twelve. that's cute  !
real life...

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CHRIS GOT DROPPED OFF AT EDEN'S house on their way back home from school. he had never been there before so he had to ask her for the address of course. matt waited in the driveway as chris went up to knock on the front door, and he was relieved to see eden's face on the other side. she seriously looked like she hasn't slept in two days, but she obviously was trying to hide it. she had on some kind of concert t-shirt and fuzzy blue minion pants.

he chuckled at the sight, "that's cute."

"you should have seen me this morning." she playfully rolled her eyes refraining from any kind of laughter. she wasn't able to find the situation very funny considering she just reminded herself of exactly how she felt this morning.

he made a scrunched face, shaking his head back and forth. he didn't want to think about her sick like that. "ooh, no thank you."

"good an—" she wasn't able to finish her sentence, being cut off by her younger sister unexpectedly running right between her and chris.

"MOMMY!" she screamed, taking a quick glance at chris standing in front of the door before continuing.

eden became visibly annoyed, completely embarrassed by her sisters antics. "riley! Are you serious?!"

she turned around at the mention of her name, completely forgetting what she was just running for, looking at chris once again. "ew! why is there a boy in the house! bleh!" she pretended to gag, clearly not old enough yet to realize that not all boys are completely stupid and have an abundance of cooties.

"stop it! that's not funny riley!"

"she's fine," chris laughed, taking off his coat, then realizing he had no idea where to put it so he just held it over his arm.

instead of riley acting like her usual self, she asked him, "are you chris?" eden was genuinely concerned about how she knew his name, it's not like she told her about him that much.

"uh yeah...?" chris seemed to be just as confused. though it really flattered him that eden's little sister knew who he was. it was kind of brag-worthy if you asked him. because how else would riley have known his name if eden hadn't talked about him before?

"i've heard a lot about you." riley answered his unspoken question almost immediately.

chris looked to confirm the information with eden as he responded, "have you now?"

she hated how her face felt hot, like she's been caught. it wasn't like she non-stop talked about him, he was only ever brought up in conversations where he belonged. like when her mom asked her if she made any new friends, or if anyone was helping her to get used to the new school. the only answer really was chris.

"shut up!" she hardly smacked her sisters arm, but she held it securely and screamed as if eden had just stabbed her instead. which only further proved her next point, "she's over-exaggerating i brought you up at dinner like one time."

"and like every other time we talk?" riley giggled through her fake pain, still holding onto her arm with an exaggerated pout on her face.

"you're such a liar."

"no i'm not!"

eden was starting to really get fed up with her, wanting nothing more than for her to just go away and focus on something elsewhere. "why don't you go find mom, you needed her for something didn't you?"

she reminded riley of the reason she came down here in the first place, but she didn't want to admit that. "no," she said sticking her tongue out before turning back around, listening to eden, and making her way into the kitchen.

"so... you talk about me?"

eden figured she really couldn't lie herself out of this one, especially not to him. she has talked about chris, a lot more than she'd like to admit, in the limited amount of time that she's gotten to know him. "well sometimes, but only because it's brought up, i swear."

instead of messing with her, he asked with a serious tone in his voice, "how many times do you talk about shawn?"

the question threw eden completely off board, not knowing what shawn really had to do with the conversation, yet he was being brought up? she decided to take it as a joke rolling her eyes playfully, saying, "shut up, you're seriously getting insufferable." she found it hilarious that that's what his mind immediately goes to and coincidentally when talking about chris too.

"that's all i needed to hear." chris said with a proud smile. he didn't need her to say the answer to the question, because he already knew it. her sister wouldn't even know who the fuck shawn was.

chris just couldn't seem to get shawn, or the dance in general, out of his mind, because when she came back he started asking, "by the way... how's that working out? the dance i mean. like are you still going with us?"

"umm... he wanted it to just be the two of us? he said something about 'making an entrance' or something like that."

"and you can't do that with us?"

she quickly noticed that her and shawn could have totally still gone with them, but something was telling her it'd be best if they didn't. shawn also didn't seem like he really wanted to go with anyone else, so she had to make some kind of reasoning. "i don't know, i don't want anything to be awkward either. i'm still getting to know him and i don't know."

chris's face dropped, realizing that he wasn't going to be able to change their minds. as much as he didn't want to, he had to just accept that. "i get it. i just wish we could have gone together s'all." he added a little pathetic shrug at the end, hoping it would make her feel somewhat bad. he was trying to add any hint that he wanted her to just change her mind.

"we can still hang out with you guys."

"true." it was very true, but that would still mean she was going with shawn. which wasn't the most ideal night for him because as long as she was going with shawn, he would just be constantly reminded that it wasn't him who was taking her. he did buy her fucking ticket after all.

a few moments passed, eden used the silence to take his jacket and hang it up on the hidden coat rack in their hall closet. eden noticed that chris suddenly seemed kind of nervous. taking being in the comfort of her own home, she wanted him to pick what he wanted to do, asking, "anyways, what'd you want to do?"

"i don't know, what you got?"

eden honestly hasn't seen chris this shy before and it seemed really out of character for the chris she knew. but if this was what he really was like behind his confident persona, she could definitely get used to it. though she just smiled in response, finding it... cute.

"considering i wasn't at all prepared for this, i have no clue." she let out a quick laugh, making a nod to the fact that chris quite literally just invited himself over.

"do you like cars?" he looked at her as if the question would determine the future of their friendship.

eden's mind couldn't comprehend what he was asking quick enough, making her nervous as well. "like driving cars? or..."

"no like the movie," chris said laughing. he really thought for a second that eden had no clue what the movie cars was, and it somewhat worried him.

though, she suddenly felt stupid for not thinking of the movie immediately, considering it was one of her favorite pixar movies. "ohh... yeah! i was just watching that a few days ago."

"no way."

"it's like my favorite. i'll ask my mom to make some popcorn. we can watch it in the living room or something." eden made her way to the kitchen to ask her mom to make them popcorn. two bowls, because she really didn't want to risk chris getting whatever it was she had. even if it was just food poisoning. she also suggested that they sat on opposite sides of the couch for that exact reason. it wasn't that big of a couch though, so even at both ends, they still only stayed a few feet apart from each other. and she could have sworn she caught him looking at her out of the corner of her eye at various parts of the movie. or did she just imagine that?

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nat's notes !

HEHEHE cute eden and chris before i happen to them.
oops. did i say that out loud? 🙉

anyways i swear the next (and last :/) chapter will be terribly long, honestly should be two but i love the idea of a long last chapter. yall feel the same?? 🤔
(when i say long i mean like maybe
3-4k words...)

<3