౨ৎ.  cheese, please...
real life.

CHRIS LOCKED EYES WITH VALERIE the second she walked into the restaurant. he instantly regretted looking up at that moment, hating how he just looked her in the eyes for more than three seconds. which was already three seconds too long.

"wasn't she supposed to leave?" he asked matt under his breath, not exactly wanting her to hear him. matt turned around to look like a fucking idiot, making chris slam his hand to his forehead in frustration. "you're not supposed to look, dumb ass!"

"i know you're not calling me a dumb—" he trailed off when nick sat down in his spot next to matt. coincidentally left the seat next to chris the only available one at the table. valerie clearly didn't look too thrilled to sit down next to him either.

"change of plans. valerie's joining us!" nick announced as if they didn't see her standing right next to the table.

matt gave her a quick wave while nick gestured to her to sit down, and she did right next to chris. the awkwardness was very hard to ignore, and he was sure the feeling was mutual. it wouldn't have felt this strong otherwise.

"chris, you look like you're about to shit your pants." nick chuckled, nudging matt's arm.

"literally what the fuck was that for?"

nick didn't answer, he just stared at his brother with the biggest resting bitch face. chris was wondering how nick had gotten valerie to agree to do this with them.

"i actually don't know what the hell you're talking about." chris responded, directed towards his brother's accusation. he was feeling awkward as fuck, but he was containing it. there was no way nick could possibly read that.

"yeah sur—"

the server interrupted, a hand on her note pad, "how are you guys doing, are you ready to order?"

"valerie?" nick asked her.

she was fumbling over her words trying to get a sentence out. chris could almost tell the exact moment she realized that she was the only one who didn't know what she wanted to eat. "i'll just go last." then she picked up one of the menus to read off of it.

everyone else had gotten done ordering, and chris could see that she was still trying to choose between a classic burger or mac and cheese. her finger moving back and fourth between the two.

"i'll just take the mac and cheese, please."

"cheese please." nick repeated it and started to laugh at the rhyme it made.

nick, matt, and valerie ended up having a random conversation about their childhood and things they used to do when they were younger. it took everything in chris to not barge in with his nostalgia from all the different foods and movies they were mentioning. he didn't want to

though, nick randomly took out his camera to quickly introduce valerie. "guys, guess who we have with us," he paused panning the camera to matt while he made a silly face, then eventually panned it over to valerie saying, "ice skater girl! woo!" nick and matt quietly cheered while valerie tried not to roll her eyes. "do you want to introduce yourself, or do you want me to?"

"you can, i don't mind."

"this is the one and only valerie, also known as ice skater girl. she's here for the same reason as us and is going to be joining us on this little adventure down memory lane. so what did you order, valerie?"

"umm... i just got the mac and cheese. you know, simple but delicious."

"classic, and what did you get matt?"

nick went on to tell the camera what he and matt got before finally getting to chris, who was currently staring at his phone. "chris here, is throwing a fit for some odd reason, but what are you getting?"

"i'm not throwing a fit." he rebutted, insisting that him being completely silent and ignoring all three of them for the past ten minutes wasn't at all throwing some kind of fit. was he maybe taking this too far? yes, he'd admit that, but he also didn't like the idea of talking to someone who made a big ass deal about him trying to help her. he wasn't going to suck up to her.

"okay, then just answer the question." nick tried to keep the original conversation going.

"well, don't put that in the video."

"then just answer the question," nick repeated himself, clearly getting annoyed.

"i'm getting chicken tenders." chris looked into the camera with a smile full of teeth. because no matter how pissed off he was, he loved being his best for the fans.

"basic as hell answer," nick said knowing he would have probably gotten the same thing if his absolute favorite dish had been taken off the menu.

"she got mac and cheese." he accused, pointing to the girl next to him.

valerie didn't want to take offense to that because it wasn't that serious, but it was the way he addressed her that made it come off very wrong. it felt like he was personally attacking her. she hated that.

"okay? mac and cheese is godly."

"so are chicken tenders." chris bluntly responded, getting more pissed every time nick spoke.

"don't even lie to me right now."

"i'm not, but okay." he shrugged and went back on his phone for the rest of the night. ignoring the voices of his brothers, and especially the one that belonged to the girl next to him.

౨ৎ

VALERIE, TO HER OWN SUPRISE, WAS
able to enjoyably keep a conversation with both of chris' brothers. the sentences just rolled off her tongue like there was nothing stopping her from saying what she wanted to say. nothing excluding chris and his stupid long hair. every time he decided to move, his whole head of hair intruded her space as if it had no where else to be.

"so, valerie... how would you rate this experience?" nick moved the camera so that she was in the frame now instead of matt.

she almost thought he was talking about the dinner as a whole, as in her experience with nick, matt, and chris. if that was the case, she would have given him a solid four out of ten because no matter how fun it was talking to the two of them, chris' presence was the biggest takeaway. it was like there was a huge wall set up in between them, yet she felt as if they were still far too close to one another. she could sense the uncomfortable air that sat between the two.

getting back on topic, she answered, "a solid five out of ten."

"why's that?"

"it's just very hard to mess up mac and cheese for me." she shrugged, then went on to say, "but i guess three out of ten because i just don't like this place. i miss what it used to be."

"i totally agree," matt said instead, "my food was great, and it could have been like a million times better that the original... but i'd still give it like a three simply because i don't like how it's not the same place i used to go to. it doesn't have that nostalgic feel to it like it used to, you know?"

"after that whole ass persuasive essay, i think that's it for this video—"

matt pulled the camera out of nick's hands and whisper-screamed "ggrraaawwww!" right into the camera before nick took it back to shut it off.

"now we just wait 'til wednesday to post it." nick told valerie, as he put it away. she felt like he had just given her a tutorial on how to be a youtuber.

after a few minutes, valerie finished the last couple bites of her mac and cheese, and everyone else at the table seemed to be done now as well.

"are we leaving soon?" chris looked at matt while he asked the question.

"okay, he has got to be the youngest." valerie stated, looking at his brothers for confirmation.

"how'd you guess?" matt's sarcasm almost flew over her head, as he sounded like he was seriously asking her.

valerie shrugged her shoulders in response, not exactly knowing what she should be doing at the moment. she kind of felt like she should be leaving, but she didn't want to just ditch them.

"wow, you're soooo funny." chris mumbled from his spot next to her. she only knew he was talking to her because he spoke louder for the others to hear when he said, "seriously, when are we leaving?"

his voice already made her want to leave even more than his whole presence already did, and she felt this was the perfect time to get out. chris would appreciate this of her, at least.

"i'm probably going to get going." she directed her words towards just matt and nick, seeing that they were probably the only ones who cared that she was leaving.

"already?"

"nick, what do you mean 'already?' we've been here for almost an hour." matt informed him.

"really? that did not feel like an hour." he added a laugh into the sentence as if it was funny, but it wasn't because, to valerie, it felt like four hours had gone by since she first walked in here. she was ready to go home more than anything.

"yeah..." valerie stood up, grabbing her stuff as she noticed chris' body shift into a less tense position in her absence. "it was nice talking with you," she looked at matt and nick with a smile, not wanting to acknowledge chris.

"you too!" nick said at the same time matt said,  "bye, bye!"

they both gave her a smile as she walked out the door. when she closed it she got a glimpse of what she hoped would be the last time she saw that face. for the sake of her own sanity.

౨ৎ
nat's notes !

sorry this took so long to put out, ill work
on this fic a lot more i swear!!!

i haven't posted since this book hit 1k?!!

i'm so so so happy and grateful that this fic is already doing so well, i love every single one of you that has opened this book and gave it a chance ILYSMM MWAHH 💋