CHAPTER EIGHTEEN !

[ real life ]

- ❝ DON'T FUCKING DO THAT ❞ 💌

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

chris sighs as he steps out of the car and follows his brothers, kali, and skye inside the movie theater. it's just the four of them, since luna drove rory and casper after matt had (rightfully) refused to drive all the way to the other side of town to casper's house. the fact that the boy lives in that stupid giant house on the rich side of town annoys him to no end. honestly, everything about casper hedderick annoys chris. he really doesn't understand why rory seems to fuck with him so much.

they stand in line to get tickets because of course, skye forgot to buy them online at lunch today. the line moves forward and suddenly they're next, so chris and skye step forward to get the tickets. skye turns to him. "how many people are we again?"

1, him. 2, rory. 3, matt. 4, nick. 5, skye. 6, kali. 7, luna. 8, casper.

"seven," chris says casually. skye nods, not questioning him and asking the cashier for seven tickets. right as he's paying, the bell on the door rings, signifying that people are coming inside. they all turn their heads in the direction of the sound and see luna, rory, and casper walking inside. luna instantly beams and walks quickly over to them, greeting everyone, while the other two take their sweet time walking inside, too engrossed in their conversation to bother saying hello to anyone.

"okay, i've got everyone's tickets!" skye says, handing one out to everybody. chris presses his lips to stop himself from smiling as he hands them out to everybody except-rory? why the fuck would skye give casper a ticket and not rory? he wants to bash his head into a wall at how stupid his friend is being.

"um...i don't have a ticket," rory states, looking from skye to casper. casper shrugs, handing her his ticket.

"have mine, i'll buy one now," he says, giving it to her. rory shakes her head and shoves it back into his hand. chris grits his teeth at how their hands linger there, and how a faint blush creeps its way onto rory's cheeks.

"i'll get in line and you can save a seat for me," she says. "i don't care if i miss the beginning of the movie." kali tuts and rory rolls her eyes. "sorry that i'm not a fast and furious freak like you, kals."

"being willing to miss even a second of a fast and furious movie is INSANE," she answers, crossing her arms. rory only laughs and rolls her eyes again, getting into the line for tickets and snacks, which is now extremely long. everybody seems to have suddenly rushed in, quickly trying to get snacks before the movie starts.

"okay, let's go inside," nick shrugs. "see you inside, rory."

"i'm gonna get a pepsi," chris blurts, and everyone, including casper, gives him a weird look.

"we brought out own snacks," skye whispers, opening up his jacket to reveal a bunch of candy shoved into his inside pockets. everybody else is wearing giant hoodies with snacks stuffed inside them. chris shrugs.

"i didn't bring a pepsi," he says lamely. matt rolls his eyes before following everyone inside the theater. rory is in line on her phone, and only casper remains outside. he scowls at chris, who grins, "are you not going inside?" he asks sweetly, causing casper to narrow his eyes at him.

"why the fuck does astoria not have a ticket?" he demands. chris only laughs, pointing at the ticket in his hands.

"she does, but for whatever reason, you have it," he says quietly, not wanting her to hear the conversation.

"so you guys didn't get a ticket for me after i was invited?" he asks, and chris shakes his head.

"astoria invited you, not me," he shrugs, purposely using her full name around the boy. he doesn't need casper getting used to hearing it and stealing his nickname for her.

"what's your problem, man?" casper says, taking a step closer to chris, who takes a step back easily. "just because you're single now it doesn't mean you can suddenly show interest in astoria."

"i don't like astoria, i just don't like you," he replies.

"oh grow up, chris," casper shoots back, frowning. "i don't particularly like you either, but i'm not being an immature little bitch about it. besides, don't you literally hate her too?"

"that's none of your fucking business," chris says as he folds his arms over his chest, glaring. casper sighs.

"i actually really like her, for your information," he says quietly, and chris is surprised that he would actually admit that (as if it wasn't obvious enough already). "and she's my friend, too."

"that's so cool," chris replies with an extensive amount of fake enthusiasm, before he turns his expression stern. "i literally could not give less of a fuck."

it's clear that chris has won the argument-that, or casper just can't be bothered to talk to him any longer because the boy finally walks away and chris grins to himself smugly. he now joins rory in the line, ignoring the scoffs and sighs he gets from the people he cuts in front of. almost as if she senses him, rory looks up from her phone at him and scowls, before going back to ignoring him.

he knows she's still mad about their fight the other day, and he does feel bad for it, he just doesn't know how to apologize. what can he even say? sorry i was such a dickhead, i was just mad because you were right about my girlfriend and that's why i broke up with her?

even the truth sounds like an excuse.

so chris pointedly decides not to apologize, hoping to ease some of the tension hanging between them with some light-hearted conversation.

"so which one is your favorite fast and furious movie?" he asks, and she doesn't answer. chris shifts awkwardly on his feet. after a few seconds of embarrassing silence, he speaks again, "i personally really like the seventh one, it's fucking sick." rory remains silent, not even reacting to his words. he nudges her elbow, causing her to flinch and look up from her phone. she switches it off as soon as she noticed him glancing down at the screen. he shoots her a lopsided grin.

"so, which one's your favorite?" he asks again.

"the first one," she replies shortly, and chris furrows his eyebrows.

"last time i checked, that one isn't even that good," he tells her, which she ignores. he wants to continue the conversation, partly so rory isn't mad at him anymore, but also partly because he's got no fucking idea what she's talking about. she isn't making any sense. he sighs, causing her to raise an eyebrow, and speaks again, "i don't know anything about the movies. c'mon rory, help me out here."

she stiffens at his use of the nickname, which is unusual, because he always calls her that. she opens her mouth, then closes it, probably still deciding whether she wants to insult him or actually answer his question. she explains, "i've never seen the other movies. i was always more of a DC and marvel girl."

suddenly, chris is reminded of all of the DC comic books and marvel DVDs that used to be littered around rory's house. whenever he'd visit her, he'd usually always walk into the living room to find her dad reading one of them or watching iron man. sometimes, he'd even spot some of the spiderman comics in rory's room, stashed in her closet or hidden under her pillows. she and her dad had always been similar, as much as she'd tried to hide it.

"so, marvel, huh?" he asks. rory acts like she doesn't hear him, staring at the price list for the snacks like it's the most fucking interesting thing in the world. chris takes a step closer to her and turns his head in the direction of the price list, glancing at it for a moment before looking down at her. "you're not very talkative today," he says. rory rolls her eyes.

"you told me the other day that i should shut up, so i'm doing exactly that," she says blankly, and chris' heart drops. he'd known that his words had struck a nerve and upset her, but he didn't think he'd hurt her feelings that much. he gives her an apologetic look, that being the only thing he can offer while he scrambles through his brain, thinking of the right words to say.

the pair hold eye contact for a moment before rory scoffs and crosses her arms, causing a strand of hair to become untucked from behind her ear and fall into her face. he can instantly tell that it's bugging her, but she's far too stubborn to move to brush it away.

which is why chris raises his hand and moves it forward to tuck the strand of hair back. right as his fingers graze the side of her face, she immediately bats him away, then takes a step back.

"don't fucking do that," she mutters, and chris shrugs, trying to play it off.

"was only trying to help," he says casually, and rory rolls her eyes at him again. she's about to say something, probably insult him, but she's interrupted by the cashier asking what she'd like to order.

"uh, one ticket to..." she forgets the movie title and just points to the board, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. chris chuckles under his breath, knowing rory will hear it. she grits her teeth and reaches into her pocket but chris is faster, throwing a ten dollar bill onto the table.

"and a pepsi to go with that, please," he says, smiling. rory looks up at him, her expression a mixture of shocked, annoyed, and something else he can't quite decipher. he stares back at her blankly, not letting his expression show any of his amusement. the cashier hands him the cup and he thanks her, letting the girl keep the change. he and rory walk away, towards the theater. rory says nothing about him paying, which surprises him. but he shrugs it off, glad to escape another of what he thought was an unavoidable argument.

they walk into the movie theater and chris immediately grins as he sees two free seats at the end of the line of their friends. matt looks like he wants to die because he's sitting between nick and skye and kali and luna, the two grossly adorable couples (or whatever skye and nick are), with casper sitting on the end next to luna. his smile grows further as he hears rory mutter a small 'ew' at skye and nick, who both give her the middle finger. they make their way across the line, chris sitting down next to casper, leaving the last seat for rory, who stops in her tracks and stares blankly at him.

"what are you doing?" casper demands through gritted teeth. chris turns to him and smiles.

"i'm sitting in my seat," he replies simply, looking from casper to rory, who is glaring at him.

"can you not just fucking move so i can sit next to astoria?" casper asks, and chris grimaces.

"sometimes this movie theater checks your tickets, and i don't wanna get in trouble," he lies. "so i'm gonna stay in my seat, if that's alright."

judging by the look on casper's face, it is definitely not alright, but rory just sighs and sits down next to him. rory takes out her phone and chris peeks over to get a look, and frowns when she sees that she's texting casper. he ignores it and starts focusing on the movie, which is just starting.

rory puts her phone away and leans back in her seat, taking out a packet of sour patch kids from her hoodie pocket. at the sight, chris is suddenly reminded of the twix stuffed in his pocket, hoping it hasn't melted. he opens it, smiling when he finds that it's still okay, and takes out a half. he glances at rory, before nudging her shoulder. she's about to eat a sour patch kid but halts her actions, turning to look at him. silently, he offers her the half of his twix. her nose scrunches as she glances back and forth from the chocolate bar to chris.

his eyebrows raise in surprise when she actually takes it.

WHEN SHE TAKES HIS TWIX AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

━ ava ᥫ᭡