EPILOGUE !

[ social media, real life ]

— ❝ LOVED YOU ENOUGH TO HATE YOU ❞ 💌

A FEW MONTHS LATER. . .

ⁱⁿˢᵗᵃᵍʳᵃᵐ !

rorysant has posted to their story!

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

"i think they gave me the wrong size."

"nah, you just have a massive head."

chris scowls at astoria as he continues struggling to put on his graduation cap. they arrived at school a few minutes ago, and the graduating class have all been whisked away from their families to the gym to collect their cap and gowns. it's all very surreal, as astoria watches the people she's spent the past four years with get ready to move on from high school.

she feels weird and honestly a little foolish as she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. clad in the school's red cap and gown, it's weird to look at herself. she's been anticipating graduating for months now, and even after taking her final exams she can hardly believe the day is finally here.

another frustrated grunt escapes from chris' lips, so astoria turns around and has to suppress a laugh. he's managed to put the gown on okay, but the cap is proving to be a continuous struggle. he frantically brushes his hair out of his face, giving himself a justin bieber side part, before trying and failing to put on the cap once again.

"what the actual fuck," he mutters to himself, annoyance present in his features. astoria shakes her head, reaching forward and taking the cap off of her boyfriend. she flips it over and immediately sighs when she realizes what's going on.

"chris, you idiot," she chuckles, holding it up. "you've been putting it on the wrong way around."

"what?" chris' jaw drops, and he snatches the cap off of her and peers in the inside of it. surely enough, the label with his name on it is now the right way around. he sighs, going to put it on, but astoria stops him.

"i am not letting you walk around with your hair looking like that," she tells him, taking a step closer and ruffling his hair back into its usual style. she's wearing heels today, since it's technically considered a formal event, making her tall enough so that it's easy for her to reach. chris notices this and sighs.

"did you have to wear heels?" he asks frustratedly.

"um, yes?" she answers like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "it's graduation."

"yeah, but you're making me look short," chris complains, gesturing to the pair of them. astoria just shrugs, taking a step back now that she's done fixing his hair.

"i'm only emphasizing what you already are," she grins, which earns her an eyeroll. astoria shakes her head, taking chris' hand as they walk away from the line of people still waiting to collect their caps and gowns. she spots their friend group fairly easily, since nick and kali stand out against most people as their cap and gowns are white rather than red.

as they arrive, chris and astoria are already met with sarcastic quips and witty comments coming from their friends, despite it being literally eight in the morning.

"i can't believe the school is emphasizing your nerdiness," skye jokes, and nick digs him in the ribs with his elbow.

"thank god, 'cause red's not my color," kali replies, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"it's not yours either, skye," nick chimes in. "too bad you're stupid."

skye's mouth drops open in offense, causing both nick and kali to laugh. luna and matt share a look, like they can't believe what they're witnessing. astoria wonders why they're even surprised; behavior like this is completely normal for their friend group.

astoria is about to say something when she is cut off by an announcement ringing over the gym: "attention all seniors! please make your way outside so that the ceremony can begin."

they all share looks with one another, expressions showing hints of nervousness as well as excitement. astoria takes a deep breath, watching as everyone starts filing out of the building. chris walks beside her, his hand pressed lightly to the lower part of her back, a comforting touch that puts her at ease pretty much instantly. he can somehow always read her emotions perfectly, and over the past few months small touches and gestures like this have become all the more common.

outside, astoria is met with rows and rows of people looking at her. well, not just her, but the entire graduating class of somerville high. it's packed with parents, siblings, friends and other family members, all excitedly anticipating the graduation. the first four rows of seats are still empty, reserved for the students.

their friend group stops just before the chairs, all looking at one another.

"i guess this is it," luna shrugs, kali nodding in agreement.

"see you after we've graduated, i guess?" chris grins.

"if you even get your diploma," astoria jokes, and he jokingly sends her a glare. everybody laughs at this, before the group is forced to disband again. their seats are assigned alphabetically by last name, meaning that luna has started walking right to the front row, meanwhile the rest of them are near the back.

luckily enough, astoria and the triplets are all right after one another. this reassures her even more, knowing that she will be followed onto the stage by the person she loves most: chris. she takes a seat while the three brothers bicker about who sits where, even though they were specifically told to sit down in alphabetical order by their first name, since they all have the same surname.

while this is going on, astoria spots kali and skye sitting together in the row in front of her. they see her as well, grinning and waving at her from afar. she smiles and shakes her head in dismay as a teacher scolds the two of them and they are forced to face the front.

the triplets manage to figure out where to sit, and chris slumps down in his chair with a satisfied sigh before turning to look at her. astoria takes her time to really look at him, taking in every aspect of his face. she wants to remember it perfectly once this is all over, since she has no idea what will happen after today. the triplets aren't going to college so that they can focus on youtube, meanwhile astoria has a few college acceptances she is yet to accept. she doesn't know if she wants to move away from her family and friends, especially since she doesn't know what will happen with chris.

they haven't talked about any of this yet.

the thought worries her only slightly, but she decides to ignore it and just focus on today. today is a happy day, a celebration, not the time for her to be worrying.

"astoria santos."

nerves overwhelm her as astoria rises from her seat, standing there motionlessly as applause erupts from around her. just as it dies down, the segment of her chosen song begins to play and astoria takes this as her cue to start walking up towards the stage.

oh i graduat- oh yeah i just graduated high school! aha!

'the spins' by mac miller echoes around, the upbeat melody putting a smile on astoria's face as she walks up to the stage to meet her principal. he stands there and beams at her, before handing her the diploma. the leather is smooth against her hands and astoria inhales, unable to believe this is actually happening.

the principal reaches forward to shake her hand, and she does the same. "congratulations, astoria," he says quietly. "you should be very proud of yourself."

"thank you!" she can't help but beam, then begins to walk back off of the stage. on her way down, she catches luna's eye, and her friend is smiling at her. "a-are you crying?" astoria whispers as she goes past, causing luna to gasp and wipe her eyes.

"no! shut up," she snaps, but her smile says otherwise. astoria just shrugs, continuing to make her way back to her seat. once she gets there, the one next to her is empty, as chris has already started walking onto the stage.

i just wanna let it go for the night, that would be the best therapy for me... hey hey!

chris' chosen song is 'memories' by david guetta and kid cudi, and it makes astoria smile uncontrollably as she watches him go up and receive his diploma. he smiles brightly at their principal as he shakes his hand, before holding the diploma up triumphantly. laughter sounds from the audience, only making chris smile more.

he begins descending the ramp off of the stage right when matt starts walking on, when all of a sudden chris' cap slides from his head. astoria's eyes widen and she's struck with a moment of disbelief at his hat falling off when he could barely get it on earlier. from his seat in the audience, nick looks absolutely mortified, but chris doesn't seem at all bothered as he laughs it off and picks it up, setting it back on his head at a skewed angle. he too quickly talks to luna as he walks by her, then blows a short kiss to his mom, before making his way back to his seat.

"i can't believe you lost your fucking hat," astoria whispers, giggling to herself. chris shrugs, opting now to take off the cap altogether and put it on the floor by his feet.

"what, no congrats for graduating?" he asks jokingly. "you're just straight to bashing me, huh."

"my bad," she replies. "congrats on graduating. i wasn't sure you'd manage."

chris shakes his head. "i can never win with you, can i?"

"never."

chris turns back to the front to watch nick collect his diploma, but his hand snakes over to rest on her thigh. it's such a simple touch yet it has astoria's heart racing, reminding her even more how lucky she is.

"RIA!"

astoria doesn't even have the chance to answer before she is utterly smothered in a hug by her younger brother. mason is surprisingly strong for his age and she can literally feel her bones getting crushed as she attempts to pry him off of her.

"mason, you're suffocating her." the calm voice comes from their mom, who approaches them both with a smile. she holds the bouquet of daisies she gifted her daughter earlier which astoria asked her to take care of, and wears a sad smile on her face.

"sorry," mason says sheepishly, releasing his grip on her. his brown eyes bore into hers and astoria just can't get over how happy he looks that she hugs him again, possibly even tighter than he was holding her just before. "hypocrite!" comes the muffled cry from mason, making astoria and their mom laugh.

"love you too, mas," astoria chuckles, letting go of her brother and ruffling his hair. he grins at her playfully. she then turns to her mom, who opens her arms and pulls her into a hug almost instantly. she brushes astoria's hair from her eyes and kisses the top of her head, her embrace warm and comforting.

"i am so proud of you," she whispers. "you are the strongest girl i know."

tears well in astoria's eyes but she blinks them away. "thank you, mom," she replies, drowning in the hug. they pull away a moment later. she smiles, before turning to her son and nudging him with her elbow.

"this will be you in a few years," she says to mason, who sighs.

"it's so unfair that i still have three years left of high school and ria's already done," he complains, and their mom just laughs.

"it's unfair that i'm stuck helping you with homework," she quips, causing mason's mouth to fall open in offense.

the santos family are then joined by a round of familiar faces, including the triplets as well as skye, kali, and luna. marylou and jimmy have come along too and instantly fall into conversation with astoria and mason's mom, while the rest of them start talking and recapping the day so far.

"holy shit, we graduated!" kali exclaims happily.

"of course the nerd is excited," chris jokes, and kali rolls her eyes at him.

"as a non-nerd, i'm happy too," astoria says. "we never have to come back to this hellhole ever again."

"what, you didn't enjoy being trapped in detention with chris that one time?" skye reminds her, and astoria shakes her head.

"that was painful, jesus," she sighs, earning her an offended look from chris.

"what do you mean?" he asks. "i had a great time."

"you sat around texting your girlfriend instead of helping me," astoria deadpans. chris furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

"huh, but i wasn't texting you..." he mumbles.

"yeah, we weren't dating then, bozo," she says. "your other girlfriend."

chris looks at her like she's making stuff up. his face is completely solemn when he says: "i don't know what you're talking about. i never had another girlfriend."

it's now that astoria realizes he's messing with her. chris' face breaks out into a smile and he squeezes her hand. she rolls her eyes playfully, secretly a little happy at how willing he is to forget his last relationship.

she looks around then, realizing that matt is missing from the group. he was definitely here at the beginning, but now he's gone. astoria sweeps the area, her gaze falling on hundreds of faces that don't belong to him. she feels bad, but matt wouldn't have just left like that unless he wanted to be alone. deciding not to go and seek him out now, astoria makes a mental note to find matt later and ask what happened.

pushing open the gate and stepping out into the parking lot, matt finally feels like he can breathe. he's holding his graduation cap so tightly that his knuckles are beginning to turn white, meanwhile his breathing is ragged and uneven.

he walks over to the nearest curb and sits down, instantly slumping at the relief of having the weight off of his feet. matt sighs, resting his head on his knees and closing his eyes. he tries his best to focus on his breathing but nothing seems to be working — the pressure of graduating still bearing down on his shoulders like a heavy weight.

he can't help but feel dumb. everyone else has been happy all day, glad to finally be done with high school, meanwhile matt is just filled with anxiety at the prospect of it all. he doesn't like the thought of not knowing what's coming next. what if youtube doesn't work out and they've wasted all this time and effort for nothing? what then?

matt can't breathe. his lungs feel tight, like they're full of oxygen but he can't inhale it. they're just filling up more and more until they're bound to burst. usually he's better at controlling it than this, but today is out of the ordinary for him. he tries to focus on something other than the panic attack he's currently having, but even with his eyes squeezed shut matt can't escape the way both his body and mind are betraying him.

"woah, are you okay?"

a voice snaps him from his trance, and it's as if his lungs have been popped like a balloon. he gazes upwards and when his blue eyes meet her brown ones, he's finally able to release all of the air he's been holding in.

he tries to speak, to tell her he's actually fine, but he can't get the words out. barely, he manages a quick nod, but the girl knits her eyebrows like she's not convinced. brushing a strand of her blonde hair from out of her tanned face, she spins around and takes a seat next to him on the curb.

matt turns his head to look at her, his breathing immediately steadying as he drinks in the strange familiarity of her features. he's certain he's never seen this girl before in his life, but her silhouette is all too familiar.

"you okay?" she asks quietly, voice laced with a genuine sense of concern that makes him feel calm. matt nods again, taking one last deep breath before he feels his panic fade away into nothingness.

"yeah, thanks," he replies, a little embarrassed that he was just witnessed having a panic attack by a complete stranger. so, as a means of changing the subject, he decides to introduce himself: "i'm matt," he says.

"i know," she replies plainly, causing matt's eyes to widen.

"you do?" he questions with a raise of his eyebrow.

"uh, yeah?" she says like it's obvious. "i just watched you graduate, man."

matt's eyes widen with understanding, and his shocked expression makes her laugh. it's a comforting sound, the soft chuckles coming from her lips making matt feel like he can breathe properly again.

"oh, right," he says a tad awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. the girl just giggles again.

"i'm maeve," she says, finally giving him a name to match the face. matt's mind sparks with recognition; this is a name he's heard before, and recently too.

"oh, you're dante's friend, right?" he asks her, and she nods.

"the one and only," she replies with a proud shrug of her shoulders. "i heard he's had quite some trouble with your brother."

matt presses his lips together to stop himself from laughing. maeve doesn't stop there, looking off into the distance and recalling the situation, reminiscing as if she was there. her long blonde hair practically glows in the morning sunlight. "apparently someone took a video of chris beating the shit out of him. now that's something i'd pay to see."

"give me your number and i'll send it to you," matt jokes, and maeve's jaw drops. delight sparkles in her eyes then as she gives him a once-over, probably looking for his phone. he taps the pocket of his pants lightly, making her smile even more.

"i knew i liked you," she grins, and matt pauses for a second. as far as he knows, they've never met before today. so, unless she's just heard a lot about him, he's not really sure what she's talking about.

like she's noticed her mistake, maeve's expression falters slightly. "i mean— well, you know what i mean," she stammers, her once-confident demeanor now awkward.

"oh, you mean that when you saw me walking on stage today, you just knew i would be the most charming and amazing person you've ever met?" he asks sarcastically.

"what—"

"there's no other explanation, really," matt goes on, and maeve seems to finally realize he's messing with her. "sorry to expose you like that, blondie," he shrugs rather unapologetically.

"i take it back," she rolls her eyes, but she's still smiling nonetheless. "now send me the video."

"yes ma'am," matt nods, amused by her sudden bossiness. he opens his airdrop, raising his eyebrows when the only option he sees is Bartholomew's iPod Touch. "are you... bartholomew?" he questions.

"yes," she shrugs.

"...why?"

"can't a girl be mysterious?" she beams at him, and matt just shrugs. this girl might be the most confusing yet entertaining person he's ever met.

"oh, now this is an interesting turn of events."

matt's head snaps upward and his eyes widen when he finds dante and rory standing over them, looking down at him with pleased looks on their faces.

"so this is where you ran off to," dante says to maeve, who shrugs innocently. she then uses her free hand — the one not holding Bartholomew's iPod Touch — to push herself up off of the curb so that she's standing upright next to the other two.

"i hate to drag you away from... whatever this is, but my parents want photos, mae," dante apologizes, linking arms with the blonde girl next to him. she nods understandingly, before turning her attention to matt.

"see you around," she smiles, and he nods.

"later, blondie," he replies, smirking at her. she rolls her eyes, then gives rory a small wave and walks with dante out of the parking lot back into school. rory replaces maeve then, sitting on the curb where she was just moments before.

"so that's maeve," he says, and she nods. matt contemplates for a moment, before deciding to ask the question that's been on his mind for the past few minutes. "are you sure i haven't met her before?"

"i dunno," rory shrugs, before pressing her lips together secretively. "i don't keep track of what you do with your time, matt."

he rolls his eyes at her sarcasm, secretly wishing she'd answered his question seriously. maeve's so strangely familiar but he can't decipher where he might know her from, and it's already driving him crazy.

especially after she'd helped him out of a panic attack simply just by being there, maeve is definitely someone matt wants to see again.

the graduation ceremony has now almost come to a close, and astoria is honestly just ready to go home. today has been exhausting, and she wishes she were curled up in bed watching tangled right about now.

she and chris have already taken off their caps and gowns, still uncomfortable in their formal clothes as they have claimed a row of chairs for themselves to lounge on while their parents are still talking to some teachers and whoever else.

"i'm so over this," astoria sighs, leaning her head on chris' shoulder. he yawns, before stretching and putting an arm around her.

"i'm starving," he says, sounding exhausted. "gonna force matt to drive to kfc after this," he mumbles then, mostly to himself rather than her. astoria chuckles.

they fall back into a comfortable silence, with chris even going as far as to close his eyes. she'd commented on it before, but he'd assured her that he wasn't napping, instead just resting his eyes.

astoria would do the same, were her mind not running with a bunch of negative thoughts she really shouldn't be having on her graduation day. she truly believed that today would be okay, since ever since her dads ceremony she's been doing a lot better.

now though, instead of being sad about her dad, she's sad about chris. astoria can't help but feel like she keeps losing the people she loves most. whether it's to heaven or somewhere still on earth, it doesn't matter, she still ends up separated from those she loves.

she doesn't want to say anything though, since she knows how excited chris and his brothers have been about finally being able to dedicate all of their time to youtube. putting a downer on that would just be shitty of her.

"hey, what's wrong?" chris asks suddenly, and astoria blinks.

"how do you know something's wrong?" she asks suspiciously. "your eyes aren't even open."

"you're all tense, and your elbow is digging into my stomach," chris answers simply, before sitting up straighter in his seat and blinking a few times. his eyes then finally flutter open. he gives her a concerned look that already has astoria wishing she never said anything.

"tell me what's going on," chris urges, and she sighs.

"i'm just scared of losing you," she shrugs. "we wasted so much time and now we won't have any time together."

chris furrows his eyebrows as a frown takes over his lips. "of course we will," he says. "i'm not going anywhere."

"i don't wanna hold you back," astoria says glumly. "besides, i don't even know where i'm going to college yet."

"rory, we'll figure it out," he assures her. "i promise."

she smiles at him, genuinely feeling a lot better thanks to his reassuring words. still though, there's a small part of her mind that struggle to believe it'll all work out fine like he says.

chris clearly notices this, because he twists in his chair to look at her better. he takes her hand in his and squeezes it tightly. "rory, i've loved you long enough to hate you for half my life," he says solemnly. "a few hours distance isn't going to change anything."

her heart swells and astoria falls in love all over again. words emit her, so she leans forward and places a soft peck to his lips. clearly, it says enough, because chris smiles and kisses her again, lifting his hand from hers to cup her face.

"i love you," she whispers. chris grins.

"you're okay i suppose," he shrugs nonchalantly. astoria frowns, pushing away from him.

"i hate you," she contradicts herself. he doesn't say anything, just shakes his head and kisses her forehead.

she's fallen so hard.

ⁱⁿˢᵗᵃᵍʳᵃᵐ !

rorysant

christophersturniolo

liked by matthew.sturniolo, maevethatch, nicolassturniolo and 402,582 others

rorysant oh god i'm gonna marry him if he keeps this shit up 💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓

tagged ; christophersturniolo

user ENOUGH.

kaliaaortizz @christophersturniolo stole my girl fr... 😒😒
↳ christophersturniolo L🤣

user christoria endgame is this the light at the end of the tunnel ?
↳ rorysant idk he's kinda annoying
↳ christophersturniolo UM???

user i diiiiiiiedddddddd

masonsant EWWWWW!!!
liked by matthew.sturniolo

user NOT MATT LIKING MASONS COMMENT

maevethatch qts 💋💋
↳ rorysant ur turn 😇
↳ maevethatch what !

user WHEN IS IT MY TURNNNNNNNNNN 😭😭😭😭😭😭

sky3.od1n remember when chris dated that other chick cuz i doooooo 😜
↳ rorysant why'd i think you were a bot
↳ christophersturniolo blocked

lunaaarison coming on here to say that i, luna arison, am the christoria photographer ur welcome u crazy fans
↳ user "thank you for your service luna" we all say in unison 🫡

user i need christoria content more than i need oxygen atp

matthew.sturniolo on MY cellular device???
↳ christophersturniolo don't hate it bc you can't have it matt 😜😜
↳ rorysant boy.
↳ matthew.sturniolo i hope you step on lego chris

user i can't handle them

view all comments.

christophersturniolo

liked by nicolassturniolo, sky3.od1n, dante.nevarro and 560,495 others

christophersturniolo my nerd 😁

tagged ; rorysant

user HIS. NERD.

user his nerd guys what the fuck

user i wanna be someone's nerd

nicolassturniolo chris istg don't give the fans a nerd kink
↳ user too late
↳ nicolassturniolo CHRIS

rorysant awwwwwww 😊😊😊😊

rorysant thanks bozo
↳ christophersturniolo die
↳ rorysant when he wants u to die 😍😍😍😍😍
↳ christophersturniolo yk it 😇

user they're so disgustingly cute i HATE THEM
liked by matthew.sturniolo

kaliaaortizz matt being mad abt being single will never not be funny
↳ matthew.sturniolo i'm not mad
↳ user alr bud
↳ lunaaarison tell em!
↳ matthew.sturniolo um

user she looks so happy
↳ rorysant i'm being held at gunpoint 🫤
↳ sky3.od1n watch this end up on tiktok.updates
↳ tiktok.updates 👀
↳ christophersturniolo LEAVE ME ALONE

user they're so unserious 😭

malaikaaa my favs!!!

view all comments.

THE END. . . !

and just like that it's over!

thank you to everyone who has read this fic, i love each and every one of you! the support on falling has been literally unreal and i am so so so grateful <3

also congrats to you for getting thru this entire thing bc trust me I KNOW HOW CRINGY IT IS 😭😭😭 when i first started writing this it was literally just for shits n giggles and i had NO CLUE how big it would get so thank u :')

fun fact the spins was also the song i chose for my high school graduation LOL (and just like chris my hat fell off as i walked off stage #embarrassing)

chris & rory's story is officially over... i hope you enjoyed !

━ ava ᥫ᭡