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“What’re you doing OJ?”
Two voices came from behind OJ which startled him. He turned away from the kitchen counter to be greeted by the cherries rubbing the sleep away from their eyes.
“What are you two doing up,” OJ asked looking at the clock on the stove that read 4:00 am, “it’s way too early.”
“Nightmare,” left cherry stated while right cherry shook his head.
“Couldn’t get back to sleep?” OJ asked, the two responded with a shake of their head and OJ replied with, “well do you wanna talk about it at all?”
A yawn escaped from the left cherry while right cherry mumbled, “I don’t really remember it. It just was bad.”
OJ wasn’t quite sure if the cherries truly meant that or if they just didn’t want to talk about it, he accepted it either way. He put down the bowl that he was holding and went over to the boys to give them both a quick hug. The two boys would usually push away, as any other tween would, but this time they welcomed it; both because they were too tired to stop it and because they genuinely did love getting hugs from OJ.
OJ released them and gave them both a quick pat on the head, “well how about you two pour yourselves some cereal and once I’m done with this batch we can watch our show, alright?”
The cherries smiled and nodded while running over to the cabinet. They poured out a large bowl of cereal and were about to walk out of the kitchen until they caught a glimpse of what OJ was doing.
The cherries set their bowl back on the counter and scooted closer to OJ. They watched as OJ poured flour and baking powder into a bowl.
“You two need something?” OJ asked with a bit of a chuckle.
“What are you making?” Left cherry asked; soon after, right cherry cut in, “cookies?”
“Yup, sugar cookies for the holidays,” OJ smiled, “I did it every year when I was back home with my family.”
“Can I help?” The cherries asked.
“Well, right now I’m just making the dough, but after it’s chilled for a while you can help if you’d like.”
“Well how long does it have to chill for?”
“Oh about an hour or two, but then it has to come back out and thaw for about an hour.”
The cherries groaned, “why can’t we just do it now since it’s not cold already?”
OJ chuckled again and started combining the wet ingredients into a bowl, “because it’s too warm right now so it will just stick to the counter. But it can’t be too cold or else it’ll crumble.”
“Do I really have to wait that long to help though?” Left cherry whined.
“Yes,” OJ laughed while nudging the boys the other way, “now go eat your breakfast!”
“Can I eat least-“
OJ cut the twins off, “no you cannot eat the dough.”
The boys groaned in response and grabbed their cereal with a grumble. OJ continued to mix together everything needed while the boys had gotten comfy on the couch and turned on the tv. They weren’t too interested in what had first been on but kept watching because they didn’t want to turn on the show that OJ and them had been watching until OJ was actually there with them.
Eventually the boys heard the sounds of the mixer die down and the fridge door opening. The twins quickly pulled up the streaming service needed to access the show and waited for OJ until he came in and sat down on the couch next to them. They then pressed play and happily munched on their cereal while watching.
OJ originally didn’t expect for this show to interest him all that much. The cherries had started watching it a few weeks ago and soon after OJ found himself getting sucked into it as well. Eventually it got to the point where the cherries forced OJ to take a break from hotel work every so often to watch the show with them.
They continued to watch the show for an hour or so until paper came down to join them. He took a seat next to OJ and waited for him and the twins to finish up the episode they were on. Once finished, paper took the twins around the hotel to water and tend to the many plants around the hotel; as they usually did every Saturday. While they were on plant duty OJ went and did his normal morning hotel manager duties. Halfway through he pulled out the container holding the dough and set it on the counter; quick to put a ‘do not eat or touch’ note on the lid.
The cherries soon finished their chore and started to make their way around the hotel trying to find OJ and eventually found him restocking towels at the pool. They went up behind him and tapped on his glass to get his attention. The older man jumped slightly not knowing they were there but soon settled into a smile.
“Can we start on the cookies yet?” Left cherries asked.
“Well I just took them out of the fridge so we have to wait a bit longer.” OJ explained.
The cherries groaned, “ughhh I’m gonna die of boredom before I can help bake anything.”
OJ smirked, “well if you need to pass the time you can help me with some chores around the hotel.”
“Oh my gosh do you hear that?” Right cherry said while left cherry giggled, “I think I hear yin-yang calling for me. What a shame I can’t help… bye OJ!
OJ just sighed watching the boys run out to avoid helping with the chores and soon went back to his work. The cherries on the other hand went back to their room and talked with yin-yang while doodling on some loose papers they found. Some time later a knock came on their door.
“Cherries,” OJ’s voice called from the other side, “you can help with the cookies now!”
“Yes!!” The cherries both cheered while getting up from their spot on the floor.
“Cookies?!?” Yang spoke up with piqued interest.
When the cherries opened the door it revealed OJ who quickly glared at Yang, “do not come anywhere near the kitchen, I am not letting you eat any of the dough. You know what happened last time.”
Yin-yang sank down in the spot on their bed as the cherries left their room following OJ down the stairs to the kitchen. When they entered they looked on top of the counter to see a small stereo with CD’s stacked on top of it. They quickly turned to OJ and shot a questioning look.
“What? The stereo?” OJ asked, the cherries nodded, “oh! I figured we could listen to some Christmas songs while we bake.”
The cherries quickly ran over to the stereo and started looking at all the CD’s. There were top hits, several different copies of ‘a very special Christmas’, and so many others. All of them were in pretty CD cases with fancy cover art but one was a blank CD in a plastic bag. The cherries flipped it over to see if there was any label and was greeted with the title written onto the CD.
“Christmas with weezer?” The cherries asked deadpanned.
OJ turned to look at them, “yeah? I like weezer.”
The cherries chuckled, right cherry speaking up, “of course you like weezer.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!?” OJ asked while laughing.
“Nothing!” The cherries said while going to pick out a CD.
The music started and the preparation for cookies had begun. OJ had laid out all of the cookie cutters and let the cherries pick which ones they wanted to do first. The twins had picked out the Christmas tree cutter and walked back over to see OJ pouring powdered sugar all over the counter.
“What are you doing?!?” The cherries asked, surprised by the mess the older man was making.
“Spreading out the powdered sugar,” OJ simply replied, “it helps the dough not stick to the counter.”
The cherries let out a small ‘oh’ and continued to watch OJ prepare everything. He soon took one of the large balls of dough and ripped it in half. He then squished the half into the counter and started rolling it out, flipping it over every now and again.
“Alright go at it!” OJ smiled at the twins.
The two quickly went at it, cutting out as many trees as they could get out of the dough. Once they were done they would tear away the remains and hand them to OJ who would repeat the process of flattening it. Meanwhile, the twins would carefully lift each cutout onto the tray sitting nearby; however, while lifting them the cutouts would sometimes tear apart and couldn’t be saved.
This routine went on for a while with new songs being played every few minutes, much to the dismay of a certain few of the residents at hotel OJ. However, it was great for OJ and the cherries. OJ sang along to all of the songs while the Cherries just simply listened to them not knowing too many of them other than the ones they had heard at school.
“Alright I was thinking for the rest of them we’ll do sprinkles instead of frosting them,” OJ explained, “what do you think?”
“Ooh yeah!!” The cherries cheered.
The routine that was once in place changed a bit. OJ was now the one cutting out cookies and placing them on the tray while the cherries covered them in as many sprinkles as they could. They sprinkled stars, lightbulbs, and snowflakes while listening to the music. They were surprised to hear a Christmas rap on the CD that was in but they liked it a lot, so much so that they were bouncing to the music. After that a slower song came on, it was a big tone shift but the cherries still thought it was a nice song.
The cherries kept sprinkling as the song played until they heard a soft sniffle. The twins looked back to see OJ wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. The cherries quickly placed their sprinkle container and ran over to OJ to give him a hug.
“Oh! Hey you two, what’s wrong?” OJ asked in a shaky voice.
Left cherry spoke up, “I should be asking you that! Why are you crying?”
OJ patted the cherries head, “oh it’s nothing I just, um, got some powdered sugar in my eye.”
The cherries said nothing and just glared at the older man.
OJ raised his hands defensively, “okay, okay! Sorry, I just, um, feel a little homesick I guess.”
Right cherry titled his head, “do you wanna talk about it?”
OJ sighed, “I just miss baking with my parents. Don’t get me wrong, you two are amazing helpers, but I miss seeing them and listening to these songs with them. The one that’s on right now was my dad's favorite, I just miss him.”
The cherries went back in for a hug and OJ reciprocated letting a few more tears fall. They stayed like that for a minute until OJ pulled away and patted the twins heads.
“Thank you, you two are sweet,” OJ swiped at his eyes once more, “sorry you had to see that.”
“Don’t be sorry!” The cherries scolded, “it’s like paper told me: tears are healthy.”
OJ gave a small chuckle, “you’ve got me there. C’mon let’s get back to the cookies.”
They continued on with their baking, though this time was filled with the cherries coming up with ways for OJ to connect with his family every once in a while so he’d feel less homesick.
Eventually all the cookies were baked and were starting to cool out. The cherries were proudly standing in front of all their hard work while OJ patted them both on the back.
“Good job you two,” OJ praised, “now we’ve just gotta frost the plain ones. But I think we’ll leave that for tomorrow, I’m all cookied out.”
“Me too!” The cherries yawned.
OJ went closer to the cooling racks with the cookies to get a better look and the cherries shortly followed. The cherries quickly spotted a sprinkled snowflake that was almost completely cracked, and when they went to pick it up it snapped in their hands.
“Oh nooooo,” the cherries drew out, a plan coming to their mind, “this one broke! And we can’t give anyone a broken cookie, right? But we can’t just throw it away…so maybe I could-“
OJ cut them off, “yes, you can eat it.”
The cherries waved their fist in joy and the two quickly shoved their respective halves into their mouths.
“These are so good,” left cherry mumbled through a mouthful of cookie.
OJ chuckled at the twins and gave them a reminder to not talk and chew at the same time. The cherries just laughed in response.
The twins hoped for the next day to come sooner so they could help decorate cookies again. They also wished that they could keep helping OJ with making Christmas cookies next year and all of the years after that.