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It was a typical post-shift evening for Trinity and Dennis, sitting on the couch feeling half-dead while they split an order of thai food and looked for something to watch.
“Should we do something holiday themed since it’s almost December?” Trinity asked, scrolling through the options. “Oh, how about A Christmas Story? It’s classic.”
“I’ve never seen it,” Dennis said with a shrug, “but sure.”
“What do you mean you’ve never seen A Christmas Story?” Trinity gaped at Dennis.
“My family didn’t really believe in anything that portrayed Christmas in a… secular way,” Dennis said with a slight grimace.
“So have you never seen Christmas Vacation either?” When he stared blankly at her she said, “You know, National Lampoon? I know Chevy Chase is a massive asshole, but the movie’s still hilarious.”
“Nope, sorry,” Dennis said.
“Home Alone?” She watched him shake his head. “Die hard?”
“Maybe you can just assume the answer will be no to any other movies you’re going to list,” Dennis said and Trinity shook her head.
“We have to fix this,” she said. “Consider it another step on the road of getting you educated on pop culture.”
Dennis sighed but didn’t argue, the nearly two months he and Trinity had lived together had clearly taught him to not bother arguing once she was set on something.
“Now sit back and prepare yourself for one of the best holiday movies of all time,” Trinity said as she settled back onto the couch and started A Christmas Story. “Well, parts of it haven’t aged well, but it’s mostly still funny. And nostalgic.”
By the end of the movie, Trinity had heard Dennis laugh more than the entire time they’d known each other.
Sometimes Trinity still found it hard to believe that after the shitshow that was her first day, she’d somehow still managed to make friends at work. But now she had a living room full of people ready for a holiday movie night. She’d had the idea after spending several nights bingeing old holiday films with Dennis and realized that it could be fun to really make an event of it.
She was on the larger couch with Samira and Victoria on either side of her while Dennis and Mel had taken the loveseat. They’d all hung out a few times over the past couple of months, but this was the first time that Trinity had hosted everyone at once.
“So what are we watching?” Mel asked once they were all settled on the couch with a variety of snacks spread out on the coffee table.
“Elf,” Trinity answered, because she liked to be a shit and Mel had told her about the weekly ritual of having to watch Elf with her sister.
Mel’s face actually fell before she plastered on a fake smile and Trinity quickly said, “Just joking, don’t worry. I was planning something even better.”
And by better, she meant much worse.
But god, the look on her friends’ faces as they tried to process what was happening as they watched A Christmas Prince was so worth it.
“Is this… supposed to make sense?” Samira asked, her eyes narrowed at the screen,
“Definitely not,” Trinity said. “You just need to turn your brain off.”
“I’m not sure that’s working,” Victoria said, glancing over at Trinity.
“The fact that it’s bad is half the fun,” Trinity said, reaching out to lightly shake her shoulder. “Look at how greasy the make up is. Soak in the stilted dialogue. Embrace the nonsensical plot lines.”
Four sets of eyes looked back at her like she was crazy. “Are you all really unfamiliar with the concept of hate-watching?” She sighed when no one responded. “Heckling the bad movie is encouraged, okay? It’s fun, I swear.”
“So I can point out that the wolf storyline seems like it was stolen from Beauty and the Beast?” Mel asked, brow furrowed.
“Yes,” Trinity said, clapping her hands together. “And if you can make it a joke, even better.”
“Noted,” Mel said with a nod, like it was a correction for her to apply next time.
“And what is up with the poem?” Samira said. “Why would a king leave important information about the governance of his country in a poem?”
“Because the movie is absurd,” Trinity said. “See, we’re getting somewhere here.”
“What I don’t understand is the town,” Dennis said. “How can a town that seems to rely only on christmas tourism possibly be profitable?”
“Good catch. That will be a major plot point in the second movie,” Trinity said.
“There’s more than one of these?” Victoria’s voice was dripping with disdain and skepticism.
Trinity grinned, “There are three. And no one is allowed to leave until we’ve watched all of them.”
Again, everyone just stared at her. She really needed to get them all more used to sarcasm.
“Another joke,” Trinity said, slouching back into the couch. “You’re all free to leave whenever you want, obviously. But I do recommend staying for the end because it is bananas.”
The rest of the movie flew by as everyone finally got into roasting it.
“An acorn ornament?” Samira said, staring at the tv like it had personally offended her. “The king hid legal documentation in an acorn ornament?”
“He was whimsical," Trinity said through her laughter. “Also, the acorn ornament makes an appearance in at least one other separate Netflix movie, which makes it seem that there is actually an extended cinematic universe of terrible holiday movies.”
“Fascinating,” Samira said, shaking her head. “Next time, I get to pick the movie, because I refuse to sit through another one of these.”
Trinity bit down on her lip to contain her excitement that there would be a next time for them all hanging out together.
“Oh, I’d love to have you all over too,” Mel said. “We probably will have to watch Elf though, if Becca’s there.”
“I haven’t seen Elf in years,” Trinity said. “I think that’d be fun. And I’d love to see what Samira considers a good movie if A Christmas Prince didn’t make the cut.”
Samira laughed drily and rolled her eyes. “Do you think we can find a couple more nights we’re all off before the end of the month?”
They all pulled out their phones to look at their calendars, though there was always the chance of someone asking to swap shifts at the last minute. But for now, they actually managed to find three entire nights in common and that was more than enough.
Mel ended up hosting next since they were all off on a Friday when Becca was around and she’d apparently been looking forward to meeting them all.
“I’m so happy you could make it,” Mel said as she greeted Trinity and Dennis at the door.
“Thanks for having us and sorry we’re a little late,” Trinity said. “I got stuck on a case with a coding patient, you know how it is.”
Mel nodded, “Yeah, unfortunately I do. But everyone’s here and we ordered a few pizzas if you want to go sit down.”
“Perfect, thanks Mel,” Trinity said and Dennis echoed her as they followed the sound of chatting to the living room.
The small house was cozy, full of warm colors and tchotchkes that was all very Mel.
As they grabbed some food and sat down, they finally met Becca who Trinity found to be an absolute delight.
“I’m glad to meet Mel’s friends because usually she doesn’t have any,” Becca said, and Trinity had to stifle a laugh.
“Thanks for pointing that out,” Mel said with a mildly pained smile.
“It’s okay,” Trinity said around a bite of pizza. “It’s not like any of the rest of us have thriving social lives either.”
“Rude,” Victoria said. “For all you know we all have tons of friends.”
“Sure,” Trinity rolled her eyes. “When would you have time for that?”
Samira laughed at that, “You’ve got us there.”
“So none of you have friends?” Becca asked.
“Well now we do,” Mel said, looking around at everyone with a hopeful expression.
“Definitely,” Trinity said, with a nod. Everyone else nodded along too.
“Maybe now’s a good time to start the movie,” Mel said before Becca had a chance to ask any other questions.
The rest of the night passed almost too quickly and Trinity found herself feeling a little sad to head home after the movie ended.
For Samira’s movie night, they watched The Holiday and Trinity couldn’t fault her taste with that.
“I’m glad you can recognize an actually good movie when you see it,” Samira said when Trinity told her that.
“Of course I can, I’m multifaceted,” Trinity said. Then she turned her attention to Samira’s living room that they were all sitting in. “I can also recognize that you have terrible taste in home decor.”
If Mel’s home was a reflection of her warm personality, Samira’s apartment was fully devoid of any such touches. It didn’t even look like something out of a showroom, it just looked barren.
“I know it’s not as… cozy as your places. But it’s serviceable,” Samira said with a shrug.
“No, it’s like a serial killer lives here,” Victoria said, side eyeing Samira who glared back at her. “Just saying.”
“It’s not that bad,” Dennis said. “I like the plant by the window.”
“Thanks, it’s fake,” Samira said with a small sigh.
“And your couch is so… is it a futon?” Mel asked with an obviously put-upon smile.
“I’ve had it since college. It’s functional,” Samira said. “Can we start the movie now?”
“Yeah, start the movie. And look very closely at the beautiful set design that Nancy Meyers always creates for the characters’ homes because as soon as the chaos of the holidays is over we will be going thrifting to find some shit to make it look like you actually live here.”
“That sounds like a threat,” Samira muttered as she reached for the remote.
“Oh no. It’s a promise," Trinity said, throwing her a grin.
It really was a deeply enjoyable movie, Trinity had almost forgotten how much she liked it. And she was pretty sure she saw Samira making a couple notes on her phone during the scenes set in the cottage, so she considered that progress.
There was one more movie night that Trinity set up for herself.
She and Yolanda had gone out a few times now, had hooked up each time, but Trinity had still felt strangely hesitant when she’d suggested hanging out to watch a movie together. There was something more vulnerable about asking to spend time together without the pretext of being at a bar, all dressed up and knowing that the night would end very much undressed.
But she’d gathered her courage, after all wasn’t that the point of the seasonal holiday vibes? To her surprise and relief Yolanda had agreed easily, had given Trinity a rare soft smile that made the edges of her eyes crinkle in a way that Trinity secretly found adorable.
Now they were curled together on Yolanda’s couch, Trinity’s head resting against Yolanda’s shoulder and Yolanda’s arm around her back as they got ready to watch Happiest Season.
“I hate the end of this movie,” Trinity bitched, despite having been the one to suggest it. There weren’t exactly a plethora of lesbian christmas romcoms to choose from.
Yolanda snorted, “Right? She totally should’ve picked Aubrey Plaza.”
“Exactly,” Trinity said. “Like hello, your girlfriend brought you to her hometown as a way to psychologically torment you and here’s her hot doctor ex. Who is Aubrey Plaza. It’s an obvious choice.”
“You’d think it would be,” Yolanda’s fingers were trailing idly along the curve of Trinity’s waist. “We can watch something else if you want?”
“No, I have to watch it once a year. For the lesbians. Like maybe if it gets enough streaming numbers, they’ll make a better sapphic holiday romcom someday,” Trinity sighed and she could feel Yolanda laugh against her.
“Whatever you say,” Yolanda said as she pressed play on the movie, pulling Trinity further into her side.
Trinity felt an unfamiliarly domestic sense of warmth seep into her as she relaxed against Yolanda’s side, melting under Yolanda’s touch.
As the movie played, Yolanda’s hands began to wander, skirting the edge of Trinity’s shirt, trailing along her waist until Trinity leaned up to pull her into a heated kiss.
Happiest Season, it turned out, was much better when she didn’t watch the end. Instead she could just pretend that Kristen Stewart and Aubrey Plaza had run happily off into the sunset together because she was too busy straddling Yolanda on the couch to be proven otherwise.
A perfect evening.