CHAPTER FORTY-THREE !

[ real life, social media ]

- ❝ NEVER A WASTE ❞ 💌

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

astoria is sitting in the library, as she always does during this particular free period. she's currently supposed to be doing work for her photography class but finds herself struggling to focus as she's overwhelmed with a weird sense of nostalgia just by being sat here.

out of their friend group, she and chris are the only ones that have this free period. though given their history, astoria would always avoid him during this hour, hence why she claimed this spot in library as her own and used the time to actually do work instead of slacking off like she does in the rest of her frees.

now that her and chris are... whatever it is that they are, she wonders what he's doing right now. she recalls him sometimes spending this free period in the library, opting to hang out with other people over her every single time, not that she minded. she's suddenly reminded of that day he was sitting with harper, which had pissed her off more than she cares to admit. she thinks she might die of embarrassment if chris ever found out how mad that made her.

astoria smiles to herself as she remembers how the two of them had ended up getting detention. if that happened today, she honestly wouldn't mind it, except that she'd force chris to actually help her this time.

she shakes her head, letting the memory wash over her, and looks back down at her work. scattered across the table are the photobooth photos of all her friends from mal's birthday party about a month ago. there's the ones of the triplets, kali and luna, and of course everybody's individual photos.

as she's scanning over all of the photos, her gaze stops at one in particular and stays there for a moment. chris smiles lazily at the camera, pointing to a pythia bracelet on his wrist. there's a random tie slung loosely around his neck, which makes astoria smile with amusement because she's not sure she's ever seen chris wear a tie in his entire life. her finger brushes over the photo, and she wonders how she's gotten to a point in her life where she's thinking of chris fondly, and not with absolute and utter distaste.

"this is so joe goldberg of you."

astoria jumps at the sound of someone's voice coming from above her. she looks up from the table, shoving the photo aside as discreetly as she can. standing opposite her she finds chris, who is grinning at her as he takes in the sight of her looking at his photo. her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"what?" she asks innocently, hoping he didn't see that she was staring at his photo in particular.

"don't gaslight me, i saw what you were doing," chris replies, brushing aside a photo of nick to reveal the photo she had just been staring at. he holds it up next to his face. "so, do you prefer the photo or the real thing?" he asks, grinning.

"the photo doesn't talk so much, so i'm gonna have to go with that," she answers sarcastically, before snatching the photo off of him and setting it back down on the table alongside the rest.

"you wound me, astoria," he says, clutching his chest dramatically. she rolls her eyes, scooting to the side so chris has space to sit down on the bench next to her. he does so, not looking at her but rather taking in the images on the table before them.

"it's for my photography project," she explains, and chris turns to her with a raised eyebrow.

"you can just admit you're a creep," he answers, shrugging. "i won't judge you."

"shut the fuck up."

chris just laughs, shaking his head and looking back at the photos. he picks up one of her, tilting it so that she can see. it's one of the ones she chose not to post on her instagram. something about it had put her off.

"this one's cute," chris muses, turning the photo back to him and studying it. astoria resists the urge to take it off him, shaking her head.

"ew, no," she replies. "i don't like it."

chris' jaw literally drops at her words, and he looks at her with a confused expression on his face.

"why not?" he asks, his gaze switching between the photo and her.

"hmm," astoria contemplates, leaning closer to chris to get a better look at it. "i was caught kinda off guard when it was taken... just seems a bit awkward."

"you're crazy," he tells her, and her eyes widen, a little offended.

"i can dislike the photo if i want to," she replies, crossing her arms.

chris holds up his hands defensively, then sets down the photo.

"sure," he says, clearly not convinced. "i think you look pretty, but alright."

chris then continues shuffling through the photos on the table like he's not just made her heart race. astoria stares at him, wondering how he can suddenly just say something like that without a second thought. she's not sure she can do that.

and it's not because she doesn't care about him or anything, because she does. she cares about chris more than anyone in the entire world, but there's a part of her that refuses to let her love him with everything she has.

before anyone else, astoria's dad was always her person. he was the one she loved and cared for more than anyone, and he was taken from her before her very eyes. he was there in her life one minute, and the next he was simply gone.

part of her is afraid that will happen with chris, too.

about 99% of her brain tells her she's being ridiculous, and that what happened with her dad was an unfortunate accident. she knows that, and she knows chris wouldn't just leave her or erase her from his life forever. but there's always that 1%, that small voice in the back of her mind that seems to yell at her to run before she gets hurt again.

"you okay, rory? you're quiet," chris says, disrupting her thoughts. usually, astoria would just nod and shake away the thought, but she feels like now is the perfect time to explain to him what she's thinking about. it's just the two of them, it's quiet, and she feels like she'll explode if she keeps these thoughts in for one more second.

"promise me before i say this that you won't laugh," she says quickly, causing his eyes to widen.

"as long as you're not about to tell me you prefer coke over pepsi, then i won't laugh or judge," he tells her with a sincere smile, and she shakes her head. if she's being honest, she doesn't really like coke or pepsi, but that's not important right now.

she takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "you say all these nice things to me," she says finally. "and... i'm sorry i don't say them back."

chris furrows his eyebrows, a wave of confusion washing over him. he keeps quiet though, waiting for her to continue.

"because of my dad and stuff, i'm always scared i'm going to lose you," she goes on, feeling her nerves growing with every word she says. astoria takes another deep breath, clasping her hands together to prevent them from possibly shaking. "it's gonna take me a while to, well, get used to this whole thing, you know?" chris nods again, which she appreciates because it tells her she's not going completely crazy. "i just don't want to waste your time, i guess."

chris looks at her with such disbelief that immediately makes astoria feel like she's made a mistake by telling him all this. he shifts, twisting his body away from the table and towards her.

"what makes you think you're wasting my time?" he asks. astoria shrugs.

"you've been in a relationship before, and i haven't," she answers, feeling dumb and childish. "i'm gonna need time for everything, but i don't want to disappoint you by being a bad-"

"my time is yours to waste," chris interrupts, looking at her sincerely. "i don't expect anything of you, so if you want to wait five years until you kiss me again, then so be it. it's never a waste when it comes to you."

and just like that, she's falling all over again.

she blinks away the tears that prick her eyes, refusing to cry in school, because that's just fucking embarrassing and if skye finds out he will never let her hear the end of it. astoria nods, eternally grateful for the boy in front of her as she leans forward to hug him. chris smiles, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

astoria has loved chris since she first laid eyes on him. has loved him even when she didn't want to, even when she had been swallowed by despair and fear and hatred. has loved him and destroyed herself because she believed she didn't deserve him, because he was everything that was good, and kind, and caring, and she loves him, she loves him, she loves him.

she pulls away from his embrace then, leaning back so she can look at him once again. chris is still smiling, looking a tad sheepish as he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

"that was actually what i wanted to talk to you about," he says quietly.

"hm?" astoria questions, raising her eyebrows.

"the other day, when we were on the phone to maeve," chris begins explaining, looking embarrassed. "i kind of just decided that i was your boyfriend without really asking you," he says. "so if you wanna take a step back, it's totally okay, i mean, i really rushed into it and stuf-"

"chris," she interjects, a smile taking over her lips at how nervous he is. "i said i'm gonna need some time, but i know right now that i want to be your girlfriend."

"oh, thank fuck for that," chris sighs in relief, grinning. astoria shakes her head in dismay, almost unable to believe that they're really having this conversation.

chris then takes his phone out from his pocket, frantically swiping on the screen. astoria gives him a weird look, but he's tilting his phone away from her so she can't see what he's up to.

"what the fuck are you doing?" she asks, leaning over further to try and catch a glimpse of whatever he's doing on his phone, but chris is being extra secretive, for whatever. he only quickly pulls his phone away from his face to... take a selfie?... before holding it right up to his face once again.

he types for a second, before switching off his phone and setting it down on the table with a pleased look on his face.

"um..." astoria says, literally just trying to figure out what she just witnessed.

"check instagram," he says proudly, gesturing to her phone, which lies on the other side of the desk.

astoria rolls her eyes but obeys, picking up her phone and clicking on the instagram app.

"i don't see it," she says, showing him her feed, which is just a photo of some random girl from their school. chris looks annoyed, rolling his eyes.

"refresh your feed, nerd," he tells her.

"alright, bozo," she responds, doing what he told her. it's only then that she sees the selfie chris just took appear on her screen, and she furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

ⁱⁿˢᵗᵃᵍʳᵃᵐ !

rorysboyfriend

liked by storyofstori, minisourgummyworm, and 31 others

rorysboyfriend feeling like a lucky fella rn

tagged ;

user UMMMM!!!!!!

user HELLOOOOOO

user he's so pretty die die die

minisourgummyworm jaw just dropped in geography class no lie

user rory is so lucky 😭😭😭
↳ user chris is the lucky one lets be fr
↳ user real have you SEEN her

user I CANNOT DO THIS RN????

user christoria endgame confirmed tears are forming
↳ user we've come so far 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

user rorysboyfriend YOU ARE SO SICK AND TWISTED CHRIS

user rip mattsboyfriend u will be missed 💔💔

user i cannot wait for the rest of their friends to see this

user i know chris is grinning to himself rn

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ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

"i don't see it- OH!"

chris chuckles to himself, feeling smug as astoria gapes at her phone, unable to process what she's looking at. "there's no way you did that," she tells him, giving him an amused look.

"'course," he replies coolly. "gotta let the chris girls down easy, y'know?"

"right, of course," she replies sarcastically, seeing right through his bullshit. astoria wants to say something else, but stops herself as their table is approached by none other than mrs cooper, the librarian.

"hello," she greets politely, and chris and astoria both smile at her in response. "i just wanted to let the pair of you know that the period is almost over, so you should probably start getting ready to go."

"oh, thank you," astoria answers, pushing all of the photos into a pile so she can put them back into her folder. mrs cooper nods, about to turn and walk away, but she stops.

"it's nice to see you two getting along," she smiles, looking at the pair of them. astoria's eyebrows raise, and she turns to chris and finds that he wears a similar expression.

"it is nice," he replies with a nod, and mrs cooper's smile grows.

"hopefully i won't have to put you two in detention again, hm?" she says jokingly, causing them both to laugh slightly. astoria shakes her head, but chris shrugs.

"i'd say it's definitely still a possibility," he jokes, and astoria rolls her eyes, giving him a nudge with her elbow. mrs cooper just shakes her head, giving them a knowing look.

"i'll keep that in mind," she replies. "have a nice day, chris and astoria."

with that, the librarian continues making her way around the room, reminding students that the period is almost over. astoria goes back to packing up her things, chris just sitting there and waiting for her to be done. once all of the photos are finally in her bag, he stands up and so does she, the two of them leaving the library together.

"thank fuck the day is over," astoria says to him as they walk down the hallway. "all i wanna do is go home and nap."

chris looks like he's about to reply when a yell interrupts him, coming from the other end of the hall.

"RORY! CHRIS! WHAT THE FUCK?"

luna's yell earns her a glare from a teacher, but she ignores it as she comes running up to the pair. "nick just showed me chris' instagram post, what the fuck? since when? what? why? how did this happen?"

"too many questions at once, lulu," chris replies, and the girl flips him off.

"you think i'm bad?" she asks. "just wait until skye and kali find out."

they turn the corner and find said people, both hunched over someone's phone as they stand by kali's locker.

"KALIA ORTIZ I'M NOT FUCKING LYING, LOOK AT HIS USER!"

"i can fucking see it, you goof. no need to pull out the full ass government name."

"well, why aren't you reacting like a crazy person?"

"because i'm not a crazy person, skye?"

luna grins, looking at chris and astoria with a smug look on her face. astoria turns to chris, trying her best to ignore luna's presence right next to them.

"do you think we can escape without them seeing us?" she asks. chris just laughs and shakes his head.

"considering they're coming home with us, i'm gonna go with no," he answers with a sigh, and luna just laughs.

this fic almost died icl but she's home dw 😣😣

official bf & gf moment i cheered

━ ava ᥫ᭡