𝑳𝑶𝒀𝑨𝑳𝑻𝒀 - 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 { ✓ }

• 40

『 LOYALTY 』
{ irl }

"why do you look so surprised? you asked me to come over." mae says, refusing to make eye contact.

she wants to cry and scream and beg for him to be her friend again all at once. but her dignity won't allow her to do something so embarrassing. especially since she's supposed to be angry at him.

where did that anger go?

even though they were just texting like everything was fine between them, it couldn't be more awkward right now.

and what makes this all worse is that chris can't seem to stop staring at her.

she's like a drug he's addicted to. and these past few days they've spent apart have felt like he's been having withdraws.

he shakes his head, redirecting his attention to something other than the girl in front of him.

"come inside," chris tells her, taking her by the fabric of her shirt and gently tugging her into the house before he closes the door behind them.

chris looks at her and pauses, wanting to cower in his room again and ignore his feelings for her. but he's gotta do this. he needs to. because chris would rather mae reject him than lose her completely. she's too important to him.

and as he's looking at her now, he knows that more than ever.

he feels like he hasn't seen her for an eternity even though it's only been a day or two. god, he's missed her so much.

"i'm going to talk and i don't want you to say anything until i'm finished, okay?" chris says. by the look on his face, mae can tell he's being serious.

she nods. "okay."

chris takes a deep inhale of air, "you're such an amazing person. i mean-- you're funny, smart, nice, and absolutely gorgeous. i just-- ugh. you deserve nothing less than the best. and i mean the best everything. the best kinds of friends, family, pets, everything."

"what are you--"

"over time, i realized i liked you." chris says quickly, wanting to get his feelings off his chest as soon as possible. "a-and i mean more than just a friend. i'm in love with you, maeve. but you deserve better than what i can offer. a lot better. so i distanced myself and started to hang out with coraline. i was trying to distract myself from you. but it didn't work. i noticed that even if i ignore the agonizing fact that i love you, that wouldn't make me love you any less. not to mention, i couldn't bare the thought of you with another man. so i'm trying to be better. i'm going to try and try and try to become the best man. the kind that you deserve."

mae's heart has absolutely stopped working. 

"i'm done." chris mutters, "you can talk now."

there's so much mae wants to say. 

'i'm in love with you, too.'

'you're already the best.'

'there's no reason to change yourself for me.'

but nothing comes out. her throat is dry, stripped of all the words building in her chest.

mae smiles up at him before grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling his lips down to meet hers.

chris' entire body goes stiff for a moment, trying to process what the fuck is happening. this feels like a dream. but if this is a dream, he wants to get the most out of it.

mae feels him smile against her lips before he's kissing her back and grabbing her waist, pulling her impossibly closer to him.

mae reaches up, tangling her hands in his hair. she wants him closer. closer. closer.

suddenly she realizes that she needs to adress something important. so she breaks the kiss, breathing heavily as she speaks. "i like you too, chris. and i--"

he takes her face into his hands and grins. "stop talking."

he then pulls her face closer and kisses her nose. her chin. her cheek. her other cheek. her forehead. her temple. her other temple. her forehead again. her eyebrow.

the feeling of his lips exploring her face tickles, making her giggle. the magical sound of her laugh makes chris never want to stop. then, finally, he kisses her mouth.

their lips just barely brush each other when the front door opens, "WHAT. THE. FUCK."

chris and mae quickly jump apart, spinning on their heels to look at who had just come through the front door.

nick drops his mcdonald's bag onto the ground, his jaw hanging loose. standing beside him, matt's eyes are wide and his lips are parted.

nick's surprise doesn't fade at all. he continues to stand like this for a while as matt brings his straw to his mouth.

"are you two going to explain? or...?" matt says between sips.

mae glances at chris, taking a step toward him, "well, uh--"

"how fucking long have you two been secretly together!?" nick interrupts.

"oh, we're not together." chris says.

mae feels her heart drop to her abdomen. she has no right to be upset. chris didn't even lie — they're not dating. it was one fucking kiss after all. but she still can't help but feel like they should be more than friends that kissed once.

"don't you dare say you're not together." nick snaps. "if you're going to be making out with my best friend, at least have the balls to admit it."

"we weren't making out." mae tells him. "it was one kiss."

"actually, it was two." chris corrects her.

"it was almost two. but then they walked in and we didn't get to have a second." mae explains to him with a chuckle.

"well--"

"EW!" nick cringes, covering his ears and walking between them. "i don't want to listen to you guys explain how you canoodled with each other!"

matt chokes on his drink, "canoodled!?"

"yeah. look it up. it means kissing or cuddling... or something like that." nick says, proud of his large vocabulary. "whatever it means, i don't want to hear about it!"

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧.˚ₓ
a/n: THEY SMOOCHED!!!!!