Well, if this isn’t the pot calling the kettle black.” I muttered. “You’ve always ditched me for whatever boy you were dating, but now you’re going to get all sad because I spent time with my girlfriend?”

“Yeah.” She replied. “Because we’re older now. We don’t hang out after school anymore. We don’t have classes together and we don’t go to the movies every weekend. You moved to Seoul to become an idol and suddenly it’s like we weren’t even best friends anymore.”

“I was mad at you for dating Young Jae.” I remembered. “And I was also worried I wouldn’t be able to debut.”

“I get that, but still. It still felt like I’d lost my best friend. And then you come home after how many years and you just spend your time obsessed with this girl. It’s like I don’t even exist.” Gemma said, wrapping her arms around me. “And now she doesn’t even like me, so you’re probably going to ditch me for her.”

“I won’t.” I promised, her hair. “I’m sorry for being a terrible friend.”

“You’re not a terrible friend.” She murmured. “I’m just saying. I’m still here. I’d like free tickets to your concerts as well.”

“I can do that.” I promised.

“And maybe I could come visit you every once in a while.”

“Yeah, that would be fun. I could take you to that ice cream shop I’ve always told you about.” I suggested, getting excited. “And you could watch us practice and stuff. See what I do for my job.”

“I’d like that.” Gemma said, smiling. She pressed a kiss to my chest. “Thanks, Jimin.”

“Of course, Gem. You know I love you.” I said easily, patting her head.

“I love you, too.” She said softly, burrowing deeper against my body. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.”