Teddy Bears For Christmas (1/1)

Another year flew by in a blink of an eye and the girls were now attending college in the states. Jessica got into the school of Liberal Arts at Columbia University in New York City, while Taeyeon pursued her computer science degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The girls haven’t contacted each other since last Christmas and had no plans in flying home for the holidays either. Taeyeon reasoned that since she got an internship over winter break, she would rather stick around in the states. Jessica on the other hand had to take an intro to studio art class over the January term so she decided to spend Christmas by herself.  “This is your version of stress relief?” Jessica asked once she stepped inside one of the most popular clubs in downtown New York City. It was the 23rd of December and she just turned in her last final in the morning. Her new friend and classmate, Tiffany Hwang, thought it would be fun to go clubbing before all the fun venues take a break for the holiday.  “What? We finished our finals early so why not have some fun?” Tiffany expressed her opinion. “By the way, you're more than welcome to spend time with me and my family this holiday break.”  “Thanks, but I really don’t want to bother your family.”  “You’re not a bother at all,” Tiffany’s voice trailed off when she caught sight of some friends. “Hey I see Hyoyeon and Sooyoung,” she pointed in the direction to Jessica’s left.  “Where? How can you see anything? It’s so dark in here,” Jessica sipped on her cup of fruit punch she had just ordered since she was still underage for real cocktails at the bar. She squinted her eyes and tried to pick out Hyoyeon and Sooyoung from the crowd. “I only see two girls making out with each other in the corner booth,” she drew attention to the couple. Their lip-locking session wasn’t totally out of the norm especially in New York City. Moreover, she was fairly used to the idea of sexual diversity since she was young. Her liberal parents who came from San Francisco had always taught her not to discriminate because of the differences she might see in people and Jessica had always taken that philosophy to heart.  “Hey Jessi, I’m going to the bathroom, I’ll be right back,” Tiffany’s three inches high heels clicked against the black marble floor as she walked towards the bathroom.  “Okay,” Jessica uttered out a response even though she barely heard what Tiffany had just told her. She had her eyes clued to the girls sitting at the booth the whole time and was too occupied with them to actually hear Tiffany. There was something about one of the Asian girls that Jessica couldn’t quite wrap her fingers around until it finally hit her. “Holy shit,” Jessica thought and spat out her drink when she spotted a familiar face. “Is that Kim Taeyeon? Oh my God! It’s so her!” Jessica shrieked on the inside when Taeyeon pulled away from the brunette who she was kissing with a wide smile spreading across her face. Jessica could recognize that smile anywhere so she knew she didn’t mistaken someone else for her childhood friend. “What is she doing in New York?” Jessica’s eyes fell to the ground as she thought about all the possibilities.  “Jessica?” a familiar voice snapped her out of her thoughts.  Jessica instantly jerked and turned around to face the person. When did Taeyeon have the chance to sneak up on her? “Taeyeon?” Jessica was too transfixed by Taeyeon to say much more. She was definitely not expecting to see Taeyeon this soon.   “Did I scare you? I’m sorry,” Taeyeon promptly apologized before pulling the motionless Jessica in for a friendly hug. “I’m so glad to see you.”  “What are you doing here?” Jessica managed to ask despite her nervousness.  “I’m here for my internship,” Taeyeon flashed Jessica a charming smile. “I knew you were here, but I didn’t expect to run into you this soon,” she chortled a little.  “Yea, small world,” Jessica felt extremely awkward being around Taeyeon all of a sudden. Maybe it was because she just saw her childhood friend making out with some random chick. The Taeyeon she once knew had always been a reserved, goody two shoe in her eyes. What did America do to Kim Taeyeon?  “Totally,” she agreed. “Well I was just going to call you later, but I guess I can just ask you now. Do you want to spend Christmas with me? I have your present and everything,” the Korean girl kindly suggested.  “Oh…” Jessica bit her lower lips to think about her options. “Sure, I’m all alone for Christmas anyway.” Jessica presumed that since she had already spent the last thirteen years celebrating Christmas with Taeyeon another one wouldn’t hurt.  “Sweet! I’ll…”  “Hey Tae,” a white male around their age dropped by and interrupted Taeyeon mid-sentence. “Do you still have that pack of weed from last night?” the young man bluntly asked.  “Yea I do,” Taeyeon reached inside the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a small plastic pack of marijuana. “Have fun,” she patted the guy on the shoulder before he left the girls alone.  “You smoke weed now too?” Jessica blurted out and quickly felt dumb for letting her tongue slip so easily.  Taeyeon smiled smugly for a second. “Only on holidays,” she poked Jessica’s cheek like how she always would when she wanted to tease her childhood friend. “I’m not a pothead if that’s what you’re wondering,” she answered the unasked question.  “I…” Jessica kept mum.  “Anyway, I’ll text you later about Christmas. I have to go set up the lights I programmed for this Christmas dance.”  “Lights?”  “Yea, I’m interning as a lighting technician for this tech company. I programmed the new lighting for this club. You’ll see in a bit,” Taeyeon glanced at her wristwatch. “I have to go now. Well, enjoy the club if I don’t see you later!” she bid goodbye and walked out of the dance floor.  “Has Taeyeon always been like this?” Jessica wondered.  **** “Merry Christmas!” Taeyeon cheered with party streamers to brighten up the Christmas night for two. After their unexpected meeting at the club, Taeyeon and Jessica agreed to meet again at Jessica's dorm room on Christmas Day to celebrate the winter holiday together. Since Jessica’s roommate already left for break, she figured that her place was the most convenient place for them to meet up. Now sitting on the younger girl’s futon, Taeyeon was ready to complete the night with Christmas presents. “Here’s your present, Miss Jung,” she pushed the gift bag towards Jessica’s way.  “Geez I wonder what this is?” Jessica added a dry, sarcastic remark. “Omo, it’s a teddy bear! Another great teddy to add to my collection,” she gave the bear a loving hug to finish off her bear acceptance ritual. “My second present?” she innocently blinked at Taeyeon. They’ve been playing this game for years so she knew that Taeyeon would always prepare a real present for her.  “I wish I didn’t spoil you as much when we were kids,” Taeyeon joked and handed over a small, white envelope.     “No one told you to spoil me,” Jessica endearingly stuck out her tongue to tease the older girl. “Oh my God! You got me a ticket to Adele’s concert? Are you kidding me? Is this a prank?” Jessica gasped and couldn’t hide her glee.  “Not joking. It’s the real deal,” Taeyeon’s warm smile stretched from ear to ear.   “You're making me feel bad for giving you such a shitty gift,” a pout appeared when Jessica thought back about her present for Taeyeon this year.  “What are you talking about? You give me the best gift every year.”   “You really think a gift card to Target is nice? This is me not knowing what to get you at last minute.”  Taeyeon wholeheartedly laughed at Jessica’s candid statement. “Well, I really like it when you smile and every time I get you something nice, you would always smile for me. I think that’s a pretty good gift already,” she mussed up Jessica’s hair in a frolicsome manner.     Jessica rolled her eyes and finally understood why people like the quiet Taeyeon so much. Kim Taeyeon was a quiet person, yet when she spoke, she does it with charm and grace. “You can save your sweet words for your girlfriend,” Jessica intended for the statement to be a joke. However, it came out more as an implication that Taeyeon likes girls instead.  “Girlfriend?” the shorter girl raised a brow, questioning the meaning behind Jessica’s words.  “I mean...” Jessica struggled to find the right words to say. “I...” she evaded Taeyeon’s gaze. “Crap...” she muttered to herself and took in a deep breath. “Taeyeonie, I'm sorry…I didn’t mean to out you in front of you.”  “Out me? You mean because you know that I'm gay?”  The younger girl slightly nodded and felt embarrassed for letting her tongue slipped earlier. “Well I don’t exactly know that you’re gay...I just saw you kissing a girl at the club. That could mean a lot of things...I'm really sorry,” she kept apologizing.    Taeyeon stared at Jessica for another few seconds before she broke out into a large guffaw and a few claps. “Hahaha! Oh God!”  “What's so funny?” Jessica furrowed her brow. Out of all the possible reactions, laughing was not what she imagined Taeyeon would do.  “You're not outing me,” Taeyeon tried to calm herself down from laughing so hard. “Don't worry about it. My sexuality is not a secret. Beside from my dad, everyone who knows me knows that I'm gay, Jessica. I've been pretty open about it since high school,” she forthright revealed.