CHAPTER SEVEN !

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- ❝ I'LL STAY HERE WITH YOU ❞ 💌

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

the atmosphere in the living room is strangely quiet. chris' parents and rory's mom are talking, and nick is going on a tangent to him about how birds are going to take over the world, but he's not really listening. he can tell nobody else is either, as matt is staring at the wall, rory is mindlessly pushing her food around on her plate and mason is nodding, but at the wrong times. chris feels bad, but he knows nick won't take it personally. even here, away from home, mason and rory obviously have a lot on their mind.

"what about like, fucking woodpeckers?" mason asks, glancing at his mom before he swears to make sure she's not listening. "surely they're harmless."

"those noisy little bastards are just as bad as the rest of them," nick counters. "i don't trust any birds."

matt laughs and shakes his head. rory doesn't even react, and chris wonders if she's even aware of what they're talking about.

"rory," he prompts, but she doesn't hear him. mason nudges her elbow.

"astoria," her brother says with a slight brazilian accent. he rolls the r in her name when he says it. she doesn't react again. "ria," he says, and she blinks and glances to him.

"hm?" she mumbles, now finally taking a bite of her food.

"you okay?" mason asks.

"uh-huh. yep. i'm great," she replies a little too quickly. her brother's eyes soften, but she doesn't even notice because her eyes are fixated on chris, who is giving her a suspicious look. he's not convinced, and she knows it. they hold eye contact, neither of them looking away or changing their expression. rory then furrows her eyebrows and turns away from him.

"i have so much fucking homework to do," she says, sounding bored. matt nods in agreement, eating one last bite of his food.

"let's go upstairs," he says. "we can laugh at mas because he can't play call of duty."

"you motherfucker," mason replies. "of course i can."

"okay, well i bet you a rootbeer that i'm better than you," matt shoots back.

"no, but only because rootbeer is fucking gross," mason chuckles. "i'll help you get a girlfriend if i lose, since we all know you need the help."

"you're such an egotistical cunt, mason," rory mutters. "watch matt win."

"i heard that, astoria," her mom chimes in. rory bites her lip nervously but her mom laughs and shakes her head. she's probably being let off the hook today, considering the circumstances.

they all get up from the table and go upstairs into chris' room. he notices rory hesitate before sitting down on the floor next to his bed. nick gives her a funny look, while chris crosses his arms.

"rory, you can sit on the bed," he says, but she doesn't answer him. he sighs and just sits on the bed next to nick. it's clear she's not at all interested in talking to him tonight, not even arguing. he only hopes it's not his doing, though he supposes her mind is probably just consumed with thoughts of her dad, and not of him. but why does he even care?

"oh my fucking god rory," nick says, suddenly jumping up. "i haven't fucking showed you this yet."

he runs off and comes back a second later wearing his pink power ranger helmet. matt laughs and shakes his head, while rory and mason blankly stare at him. nick crosses his arms, obviously disappointed by their reactions. mason gets out his phone and quickly takes a picture, still looking confused.

"c'mon guys!" he says. "isn't this the coolest fucking thing you've ever seen?"

"i don't know what i'm supposed to be looking at," rory states. "and since when do you have tattoos?"

nick groans and looks down at his arms.

"they're not tattoos," he clarifies. "i fell asleep on the couch earlier and chris saw a sharpie."

"i saw an opportunity and i took it," chris says, making rory look up at him and laugh. it's a real laugh, filled with such genuine emotion that he can't help but laugh too. for the first time in years, she's not looking at him like she can't think of anything worse than being in his presence, but rather like she's actually enjoying his company. the laughter quickly fades but they're still looking at each other, and now he doesn't know what to do. he wants to say something, but nothing is the right thing to say, especially not with both of their brothers in the room.

for whatever reason, chris is suddenly reminded of the fact that harper told him she loves him today. he hasn't told her obviously, since it's none of her fucking business, but he hasn't told anyone, not even matt and nick. it doesn't feel right for them not to know and he hates it, but today isn't the right day to tell them, especially not right now. he doubts rory will even care, since she literally hates him, but he doesn't want to make tonight all about himself, because it's not.

matt cries out angrily and slams the xbox controller down on the bed. mason sniggers and takes the headset off of him and puts it on his own head. chris hadn't even noticed they were playing.

"i told you i'm better than you," he says, causing matt to roll his eyes.

"that was just a practice round," he insists, but mason shakes his head.

"seems like i won't be helping you get a girlfriend anytime soon. sorry bud," he grins.

nick takes off his helmet and looks at the tv.

"woah, i didn't realize how blind i was in this thing," he says to nobody in particular. when nobody answers, he sighs loudly. "guys, don't be antisocial and just play xbox," he says.

"don't be such a fucking mom, nick," matt complains. "everyone can spectate, it's entertaining to watch mas play, since he's so shit."

at that moment, loud gunshot noises erupt from the tv. mason is grinning and matt's jaw drops in surprise. chris laughs to himself at how goofy his brother looks. matt gets up and turns off the tv.

"yeah, let's not be antisocial!" he says awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. mason tuts and shakes his head, taking off the headset. rory gets up and opens chris' closet. he jumps up and rushes over to her, stopping her from opening it, but she elbows him out of her way and chris winces at the sharp pain in his ribs. rory turns around a second later, a box in hand.

"let's play monopoly," she says matter-of-factly. everyone else nods and they sit down on his lyrical lemonade carpet and start setting up the game.

"chris."

"chris..."

"chris!"

he jolts and blinks, looking up at his friends. rory is looking at him, holding out her hand.

"huh?" he says. he's not been paying attention to the game at all, instead wondering how and when he's going to tell matt and nick about the whole harper thing. he's honestly kind of embarrassed of it, and wonders what the rest of his friends will think when they find out.

he imagines rory's reaction and literally cringes, though he doesn't know why the thought of her scrunching her nose in disgust or her laughter after finding out about harper loving him bothers him so much. he's never cared about her opinion about anything before.

"it's your turn," rory says, dropping the dice into his palm. he shakes them and rolls them on the board before he realizes he doesn't even know what's going on in the game. he rolls a five, moving his character and sighing when he sees he's landed on a hotel. he glances at how much it's going to cost and silently hands nick the money, since he's the banker.

"um, chris?" nick says, and rory scoffs.

"yeah?" he answers.

"you're so fucking stupid," she laughs, and chris turns his head to look at her and glares.

"i can't help what fucking spot i land on, astoria," he replies. she just shrugs, completely ignoring his use of her full name.

"i love it when chris loses," she says.

"okay?" he says, unimpressed.

"you know the best part?" rory says smugly.

"what?"

"that was literally your hotel."

she grins and chris rolls his eyes, making a point not to look down at his cards.

"okay whatever, i forgot," he says. "let's move on."

"this is why your parents think you're adopted," rory says.

"my parents don't think i'm adop-"

"no, this is probably why his girlfriend doesn't love him," matt chuckles. he's obviously joking, but chris gulps, looking at his brother nervously. there's no way he knows, surely not...

"at least he has an excuse, since they've only been dating for like, two months," nick says. chris fakes a laugh and scratches the back of his neck.

luckily, he's saved from the conversation by the sound of his mother's voice, calling them all downstairs. they all get up, leaving the board game on the floor, making chris groan internally knowing he'll have to tidy it up later. he's the last to leave the room, after rory, and he follows her downstairs. he notices that the lights are all turned off. all of a sudden, he crashes into rory and they both nearly tumble down the stairs.

"what the fuck are you doing?" he seethes. "walk."

she doesn't answer, she's too busy staring into the dining room. chris rests a hand on her shoulder to stable himself as he peers around the corner and looks into the dining room. the lights are all off, the only light coming from birthday candles on top of a birthday cake, which his mom is placing on the table. rory's mom is smiling, tears in her eyes and thanking his parents, while matt and nick are standing on either side of mason, all three of them smiling. chris moves back, taking his hand off of her shoulder.

"i can't go in there," she says, not looking at him.

"why not?" he questions. she wipes her eyes.

"i just-" she starts, her voice shaky. "it makes it real."

"real?" he asks.

"if i go in there, i accept that's he's gone," she says. "it becomes real."

"rory..."

"chris! rory!" nick calls. "you guys coming?"

"yeah, wait!" chris yells back, then turns to rory. "you don't have to go in there."

she turns to him, then looks back into the dining room. she exhales shakily, brushing her hair out of her eyes. she says nothing, but still remains firmly in her place. chris' heart drops as she turns back to him and he sees her expression.

"i'll- i'll stay here with you, if you want," he says.

he doesn't even know why he offers. rory's eyes widen, but she shakes her head and turns back around.

"let's go," she decides. "i want cake."

he doesn't even know why he cares that she declines his offer.

chris forces his lips to form a smile and she reciprocates it, then walks down the stairs into the dining room. her mom beams as she sees the two of them, before saying something to her daughter in portuguese. he can't understand a word, but it seems that rory is happy with whatever is said, because she nods and sits down at the table next to her mom. mason joins, sitting on the other side of his sister.

just like they'd done every year, everyone starts to sing happy birthday, but in portuguese. rory's dad had always hated the english version, so he'd forced them to all learn the song in his native language. he'd always make fun of chris' pronounciation, to which rory had always defended him, until soon the roles had reversed. then, she'd started to mock him, while her dad had defended him. it was one of the many things that had sparked his hatred for her all those years ago.

but right now he doesn't care about any of that. his only focus is on her as she blows out the candles just as a tear rolls down her cheek. mason grabs the knife and starts cutting everybody a slice of cake. he can almost see

"chris, can you grab the paper plates?" his dad asks him.

"sure," he replies, walking into the kitchen to get them. his phone buzzes right as he grabs them, so he takes it out of his pocket and his smile drops as he reads the notification from instagram.

fuck.

ⁱⁿˢᵗᵃᵍʳᵃᵐ !

nicolassturniolo

masonsant christophersturniolo matthew.sturniolo

masonsant

matthew.sturniolo christophersturniolo

rorysant

christophersturniolo

liked by masonsant, kaliaaortizz, sky3.od1n and 481,941 others

nicolassturniolo don't look at the caption LOOK AT MY PINK POWER RANGER HELMET

tagged ; rorysant christophersturniolo matthew.sturniolo masonsant

kaliaaortizz seems like my invite got lost in the mail...

rorysant instead of ur helmet im looking at that GOOFY ASS T SHIRT
↳ nicolassturniolo it's fire idk what you're talking about
↳ rorysant right...

user the boys all lying in bed together is so cute
↳ user ikr i love that the triplets are friends with mason too
↳ christophersturniolo i actually only hang out with rory for mason

lunaaarison cough

user WHOS FOOT IS RORY GRABBING LMFAOOO
↳ nicolassturniolo mine bc she's a fucking weirdo
↳ rorysant bitch i was dragging u off of the bed

masonsant guys matt got mad bc im better than him at call of duty
↳ matthew.sturniolo liar
↳ user why is this so matt

user TREVOR AND CHRIS WITH THE MATCHING FITS OKAAAAAYYYY

sky3.od1n rory has a foot fetish (real)
↳ user WAIT REALLY
↳ rorysant of course not????

user rory is so pick me for only hanging out with boys
↳ matthew.sturniolo sorry i'll shapeshift into a woman next time i wanna hang out with her ig :/

user i thought chris had a gf
↳ user yeah but it's not rory so we don't care abt her 😂

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chris is so silly like "i dont care abt rory" - 🤓 we all know ur lying but alr

discussing fics with nim and polly is actually my fav thing ever like i'm smirking at my drafts rn

━ ava ᥫ᭡