CHAPTER FORTY-ONE !

[ real life, social media ]

- ❝ CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION? ❞ 💌

btw, the start of this chap takes place at the same time as the last! so while everything with rory, harper, maeve, etc was happening, the events of this chap were happening at the same time. i hope this isn't too confusing!

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

chris hates it here. he hates harper, he hates parties, and he especially hates this one.

he's been trying to find rory for the past ten minutes, but right as he swore he spotted her, harper walked past and he ducked into the next room out of desperation to avoid her. he's honestly a little scared of what his ex-girlfriend might say if he runs into her, and he's not in the mood to find out what it might be.

unfortunately for him, while entering this room has allowed him to escape one monster, it's also caused him to run into another. he's now stood in front of casper hedderick, who looks about as happy to see him as you'd expect.

"chris."

"casper."

the two boys look at one another, both frowning and especially pissed. chris can't think of anything worse than having to speak to casper right now, but he can already tell he's been dragged into what's going to be the most insufferable and also pointless conversation possibly ever.

casper takes a sip of his beer, not taking his eyes off of chris, who is literally just standing there. he's not even sure what he's still doing in this room, where the atmosphere is far too loud and obnoxious for him to bear. typical that casper and his friends would be in here, yelling and cussing at each other, as well as spilling countless drinks over harper's furniture. he almost feels bad, but he doesn't, since it's harper's house.

"you done staring, man?" chris then asks, tired of the boy before him staring into his soul like some sort of bizarre hawk. casper's jaw immediately clenches, and he rolls his eyes.

"shut the fuck up," he answers lamely, his voice clearly showing the irritation he currently feels. it just makes this situation all the more amusing for chris.

"my bad," chris shrugs, going to turn away when casper stops him dead in his tracks.

"where's astoria?"

chris immediately turns back to face him, narrowing his eyes at the tanned boy in front of him. he almost laughs, unable to fathom that casper is being serious right now.

"she doesn't want to talk to you," he shrugs in response.

"like i'm gonna listen to you," casper scoffs. "i just wanna speak to her."

"about what?"

"none of your business."

"of course."

chris' last words are laced with sarcasm, and he laughs, shaking his head. once again, he's about to walk away when he hears that annoying fucking voice again, now begging for his attention.

"where is she?" casper asks. chris huffs in frustration.

"i might as well just tell you to fuck off right now, because that's exactly what rory is gonna tell you if you try and talk to her," he replies simply.

"what-"

"hey, don't shoot the messenger," chris cuts him off, now finally turning and walking away from the conversation. he enters the hallway, sighing in relief as he spots a very stressed-looking matt walking down the stairs. he anxiously runs his fingers through his hair and looks around, looking pleased to see chris approaching him. they both nod at one another in greeting, before deciding to sit on the bottom step next to each other.

"what's up with you?" chris asks, turning to look at matt. his brother blows out a huff of air, knitting his dark eyebrows together. he looks puzzled, like he's desperately trying to figure something out but can't quite get the answer. "um, hello?" chris says, nudging the boy's elbow. "earth to matt?"

"sorry," he mumbles, looking up at the party around them. it's almost like he's searching for something, or someone.

"you good?" chris asks, slowly growing concerned by his brother's strange behavior. he doesn't much like parties, but it's odd for him to act so... disoriented? usually when he's feeling anxious, he just texts the groupchat and they all go home and get food or something.

"yeah," matt nods, now looking at him. "i just... someone just... kissed me."

chris' eyes instantly widen.

"what?" he asks, before his face breaks out into a grin. "who?"

"um..." matt says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "i don't know?"

"how do you not know who just kissed you?" chris says, confused all of a sudden. matt looks like he feels the same as he rubs his eyes and shrugs.

"i wanted to get away from the party for a second, so i went upstairs and walked into this room," he explains. "it was completely dark and i was trying to find the light switch, when this girl randomly grabbed the collar of my shirt and kissed me."

if it were anyone else, chris would assume he was being messed with. but because he looks so genuinely confused by the situation, and because it's matt, chris knows it has to be true. he shakes his head, running a hand through his hair.

"did you kiss her back?" he asks, unable to help himself. matt rolls his eyes.

"no, chris, i stood there like a statue," he says sarcastically. "of course i did."

"matt!" chris smirks, nudging his brother playfully. "you're finally going through puberty. i'm so proud."

matt grimaces, moving away.

"you're fucking weird," he mutters. chris is in too good of a mood right now to even acknowledge the insult. his smile falters a little when he remembers matt's literal incompetence and he sighs.

"you made out with this girl and clearly liked it, but you didn't try and figure out who it was?" he questions, causing matt to frown.

"i tried, but after she kissed me, the girl literally gasped and ran out of the room. i followed her but when i made it into the hallway, she had literally disappeared," he tells chris, whose eyes widen again.

"that's really weird," he mutters, more to himself than matt. he looks around for rory again, eyes visibly lighting up as he spots her walking downstairs alongside a blonde girl.

chris instantly notice the blonde girl, who he presumes is maeve, seeming tense as she looks between the two brothers in front of her. her gaze lingers on them, her breath hitching slightly as she tugs on rory's sleeve. the girl's eyes immediately widen.

"it's one of them," maeve tells her, and rory grins.

"well, it's not the one on the left," she replies, causing the blonde to furrow her eyebrows.

"how do you know?" she questions.

"that one's my..."

"yours?"

"yeah."

chris resists the urge to grin, pressing his lips into a thin line. it's only a moment later when it clicks, and he turns to matt. he takes a long look at his brother, before looking back at the two girls. he and rory make eye contact, and they both know what's happened.

"rory!" he calls out to her, and the girl smiles. she takes maeve's hand and leads her down the stairs, stopping just before where chris and matt are sitting. finally, matt seems to snap out of whatever trance he's been in and turns around, looking at the two girls. recognition sparks in maeve's eyes, and she subtly nudges rory.

"hey," rory replies, walking away from maeve and over to chris. almost out of instinct, he wraps an arm around her waist and rests his hand on her hip. matt's still sitting on the stairs, his eyes fixed on maeve. she doesn't return his gaze though, much to rory and chris' disappointment. she's looking at them.

"MAE!"

a voice startles the group, and chris turns around to see dante approaching them. he's stumbling a little and his eyes are wide, clearly drunk. he looks positively delighted to see maeve, who seems to be relieved to see the boy. she steps past matt and walks over to him.

"did you do it?" dante asks loudly, and maeve shushes him, dragging him away from the group. chris looks to matt, who honestly just looks confused, and wonders whether or not he should tell him.

he decides that his brother can figure it out by himself, mainly because he's currently more interested in spending time with rory.

"wanna go get a drink?" he asks her, and she nods. he moves his hand from her waist to hold her hand, and they walk off to the kitchen, leaving matt alone by the stairs.

they walk into the room together, rory dropping his hand to go and pour herself a drink, grabbing him a pepsi from the fridge as she does so.

"thank you," he smiles, taking the can from the girl. rory stares into her cup, which she's just filled with liquor and juice, before setting it down on the kitchen counter. "not drinking?" chris asks, and she shakes her head.

"not feeling it," she replies.

chris nods understandingly, though he's more focused on her than what she's actually saying. something about the way they're talking civilly right now, the way this is normal for them now, is messing with his head, in a good way. he feels like the luckiest person in the world. he is so unbelievably in love with her, has been for years now, and now she is finally his.

sort of. they haven't really talked about that part yet.

in fact, nobody even knows about them yet. not that chris minds, but it's not like they agreed to keep things a secret or anything.

it's because of that thought that chris says, "can i ask you a question?"

rory's eyes widen slightly, but she nods. chris contemplates for a moment, before shaking his head. fuck it, he thinks.

he sets down his can of pepsi and moves closer to her, putting his hands on her waist and pressing his lips to hers. he feels her freeze for a second, before her lips start to move in rhythm with his.

chris can feel his heart lifting, beating a million miles an hour as rory hands snake upwards to run through his hair. he is completely consumed by her, so much so that he forgets that they're in the middle of a crowded room at a party and anyone could be seeing this.

her hands are in his hair, moving downwards to rest on his neck as she smiles against his lips, seemingly not caring about anything besides the kiss, either. chris pulls away then, breathless, his hands still on her hips as he looks down at her and smiles.

"what were you going to ask?" rory asks, her lips curving upwards.

"don't remember," he shrugs. he loves how flushed her cheeks have become, how she doesn't move away from his touch.

rory just smiles, rolling her eyes playfully.

"you're such an idiot."

he's about to reply when a screeching voice strains his ears, causing the pair of them to snap their heads in the direction it came from.

"what the fuck?" skye says, more quietly now. nick, matt, kali, and luna all stand next to him, looking just as shocked.

"uh..." rory begins, but dante suddenly staggers into the picture, pointing at the group.

"you guys look sooooo silly and shocked right now," he giggles. a second later, maeve runs up to him, grabbing his hand and attempting to drag him away.

"dante!" she hisses, clearly embarrassed, and chris swears he sees matt's eyes soften as she says it.

"we all knew this was coming," dante adds, pointing a finger at chris and rory. they look at each other, the girl shrugging.

"um, surprise?" she says.

ⁱⁿˢᵗᵃᵍʳᵃᵐ !

minisourgummyworm

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