🎱. . .CHAPTER 23 ! -----
( real life . . . messages . . . )
❛ then stop thinking about me chris ❜

ᵣₑₐₗ ₗᵢfₑ !

Chris is currently sitting at the front of the class in homeroom, his eyes glued to the door as he patiently waits for mikayla to appear. she never skips alone; the rest of her friends are all in school and chris can't help but take responsibility for it. he hates the idea that she's possibly ruining her attendance because of him and the thought swallows him whole.

the echo of the conversing students makes him feel light headed as he quickly glances at the empty seat next to him, waiting for mikayla to show up and fill that void but homeroom is almost over and she still isn't here. he wants to text her, maybe just a simple 'hey' to see if she's okay after everything but he chooses to just fight the urge.

after all, he kissed his ex girlfriend and mikayla witnessed it so obviously a simple text isn't enough to fix everything.

the bell rings and everyone picks up their stationary, shoving it into their backpacks as they prepare for their first period. chris is the first to leave the classroom, not even stopping to say goodbye to the teacher or any of his other friends.

          the grip on his backpack tightens as he strolls through the hall buzzing with liveliness but the moment he reaches his locker, he notices how nate's there, basically waiting for him. his eyes are narrowed and chris feels his heart drop at the sight, praying that nate has no idea that they kissed or that he ruined everything.

          "what's good nate?" chris questions with a sheepish smile, his hand in the pocket of his camouflage cargos as he leans on the locker.

          nathan clears his throat, shaking his head and chris is basically itching for him to reply. "did something happen between you and miks?" nate inquires with his head tilted and chris' heart basically drops. "she's been walking around the house like she's fucking depressed ever since her birthday and she won't talk to me. people are saying how you guys had an argument."

          a sigh escapes from chris' lips, trying to conceal the overbearing feeling of guilt. "nah...i was just gonna ask if she's sick or something," chris lies through his teeth, but the way that nathan's eyes turn to slits, he feels nate knows he's hiding the truth. "we didn't get into any shit like that," his hand awkwardly scratches at the back of his neck.

          "yeah but i swear i saw you follow her out of the house," he mumbles and a crease appears between nate's eyebrows and it's as if chris feels beads of sweat drip down his forehead with the way he's practically cracking under pressure. "i allowed you guys to be in this stupid fake relationship since it's keeping the assholes away, but if you hurt her–"

          chris releases his grip from the backpack on his shoulders, throwing both of his hands up defensively. "nate i'm literally just as lost as you right now," he shakes his head and his gaze fall to the floor as he's trying to avoid eye contact with his best friend that he's literally lying to. "i genuinely have no idea what you're talking about, miks and i are good."

          "fine chris," nate breathlessly says, ending the conversation since the last thing he wants to do is argue in the middle of the hallway at school. "please just don't hurt her," he utters before walking away and leaving chris alone to gather his things for first period.

          It's finally lunch and the other periods were painfully slow for chris as he literally cannot stop thinking about mikayla no matter how hard he tries. he's sitting at the table with mason, nick, and matt, not focusing on whatever they're talking about as the rest of their friends are missing.

          "–and then i said, you can't hate someone just because they're hotter than you," mason throws his hands up and that finally snaps chris out from his trance. "what's up with chris?"

          matt's head drops and he continues to eat his fries, instantly knowing why the normally talkative chris hasn't said a single word ever since they sat down. he lightly nudges his brother's shoulder, "you wanna tell mason or should we?"

          chris shrugs and nick obnoxiously clears his throat, preparing to absolutely obliterate his brother with only his words. "let me sum it up for you mason. our dear old friend chris, who i'm currently embarrassed to call my brother may i say," he chuckles before continuing to speak. "cheated on mikayla with talia, on her birthday and in her room where they actually had their first kiss."

          mason drops his fork, replicating matt's movements the same way he reacted when he found out everything. he gently but harshly slaps chris on the back of the head and he disapprovingly huffs at his friend. "you're a dumb fuck chris," he narrows his eyes. "i think that you're a super dumb fuck."

          but before chris can even think of replying with a snarky or petty comeback, he notices mikayla entering the cafeteria with maria and lucille on her sides and it's as if his face lights up.

          she looks happier, a wide grin on her face while she continues to talk and giggle with her friends. he's literally battling the urge to jump up from his seat and immediately shower her with apologetic words.

          "nuh uh," nick tuts and shakes his head, instantly understanding what his brother is thinking as if he sent him a telepathic message. "if you wanna go over there and embarrass yourself, be our guest, but don't make things awkward between all of us please."

          "oh!" matt points his finger in the air, "also mason, they were never in a real relationship," he adds on and mason's eyes widen. "it was fake all along."

          chris frustratedly knocks the drink out of matt's hand as he rolls his eyes as matt's mouth hangs open. he straightens out the creases on his cargo pants while mentally planning out the conversation in his head.

          as chris slowly raises from his seat, he can already hear nick sighing loudly while covering his face. he slowly strolls towards where mikayla's sitting with the girls, quietly hoping that miks hasn't told them what happened to make this conversation a little easier.

          he finally reaches the table they're at and mikayla looks up at him with her top lip lifted into a sneer, clearly showcasing her disgust towards him. maria and lucille exchange judgemental glances, implying that they may already know what he did with talia.

          "hey..." he mumbles but mikayla looks away, forcing herself to not make eye contact with him no matter how much she wants to. it's actually killing her how pretty he looks right now, but that definitely isn't enough for her to think about him. "you weren't in homeroom, were you sick or something?" he inquires but she doesn't reply.

          maria awkwardly clears her throat as lucille rubs her forehead at the unbearable tension she's trapped in. "miks you can't ignore me forever," chris quietly says but she just scoffs at his comment.

           "i definitely can," she replies and chris can't help but smile at the fact that she's at least acknowledging him. "didn't i tell you to leave me alone?" her head whips around to face him, looking up at the boy standing way too close for her liking.

          his hair is messy and his hood is up, almost completely covering his eyes. after knowing chris for so long, studying the outfit he's wearing for a couple moments is enough evidence for her to understand that he feels bad. it may sound stupid, but chris' choices of outfits always reflect his mood and that's just something mikayla's noticed since they were younger.

           "it's hard to stay away from you when you're all i think about," chris' eyes sparkle as they lock with mikayla's. his tone is soft and his gaze falls to her lips, then back to her eyes and it's as if he's doing it on purpose, knowing that's her weakness.

          mikayla huffs and rolls her tongue inside of her cheek. "then stop thinking about me chris," she snaps and it's as if his heart shatters at this very moment. "with all the girls you talk to i'm surprised you haven't replaced me, seeing as how i'm only your fake girlfriend. you're acting like i care and it's genuinely annoying."

          maria and lucille choose to stay quiet right now as chris' lips part, trying to search for the perfect combination of words to form a sentence but he's genuinely speechless. after what they've gone through for the past couple of weeks, he expected it to be easier to get his girl back but it's nothing like he expected.

          "okay mikayla," chris bitterly says through gritted teeth as he forms a smile on his face to try and hide from the fact that he's actually heartbroken right now.

          call him dramatic or obsessed, but ruining something with a girl he strongly likes is enough to hurt him. he sighs and does exactly what mikayla wants – he leaves her alone, not even returning back to mason and his brothers.

          instead, chris leaves the cafeteria with a frown on his face as soon as he's out of everyone's sight. his shoulders are hunched and his mood only becomes worse as he bumps into the one person he's been dreading seeing. her eyebrows are furrowed but her expression softens as she realizes that chris is in front of her.

        "hey chrissy," talia says with a smile on her face, revealing her dimples. "you really left me hanging on saturday," she fakes a frown and chris just groans, too exhausted to deal with her right now.

          he immediately rolls his eyes, folding his arms as he takes in what talia just said to him and the absolute audacity she has. "you need to tell mikayla what you did," he says, his tone full of anger. "what you planned to try and ruin everything."

          talia's tongue glides across her bottom lip and she taps her chin, pretending to think, knowing damn well that she has no intention of fixing what happened between them. "oh chris i didn't try, i did. and it's not like you guys are actually together anyways."

          chris raises his eyebrows as he's shocked as to how someone outside of the friend group knows bout their relationship. he nervously pinches at the skin around his nails as his lips push into a thin line at the realization that he actually let talia corazon, ruin the only thing that keeps him going.

          the thoughts of mikayla giggling at his jokes, or actually being in a real relationship with him always subconsciously forms a smile on his face.

          "the fuck," chris slowly shakes his head in disbelief with a deadpan expression on his face. "why and how do you even know about that?"

          she carelessly shrugs with a proud smirk on her face. "you're hilarious for thinking i wouldn't find out," her hand reaches for his messy hair, brushing it to the side to fully show his eyes. "you're so pretty when you try," her hand drags down his chest and returns back to her side.

          "have a great day chris," she adds on before leaving him in the middle of the corridor alone. "and good luck getting 'your girl' back," talia uses her finger as air quotes while she evilly chuckles.

          he actually wants to slam his head into the nearby locker until it bleeds as he watches talia walk away. it's as if chris can still feel her touch, strongly wishing that it's mikayla instead while he pulls out his phone.

ₘₑₛₛₐgₑₛ !

( MATT & CHRIS ! )
( matt🥸 & chris🤨 ! )

chris🤨
bruh i need your help
you gotta help me get my girl
back

matt🥸
about that..🙃
she's currently leaving the
cafeteria with abel.
i texted maria to try and find
out what's going on
and apparently they're skipping
together for wingstop

chris🤨
and you didn't think to stop
them?
you dumb fuck

matt🥸
no offence chris but i am
NOT on your side rn
team abel
he's kinda cool too

chris🤨
you're not my brother
where else are they going

matt🤓
to his house

chris🤨
what the fuck

matt🥸
bro idkkkk
his parents are home
and for some reason they
don't mind him skipping school
but they're just friends so don't
freak out
they're going there to chill and
watch shameless

chris🤨
yea i'm definitely not freaking
out because that's OUR thing
fuck off

matt🥸
telling me to fuck off
when YOU texted ME is insane work

chris🤨
fuck off matt
i'm going home

matt🥸
you gonna fly or what?
mom and dad are home rn

chris 🤨
uber.
and idc.

matt🥸
don't get sassy with me
you're just jealous that miks
is on a wingstop date with abel 🥺🥺

chris🤨
literally fuck off 👍🏼

matt🥸
okay 🥺🥺

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ arianna speaks ¡
two updates in one day??????? gaspppp

you guys may hate me for what's coming next but oh well 🥸

also uploaded a new matt fic bc im an overachiever and i feel like i have the capability to work on three sturniolo fics at once 💖💗