ੈ✩‧₊˚𝓒HAPTER SIX !
⋆.ೃ࿔*:･  ━ ━ ━ ━ ( irl. . . )
━━━━ ❛ red velvet is your fav ❜

( 𖤓 )

real life.

               THE ONE THING that could possibly save mikayla from becoming depressed over spending a week with serena is definitely her pet dog, owen, who's practically like a son to her and chris. she misses her golden retriever immensely, glad that jj and bianca are currently taking good care of him after seeing the videos they've sent her. honestly, the car ride wasn't horrible because serena isn't absolutely horrible, but miks refuses to admit that she could get used to having her around.

but finally, after hours of sitting next to serena and letting her drive they've reached the beach house. matt and the others are already parked up, the group slowly exiting the van to get their belongings as serena swerves and stops behind it.

"ugh, we're finally here," serena huffs, shifting the gears before she switches off the engine, taking the keys and examining them. her gaze glues to a keychain with a small photo of mikayla and chris, romantic to say the least. chris has mikayla thrown over her shoulder, wide smiles plastered across their faces. "cute chain," she compliments, passing them to mikayla.

she takes the keys with a variety of different chains attached to it. "thanks," miks gently replies with a smile, twirling the loop around her finger. "his mom got it for us for christmas," she adds on, her mind replaying the happy memories from last year when chris surprised her during winter break; she hopes that this christmas will be even better.

"mary lou is the sweetest ever," serena grins widely before she looks back at chris, him somehow still asleep. "she raised him well, all
of them actually," she looks back at mikayla and she nods her head because that's definitely one thing that they can agree on.

mikayla doesn't have the chance to reply because seconds later there's a couple obnoxiously loud knocks on her window, making her jump as an immediate reaction. chris also jolts up from his position, now sitting straight up—his hair a mess and eyes puffy.

it's mason, of course. loudly hitting his knuckles against the glass to get their attention as if he couldn't have just politely tapped.

"oh my god, you asshole," mikayla complains as she uses her hands to gesture him to back up, giving herself the opportunity to open the door and climb out of the car. she rolls her eyes and places her hand on her hip, "you can't just gently knock on a girl's window?"

mason shrugs just as lucille strolls towards them and he immediately rests his arm on her shoulder once she's next to him. "i would've.. but you were too busy talking to—"

"your boyfriend's la girlfriend," lucille instantly cuts him off, a crease between her eyebrows as mason presses his lips together. mikayla narrows her eyes at lucy, glaring at her, and lucille defensively throws her hands in the air. "damn, too soon! i'll let that joke marinate and use it again tomorrow," she teases miks, making mason chuckle.

chris opens the backseat door, leaving the car at a sluggish pace but he quickly smiles when he sees mikayla's face; she's practically glowing. "what are you guys talking about?" he questions as he stands next to mikayla, throwing his arm over her shoulder.

"oh, you know..." lucille trails off as she plays with the rings cluttering her fingers. "just backup plans," she finishes, exchanging a look with mikayla before she bursts into laughter with mason.

chris' face crinkles with confusion and he looks down at mikayla, watching as she frustratedly pinches at the bridge of her nose while also trying to hide a smile creeping up on her lips. he's honestly confused on what's so funny, but if it makes mikayla smile then so be it.

that's all he wants. to see his girlfriend happy after spending weeks apart, but it's worth it to see her face after they hug or kiss. as if she's glowing, her eyes sparkling with pure love when they make eye contact. it's always been like that with them, probably since they were kids.

yes, he's always loved her since they were young, not romantically. he's known the doe siblings for years and even despite his whole world changing since that one party she drunkenly admitted how she felt about him, he never would've expected this. the fact that his soulmate has been in front of his eyes for years is crazy to him.

he'd changed for her. from a douchebag player who only cared about the amount of girls on his phone, to somebody head over heels for his best friend's little sister, wait! he promised he'd stop referring to her as that. instead, he likes to think of mikayla as his true love. call him corny or whatever, but he's in love with her and nothing could ever change that.

he realized that everybody was right, specifically matt and maria.

he flipped, completely.

mikayla looks up at him, blinking repeatedly and observing the expression plastered across his face. dull, but also full of so much emotion at the same time. "you okay?" she asks him with furrowed brows, her tone soft and full of concern.

god, how did he get so lucky? even the smallest things makes him weak in the knees. "yeah," he replies, leaning forward and placing a quick, gentle kiss on her lips, while also ignoring the sounds of mason gagging. "i'm gonna go get all the bags," he says and mikayla nods her head before placing a kiss on his cheek, staining his skin with her favorite lip combo.

"thanks chris," miks appreciatively hums before she walks behind mason and lucille, admiring the outside of the house.

she hasn't been here with everybody for a while, not since when they were younger. lucille's parents had bought the beach house a couple years ago after their desperate daughter pleaded for them to. since then, the family had been visiting it often, occasionally bringing the rest of the friends to tag along.

mikayla remembers what happened one of the last times she was here extremely well, and she smiles just thinking about it.

               MIKAYLA'S ALWAYS BEEN dramatic, because as long as she's been alive that's what her parents and brother have told her. nate says it teasingly, of course because it's as if it's his number one goal in life to annoy his little sister, while their parents genuinely mean it.

so yeah, of course mikayla's acting dramatic, sulking over the fact that matt won a stuffed animal at the carnival and he's currently showing it off to everybody. she folds her arms, her eyes turning to slits as she sits on the couch in the living room.

"this is mr. wrinkleton," matt says through a giggle, holding the pug stuffed animal in the air as he sits cross legged on the floor. "maria saw the whole thing! i was shooting those fuckin'—" he pauses, watching the mortified expressions on mary lou and jimmy's faces. "sorry..." he whispers before continuing, "it was so easy!"

mikayla stupidly passed on going to the carnival on the boardwalk with everybody because of her fever, forcing nate to stay here with her. he's pissed at her, but he'll get over it.

"that's great, matt!" mikayla's mom genuinely congratulates him with a smile, patting him on the back and miks frowns.

when mikayla does things like getting the top grade in class she never recieves this type of treatment and now miks is just upset. of course matt gets a pat on the back for doing something as stupid as winning a carnival game, so no, she isn't being dramatic for acting like this.

miks huffs and jumps up from her seated position on the couch, instead choosing to walk at a hasty speed to the kitchen. she'd rather bury her sorrow in a pint of ice cream and cake than sit here and watch this.

she makes a beeline to the refrigerator, standing on her tip toes slightly to reach for the cake she made last night with mary lou. she wishes it was a different flavor, but cake is cake. mikayla sets it onto the kitchen counter, closing the fridge door and crouching slightly to open the freezer. she takes out the vanilla bean pint of ice cream, placing it onto the counter too and closing the door.

"that's the ice cream i bought," a familiar voice speaks up and mikayla freezes like a deer caught in headlights, immediately knowing who it is. she presses her lips together, slowly rotating and locking eyes with chris, who's leaning on the kitchen island.

what are the chances that chris of all people catches her attempting to eat her feelings? well they're not slim considering how they're staying in the same house.

that also doesn't help make her small crush on him go away. she's been trying to get rid of it because of nate and his stupid teasing, but also because chris definitely doesn't feel the same way and mikayla can't deal with rejection. she huffs, nervously chewing on her bottom lip as silence envelops them like an uncomfortable blanket.

chris finds himself walking towards her with a smile on his face. "relax miks, i'm just messing with you," he jokes, a quiet chuckle leaving his lips. his eyes flicker between her own until his gaze falls to the cake on the counter. "vanilla cake? you think vanilla's basic, red velvet is your fav."

how does he know?

mikayla parts her lips to speak but all she can do is grin. "uh, yeah..." she mumbles, lost for words at the fact that he actually remembers. "how did you know that?" miks inquires through a chuckle of disbelief as she nervously picks at the soft material of her tank top.

"well if you must know," chris pauses, now leaning on the counter with folded arms. "on my birthday last year, mary lou made us those little cupcakes with the mini spiderman thingies," he smiles and mikayla does the same. "you were with maria and lucille while i was with my brothers. i looked at you, and you picked up one of the cupcakes, with the most terrified expression i've ever seen," the two fall into quiet laughter. "you said to maria 'i love mary lou but vanilla is so basic!' with your high pitched ass girl voice," he teases her, mocking how she sounds. "you were all like, 'i love red velvet, but it's not my birthday anyways so i'll just suck it up'. so from then on i asked mom and dad to only buy red velvet cake."

mikayla's heart just did a thousand backflips. "so you had red velvet cake on your birthday last week because—"

"yes miks, because of you," chris cuts her off and he lets out a huff but mikayla just blinks repeatedly at him. "matt completely hated my ass because of it," he adds on and she awkwardly twists her lips to the side. "anyways, what's going on with you? why aren't you with the rest of them?" his tone is gentle and full of concern, making mikayla's face heat up; she doesn't know if it's because of chris or the fever.

"you're gonna think it's dumb," she groans and chris' face scrunches up. "okay, don't laugh!" miks exclaims and he understandably nods his head. "matt won that stupid stuffed animal thingy at the carnival, and my mom...she's just treating him how i wanna be treated," mikayla pauses.

"so lets go to the carnival then?" chris says through a scoff, the solution making mikayla tilt her head. "i know you're sick, but i'm so funny that you'll forget about it. then you can win your own stuffed animal."

mikayla rapidly nods her head and chris takes ahold of her hand, almost making her melt at their touch. he's honestly the sweetest boy ever and this is not helping her crush on him disappear.

               MIKAYLA STANDS OUTSIDE of the vaughn's beach house, acknowledging how different it is. it seems like it's smaller than she remembers, but mikayla's just grown up since the last time she's been here. most of it's still the same though, and she grins at the mental montage of how much fun they're all going to have this week.

"oh my god, nate you almost dropped this shit on my foot!" lucille loudly complains as nathan holds onto her bags in both hands. he doesn't apologize, instead rolling his eyes as a response and lucille just flips him off before taking her luggage from him.

"don't you just love nature?" maria excitedly squeals as she holds hands with matt, the two of them walking up the stairs to the front door. "so beautiful," she glances at the flowers surrounding them and matt nods his head at his girlfriend, knowing how she loves to randomly talk about the simplest things.

mason suddenly drops all of his belongings onto the sandy ground once matt opens up the front door. "dibs on the master bedroom!" he announces to everybody while dashing to the entrance like a little kid.

"no, motherfucker!" nick yells back as a response because he knows that whoever gets the master bedroom has their own bathroom and he just cannot let that happen. everyone loudly laughs at nick's persistence to get the master bedroom as he stomps into the house.

this week is already looking like it's gonna be fun.

hey..
this is so embarrassing why did i come back after five fucking days

the flashback of young miks and chris is so cute and there's gonna be more where that came from

also for reference, the beach house they're staying in is the fisher's one from tsitp ❤️ i'm just too lazy to describe it
ur gonna see a lot of belly and conrad parallels

<3 ari