𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐄𝐗, 𝖼𝗁𝗋𝗂𝗌 𝗌𝗍𝗎𝗋𝗇𝗂𝗈𝗅𝗈 ✓

023, 𝐞𝐯𝐞

chris inspects the text. after re-reading it a few times, he turns to his brothers while shoving his phone back into his pocket. "i'll be back."

"where are you going?" nick asks, and before chris answers, he pulls out his phone again.

chris : alone?

chris stares at his phone screen. maia reads his message. typing.

maia : yes

chris exhales, then puts his phone away once again. "uh, bathroom. be right back." he wasn't sure why he lied. but they would've started asking questions that chris didn't know the answer to.

chris is squeezing past people, the smell of beer infiltrating his nose. once he finds the steps, the only thing on them was a couple who couldn't break apart. he rolls his eyes, squeezes past them, then finally reaches the second floor.

there aren't as many people up here, but he's aware of what the locked doors mean. he scowls, turns to his left, then knocks on the first one.

"yeah." maia's voice is muffled from the other side of the door, so chris hesitantly opens it. he walks in once his eyes meet maia's.

the second he shuts the door behind him, maia exhales and smiles.

liam sighs, pressing his back against the wall that consides the door of one of many bathrooms. he places his head against that wall. "scarlett. i know you're not using the bathroom. are you reading?"

she looks down. she planned to sit on the toilet and stay in the bathroom for an hour, even without a book, but liam came with. and she was standing, because there was no way she'd sit on dante's toilet.

"no, liam." she sighs, opening the bathroom door, walking out and locking eyes with her friend. "i just hate parties."

"i'm aware." he shrugs. he doesn't care. liam's a selfless person, but not in situations where he wants to have fun. in these situations, scarlett is getting dragged back to wherever the triplets ended up. "let's go."

she groans, following liam. his fingers are intertwined with hers, and that's before someone calls his name. he turns around, his eyes meeting with steve's. liam smiles, then looks back at scarlett. "you can go back on your own, right?"

scar rolls her eyes. "can't believe you like someone with the name steven."

"shut up." he jokingly shoves her shoulder, and she smiles. "bye." he walks off, and over to steven.

scarlett sighs, squeezing through more and more people.

the whole time, she was praying she didn't run into chase. she was unaware of her worried expression, just until someone approached her. "chase isn't here." alaina tells her. "he's in new york for christmas."

scarlett sighs with relief. "okay." she nods. "i gotta go.."

"back to the boys?" she tilts her head. smiles. "i know. i miss you. hope to hangout soon."

"of course." scarlett returns the smile as alaina shrieks with a giggle, being pulled away by a dude she was presumptuously dancing with before.

scarlett finally finds nick and matt outside, seeing no sign of chris. "hey, scar," nick says. "where's liam?"scarlett sits next to the two, who are sitting at the edge of the pool. shockingly, people were swimming despite the snow that was falling, the only thing blocking it being a large tarp supported by 4 poles.

"ran off with some dude." scarlett shrugs, then looks around. "chris?"

"bathroom." matt tells her. suddenly, scarlett's phone dings.

she opens it, then goes to imessage.

maia ; scarlett

maia : meet in guest bedroom, upstairs
first door to your left

scarlett furrows her eyebrows. the last interaction the two had didn't go well.

scarlett : why?

maia : i don't wanna fight u, scar.
if i did i would do it infront of everybody.
i've been immature lately and i'd like to talk
it out

scarlett sighs. "uh, tessa needs my help. i'll be back." she gets up.

"oh— okay, bye!" nick calls out as she opens the glass slide door, then walks back inside. she goes through the kitchen, then the living room, and finally upstairs.

she turns to her left and opens the door.

the first thing she sees is maia's arms wrapped around chris, the same way scarlett used to do it. their lips connected, their eyes closed.

quicker than ever, tears overflow scarlett's eyes, she attempts to blink them back, but they silently fall.

the two pull away from each other, and the second that chris turns his head, and his eyes meet with scarlett's, she slams the door shut and runs. she just runs.

she runs past jade. she runs past liam and steven. she runs past tessa and alaina.

she gets into her car driving off. she doesn't know where she's going.

she trusted him.

and there he was, kissing her ex best friend.

she silently wishes she stayed in that bathroom.

a/n
sorry guys😍