★ . ꜝꜞ ᳝ ࣪ CHAPTER 010! ☁️ׂ ɞ˚₊
❝ not anymore ❞
( real life )

✶ IRL!

"nate!"

"chris?" nate's questionable voice cuts through the phone and chris is sure it's because he'd rather fucking die than talk to a friend over the phone when texting exists.

"hey, man," he says, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he leans back on the couch and continues to toss the same hat he's been throwing into the air for the past five minutes. "i was just wondering what you're doing right now."

"nothing really," nate answers, the hat landing in chris' hands. "was just watching tiktok."

"so me and matt could come and hang?" he proposes, pausing instead of throwing his hat back into air. "we've got to take your sister to work and we don't have anything to do until then," he goes on to explain.

"oh," he pauses for a moment. "yeah, sure."

"great." the grin that overtakes chris' face is a devilish one. "see ya, bro." after nate's replied, he hangs up and instead of throwing his hat back into the air, he places it on his head. he then stands up from the couch and begins making his way to matts room.

once he gets to matts room, matt is sat against his bed headboard on his phone. chris decides to stand in the doorway until matt feels his presence and looks up, when he starts to hear the same tiktok sound play repeatedly, and speaks up with a sigh, "matt."

matt's head snaps up at the sound of chris' voice, having not at all realized he was there. "jesus fuck, chris," he gives him a weird look. "what?"

"we're gonna go to nates," chris tells him rather than asking.

"huh?" matt furrows his eyebrows, not sure if he heard him wrong. he checks the time on his phone and gives him a strange look. "we don't have to take des to work for another three hours, you know that, right?"

chris coughs, his face scrunching up just a tad. "uh yeah?" he responds slightly questionably. "i want to see mochi," he decides as his line of defense.

matt just blankly stares at him for a moment, but after a few seconds have passed, he breaks and gives chris a dubious look. "really?" he narrows his eyes. "you want to leave three hours early so you can see destiny's cat?"

"yes, matt." chris rolls his eyes as if matt's curiosity to his sudden weirdness is bothering him. "now grab your keys, bruh. let's go," he doesn't wait for matt to agree, just turns around and leaves his room, expecting him to follow him.

it's now matt's turn to roll his eyes. "this kid."

nate squints his eyes slightly, raising a brow. "can i help you?"

jordan avery clears his throat, hoping his eyes haven't widened too much as he wasn't aware that nate would be the one opening the door. he's not a stranger to nate—they used to have world history together—but jordan isn't exactly excited to explain he's here to see his sister.

"nate," he chuckles awkwardly, not missing the weird look nate gives him at his tone. "what's up, man?"

"uh, nothing much," he responds, trying not to think too much about the fact that he's never given this guy his address ever. he rubs at the back of his neck. "sooo um... whatcha doin—"

"i invited jordan over, by the way, nate," destiny's voice meets jordan's ears from the other side of the door. nate quickly whips his head around and gives his sister an insane look that she ignores. her head comes into jordan's view when she leans past nate, her hands clutching the edge of the front door. "hey, jordan."

a grin quickly overtakes his face at the sight of the stunning girl. "hi, des," he responds as she steps out from behind the door.

"you can come in," she beams at him, her smile not even faltering when she sees the extremely weird expression on her brothers face. she ignores it and whispers, "you can go to your room, can't you, great brother of mine?"

nate narrows his eyes at her. "course, des," he responds sarcastically, already beginning to turn away as the idea of his sister hanging out with guys just grosses him out. "never say that shit again," he calls as he walks off, causing destiny to roll her eyes.

"anyways," she blows a breath from her lips as she turns back around to jordan who is quietly closing the door behind him. she's about to send him a grin, when she suddenly catches view of the bag in his hands that she must have not seen before. "what's that?"

jordan raises the bag up and destiny is ninety-nine percent sure her pupils become hearts as she processes the logo. "i got wingstop."

destiny seriously doesn't mean to blurt it out as soon as she does, but her mouth has a mind of its own when she says, "so should we get married now or later?"

she quickly clamps her hand over her own mouth at her choice of words but jordan only laughs, finding her cute out of all things. "now's good for me, des," he goes along with it instead of embarrassing her further. he steps forward to gently pull her hand off of her mouth and destinys cheeks quickly go even redder than before at the feeling of his touch. jordan clearly notices it judging by the amusement on his face, but all he asks is, "where we eating?"

destiny stops functioning for just a small moment. she had originally planned to just chill in the living room, not caring if they got interrupted at all. that was before he brought her wingstop and touched her though—before she realized he is clearly the perfect man, hello! "my room," she answers without thinking.

"cool."

chris walks into the doe's living room with a smile—one a little too bright—plastered on his face. nate is giving matt skeptical looks about chris' mood and he continuously shrugs as chris plops down on the couch.

nate sighs and takes a seat next to him despite the side eyes he keeps sending at chris' happy face. matt sits on the other side of him, also confused as to what's got chris so excited to be here three hours early for.

"so," the man himself suddenly pipes up. he takes a quick glance around the room, resting his arms along the back of the couch and letting out a nonchalant, "where's destiny?"

when immediately, nate's eyes narrow just slightly, he clears his throat. "i'm here for mochi," he defends himself, glancing over at matt who isn't buying it. "des has mochi, right?"

"yeah," nate answers at first, "but.." he pauses for a second, his face genuinely twisting up before he continues. "she literally has a guy over right now guys... shits crazy," he tells them.

just as matts eyebrows raise, chris forces out a ridiculously fake, "whaaat?"

instantly, matt narrows his eyes at his brother in suspicion. chris ignores his look though, as nate doesn't pay enough attention to sense anything weird. "yeah, bro. jordan avery out of all people," he scoffs, chris instantly liking the fact that he seems to share the same distaste he feels. "like that was a homie."

"woah, he's not a homie anymore?" matt furrows his eyebrows as this is news to him. he's always seen jordan as a rather cool guy. in fact, he'd consider him a school friend. chris rolls his eyes. matt needs to catch up.

"not if he goes for des," nate responds without hesitation, leaning back on the couch more so that the hat he's wearing hangs down his forehead. "i don't know what adora did to her this summer to make her grow a pair, but i do not need broken hearted des later, for real."

matt's lips twist to the side, understanding nate's perspective because he is just a protective brother after all. his heart is in the right place.

it's when chris speaks that matt's eyes squint just slightly. "yeah," he huffs in agreement. "she's been fine without a boyfriend all this time, she doesn't need one now."

matt's face grows into a dubious expression as he looks at his brother. it's almost as if he can not hear himself sometimes. he waits for nate to give him a weird look, but he doesn't. he gives him a fist bump. "exactly, bro," he says. matt feels as if he's watching the blind lead the blind.

nate clearly doesn't want destiny with jordan because he doesn't want her to end up hurt; it's from a brother standpoint. chris, on the other hand, doesn't want destiny with jordan because... well, come on, matt has eyes. even though his brother only confessed a portion of his feelings for destiny over the summer to him, and it was hardly a confession at all, he can tell that he's must have had these feelings longer for than he's willing to admit because of how visibly upset he is. he can tell by the small crease between his brows, the slight frown etching his lips, and the way his eyes linger past nate to the hallway that leads to destiny's room.

matt can't remember the last time he saw chris care about a girl being with someone else—not even jada—it seems it's only destiny. his brother might not know it yet, but he does. he can see it.

"'kay," chris sighs after a moment of silence, the tv remote already in nate's hands by now. "gonna go get mochi now," he announces as he stands up from the couch. "peace."

matt can't help himself when he has destiny's best interest in mind though, knowing he hasn't seen her interested in a guy in ages. "chris," he starts, making him pause. "don't go in there and mess up des' date, bruh."

chris instantly feels defensive. "i'm not going to mess it up," he responds with a roll of his eyes. "i'm just gonna grab mochi."

"mhm," matt hums, insisting with the look of his eyes that he does not believe his brother. "i'll go with you and say hey to jordan then," he suggests with a shrug, resisting a laugh at the way chris' face immediately sours.

"bro, what?" he scoffs dramatically. "what are you? his best friend?" he narrows his eyes in disgust.

"no, chris." matt rolls his eyes as he stands up, glancing in nate's direction and seeing his squinted eyes as he listens to them. "i'm just trying to prevent you from doing anything insufferable."

"well, destiny shouldn't go out with insufferable men," he's quick to bite back.

jordan is one of the humblest guys matt knows, but judging from the look on chris' face, that statement wouldn't help, so he just presses his lips together.

nate, at this point, turns to chris with a weird look. "chris, bro, you're starting to sound more concerned than m—"

"all i want is mochi guys!" he cuts nate off before he's even fully spoken with a groan, frustration clear in his voice. "god."

matt shares a look with nate before turning to chris and crossing his arms. "okay..." he says, squinting slightly. "let's go then."

"whatever," chris blows a breath from his lips, glancing over to nate who shrugs and stays seated on the couch. he doesn't spare a look at his brother before he turns in the direction of destinys room. matt rolls his eyes at the way he's acting and follows behind him. once he's caught up, chris gives him view of the scrunch between his eyebrows when he turns his head and begins muttering, "they're not on a date, by the way. why'd you say it was a date?"

matt blinks, simply looking away from him and ahead instead. "i'm sick of you," he sighs instead of giving an actual response.

chris scoffs, but he doesn't say anything, so the two continue walking in silence. they go up the stairs and turn the hallway to destiny's room, chris suddenly coming to a halt when they reach her door. matt furrows his eyebrows, being able to tell it's open but not seeing past chris' figure. "what?" he questions his frozen state.

chris though, subconsciously froze at the sight of destiny and jordan on destiny's bed. destiny is laid on her stomach towards the end of the bed, her chin resting on the palm of her hand as a box of wingstop is in front of her. jordan, on the other hand, sits up next to her with mochi in his lap and his bag of wingstop on the floor next to the side of the bed he's on. he's not sure why his stomach is sinking so much, but adventure time is playing on the tv, and destinys attention is on jordan as he's clearly telling her a story of some sort. she's looking at him like the words he speaks are poetry, the lovesick smile adorning her lips making chris feel sick.

he's not sure what's come over him recently, but his mind is screaming that he'd much rather have destiny looking at him like that. in fact, he'd definitely prefer it if she didn't give such an admirable gaze to anyone but him, especially not jordan.

it's happening though, right in front of him, and he'll be damned if he's just going to let it.

matt, who has stepped forward and leant over chris' shoulder to see what's gotten him all silent, has to refrain from commenting on how the fact that he's this affected definitely means he's fallen for the girl. instead, he takes in a breath and steps back. "so," he starts, blowing the breath out. "jordan clearly has moch—"

"hey guys," chris cuts matt off without a care as he takes a step forward into destiny's room. he immediately captures both hers and jordan's attention, their heads snapping up instinctively. automatically, matt pinches his eyes shut and takes in a breath before following behind him. he sees the way jordan's eyebrows scrunch together and the way destinys lips press together as chris let's out a light sigh, "how's it going?"

"great," destiny says flatly, trying to give chris a hint with her eyes as she stares him down. he coughs and she squints at him when she asks, "what are you doing here?"

the lie slips through chris' lips easily: "nate invited me over."

matt gives him a hard side eye as destiny only narrows her gaze, hinting that she does not believe him. chris then gives her a shit-eating grin that confirms his lie and she gives him a sarcastic, tight-lipped one in return. his eyes jump back and forth between jordan and her, clearly pleased with himself for intruding.

his moment is killed though, when jordan speaks up with a raised brow. "why aren't you with nate then, bro?" he asks simply, chris' mouth instantly dropping to a thin line as matt holds in a laugh. destiny pushes her lips together to seemingly resist giggling and yeah, that was an ego crush for chris. before silence can completely wash over though, jordan acknowledges matt with a nod. "wassup, by the way?"

matt offers a shrug in response, ignoring the glare chris has set on him when he says, "nice to see ya, man."

"yeah, you too," jordan responds shortly. the two dap each other up and chris' jaw actually drops in offense.

destiny watches him amusedly, unable to help the slight smile on her face. she taps her fingers along the bottom of her chin as she looks up to him from where she still lays on her stomach. "what's up with you?" she voices her thoughts, chris' eyes snapping over to her.

although his eyes linger on jordan beside her, he looks back to her and clicks his tongue. "nothing, des," he sighs, taking a place beside matt still in front of jordan and suddenly pointing to the cat on his lap. "i came here to steal mochi."

jordan gives him a look as if to say seriously? still, though, he doesn't start an argument, and just exhales a breath. "go for it," he tells him, scooting back so that the cat can get up and go, but the animal stays in place.

"okay." chris blinks, unfazed. without hesitating, he bends down slightly and reaches his hands out to raise mochi from jordan's lap without struggle. "don't worry," chris begins whispering to the cat. jordan rolls his eyes as he brings the pet to his chest and readjusts how he is holding the animal. a small smirk forms on his lips as he glances from jordan to destiny before petting the cats head. "daddy's home."

matt instantly breaks out coughing. "fucking weirdo."

"you're so gross, chris," destiny cuts in, voicing agreement with matt as the admirable smile on her lips betrays her speech. jordan, the only one without amusement on his face, glances over at the way she smiles at a now laughing chris. he doesn't say anything, but makes a mental note to himself.

chris also makes mental note to himself, but more so about how the smile that destiny's giving him right now is way better than the smile she was giving jordan. he might be biased, but he doesn't really care. he's also not really sure when her smile became such a big deal to him, but right now he feels like it could light up an entire city, so he doesn't question it.

chris forces himself out of it though, when he sees the suspicious glance matt is sending him in his peripheral vision. "anyways," he clears his throat, eyes landing back on destiny. "we'll be back when it's time for your shift, des."

he's about to make his exit with mochi and matt now, when hesitance takes over destinys face and she begins to struggle. "oh..." she attempts to speak.

"i actually told her i could take her, bro." jordan takes the floor for her, matt and chris' eyes sliding over to him. chris' jaw twitches as he continues with, "save matt some gas, yknow."

silence takes over the room after he's finished speaking and chris' gaze lands on destiny. the inside of her bottom lip is in her mouth as she clearly feels a little awkward.

just as matt finally opens his mouth, chris looks back to jordan. "jordan, bro," he suddenly hands mochi out to him, jordan's eyebrows furrowing. "you wouldn't mind giving me and des a second to talk, right, buddy?" his eyes cut through him, but they're the only two not oblivious to the fact that his stare is meant to be taken as a glare.

jordan's jaw visibly ticks, but he looks over to destiny and clearly doesn't want to ruin anything. chris frowns momentarily at this because he doesn't like how much he cares, but he claims victory when jordan's head turns back around and he takes mochi. "sure, man," he sighs, standing up from the bed with the cat in his hands.

chris is smiling at this until he notices destiny beginning to frown and tries to become less excited over shooing jordan for a second. he watches jordan leave first, and then matt give chris a look before following behind. chris ignores matt's expression and instantly turns to face destiny when the pair are finally left alone. immediately, he's complaining. "we're not going to have any time to hang out now, destiny," he tells her knowingly.

she sighs, sitting up and readjusting herself for a moment before standing to come face to face with him. "chris," she sighs, glancing over his face. "we already weren't going to because i work anyways," she explains.

a slight crease forms between chris' brows as he looks into her eyes. "yeah, but still," he argues pointlessly, destiny giving him a look before he continues, "come on, des."

destiny attempts to fight it, but her eyes jump all over his features and before she knows it, her eyes have softened. she goes silent for a moment, the two continuing to stare as she comes up with a solution, before she finally lets out a breath and allows herself to speak. "we start school tomorrow," she tells him, earning nothing but a blink in response. she gives him a tilt of her head before assuring him, "i promise you we'll have all the time in the world to hang out soon."

the frown on chris' face slowly fades away, and he manages a light sigh. "i guess you're right," he agrees, earning a small smile from her. he keeps it real though, and adds, "but i don't fuck with jordan."

destinys lips press together to form a line. "okay," she responds simply. she crosses her arms over her chest determinedly before squinting slightly and suddenly asking, "since when has us hanging out been such a priority of yours anyway?"

chris is taken aback by the question at first, but after a prolonged moment of recovery, he clears his throat. "uh.." he trails off for a moment, now giving her a tilt of his head. "since always, des."

she surprises him when she argues. "not really," she fights shortly, a slight frown occupying her face before she turns her words lighthearted with a teasing voice, "you've been extra needy."

chris instantly scoffs in offense, reaching out to swat her arm lightly. "fuck you," he exclaims, destiny's laughter becoming his reward. "i am not needy!" he argues, receiving an unbelieving look from her in response and shaking his head repeatedly. after gathering himself, a small, lazy grin takes over his face when he truthfully says, "i'm not used to you giving so much attention to another guy." destiny's eyebrows raise and he offers a nonchalant, "that spot should always be reserved for me, yknow?"

at first, destinys cheeks go red and chris' grin only grows. just as quick as it appears though, she seems to catch herself and turns her head away from him. he raises his eyebrows, watching her look to her bed instead of him and glancing in the same direction to find what's so interesting. a frown is on his lips now, considering that her flustered state lasted for mere seconds, and when he looks back to her, the moments already passed. he's as confused as ever when she reaches a hand forward to pat his shoulder. his eyes follow her hands movement as she pats? his? shoulder? "well, not anymore," she says simply. she delivers it as a joke, judging by her small chuckle afterwards, but chris takes it as anything but. his eyes instantly go back to her as her touch is fleeting and her hand returns to her side immediately.

chris must be standing there in silence like a fool because she gives him a really weird look before turning around. she begins walking in the direction of her door, so chris turns and watches her leave to assumedly get jordan.

chris might be crazy since there was no confession to be made, but for the first time in his life, he almost feels.. rejected?

💌

don't fret guys long irl chaps are home 💗

pookies starting school next chap 😇😇

<3
jaden