🎱. . .CHAPTER 013 ! —————
( real life . . . )
❛ i slept great remembering that nine thousand
people know you're my girlfriend ❜

ᵣₑₐₗ ₗᵢfₑ !

Chris has never been good when it comes to communicating in relationships. maybe it's because he isn't mature enough to be in a serious relationship or maybe he just genuinely can't talk to his significant other, but it's always been like that. especially, when he was with talia. chris can't bring himself to take all of the blame, but he is aware that it is partially his fault for the break up.

all he could think about was his disagreement with mikayla before he fell asleep. after chris wakes up, he checks his notifications, almost forgetting the comments he'd left on abel's post out of jealousy. however, chris still refuses to admit that he has feelings for mikayla and it's just for her protection.

at least, that's what he keeps telling himself, because it's completely known to chris that it's nate's job as mikayla's older brother, but he doesn't care.

he sighs before stretching and immediately getting out of his bed as he hears commotion in the hallway, assuming that it's nick and matt arguing about something stupid. chris slips on a pair of gray sweatpants, opening the door and making his way to the kitchen.

the first thing he notices is mikayla, watching her try to make a bowl of cereal. he rubs his eyes, convincing himself that he's just still tired and in fact not admiring his fake girlfriend. chris huffs, thinking about the big lacrosse game, their channel, mikayla, school.

mikayla.

chris huffs again, realizing that he can't stop thinking about her, even despite the fact that there are so many other girls he can be thinking of right now. his burdening thoughts are quickly stopped from escalating as chris notices matt staring at him. not in a weird way, just slightly suspicious.

he shakes his head before walking to mikayla, who is currently trying to reach for one of the fancy bowls at the top of the shelf. she can barely reach it, so chris decides to take it upon himself to help her. the boy stands next to mikayla, swatting her hand away, grabbing the bowl himself and passing it to her.

"thanks," mikayla mumbles before grabbing the box of cereal. even with his lack of communication skills, chris understands that she's still mad at him. he wants to fix it, not enjoying the one-word conversations, but he feels like he can't.

the two are trapped in a thick, uncomfortable silence while nick, matt and nate all get ready for school. it's just the two of them left in the kitchen, making it even more awkward. neither one of them wants to break the silence, but they really do need to talk before getting ready and leaving for school.

"so," mikayka says, tapping her metal spoon on the counter. "how'd you sleep? especially after all of those replies to your comments on abel's post," she hides a chuckle at chris' obvious jealousy.

"i slept great remembering that nine thousand people know you're my girlfriend," chris leans towards her with a small smirk growing on his face.

mikayla smiles before remembering their small argument yesterday. "fake girlfriend," she corrects him.

chris shakes his head, "same thing." miks rolls her eyes before chris speaks up again, "so..."

"so," she repeats while a crease appears between her eyebrows. it's obvious that they both don't know how to correctly address what happened yesterday. "um...i think i'm just gonna go get ready for school."

chris watches her place the cereal box back on the shelf before she makes her way to the guest bedroom. he wants to call mikayla's name and tell her to wait, maybe even apologize, but he doesn't. that's not what he normally does, and he doesn't want to change his ways just because of her. it's harsh, but he simply cannot fall for mikayla.

but chris is slowly regretting the decision to just let her walk away. ne doesn't want to show it, rather choosing to act nonchalant. as he's leaning on the fridge after getting a pepsi, matt enters the kitchen with his eyebrows furrowed. they're brothers, so matt can already tell that chris has something on his mind with the way he's been acting recently.

matt clears his throat. "can you hurry up and get ready? or you can walk to school on your own."

"yeah whatever," chris mutters, not even paying attention to what matt is actually saying. matt wants to say something and question what's on chris' mind but a part of him feels like he already knows.

          he has a strong gut feeling that mikayla's involved and it has something to do with what he overheard yesterday, but instead of annoying chris with multiple questions about their fake relationship, he chooses to keep them to himself for now. "how's you and mikayla?" matt questions as he taps on the kitchen counter. he's curious and can't help asking. "even though i watch you flirt with multiple other girls."

chris groans loudly. "nah, i think i just need to stop focusing on girls," he says with a sigh. and by that, he means he's going to stop being a player because he has a feeling that he knows what he wants.

or rather, who he wants.

Matt's driving the minivan to school with nick in the passenger seat for once. mikayla's in between nate and chris while maria, mason and lucille sit in the row of seats behind. everyone else is conversing or singing along to the songs that nick chose, except for chris and mikayla.

it's obvious that there's still tension they both refuse to address, so they'd rather sit awkwardly next to each other. miks is on her phone and chris sneakily glances at her, and how beautiful she looks.

he notices the messy strand of hair, wanting to fix it before she does but he doesn't. he notices the way she's grinning at a video on her phone, wanting to question what she's laughing at but he doesn't. chris has a hunch that mikayla's still mad at him based on the way the only word she's said to him all day is 'thanks' which he pretends to not be mad at, but deep down he is.

chris nudges her shoulder gently, and she glances up at him with a warm and slightly appreciative smile. secretly, she's been waiting for him to do something, anything to try and have a conversation. 'you good?' he mouths, and she nods her head.

mason claps his hands from in the seat behind them, "can we just appreciate minivan matthew and how he took us to mcdonald's?" he questions with his mouth stuffed with syrup coated pancakes. "i truly love you matt."

matt rolls his eyes from the driver's seat. "only because you wouldn't shut up about it."

lucille pouts. "matt's such a cutie. let's talk about that," she says with a tone full of sarcasm, just to piss him off. it's the group's favorite thing to do, knowing how it annoys him. the rest of the friends in the car all say 'yes' simultaneously in high pitched tones.

"aww matty likes his pancakes," maria tilts her head slightly with a grin plastered on her face.

matt huffs loudly and throws his head back out of frustration. "yeah 'matty' loves his pancakes," he says, going along with the joke.

"yeah, i like my pancakes too," nick adds on.

chris flicks the back of nick's ear. "nobody fuckin' asked nick."

nick grabs an empty water bottle before turning around to throw it at chris' face. it hits him and he kisses his teeth, fighting the urge to pour his cold bottle of pepsi all over nick but he resists. "you're just in a bad mood because abel's hotter than you," nick says and mikayla's mouth hangs open.

"...wellllll it would be kinda weird if you find chris hot," matt adds, trying to make the car ride less awkward.

mikayla pushes her lips into a thin line. "true..." she murmurs. "are we all going to the party on saturday?" everybody nods their head in unison, looking forward to the long awaited 'back to school bash'. honesty, everyone thinks that the name is the worst thing ever, but nobody can resist free drinks and snacks in an abnormally large house.

nate shakes his head. "stuck in a house with drunk teens? no thanks."

lucille slaps the back of his head gently. "don't be boring nathaniel," she complains, using the nickname he hates and mikayla agreeingly points her finger at her.

"i've got a hockey game on sunday...so no thanks. i'd rather not be hungover for one of the most important games this season."

a crease forms between mikayla's eyebrows as her upper lip lifts into a sneer. "since when do you even drink?"

"since when do you date one of my best friends?" nate bitterly replies and mikayla scoffs loudly.

chris glances up from his phone after hearing nathan's words. since nick made the comment about abel, he's been removing multiple girls from his socials, while not quite listening to what everyone else was talking about. although he hasn't had a lot of time to think about what he wants to do, he knows removing any unnecessary girls from his life is a good start.

"nathan doe don't piss me off right now," miks bitterly says with narrowed eyes.

matt huffs loudly as he pulls into the school's parking lot. "can you guys wait until i park this car before you start arguing."

maria chuckles loudly. "what, you mean this dusty ass van?"

nick chuckles and matt slowly turns to face him. "fuck are you laughing at? you can't even drive."

"neither can like 90% of the people in this car, matthew," lucille says and everyone agrees. he perfectly parks and everyone exits the car slowly, not wanting to endure several hours of school. it's only the second day but they're genuinely all already tired of hearing the same loud, high-pitched bell a dozen times.

for the first time, chris goes straight to homeroom and sits at the front without gathering any books he'll need for the rest of the day. it's a surprise to everyone, especially mikayla but she doesn't complain. he's a senior and he needs to start planning his life after high school. but with the triplet's youtube channel slowly becoming famous, he feels like he has an idea of what he wants to do when school's over.

mikayla enters homeroom later than usual, still on time and she watches as abel waves at her from the table at the back of the classroom. she smiles at him, but instead of strolling to the table she sat at yesterday, she chooses to place her bag down and take a seat next to chris.

he's confused but not complaining at all. "think you're in the wrong seat, miks."

"nope," she shakes her head before taking her stationary out of her backpack. "i'm sitting next to my boyfriend, is there something wrong with that?"

"nah...nothing's wrong with that, just glad you're sat where you should be."

mikayla hides a grin by pursing her lips. she slowly nods her head before realization hits her. "can we—like forget about the argument yesterday? i was just grumpy 'cause it was the first day back," chris gladly agrees, taking one of miks' pencils as he refuses to use his own. "also, on my way to class do y'know how many people asked me about us thanks to your stupid comments? guess everyone knows now."

chris drops the pencil on his desk, turning his head and inching closer towards her, making mikayla's cheeks turn a slight pink tint as she smiles. his hand drops to her knee as if he's forgetting that they're in school and at the front of the class. "yeah exactly how it should be."

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ arianna speaks ¡
longest chapter i've written so far

two updates in two days bc i felt kinda silly
ALSO THANK YOU FOR 10K READS???💌

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