CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE !

[ real life, imessage ]

- ❝ JUST PLAYING ALONG ❞ 💌

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

yawning, astoria rubs her eyes and manages to push herself upright into a sitting position. it's been a few days since she got back from brazil, but she's exhausted anyway, and literally cannot think of anything worse than going to a party right now.

luna is sitting at her desk, doing her eyeliner, meanwhile kali has been rummaging through astoria's closet for the past 45 minutes.

"we have to leave in like ten minutes and you're still in sweatpants," luna says, turning around and putting her eyeliner back into her makeup bag.

"can't we be fashionably late?" astoria complains, and her friends share a look. she feels like they're silently communicating in some strange couple language by the way they simultaneously raise their eyebrows at each other, before kali rolls her eyes.

"it's a surprise party so, no, we can't be late," she replies, crouching down to pick up a top she'd discarded five minutes before. she throws it at astoria, along with a jacket and a pair of baggy jeans. "just wear this," kali tells her with a sigh.

astoria also sighs, but gets up from her bed, clothes in hand. she walks out of her room and goes into the bathroom to quickly change, then heads back to her room.

when she enters, luna has moved from her spot at the desk, now standing next to kali as they observe her...dresser?

astoria raises an eyebrow in confusion, walking over to see what they're looking at. her heart skips a beat as she sees what it is.

"you got the lego flowers," luna observes, turning around to look at her.

"yeah," astoria replies quietly, reaching forward to grab her hairbrush off of the dresser.

"who got them for you?" kali asks, crossing her arms.

astoria freezes midway through brushing her hair, her eyes widening as she looks at her friends.

"uh...chris," she says quietly.

chris is something she hasn't thought about in a while. actually, that's a lie. chris is something she's tried not to think about, but since they last saw each other at kali's house before christmas break he's been pretty much the only thing on her mind.

"CHRIS?" luna exclaims loudly, turning to her girlfriend with wide eyes. kali just laughs, a satisfied grin on her lips.

"chris, huh?" she asks. "you spoken to him recently?"

"of course not," astoria scoffs. he still hasn't answered her somewhat angry messages about him buying her literally the best present in existence without any kind of warning. it's been a long few weeks of her left on delivered which any other time, she wouldn't have cared about. but it's different now.

kali and luna both haven't said a word, and it's making her uneasy. she glances at the lego flowers, seriously hating how much she loves them.

when she turns back to her friends, they're both smirking at her.

"stop that shit," astoria says. "you guys look dumb as fuck."

this only makes their smiles grow, luna even letting a chuckle slip. kali doesn't laugh tho, her mouth pressing into a thin, serious line as she studies astoria closely.

"why do you even hate chris anyway?" she asks. luna stops laughing suddenly, her eyebrows raising as she probably realizes that she doesn't know either. astoria sighs.

"i'm honestly kind of offended that nick knows and not us," kali continues, and astoria frowns.

"it's a bit of a...difficult subject," she says vaguely, and kali rolls her eyes.

"i want to know the full story," she says.

"now," luna adds.

"i thought you said we were going to be late to the party?" astoria responds, crossing her arms.

kali shrugs. "i only said that because otherwise you would've never got ready," she admits.

luna sits down on the end of astorias bed, looking up at her. "i'm expecting this to be good," she says.

"it really isn't," astoria scoffs. "it's a dumb story."

"i still want to hear it," kali says, and astoria sighs again.

seventh grade...

13-year-old astoria can't help the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach as she makes her way to the campfire with nick. it's not long after dinner and matt, skye, and kali are on dishwashing duty tonight, so from their friend group it's just her, nick, and chris. they also invited some guy called jackson who chris was hanging out with during the rock climbing activity today. there's kids their age running around everywhere, with some playing badminton, some playing cards, and others simply sitting in small groups and gossiping. astoria packed some graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallow with her on the trip, and tonight seems like the perfect night to make smores.

earlier today she finally confessed to nick and kali that she likes chris. after he made up his very own nickname for her, she knew she couldn't hide it anymore. they weren't even surprised, but nick is still being all annoying and giggly as they walk together to the campfire. chris and jackson are not far behind them.

"stop giggling, nick!" she scolds, hitting him lightly on the arm. she turns around quickly, checking to see if chris heard, but the boy seems too engrossed in his conversation with jackson to notice her looking at him.

"sorry! i'm just so happy that you finally admitted it!" nick replies, still giddy. he seems happier about the whole situation than she is.

they sit down by the campfire, astoria already opening the bag of marshmallows and popping one into her mouth. chris and jackson catch up a second later, chris' eyes lighting up as he sees the marshmallows.

"oh my god, we should do the chubby bunny challenge!" he says, taking a couple out of the bag.

"absolutely not," nick deadpans. "that's gross."

"come on, nicky, don't be so lame!" chris complains. nick's lips form a thin line as he looks at his brother, unimpressed.

"no thanks," he says. "and don't call me nicky, ew."

crossing his arms, chris sighs. "i bet rory would do it with me," he says, the nickname rolling off his tongue so naturally it's like he's been calling her that all his life. she's about to speak, to agree with him, when jackson comes bustling past, grabbing a graham cracker and biting into it as he stops and stands next to chris.

"why are you just eating marshmallows, man?" he asks. "i thought we were making smores."

"we are," nick says. "or, we're trying to, but it'd be easier if chris stopped standing there eating all the ingredients."

chris rolls his eyes at his brother and starts walking over to the bench to sit down. astoria's heart races because is he really about to sit next to her right now? it seems that way, and astoria is literally going to die if he does because lately she's been incapable of functioning around him and it's like, really embarrassing!

but before he can sit down, jackson manages to get in between the two, sitting himself down directly next to astoria. she freezes, looking at chris, who doesn't meet her gaze. he looks completely unbothered as he sits down on the other side of jackson, who feels more like a wall separating the two than just a boy their age.

nick sees what's happened and sighs, looking at astoria who just shrugs at him, pretending she doesn't care. in reality, she does care, she really cares, and wishes it was chris sitting next to her and not jackson.

trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach, astoria picks up two graham crackers, a piece of chocolate and a marshmallow. she sticks it carefully on the end of the stick. nick, jackson and chris are a little further ahead than her, having already started melting all of their marshmallows. nick is sighing at chris, who's chosen the biggest marshmallow in the entire bag, and it's dripping down the side of the stick. he chuckles as some lands on nick's shoe, causing his brother to scoff and take a step away.

"i think your marshmallow is done, chris," he says, rolling his eyes and moving his stick away from the campfire. he turns to astoria and holds the stick in front of her. her eyes widen and she takes a step back, also moving her own stick away from the fire.

"do you think it's done, rory?" he asks. the nickname. it makes her heart thump in her chest as she forces herself to tear her eyes from the boy before her and instead look at his marshmallow. it's definitely done, so she looks back up at him and nods. he gives her a lopsided grin and peels the marshmallow from the stick and puts it between his graham crackers, the chocolate also on the inside. he gives her a thumbs up as he bites into it and astoria looks away to hide the blush creeping onto her cheeks.

the other two boys also sit back down, nick grabbing a tissue from his pocket and attempting to rub the melted marshmallow off of his shoe. as he's in the middle of taking another bite of his smore, jackson turns to astoria and rests his hand on his chin.

"hey, astoria?" he says, and she now also turns to look at him. she briefly glances behind him, to chris, who's too busy trying not to drip marshmallow all over himself to notice she's looking, then turns back to jackson.

"yeah?" she says.

"did you know that chris likes you?"

the world stops. astoria's jaw drops, looking from jackson to nick, to the floor, and back again. she doesn't dare lay her eyes on chris, who quite nearly choked on his smore when he heard the words leave his new friend's mouth. he'd expected someone he just met to keep his secret, since he doesn't even know rory!

meanwhile astoria is rapidly tapping nick's leg, with not a clue what to do because of the fact that she's just been made aware that chris sturniolo likes her. she might actually go insane in a second. this can't be true. there's actually no way in hell that this is true.

astoria hesitantly makes eye contact with chris, and finds him already looking at her. "is that...true?" she asks reluctantly. chris nods sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"...yeah," he says after a small pause. astoria hears nick gasp behind her, which surprises her a little. they're brothers after all, and from what she knows, they tell each other everything.

"oh," is all she manages to say, looking away and turning her attention back to the half-eaten smore in her hands. her heart's racing, and her mind is moving so fast that her appetite has disappeared completely. this can't be real.

"awwwwww," jackson coos, dragging out the world for a lot longer than necessary. astoria's cheeks flush with embarrassment and they're left in an awkward silence.

nick coughs, getting up and grabbing himself another marshmallow. "you want another one, rory?" he asks. she shakes her head, unable to speak. the only thing she can think about is chris, but even so she can't bring herself to look at him. not even as he gets up alongside jackson to get another marshmallow, not as a soccer ball is kicked his way and he passes it back to who kicked it, not as they sit back down and engage in meaningless conversation for the rest of the night. astoria tries her best to participate in the discussion between the four of them, especially as some more kids join them to play truth or dare, but her mind is so distracted by what jackson said that she can barely think about anything else.

nick has to nudge her when it's time for them all to go back to their hotel rooms, and astoria blinks before standing up and following him away from the campfire. it's just the two of them walking quietly in the dark.

"what the hell just happened?" she whispers to nick, who shrugs.

"no clue, but i think it's-" he's cut off by the sound of someone running up behind them. they both turn around simultaneously and find chris jogging towards them. astoria glances to nick, raising her eyebrows, but the oldest triplet only smirks at her, cocking his head in chris' direction.

"thanks for waiting for me," chris pants, turning to astoria and beaming at her, flashing his perfect white teeth.

"no problem," she breathes, nodding quickly before turning away in embarrassment. why is she so awkward while chris is able to act completely normal after what he said?

"let's go," nick urges them both, not seeming to care that astoria is literally talking to chris alone right now! they continue walking, chris in between them, before they stop as they reach the hotel. astoria glances from chris to nick, who steps forward to give her a hug.

"night, stori," he says, before pulling away. she turns away from him, looking at chris. they both stand there for a second, before he grins at her and pulls her in for a hug too. it's so sudden that her eyes widen as she looks over his shoulder and finds nick to be smiling at her like a proud mom. astoria leans in further to the hug. much to her surprise, he's hugging her tightly, his arms firm around her waist. she thinks she might die when he lets go.

but when he does, she's unfortunately still alive, feeling like a piece of her is missing without the touch of his arms around her waist. "goodnight, rory," he says with a small smile, his face a little flushed.

"goodnight, chris," she replies quietly, turning away from him and nick as they make their separate ways to their rooms. nick and chris' are right next to each other, meanwhile astoria's is on the opposite side of the hotel.

she starts walking to her room, finally alone with her thoughts. well, one thought, namely that according to the boy himself, chris sturniolo likes her back? at least she hopes so.

as she reaches her room, she unlocks the door and creeps in, trying her best to be quiet as kali's already asleep. astoria quickly brushes her teeth and changes her clothes before climbing into bed, phone in hand. she finds herself texting something which she doesn't know will make her regret every single decision she's ever made in her life.

ⁱᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ !

Rory 🙊 ; astoria
chris 😎 ; chris

Rory 🙊
hey chris
idk if its weird that im texting you this
but i just wanted to ask u abt earlier
um was what u said true?

chris 😎
Hi Rory
Uh no it wasn't sorry
I was just playing along with the joke you know

Rory 🙊
oh i see
hahahah yeah no worries
i was just wondering lol
phew hahah

chris 😎
Yeah haha
Well goodnight Rory
Sleep well!

Rory 🙊
night chris

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

"oh."

"what?"

"yeah."

kali, luna and astoria all stare at each other, before astoria gets up and walks out of the room. silently, the other two follow her, the three of them getting into the car to go to mal's surprise party.

yiiiiiiiikes

rare (common?) chris L

also you guys can stop hounding me for updates now 🙏🏼 let a girl BREATHE ❤️

━ ava ᥫ᭡