before i go / c. sturniolo ✔️

chapter twenty-three

"boarding for flight 24 is in five minutes." the intercoms around the airport are loud, and makes lilith's stomach drop because it means she has to leave soon.

she pulls out of the hug and grabs chris' face.

"before i go, promise not to forget about me." lilith looks between his blue eyes, waiting for an answer.

"i promise." chris smiles with tears on his face, and pulls lilith in for a kiss.

this kiss is more needy than the others they've shared. they know that it's probably the last time they'll get to kiss for a while. tears are falling down both of their faces as they share the moment with each other.

when they finally pull away, chris wipes the tears from lilith's face.

"lili... we gotta go." peyton voices from behind her, pulling her back into reality. lilith nods, hugging chris for a second longer before placing a kiss on his cheek.

"i love you, christopher sturniolo. don't you forget it." lilith says right before she walks away from the triplets. chris watches as she leaves, pulling her suitcases behind her, talking with her friends, leaving him for who knows how long.

-

lilith, harley and peyton take their seats right in front of ridge, grey and flynn.

one new message from chrispy💙

she opens the text before putting her phone on airplane mode.

chrispy💙

have a safe flight. miss u already

i'll text you once i touch ground💙

after replying, her phone is turned on airplane mode and she turns on a downloaded playlist, putting her airpods in and closing her eyes.

lilith looks over and grabs peyton's hand while they take off, she's never been good with planes or heights. peyton smiles at lilith and relaxes slightly while lili rubs circles on her hand.

-

"welcome to the sunshine state." the plane lands and everyone on the plane unbuckles their seatbelts.

lilith's mom is picking her and peyton up from the miami airport, so when they get their bags from the claim, they immediately begin looking for her in the crowded airport.

when lili sees the familiar brunette woman, she motions to her from beside peyton. they both walk quickly over to her. lilith wraps her arms around the woman's neck, giving her a tight hug.

"hi mom." lilith says, smiling as she pulls away from her.

"hey ms heather." peyton hugs the woman she sees as a mother-figure.

-

"did you girls have fun?" heather asks on the way to peyton's house.

"yeah. a lot of fun actually." lilith answers her mother, looking through instagram.

"and lili even got a boyfriend while she was there." peyton says, causing lilith to turn and look at her.

"really? is it one of the triplets?" her mom
looks over at her with a smile. "i'll bet all my money that it's christopher."

"how did you know?" lilith turns to look at her mom fully, a smile present on her face at the talk of chris.

"he was always telling me how much he didn't like you and how you were only matt and nick's friend. but i always knew. whether you seen it or not. i did." heather explains, pulling into the driveway of peyton's house.

"bye pey. i love you!" lilith rolls down her window yelling as the girl goes in her house.

-

two new messages from chrispy💙

chrispy💙

hey
how was the flight

it was fine
i think i slept the whole way

it's so quiet without all the people at our house
kinda lonely

i know. i'm gonna have no one to talk to other than over the phone until monday

are you home

about to be
we just dropped peyton off at hers

okay
let me know when you get there
tell ms heather to drive safe

i will

i love you lili

i love you chris

-

after unpacking, lilith opens the conversation with chris and presses the facetime button. it rings for almost two times before he picks up.

"hey, gorgeous." chris says when lili shows up on his phone screen.

"hi." she replies softly, laying down on her bed.

"how are you? are you tired?" chris looks at her through the camera.

"yeah, a little." lilith rubs her eyes.

"how's florida?"

"hot. as per usual." lilith says, making chris chuckle lightly.

"you met your mom's new boyfriend yet?" chris asks, watching as lili sits up.

"nope. she said he's out of town, but on sunday he comes back and we get to have dinner together." lilith rolls her eyes. "yay."

"hey, he might be an alright guy. plus, you'll have like four new siblings, right?" chris tries to make her feel better about meeting her mom's soon-to-be husband.

"yeah. i guess you're right." lilith nods, remember the new guy had four kids.

-

after lilith fell asleep, chris continued to
be on the phone until he knew she was okay.

he just sat in admiration at how peaceful she looked, despite the soft snores he could hear through the phone.

after he did hang up though, he immediately went live. talking mostly about what has happened in the past week and what he wants to happen. then, he got on the topic of lilith and just kept talking.

about how nice she was to him and others. how amazing he felt when he made her laugh. how she was so understanding about things.

that's when people knew. they knew that chris and lilith had something going on between them. some kind of romance that wasn't exactly confirmed yet, but was very clear to the eye.

they knew that christopher owen sturniolo and lilith mariana dane were crazy in love and there was very few things that could change their minds.

author-to-reader:

CUE THE TEARS 😭

also, the next few chapters will be a lot of skipping around seeing as they aren't together irl anymore

and! don't forget to comment and vote! if u want

see ya next time, loves <33