Perhaps Shane and Rose have already broken up by The Christmas From Hell, but he’s so desperate for a buffer from being alone with Ilya and his family he asks his new friend Rose to accompany him (unbeknownst to the others) 👀
GOD WAIT
rose and shane have their "i feel like i'm not doing it for you" convo, but they have it in shane's apartment because just easier with allergies to eat at home most of the time, which means it's also a little more honest, and rose atp has seen ilya and shane exchanging Yearning Eyes whenever the other isn't looking, so she's trying to SO gently nudge shane into, "not to overstep, but have you and ilya ever talked about maybe trying out dating? it just seems like maybe there's something there."
and she unknowingly stepped on a VERy painful button, and shane says he confessed but ilya said they're just friends, and rose is just internally going hmmmmmmm my bullshit detector is going off, so she clarifies if they actually talked or not, and shane admits that no, there wasn't much talking. he just wanted to GO.
and rose is like "well maybe you guys try actually TALKING"
and shane decides he will, but he wants to do it after christmas because he does still love ilya and also doesn't want questions from his parents, so they'll get through christmas without things being weird (shane please things are already so weird), and he also doesn't want to spoil being able to bring his partner with him for the first time (jesus fuck, shane) because everyone already knows he's dating rose and will expect her there
so rose decides to go along for moral support and also to keep playing the girlfriend role just so shane won't have to explain to his WHOLE family live and in person at christmas exactly WHY he and rose broke up
but this now means that poor rose is just watching these two IDIOTS yearn at each other right in front of her (allergen free) salad
enough
she's seen enough
time to parent trap
get under that mistletoe OR SO HELP HER GOD
