🎱. . .CHAPTER 21 ! -----
( real life . . . )
❛ a mistake ❜

ᵣₑₐₗ ₗᵢfₑ !

It's saturday evening and mikayla sways her hips to the rhythm with maria's arms around her as the blare of music vibrates through everyone's bodies. they both have a shot of liquor in their hands, throwing their shot back without flinching at the tingling sensation in their throats.

for the time the friends had to set up the house as chris took mikayla out to distract her, the party turned out amazing and they're all proud of themselves.

chris watches mikayla from his position on the couch, a proud grin on his face as he watches her dance with maria while lucille and mason also go to join them. since the party's started he hasn't been able to stop watching her and that's probably because he's definitely fallen for her; something he wasn't expecting since the relationship started.

he feels like tonight is honestly the best night to tell her how he feels, deeply hoping that she feels the same. a grin grows on his face as mikayla stumbles towards him with a solo cup in her hand.

she plops onto the couch next to him and he throws his arm around her, peppering kisses on her cheek. "i saw you staring at me," she bites back a grin and chris rolls his eyes. "as i like to say, you're down bad."

chris pushes her hair behind her ear, "just proud to call you mine," he whispers loudly over the music; mikayla genuinely feels her heart drop and cheeks heat up as she giggles at his comment.

she pulls away from him just as the song changes and matt makes his way to maria, who's dancing in the room illuminated with blue lights. typically, matt isn't the party type so there's genuinely something so romantic about him pushing his opinions towards the side just for her.

          chris and mikayla stare at them with a grin plastered across both of their faces, watching as matt whispers something into maria's ear. she playfully pushes him away and he holds onto her wrist, pulling her back towards him.

          but as chris continues to watch them he feels a pit in his stomach, most likely caused by the fact that he wishes he could make mikayla giggle like that over the smallest things. there's a frown on his face, slightly irritated that matt–who isn't even fake dating maria, let alone in a real relationship–can make her grin like that.

mikayla looks up at him, confused, as she notices the expression on his face. "you alright there?" she inquires, but he just replies by nodding his head.

she doesn't believe him, but knowing chris, he never really wants to talk about his feelings and it's always been like that. "i need to piss, i'll be back in a sec," she places a kiss on his cheek, staining it with a red mark before she exits the living room.

          as mikayla gently pushes past the teens crowding around her home, she's genuinely speechless when she notices talia blocking the staircase. i mean, the actual audacity she has to show up at mikayla's birthday party after basically praying for her and chris' downfall is insane.

          a smirk grows on talia's face as she comes face to face with mikayla, as this is the first time she's been in her house since the breakup with chris. but secretly, while talia was dating chris, she never liked mikayla and always made it visibly obvious to everyone. "cute party," she says over the music with a cup in her hand. "you're finally eighteen."

          "and you're in my house?" a crease forms between mikayla's eyebrows as her upper lip lifts into a sneer. a huff of frustration escapes from her lips with the familiar feeling of jealousy settles in the pit of her stomach. she genuinely hates how only a few words can get under her skin. "y'know what? enjoy the party," the words leave a bitter taste on mikayla's tongue as she fakes a smile, pushing past talia.

          "oh i definitely will!" she calls out from the bottom of the staircase before taking a sip from the liquor in her cup.

          but it's mikayla's birthday, so she instead chooses to be mature and let talia stay at the party. maybe it isn't the smartest choice ever, but as long as talia remains civil, there isn't a problem with letting her stay. miks sighs as she enters the empty bathroom in her parent's room, knowing that she announced it's off limits to all of the guests.

          she locks the door behind her, glancing at the reflection in the mirror staring back at her, finally having time to take in everything. honestly, she can't believe that a couple weeks ago she was having petty arguments with chris, her brother's best friend, and now they're in a fake relationship, having kissed already. or rather, made out.

          the feeling of butterflies fluttering around her stomach whenever she reminisces on what happened last week makes a wide smile appear on her face.

          mikayla washes her hands after using the toilet, with the scent of the vanilla soap consuming the whole bathroom, drying her hands with a nearby towel. she fixes her hair, then adjusting the lacy black miniskirt she has on while also admiring herself, leaving the bathroom while applying a new coat of lipstick.

as chris watches mikayla disappear into the crowd of intoxicated, sweaty teens to go to the bathroom, he feels like he needs to talk to someone who understands his feelings and out of everyone, that's probably matt.

          he hates to ruin the moment between him and maria, but he desperately needs to get his opinion on everything. he raises from his position on the couch next to nick–who's on his phone–with the intention of having a deep conversation with matt.

he stands behind his brother, tapping on matt's shoulder as he drinks his rootbeer with his hands on maria's hips. matt slowly turns around, a crease between his eyebrows as he assumes that chris should be with mikayla the whole night. "what's up chris?"

chris awkwardly scratches the back of his head, chewing on his bottom lip. "we need to talk about something," he mumbles but matt shoots glances at maria, gesturing his head towards her. "it'll be quick."

matt sighs and nods his head because chris is one of his brothers, and he'd do anything for him. before they leave to find a quieter part of the house, maria hugs matt, then she squeezes through the tight gaps left between the crowd to find the rest of her friends.

chris and matt enter the guest bedroom downstairs, closing the door behind them. for the past couple of days, chris has been genuinely confused with his feelings towards mikayla ever since they kissed. he hopes that she's had the same problem because all he can think about is mikayla doe.

after chris basically vents to matt about his feelings, he encourages chris to tell mikayla exactly how he feels and that's because matt–who's been trying to get them together with maria's help–has noticed chris' shift in attitude ever since the relationship with mikayla.

now that chris has practically been given a pep talk from matt, he has a goal and that's to find mikayla and tell her everything, starting with the real reason why he wanted this fake relationship in the first place. he downs his the liquor in his red solo cup as liquid courage, before he leaves the guest room to find miks.

he knows that she's upstairs so he pushes past everyone surrounding him to find her, but as chris stands at the bottom of the staircase, he notices melissa, talia's best friend as if she's waiting for him. she gasps, pointing her finger at his face. "shit mikayla just told me she's looking for you," melissa scratches her chin. "she's in her room."

chris frowns at melissa's comment, his eyebrows furrowing as he's confused as to why melissa's here because that definitely means that talia's here too. he's also wondering why mikayla would speak to melissa, even if it's for a second but he doesn't question it, just muttering a quick 'thanks' before strolling up the stairs and towards mikayla's room.

it's as if his heart skips a beat as he slowly pushes the door open, remembering exactly what happened last week. there's a smile on his face but it instantly drops as he realizes it isn't mikayla in the room, but instead it's talia with her lips pouted as she sits on the edge of miks' bed.

"tal?" chris questions as he steps into the room, later understanding that melissa must've lied to him. "what're you doing in here?" his tone is sharp as the memories of their relationship come crashing back, but his voice softens as he notices the fact that she's upset.

"i–i just needed some space from everyone," talia murmurs through quiet sobs while tears fall. honestly, chris can just leave and go find mikayla, but there's a part of him that feels sorry for her. "fuck i'm sorry this must be so weird for you."

an exasperated sigh leaves his lips as well as dry chuckles. "you're good," he says before taking a seat next to her. this situation feels weird and almost planned but chris just feels bad for talia and curious as to why she's upset, considering how throughout their whole relationship, she only cried once which is unbelievable.

talia wipes the tears on her face, caking her face with mascara as she glances at chris, their faces inches away from each other. her thumb reaches his cheek stained with a red kiss mark, smudging it but chris instantly retracts away from her touch.

however as talia's phone pings, she leans into him, breaking the distance between them and their lips touch for a couple seconds.

          as mikayla exits her parents room, she acknowledges how the door to her bedroom is open with the lights on, confusing her further. there's a pit in mikayla's gut as she slowly steps towards the room, as a bad feeling weirdly brews in her stomach. her hand reaches for the door handle, gently pushing it open and her mouth hangs open at the sight in front of her, recognizing the familiar setting.

          because there's chris, christopher owen sturniolo, shamelessly kissing talia on mikayla's bed.

          the exact same spot where they shared their first kiss as if he's doing it on purpose.

          chris immediately pulls away, feeling a familiar set of eyes on him. he turns to face the door and his jaw almost drops as he locks eyes with mikayla. "miks..." he breathes out, but she doesn't even know what to say.

          her jaw tightens and she turns around, not saying a single word to him because obviously no matter how many times she'll kiss or hug chris, he'll never change and she'll always know that deep down. it's the fact that he kissed talia, his ex who he swears he hates.

          "miks," chris calls out as he jumps up from the bed but mikayla continues to storm away, talia's quiet giggles echoing through her head.

          she currently wants to get as far away from chris as possible, anger and jealousy coursing through her veins as well as any other emotion becoming a blur. mikayla feels every feeling of sadness and rage in her body while she pushes past everyone still dancing to the music. it's changed to a chase atlantic song, their chase atlantic song but miks is choosing to ignore it.

          even through the lyrics belonging to 'meddle about' blasting through the house, mikayla can still hear chris on her heel as she angrily walks through the open door. the grass is littered with solo cups, empty cans and beer bottles but she's not focusing on the garbage outside of her house.

          "mikayla doe," chris almost yells and mikayla abruptly pauses in her footsteps. "fuck that's literally not what you think it was," he breathlessly says, finally catching up to her. they're out of the house, but that doesn't stop a couple of party guests watching them and the tension surrounding the couple.

          she slowly rotates to face him with a crease between her eyebrows. "secretly i always knew you would do something like this," mikayla says with a sigh as her eyes are glued to the ground, not wanting to make any eye contact with him. "christopher owen sturniolo never changes."

          chris pinches at his nose bridge in frustration, not trying to reveal how those words slightly hurt him. "what the fuck does that even mean?" his hand drops to his side.

          "you should know exactly what that means chris," mikayla thickly swallows the sadness she feels. "this was never gonna work anyways," her tone is harsh and a crease appears between his eyebrows. deep down, mikayla knows that she's lying to his face right now, but in the heat of the moment she's saying anything and everything that comes to mind.

          chris rolls his tongue inside of his cheek as he shakes his head in disbelief. "so what was this then?" his hand gestures between both of them.

          miks huffs, "a mistake."

          his face flickers with hurt, visibly showing how upset he genuinely feels right now. nothing could've prepared him for a response like that and it's as if his heart shatters. sure they're not in a real relationship, but for the past couple of days it's felt real and all chris has wanted is mikayla. his shoulders slouch and he looks down at mikayla, the regret creating a pit in his stomach.

          "happy birthday mikayla," chris bitterly spits, trying to hide his despair and all she can do is let out a scoff before she has no choice but to retreat back into her house.

          but now, chris is left outside of the doe's house, his jaw tense as he turns to watch her disappear into the crowd again. the exact thing he watched at least half an hour ago, the very moment when he realized he had to tell mikayla how he felt. however, instead of doing that, he ruined her night and the only relationship he's had that made him feel like this, even if it is fake.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ arianna speaks ¡
here's the party chapter you guys desperately wanted 🥳🥳