CYOA: The Wishlist - Chapter 1 (Story) (Patreon)

"It's Christmas Eve!" Maddie squealed as she rushed up to the door, bouncing in place in her red party dress.

"Yeah," Selina didn't bother trying to stifle her annoyed sigh, despite the angry glare she got from her mother in return. "That's why we're here."

"And I'm sure she's very excited," Camelia spoke up, peeking her head out of the living room, Selina rolling her eyes when she saw the puffy sleeves on the girl's dress, not that different from Maddie's. "Aren't you, Lina?"

Selina shot Camelia a look, certain her cousin had used that nickname purely because she knew how much Selina hated it nowadays, though a jab in her side kept her from making a fuss. "Oh, yeah," she said sarcastically. "Sooo excited."

She expected the lecture she got as she went to drop her bag off in the room she'd be staying in for the weekend, with her mother telling her that she should be nicer to her younger cousins, that she could at least make an honest effort to not completely douse their enthusiasm, even if she was in college now, and thought she was above all this.

Selina didn't just think that, however; she knew it. She'd been above this years ago, but it had been easier to look past it when Maddie was younger. She wasn't a total monster... As fun as it might have been, she wouldn't have told the girl that Santa wasn't real back when she was four or five, when it was acceptable for her to believe. Now, though... She was definitely getting far too old for this, and if her parents weren't going to do anything about it, then it was up to her. She must be getting made fun of so hard at school... Selina would be doing her a favor.

Of course, she was assuming the girl hadn't grown out of it by now. She and her parents lived far enough away from the rest of the family that she didn't keep up with them, especially now that she'd started college. She had hoped she could use that as an excuse to avoid this holiday trip, but they'd made her come along anyway, not wanting her to be alone at home for Christmas, no matter how much she was positive that would have been better than the alternative. 

Really, seeing Maddie in that red velvet dress had told her everything she needed to know. She was definitely getting too old for those, too, and if she was wearing it - and on Christmas Eve, not even Christmas Day itself - she must be genuinely ecstatic about the holiday, in a way that, in Selina's experience, only little kids who still thought Santa was real did.

Well... Them, and Camelia. In a lot of ways, she was worse than Maddie. For one, she was older than her, barely younger than Selina herself, although their birthdays had fallen far enough apart that Camelia hadn't graduated high school yet, while Selina was working on her first year of college. When they were younger, that had never felt like that big of a gulf, but as they'd gotten older, it had seemed to widen more and more... And, when Maddie had been born, that had just amplified everything. By now, it was almost like Camelia and Maddie were the cousins with less than a year between their ages... At times, Selina would have guessed Maddie was the older one, too.

Probably, it was at least partially because the two lived closer together, so they spent more time with one another. At one time, Camelia had been a regular babysitter for Maddie, though Selina wasn't sure if that was the case anymore or not. Just like the girl should be too old for Santa, she ought to have been too old for babysitters, too... Selina knew she'd felt that way at her age; whether she'd gotten her parents to agree then, however, or if it had taken another year or two, she couldn't recall.

As the older cousin, as the babysitter, Camelia's maturity should have rubbed off on Maddie, but, if anything, it had gone the other way. That, or when the maturity had rubbed off, it had revealed something else underneath. Camelia had always been smaller than Selina - even if, the past few years, Selina had been getting a little help to ensure that remained the case - and she was a few months younger, yet it wasn't until Maddie had been born that things had taken a drastic turn.

Camelia had constantly cooed over all of Maddie's baby outfits, seemed genuinely enthralled when they had to throw on one of the girl's favorite shows to keep her entertained, and always wanted to play with her, lying on the floor and using her blocks and dolls just as much as Maddie did, if not more. 

And that didn't appear to have changed, either, judging by the dress Camelia had been wearing. It would have been funny, if Selina wasn't related to her, if she didn't know how close in age they were... Camelia was an adult now, and here she was, running around in a dress that Selina would have been willing to bet came out of the girls' department! It was very possible she and Maddie had gone shopping together, had picked out outfits from the same rack... The second-hand embarrassment of that was almost too much for Selina to bear, even without the thought that, if she'd been there, she could surely have fit into those same dresses.

How could Camelia's parents have let that happen? Why were they humoring her with this, letting her dress up like a kid? Yes, it was just family here tonight, Maddie and her parents coming over to greet Selina and hers after their long trip to stay at Camelia's parents' place, but they had to realize she wasn't a kid anymore, that it was weird for her to be this into Christmas, to even consider dressing that way... She was, theoretically, heading off to college in less than a year! 

Maybe they didn't see it, because she was so immature all the time... Or maybe they were happy to have their little girl for one more year, no matter how pathetic that was. Either way, Selina did not approve, and it didn't put her in a good mood at all when she discovered that she was still expected to sit at the kids' table with Camelia and Maddie.

"I know this table can get bigger!" she protested. "You're going to put in another leaf tomorrow when everyone else is here! Just do it now!"

"Selina!" her mother scolded. "They're already being nice enough to let us stay here, and they made us all this food... Don't be ungrateful!"

"I'm not!" Selina insisted. "I just don't see why I can't..!"

"It's no trouble," Camelia's mother cut her off, as if she didn't even hear the teen, speaking to her mother instead. "We love having you all here! And the girls have been so looking forward to getting to eat with you, Lina."

Selina glowered. "I don't go by Lina anymore," she reminded her aunt. "And I'm in college, I don't think I should have to..."

"Selina, go sit down!" her mother snapped. Selina blushed, feeling a shiver of fear run down her spine at her mom's tone, knowing she'd pushed things too far this time. Part of her wanted to stand her ground, to show them all that, as a grown-up, she couldn't be pushed around... But she was stuck here with them, with no way to get back home unless she stole their car, made the long drive all the way back by herself...

"Fine!" she grumbled, stomping her foot. Immediately she regretted it, knowing that only made her look like more of a kid, yet that was really all she could think to do at the moment. 

"Hi, Lina!" Maddie smiled at her as she sulkily slouched into her chair. "Did you have a nice trip?"

"Yeah, it was wonderful," Selina gritted her teeth, wondering if she ought to make a sign to wear around her neck telling everyone that she didn't want to be called Lina anymore.

"That's good!" Maddie chirped, seemingly not picking up on Selina's sarcasm, or choosing to ignore it. "Do you want to go get changed?"

"Uh... What for?" Selina asked.

"So we can all match!" Camelia declared, appearing, carrying a plate in each hand, having been recruited by her mother to ferry the food over to the kids' table. It dawned on Selina then that she should have volunteered to help, or at least get her own plate, but she was used to having it brought over... And she hadn't really been in the mood to be helpful. Camelia set one of the plates down in front of Maddie, and one in front of Selina, then bustled off again.

"We thought it would be fun to get dressed up tonight, too!" Maddie informed Selina. "We got new dresses for tomorrow, but some of our Christmas dresses from other years still fit, and it seemed like a shame not to get some use out of them... And today is just as important as tomorrow, so why not?"

"Oh, is it?" Selina jabbed at some of the food on her plate, Maddie's eyes widening, though Selina didn't notice until she'd popped the potato into her mouth.

"I was waiting until 'melia got back," Maddie told her.

That would have been the polite thing to do, especially when Camelia had served Selina her food. "What's so important about today?" she asked, setting her fork down.

"Well, you guys got here," Maddie said sweetly. "So we're all together for that! And, I mean, this is when Santa delivers the presents, and we have to set out cookies and milk for him... If we don't keep his strength up, he'll never make it all the way!"

Selina's stomach turned; she truly did believe, and not just a little... She was all in, with no sign of hesitation, or irony... It was so sad. It was her duty as an older cousin to squash this now, or poor Maddie was going to be laughed out of school after the break when she bragged about how Santa had shown up and brought her so many gifts this year...

"I didn't bring anything to get dressed up in," Selina started off. She was in jeans and a nice sweater, and that was the sort of thing she'd expected to spend most of her time there in. "No dresses, certainly not..." She wrinkled her nose, looking at Maddie's childish outfit again. 

"None at all?" Maddie sounded stunned. "Well, 'melia might have some you could borrow," she continued after a moment of deep thought, as if this were a serious problem that needed to be solved right away.

"She might," Selina admitted, although she hated to think that, as different as they were, they might still be the same size... Or, even worse, that she might fit into some of Camelia's older dresses. Once upon a time, they'd swapped clothes whenever they visited one another, but their tasted had diverged long ago. "I don't think tonight is anything to get too excited about, however." 

Maddie frowned, tilted her head. "Huh? Really? I know tomorrow is when we get the presents, but..."

"Nothing special is going to happen tonight, Maddie," Selina informed her. 

"I know we'll be asleep for most of it," Maddie said, as if that was the issue. "It's still..."

"No, Maddie," Selina interrupted. "Nothing." She could see Maddie squirming in her seat, nibbling at her bottom lip uncomfortably. 

She wasn't sure how much of that Camelia could hear, or if she was simply so immature that this was what she had been thinking about anyway, but, when she returned, the first thing she did was ask Maddie, "So, did you decide on what cookies you're going to leave for Santa tonight?"

Maddie glanced over at Selina uncertainly, then shook her head. "Not yet. What about you? Do you think we should leave the same kind, or should we switch it up so he has a little variety?"

"You know what I think?" Selina smirked, picking her fork back up now that Camelia was there, with food of her own. "I think," she stabbed a piece of turkey dramatically, "you ought to leave some of those chocolate mint cookies you always make."

"Oh, I have some of those left!" Maddie smiled, looking relieved that Selina was joining in on their conversation, not continuing on with what she'd started before, as if she could sense where that would lead, as if, deep down, she knew the truth...

"No, I think Camelia ought to put those out," Selina said.

"I have some, too," Camelia told her. Selina had no doubt they'd baked their Christmas cookies together, so it made sense they'd have the same things. "Do you think Santa will like those?"

Selina grinned. "No, but I will."

"Lina!" Maddie whined. "You can't eat them!"

Selina hadn't really thought about it until now, but being told she couldn't do something always made her want to do it more, and the longer this went on, the more it felt like it would serve them right if she did it. "There's no reason not to," she shrugged.

"Yes, there is!" Maddie glared at her. 

"That's right," Camelia backed her up, fixing Selina with a warning look. "Santa needs those."

"Oh, does he, Camelia?" Selina sniffed, sitting up in her chair to face down her cousin. "I don't think he does, because..."

"Don't you dare," Camelia hissed, not quite able to hide the quaver in her voice, as if she were afraid to hear it for herself, as much as for Maddie's sake.

Selina opened her mouth, ready to do it, but she stopped short, for a moment anyway. It would be for the best for them to rip off the band-aid for Maddie... Was tonight the best time to do it, though? Should she wait until tomorrow? She'd at least have her presents to cheer her up in the morning... But there would be so many other people in the house, and it might be harder to find a nice, quiet time to break the news. 

What should she do?

Tell them Santa isn't real, and eat the cookies?

Tell them Santa isn't real, and don't eat the cookies?

Stay quiet about Santa for now, but eat the cookies?

Or stay quiet about Santa for now, and leave the cookies alone?