{irl. social media}

misses - dominic fike

When the door of the suspicious building finally opened, the air became freezing and the familiar smell of freshly shaved ice filled their noses. The only noise was the sound of air conditioning. The inside was much nicer and cleaner than the outside. AJ turns to Chris with a big smile before embracing him in a hug. He had brought her to a hockey rink.

"No way!" AJ replies grinning ear to ear "I didn't know Somerville had another rink"

"Me, Matt, Nick, and Nate use this place to practice all the time. It's never busy, I don't think too many people actually know about it other than us" He scratches the back of his neck "And now you..."

She smiles dopey, honored that he would share a special place of his with her. AJ releases the hug and looks up at him, meeting his eyes with kindness shared between them.

"I knew you were feeling a little sad today, but the bright side is that maybe we can't play with our team, but we can play with each other" Chris grins

AJ pauses for a moment before playfully and gently pushing his arm, "That was really cute, you doofus"

"Why are you surprised?" Chris rolls his eyes sarcastically

"And the moment is ruined. Good job" She shakes her head, extending the beginning of her sentence ironically "I have to admit though, I didn't bring any gear"

"What do you think is in the second bag?" Chris chuckles as he holds up one of the duffle bags, keeping the other near the ground "I will give it to you on one condition"

"Oh God. What is it?" AJ asks nervously

"Say 'Chris is so hot and funny and cute' and I will let you have the bag" He smirks, knowingly getting on her last nerve, yet finding it hilarious.

"You are crazy if you think i'm doing all of that" AJ shakes her head for a second time "Give me the bag"

"No can do, sorry" He mockingly shrugs

AJ waits for a minute with her arms crossed, assuming that he would give up. However, one of Chris's biggest personality traits is the fact that he never backs down.

With a sigh, AJ breaks first.

"Fine! Chris...you are so hot and funny and cute." She rolls her eyes, placing air quotations around the words he chose for her to say "Can I have the bag now?"

"Hmm...Say it like you really mean it" He teases further

"You are so hot" She smiles, taking steps slowly closer to him until they are face to face, in the presence of his mahogany cologne and mint breath "And funny" She uses her pointer finger to draw a heart on his chest over his shirt, sending chills down his body "And cute" Her eyes stared up at him with her eyes looking oh so innocent, but he knew that was only part of the truth.

It did things to him that she had no idea about.

"Aw, you really mean it?" He sarcastically grins

"Shut the hell up" She laughs "Give me it"

He hands her the black duffle bags before going separate ways into the bathrooms to change. When she opened the bag, she saw that Chris had packed her skates, gloves, padding, and an oversized hoodie which she could assume was his own. As she equipped the items, she noticed the familiar smell of mahogany wash over her. Definitely Chris's hoodie.

AJ walks out to see Chris who was now in his own gear. He turned around to face her, his eyes flickering from the top of her head through the bottom of her feet. His lips land in a smile whenever he notices her wearing his hoodie.

"Do I sound stupid if I tell you it looks better on you than it does on me?" Chris chuckles, placing his hands on the side of her face as he gently kisses the top of her head

"Little cliche but i'll take it" She playfully shrugs "You ready?"

The two step in the rink. For hours, they practiced together with sprints, shooting, checking and scoring. Of course it was a little different without a whole team, but they made it work with just the two of them.

Oddly, practicing with just Chris felt more fulfilling than practicing with the team. She knew that he would give practice his best effort, and that he would not go easy on her. AJ appreciated that.

At the end, they decided to do laps together side by side.

"So what do you plan to do once high school is finished?" Chris asks, wiping a cold sweat off of his forehead as he glances at the girl beside him

"Eh. Probably college hockey, but I really just wish I could play. I don't care about the schooling" AJ shrugs "If that doesn't work out, I'd be okay moving out of this stupid state and finding myself somewhere else"

"Somewhere else such as...?" Chris asks in a questioning tone

"I'm not sure. Maybe Los Angeles? Seems that's where everyone goes to find themselves" AJ answers "What are your plans?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but I can't see myself doing anything other than youtube. I mean it's really picking up, people really fuck with us" Chris nods.

AJ thinks back to when Monica first found their channel, and the first time AJ saw Chris as an enjoyable person. He was smiling and laughing, and at that moment she had never seen that side of him. However, now that's all he ever was.

Her happy Chris.

"Well, if the people like you as much as I do, I wouldn't even worry about anything else" She softly pushes his shoulder as they round the corner "If one day you decide that's not what you want to do, you will have a lot of people cheering you on."

"That was actually nice of you" Chris playfully rolls his eyes with a smile "Maybe we will end up in Los Angeles together"

"Maybe" AJ grins

For the next few minutes, they continue doing laps together in a comfortable silence. AJ had not considered what happens after hockey camp yet. There was less than a month left until they would return home.

Chris goes to a totally different school, and lives in a town minutes away. The drive was not far, but would they eventually get sick of continuously making the drive? Not to mention that this would be their senior year. What happens when school is over, and there is no more 'next summer'? Would Chris still think she is interesting whenever he moves away to a town full of plastic angels?

"I'll race ya" AJ chirps, tagging his shoulder and racing quickly ahead of him

"You got a head start, not fair!" Chris yells from behind, attempting to catch up.

AJ decided it was better to live in the moment than to worry about the future, but that didn't help her shake the thought from the back of her mind.

What happens when the summer is over?

@avyoung made a new post!

@avyoung: fun fact: this is a screenshot from a video
liked by @christophersturniolo @nicolassturniolo, and 5100 others
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@matthew.sturniolo: you and nick look so good here
↳avyoung: we do!

@monihayes: i leave you for 5 hours and log in to instagram to see this?
↳avyoung: surprise!

@monihayes: send me the video. i'm nosey
↳avyoung: check imessage

@user: he looks a little too familiar

@christophersturniolo: it's obviously nick
↳nicolassturniolo: chris shut the fuck up
↳avyoung: can confirm this statement.

@nicolassturniolo: chat it's not me
↳avyoung: stop gaslighting them

@user2: HELLO????

@user3: that's definitely matt

@nathandoe8: it's hard to share custody of him
↳avyoung: we will get through this together nathan

@user4: here come the crazy comments

@user5: bold thing to post.