Christy

Everyone knows how it goes. Mommy and Daddy's little girl grows up, but they still cling to when she was a kid. Even out of highschool, they treat her like she was in grade-school. Maybe they were feeling old seeing Christy graduate, maybe they missed when she was a princess and not a tomboy... but her parents still give her gifts in hopes that they see her eyes light up like they used to when she was a child. Not wanting to be rude, she holds onto these gifts to make her parents happy, even if she doesn't touch the stuff.

Christy has had a growing collection of girly toys since childhood. Colorful jump ropes, plastic princess tiaras adorned with fake jewels, a drawer of make-up kits, but none stood out more than the Gwendy shelf. It may be a small collection, but the eye-catching boxes and cute outfits drew more attention than any stuffed animals or unicorn statuettes could. Once she was a pretty big Gwendy fan, but Christy grew out of them as the years passed. Her parents on the other hand, see her shelf and occasionally add to it.

Last night, her Mom and Dad were watching TV and saw an ad for the new AI Gwendy doll. Without a second thought, they planned to get it for her when she was out with her boyfriend, Alan. Making their way to Toy World, they waded through the crowd of shoppers, passing other parents, young girls, a college jock for some reason and children to grab one of the boxes off the store shelves. Ironically enough, they picked up a Princess Gwendy for Christy. Resisting the urge to open it up to read the instructions, they went about their day at home until their daughter came home.

Hours later, the couple walked in while lightly flirting with each other until they heard the parents talking in the kitchen. "Mom, Dad, I'm home." They clammored for a second, to grab the gift, making sure she didn't see it yet. Christy and Alan passed them by and made their way upstairs to her room for some privacy. Needless to say, her parents weren't far behind with the Gwendy in hand. Waltzing into her room unannounced, they see the two sitting on Christy's bed.

"Hey Princess" her father started, "your mother and I got you something really special this time." Christy started to sink back, knowing her parents are going to embarass her. Alan looked back and forth at his girlfriend and her parents. Christy's mother revealed a new AI Princess Gwendy doll, and Christy took it from her to put on her shelf with the others. "Aren't you going to try it out?" Her dad asked. She sighed. There was no way out of this... her parents were going to keep this up until she plays along. Opening the box and reading the Gwendy tagline "She's very trendy", the doll starts to dance around for a moment as she introduced herself.

"Hi there! Princess Gwendy ready to play!"

Christy was honestly a little impressed. She thought that it was going to be just a talking doll with a few phrases, but this wasn't expected. The magic quickly faded as it was still just another girly doll for the shelf at the end of the day. Alan on the other hand seemed very interested. He was a bit of a sci-fi guy himself, so seeing a literal robot put a smile on his face. Christy's parents saw Alan more interested than their little girl, and as the two young adults watched the doll move around, the father whispered in the mother's ear. "Honey... maybe we should stop this. I don't think we can keep this up anymore. Let's let them be for a bit."

Her Mom said "Enjoy the gift sweetie!" before walking after her husband and closing the door behind her. Christy got up and locked the door. "I'm glad that's over." She said with a sigh of relief.