I AM NOT THAT FUCKING SAPPY!

☆︎ NOVEMBER, 1997 ☆︎

If Indiana was a slightly different person, she'd be embarrassed by how her friends were acting at her very first basketball game. The first one of the season wasn't even at Windsor — they traveled two hours to a college in Michigan. While Indiana rode up on a bus with her team, all of her friends filed into Jackson's van and met them there.

Now, as she ran up and down the court, her entire friend group was seated on the first row of bleachers. Hallie and Sidney were holding up a sign up that read 'Have No Fear! #33 Is Here!' while Cici was making use of her old cheerleading knowledge despite Windsor's actual cheerleaders on the sidelines. Randy was being forced to hold a cheap, flimsy pom-pom that was their school colors of blue and yellow.

On the slightly more embarrassing side, Jackson and Derek, ever the sports fanatics, had their shirts off with Indiana's number and last name painted on their chests. Given it was November in Michigan, they'd have to bundle back up before leaving the gym.

Mickey was dutifully documenting the whole game with his camera, keeping it aimed at Indiana most of the time — she didn't sit out much and was one of the best players, he quickly learned. Every now and then, he'd capture their friends doing something funny or watch as Jackson shouted at the referee, claiming he made a bad call.

As it turned out, Indiana was a very aggressive basketball player, which her college friends were quickly learning. She may have been one of the shorter girls on the court at only 5'10" but that didn't stop her from being the best defensive player on the team. Shot after shot was blocked by her as she'd steal the ball and return it to their side of the court. And Coach Bacchus was clearly encouraging her aggressiveness as he shouted orders at her from the sidelines.

"Fucking go, Indy!" Mickey proudly shouted when she got her hands on a rebound and returned it to their side, making a goal from the three-point line. "That's my girl!"

Then seconds after the teams were on the other side of the court, Indiana and her teammate, Megan, were swooping in, stealing the ball once again.

"I believe the biting stories now," Hallie mumbled as Indiana rammed into a girl's side who was trying to get past, knocking the Michigan player down. But it looked enough like a pick that the referee let it slide, and the play continued with Meagan getting the ball and running it to their hoop.

"One time at Woodsboro, the coach told her to intentionally foul another player hoping to injure her because she was that good," Sidney admitted. "Indy did it and broke the girl's arm. She was out for the season."

"And we won that game," Jackson said, grinning.

"Isn't that ethically wrong?" Derek asked, frowning deeply. He was going to be a doctor after all.

"No, you didn't hear them," Mickey said, shaking his head. "They won the game so any morally wrong decisions made by Indiana canceled out."

"Sure," Hallie said with a doubtful look. "Because that's totally how karma works."

☆︎

"Absolutely not."

"It's a better movie!"

"You're insane, Indiana. I can't believe I'm dating an insane person."

"Box office numbers don't fucking lie, Mickey! It's a better movie."

"I can't believe you wanna go see fucking Flubber instead of Alien: Resurrection."

Indiana was in her room with Mickey — Cici was there as well, making a study guide for chemistry and keeping out of the argument. Finals were approaching as November was ending, and she was one of the few in the friend group taking it seriously.

Well, Indy and Mickey weren't having an argument, not really. The couple was just trying to decide on a movie to go to for their date on Saturday. The whole thing was being caught on the damn camcorder.

While Mickey was raring to see the new Alien installment, Indiana was heavy on the side of Flubber. Mickey was pacing the room while making his points, but Indiana was unbothered and unwavering in her decision, as always, while laying on the floor and looking up at her boyfriend in amusement.

"It has Robin Williams! And a cute little green guy! I don't know what the fuck his deal is, but I already know I love the little green guy."

"Well, Alien has Winona Ryder and also a cute little guy!" Mickey told her.

Indiana sat up on her elbows. "The Xenomorphs are not cute little guys!" she said while laughing. "I'm seeing Flubber with or without you tomorrow, Altieri. Reviews are saying it's great. Know what's not great according to the people? Fucking Alien: Resurrection."

"Fine!" he gave in, throwing his hands up. But Indiana knew he wasn't really upset because he was grinning. "I will take you to see Flubber. You are so fucking lucky that I love you because I know it's gonna be so borin..."

Mickey trailed off, seeming to realize what slipped out of his mouth the same time Indiana did. Her giggling subsided as she looked up at him with wide eyes, the room growing so silent that you could hear a hairpin drop. Even Cici set her pencil down to eavesdrop because she knew they hadn't reached that stage in their relationship yet.

"Um..." Mickey stopped himself again, not really knowing what to say. He just felt like a deer in headlights. Because he'd never said he loved a girl before — he never had loved someone before. So how could he just let that slip out in the middle of a silly argument about a children's movie?

"I didn't mean to say that," Mickey finally told her. And he saw how Indiana's face fell a little.

She was disappointed because, well, Indiana knew she was falling in love with Mickey. Sure, they hadn't been dating more than two months, but she still knew. She'd known Billy Loomis for a year and a half and never fell in love with him — she just wanted him. But Mickey? Indiana needed him, she craved him.

She loved him.

But then Indiana forced a smile, pushing her disappointment to the back of her mind. "Yeah, no, I get it. You didn't mean it like that. Just slipped out," she said, looking away from him. "Do you wanna go to the six o'clock showing of—"

"I do," Mickey suddenly cut her off, his words rushed. Indiana looked back at him quickly. His mouth was hanging open as he tried to gather his thoughts — she'd given him a way out, and yet he wasn't taking it. "Love you, I mean. I do love you."

Indiana felt frozen on the spot as she looked up at Mickey with wide eyes. As a naturally charismatic person, she'd had people that liked her, that were infatuated with her, that were drawn to her. But no one had ever been in love with her before.

"You do?" she asked in a soft tone, her voice barely above a whisper. It was a little inconvenient for Cici, who wanted to hear everything.

Mickey nodded and moved to kneel next to her on the ground. She sat up fully to look him in the eye. "Yeah," he told her. "Is that okay that I said it so fast?"

Indiana couldn't help but smile as she nodded. "Yeah, it's okay. It's great, 'cause I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you too, and that would've made things awkward."

With a big grin, Mickey swooped in to kiss her gently, cradling her cheeks in his hands. He just couldn't believe someone as perfect as Indiana would ever be in love with someone like him — he certainly didn't expect this to happen when he was enrolled in Windsor, but those consequences were Future Mickey's problems. Not the Now Mickey, who was kissing the girl he loved tenderly.

Indiana slid her arms around his neck, holding him closer as he slipped his tongue in her mouth. She couldn't help but smile into the kiss, winding her fingers in his hair. It wasn't long before she was on her back once again, Mickey hovering over her.

"I am still fucking in here!" Cici shouted loudly, looking at them with wide eyes.

Mickey had no problem ignoring her like he always did as he nipped at Indy's bottom lip. But eventually, she pushed him off and looked at Cici apologetically. "Sorry," she muttered.

Cici rolled her eyes playfully. "It's cute that you're in love or whatever, but never do that with him in front of me again."

Mickey wrapped an arm around Indiana, pulling her into his chest while addressing Cici. "And suddenly, I'm so glad you're moving out in January."

☆︎

"I hope Billy and Stu are rotting in goddamn hell."

As Indiana sat down at a table in the cafeteria for dinner, all of their friends looked at her. Mickey joined her a second later, holding both of their trays.

"I mean, they probably are," Jackson told her. "Ya know, because of the serial killing and whatnot."

"Any particular reason you're extra angry with them today?" Hallie asked, raising an eyebrow. She was next to Jackson and leaning against his shoulder. "Or just because?"

"We were at the movies," Mickey told them as Indy began picking at her piece of pizza. "And they showed a trailer beforehand."

The couple decided to get lunch together and then see an earlier showing of the movie. If the trailer hadn't ruined Indiana's mood, they probably would've swung by the later showing of Alien: Resurrection to appease Mickey.

"Which why did they even show that before fucking Flubber? It's a kid-friendly movie! There were children in the audience," Indiana said, scoffing. Then she sighed and looked at Sidney. "It was the first trailer for the movie about Woodsboro."

Jackson and Sidney cringed while Randy leaned forward, clearly interested. "How'd it look?"

"It's called fucking Stab!"

"Stab? Jesus, way to be unoriginal," he muttered, shaking his head. "Well, tell us about it. Who all is playing us?"

"You weren't in the trailer, dude," Mickey said with a small smile.

"What?" Randy asked, clearly outraged. "I'm an integral part of the story!"

"Were you?" Derek asked skeptically.

"Hey, he earned the nickname Target Practice fair and square," Indiana defended him. "Your voice was in it, at least. It was filmed with a voice-over of your rules and clips of everyone breaking the rules. I just didn't recognize the voice."

Randy sighed, accepting it for what he got. "At least I know my horror movie knowledge will get the screen time it deserves."

"Ya know, it seemed to have a pretty big cast, surprisingly. David Schwimmer, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham, Jennifer Jolie. Brooke fucking Shields is playing Virginia!"

"What about me?" Jackson asked, looking rather eager.

"I think it was Chris Tucker," Mickey told him. "Lark Voorhies got your sister's part."

"And who are our two final girls?" Derek asked, looking between Indiana and Sidney. He didn't really notice how both cringed at the term.

Mickey held Indiana's hand under the table, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles comfortingly. "Mädchen Amick is playing Indiana."

"I've got the biggest fucking crush on myself," Indiana admitted with a dreamy sigh. Then she looked at Sidney and smirked. "You're not gonna fucking believe who is playing you. I'll give you a hint — you spoke it into existence last year."

"No," Sidney said, her shoulders falling. Indiana grinned and nodded her head. "No way. Not Tori Spelling! What happened to young Meg Ryan?"

"Blame Dewey. He probably told Gale about that joke," Indy said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, the movie is coming out in April."

"Could you tell if it's gonna be an accurate portrayal?" Cici asked her, tilting her head.

"It kind of made it look like that Casey chick is alive and involved," Mickey recalled. "But I'm sure she'll bite it in the first ten minutes."

Indiana elbowed Mickey in the gut for his insensitivity, reminding him that this all really happened. "Look, the movie is stupid, and it's not gonna be accurate."

"She's just saying that because it showed a clip from a sex scene," Mickey muttered while rubbing his ribs. He glanced between her and Sidney, clearly more amused than they were. "You're both getting one, it seems. Played heavy into the Billy being a two-timer theme."

Indiana glared down at her plate in annoyance. Gale wouldn't have even known she had sex with Billy if not for that stupid camera in the living room. It didn't see what happened in the kitchen, but it caught all the audio.

It was only about six seconds, but it was clear what her and Billy's characters were doing as he carried her to bed while Randy's character was explaining how sex wasn't allowed. It also showed a similar scene between Billy and Sidney, and some various action between Tatum, Stu, and Sophia.

"Hey, I'm sure it'll tank," Derek said, nudging Sidney with his shoulder.

Indiana and Mickey shared a look, already knowing that wasn't the case. If she hadn't lived through the traumatic experience, she'd have been jumping up and down from excitement over the new movie. That, coupled with the all-star cast, meant it would be an instant classic, unfortunately.

"Well, if anyone tries to interview you, just make sure to tell them all that stuff you said to me about Billy," Cici said while eating her salad.

"What kind of stuff?" Randy asked curiously.

"You don't wanna know," Indiana said with a smirk.

"No, I wanna know."

Cici giggled to herself. "Randy, you don't want to know."

"Tell me," he whined. "I want to know."

"Fine," Indiana said, crossing her arms. "Billy was perfectly okay at sex — not the best or worst I've had. But we slept together three times that night, and he didn't even take the time to go down on me. It was very rude of him."

Randy's face fell and he pushed his plate away, losing his appetite. "You were right. I didn't want to know," he mumbled.

"Which like, yeah, I hate Mickey," Cici began, ignoring how Indiana began quickly shaking her head, "but he had the decency to—"

Indiana leaned across the table and threw her hands over Cici's entire face. Sidney and Hallie started giggling while the guys all grinned at Mickey. "I hate you so much, Cici Cooper!" Indy hissed.

Mickey leaned back and eyed Indiana in disbelief. "Just how much have you told Cooper about our sex life?" He wasn't upset — just really fucking amused.

"Nothing," she said, looking at her hands.

"Everything," Cici cut in, a smirk on her face. Then she crassly acted out pulling a mask off of her head before pumping her fist toward her mouth, poking her cheek with her tongue as she did so. Sure, no one understood the mask aspect, but the blowjob was so obvious.

"Very classy, Indiana," Randy said, biting back a grin.

"I can't believe you told her everything," Mickey said, still skeptical about it. Especially with how ashamed of being turned on by the Ghostface mask Indiana was. "Do we have no secrets?"

"What?" Indiana asked, raising a judgemental eyebrow. "Like you didn't say anything descriptive to the guys?"

"Well, not to Jackson and Randy because they think of you like a sister," Mickey informed her. Then he glanced around innocently. "And maybe I tried with Derek, but he went on about respecting you as a human being and not just something to objectify, so that conversation didn't get very far."

Indiana scoffed playfully, trying to now turn it back on him. "You only see me as something to objectify?"

Rather than get flustered and try to cover up what he said, Mickey just leaned an elbow on the table and looked at Cici, raising an eyebrow. "Want to go on about everything else Indy said about me, Cooper?"

"Nevermind!" Indiana exclaimed while returning her hand before Cici could even open her mouth, knowing damn well she did enough objectifying of her own. She'd been far too descriptive about her bedroom activities when it came to Cici. She couldn't help it though. They were best friends, and it was so fun to watch Cici squirm any time Indy told her something hot about Mickey.

Cici grinned and shoved Indiana's hand off. "Yeah, it's not really dinner-appropriate conversation," she told them. "But just know that for a good minute and a half, I stopped hating Mickey from how good she made it sound. Direct quote — Best sex she's ever had."

"Damn," Jackson muttered, knowing how much Cici hated Mickey. He also knew how many people Indiana had slept with, so to be dubbed the best meant he had some skill. Jackson then nodded to a rather smug-looking Mickey. "I tip my invisible hat to you, sir."

Indiana was too busy glaring at her roommate to comment. Mickey's ego was already so goddamn big. He had no business knowing how good he was in bed.

Mickey had a big smirk on his face as he slung his arm over Indiana's shoulder, pulling her over. He leaned down, his lips brushing against her ear. "The best sex you've ever had?" he asked, holding back a gleeful laugh.

"Shut the fuck up!" she snapped, shoving his arm off. Her face was burning, which only made him laugh at her. "You're not even that great. And your face is stupid."

"Oh, please. You love this face," he said, kissing her cheek.

Every time they bickered about something small, Mickey would always end it with smugly reminding Indiana that she loved him. Since it was all so new, she couldn't help but smile and forget about whatever movie they were disagreeing about.

"Yeah, I do," Indiana said, smiling sweetly up at him.

Jackson dramatically gagged and then pretended to vomit all over the table. Randy and Cici laughed as Indy and Mickey rolled their eyes.

"Not to remind you about stones and glass houses, Jackson," Sidney spoke up with a smirk, "but you've been holding Hallie's hand underneath the table this whole time."

In sync, Indiana, Cici, Derek, and Mickey all looked under the table — Randy only had to angle his head to the side to spot the incriminating act. Not only were Jackson and Hallie holding hands, but their fingers were fucking intertwined. Though they quickly untangled them once everyone's attention was on them.

"Oh, my god," Indiana said, staring at Jackson with wide eyes. "I'm fucking calling Soph."

"No, you aren't," Jackson said, squinting at her. "She's already an unbearable goddamn cretin on her own. Don't fuel her annoyingness over something like hand-holding."

Indiana squared her shoulders and cleared her throat before picking up an imaginary phone, beginning to speak in a lower tone, imitating Jackson. "What up, Virginia? Indy's totally into that Mickey nerd from film class. I'm telling you about their first date before she has a chance to so that you can be extra annoying about it when she does finally call."

Mickey put his hand to his chest and looked at Jackson with fake hurt on his face. "You called me a nerd?"

"You are a nerd."

"You're very nerdy, Mick."

"Yeah, and he wasn't lying."

Cici, Derek, and Indiana spoke at the same time, accidentally ganging up on Mickey.

"It's okay though," Indiana added, leaning against his arm. "I like that about you."

He smiled down at her. "You love that about me?"

And yet again, a wave of fake vomiting washed over Jackson. The two just ignored him, not caring how disgustingly sappy it was to watch. Mickey loved Indiana, and he was just lucky that she loved him right back — and he knew he had to savor that feeling for as long as he could.

☆︎ DECEMBER 25TH, 1997 ☆︎

The downside of being on a college basketball team, Indiana and Jackson quickly learned, was that their winter break was nonexistent. Since the sport was in the middle of the season, December was filled with games. That meant that they had to stay behind in Ohio with the rest of their teammates instead of going back to California with Sidney and Randy. And because they weren't athletes, none of the others in their friend group were on the list permitting them to stay in the residence halls over the break.

Though they had no games scheduled on Christmas, there were ones days before and after. So, it wasn't even worth the gas money to drive home for the holiday, knowing they'd have to come right back.

The solution was for Virginia, along with Sophia and the Martin parents, to get in a car and stay in a hotel for a week so that they could all be together for Christmas at least. So that it was less depressing, Cici helped Indiana decorate a small tree in their room for them to put presents under.

Before everyone went home after finals, they all exchanged gifts and promised not to open them until December 25th. Cici, admittedly, wasn't even off of campus before she opened all of hers. And she didn't even try to hide it. Before leaving for Montana, she spent five minutes hugging Indiana for the gift from her.

But in Cici's defense, Indiana's wrapped present was fucking massive and begging to be opened. It was a huge wall sign that spelled out 'CICI' and the letters were made up of pictures that they'd taken with each other over the first semester together. It came with a sweet note begging for her to not forget about Indy while living at the Omega Beta Zeta house.

"At least you will be able to come home for your Spring Break," Mrs. Martin said while taking a present from Jackson. He was the one handing them out as they sat in a circle in Indiana's room on Christmas morning.

"We should've picked a college slightly closer, probably," Indiana admitted with a grimace. She was curled up on her bed with Sophia.

"Where was that attitude months ago when we were all begging you four to go to one of the countless universities in California?" Virginia asked with a smirk.

"Oh, but then Indy wouldn't have met Mr. Oh You're So Fine Mickey," Sophia said teasingly. When Indiana shoved her shoulder, she just laughed and began singing the rest of the song. "Oh, Mickey, what a pity, you don't understand. You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand!"

Indiana shut her up by smacking her with a pillow. "I am not that fucking sappy!"

Jackson ceased his present distribution to look at her accusingly. "Did you or did you not put that song on his Christmas present?"

Indiana's present to Mickey, who went back home to Kentucky — they thought it was funny they used to live so close to each other — was a CD that she filled with his favorite songs. Except she got Lethal Lawnmower to help her record covers so that it was her singing instead of the actual bands.

And yes, Mickey by Toni Basil was on it.

"Perchance it made the cut," Indiana muttered, avoiding eye contact. "But, like, as a joke."

Sophia and Jackson groaned while the adults just laughed at the whole situation, remembering what it was like the first time they fell in love.

"She also wrote him a love song," Virginia chimed in unprompted while twirling a ribbon on one of her gifts.

"Virginia!" Indy hissed accusingly. The very last song on the CD was an original one that she played on her own with just her guitar, and maybe Mickey was the subject — muse, if you will. But Indiana wasn't exactly offering to play it for other people.

"It's not as if they aren't in a band with you," Mr. Martin said, grinning.

"You've literally played a song for us about making out with Sidney's boyfriend the night that her mother was murdered by said boyfriend, so it can't get more embarrassing than that," Sophia told her.

"Again, I didn't know Billy was a serial killer when I had a thing for him," she said, rolling her eyes. "I really want to keep reminding people of that because I'm not totally convinced the movie isn't gonna try and make it seem like I knew or at least suspected."

"Guys, let's just forget those assholes for one day and open presents," Jackson said. "Like, give zero thought to them and the movie."

"Uh, wait," Mr. Martin said, standing up. "Open mine and then give it no thought."

Mr. Martin then handed an envelope with a pre-tied bow stuck to it to each of them. Indiana shared a confused look with Jackson and Sophia before all of them opened up the envelopes, which contained some kind of letter.

It took Indiana a second to understand what the legal jargon meant, but then she was grinning at the lawyer. "We're getting royalties from the movie for using our stories? No way!"

"Sidney, Randy, and Isaiah are getting the same letter this morning as well," Mr. Martin said while sitting back next to his wife. As more information about the Stab movie came out, it was clear that Isaiah didn't have a huge part, but he was still in The Woodsboro Killers and Sophia's best friend, so he still made it into the script. "It was their offer to keep from being sued. So, Merry Christmas for the next twenty years."

"This is so cool, Dad," Sophia said with a huge grin.

"And a relief," Jackson added. "This movie's gonna be huge — there's already tons of buzz about it and it's still four months away. It's gonna make a ton of money, so at least we'll get some of it."

"We're glad you like it," Mrs. Martin told them. "And now you really can go the rest of the day without thinking of them. I say we open presents!"

"Presents!" Indiana and Jackson shouted in sync.

The six of them all tore into the presents, opting to do it together rather than open them one by one. Indiana, Jackson, and Sophia didn't have the patience for that — neither did Virginia, but she tried to act more mature than the twenty-six-year-old that she was when around the Martins, who were in their fifties.

Indiana was excited to watch her friends open their gifts since she couldn't watch everyone else that was spread out across several states. She gave Sophia some green tape for her drumsticks, knowing it was her favorite color as well as a new denim jacket and an assortment of patches to put on it. Nearly every time Sophia saw someone in a patch-covered jacket, she'd comment about wanting to start her own.

For Jackson, she got him a new pair of Air Jordans since his old ones were starting to wear out. She also snuck in a framed picture of him and Hallie laying together on the main quad. Were they together yet? No. But Indiana knew they were slowly falling for each other, moving past just the attracted to each other stage.

"Aw, Virginia! How did you know?" Indiana cooed sarcastically when she opened her gift from her sister. She was holding four tickets to the Spice Girls concert that was scheduled for the following summer in Mountain View back in California.

"Gee, it was so hard to guess what you wanted considering you've been asking for these for two months straight," Virginia said, rolling her eyes playfully.

"Cici is gonna flip!" Indy said, already planning the trip. Cici could stay with them for a few days, and Sidney and Sophia would come to the concert too.

Other gifts that she received included a Christmas ornament from Derek. It was the yellow Friends frame with a picture of all of them hanging out on the main quad together. He got the same one for everyone so that they'd have the memory. Hallie gave her a new sweater. Mrs. Martin knitted them all toboggans since winters in Ohio were so much colder than in Woodsboro. Cici gave her a stuffed Ludo from the Labyrinth movie.

After the majority of presents were open, Jackson took his family back to his dorm, giving Indiana time with her sister. They also gathered all the wrapping paper and stuffed it in trash bags.

"So," Virginia said, glancing at her sister. "I noticed a lack of present from Mickey."

"I noticed a lack of present from Dewey," Indiana shot right back.

The two sisters stared each other down before sighing in sync. It was quite comical as Virginia retrieved a hidden gift from her suitcase while Indiana also retrieved one that she'd kept behind her pillow.

"I didn't want Jax and Soph to make fun of whatever it is," Indiana mumbled sheepishly.

"I also didn't want them to make fun," Virginia said, chuckling. No, she and Dewey still weren't together, but everyone knew how much they cared about each other. Then she sat on the end of Indy's bed, who joined her. "Dewey isn't exactly a master when it comes to these things."

Virginia opened hers first — it was a small box that both girls were fairly certain contained jewelry. And they were right about that, but not right about Dewey being a bad gift giver.

"Damn," Indiana said, leaning in. "He's so fucking in love with you."

Inside the box was a dainty silver necklace. The charm was a stethoscope that was shaped like a heart. A note accompanied it that read 'Merry Christmas to the finest nurse in Woodsboro' in Dewey's messy handwriting.

"Shut up," Virginia murmured, trying not to smile as she looked at the gift. She couldn't fight it off though as she put the necklace on, really wishing that Dewey would've given it to her in person. Though, he'd probably been too nervous to do it that way. "What'd Mickey get you?"

Indiana tore into the Star Wars wrapping paper that Mickey used for all his friends and their gifts. Her gift was small too — though the rectangular box was still double the size of the one Virginia's gift came in. Opening it up revealed a VHS tape that just had 'Indiana — 1997' written on the label.

"Think it's a bootleg of Killer Klowns From Outer Space?" Virginia asked jokingly.

"As if," she said, laughing as well. Indiana then got off her bed and moved to the TV set to put the tape in. Virginia joined her on the small couch, wanting a front row to whatever it was.

The screen clicked on and was black for a moment before a pixelated image appeared. Instantly, both girls laughed at the opening clip that was just Randy in front of the camera, a grimace on his face. He was squinting at whoever was behind it — obviously Mickey.

"Just fucking do it, Meeks," Mickey hissed.

Randy rolled his eyes. "Merry Christmas, April Fool's Day—"

"Don't call her that in my present—"

"Well, it's that or The Slumber Party Massacre," Randy grumbled. "Merry fucking Christmas. Trigger warning for Jackson if he's watching this when you unwrap it. You're gonna gag, dude. It's so sappy. Indy, you should be embarrassed—"

"Randy!"

"You asked me to film the intro! Let me do my intro—"

Indiana and Virginia broke into a fit of giggles as Randy was completely cut off and replaced with footage shot with Mickey's camera. As she watched, Indy's laughter faded as she just watched in surprise.

"Oh," Virginia said, covering her mouth with her hands to hide her smile. "This is so fucking cute."

It was her.

Indiana rolling around the grass, giggling far too much over Hallie's stupid joke about Randy's upper body strength. Smiling up at Mickey for the first time as he joined the group that day. Distracting her with the camera while studying. Playing basketball with Jackson and Derek. Arguing with Randy about a movie. Getting her tattoo. Performing with the Lethal Lawnmowers, looking right at him as she sang.

Mickey teasing her over the crush she had on Harry in Third Rock from the Sun. Playing her guitar for him in her room. Making funny faces at him and the camera in the middle of film class, trying not to be seen by Professor Mac. Her making the winning shot of her first basketball game. Asking her on their movie date.

Telling her that he loved her — granted, that shot wasn't straight because Mickey had abandoned his camera on the carpet, but it still was a touching moment right up until Cici yelled at them for shoving their tongues down each other's throats.

It was everything — every moment since they met in August, Indiana getting to see herself the way Mickey did. He edited an hour and a half worth of their time together, piecing together his favorite moments to make a movie of his own with her as the star.

By the time it was over, Indiana and Virginia were leaning against each other with content smiles on their faces. Indiana was bursting with love for what Mickey made, and Virginia was just so glad her sister was finally so happy after everything she'd been through.

"He is hot," Virginia said now that she'd finally seen Mickey. Of course, Indiana had plenty of pictures of him around her room, but it wasn't the same as seeing him on camera. "And totally whipped for you — as he should be."

"I can't believe he made this," Indiana said, unable to stop smiling. "I mean, he and Randy said they were working on something, but I figured it was for one of their classes."

"Well, Randy was right," she said, wrapping an arm around her sister. "No matter how cute that was, Jackson would've barfed on sight."

"Oh, absolutely," Indy agreed. "And I'd never live down the embarrassment if he watched this either, so he can't know this exists."

"Yeah, god forbid Jax know there's video evidence of how pathetically in love with your first real boyfriend you are," Virginia said with a big grin. "Speaking of video evidence — not to sound like a mother, but do not let his movie-focused mind try to film a sex tape."

Indiana snorted and shoved her sister off. "Fuck off! Why does everyone think I'm gonna let him do that — which, by the way, he's never even suggested?"

"Well, he's already made one movie," she said, nodding to the TV. "So just remember that while sex workers earn their paychecks just like I do, that's not the kind of star you're trying to grow up and be."

"Oh, put a sock in it and call Deputy Dipshit to thank him for the necklace."

☆︎

[ if you wanna see a little low-quality tiktok edit with the vibes of mickey's Christmas gift, it's over there @/theilliterateironman ]