puppy love ☆ chris sturniolo

12 || puppy love

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puppy love
𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨
chapter twelve

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as the night began to simmer down, dessert was eaten, and various board games had been played, the families began to get ready to go to their own 'homes.' even abu and trevor had knocked out. chris was able to spend some time with valeri's parents as well, as she introduced them not too long through dinner

"valeri, real quick-"

"chris, can i see you quickly?" jimmy cut him off. chris agreed and excused himself, following his dad upstairs to their room- which was actually nick's room that they're just using. 

"is everything okay?" chris asked. 

"i just wanted to ask if you got valeri a christmas gift," jimmy said. chris explained to his dad the plan he had interrupted. "good, at least i was informed," he laughed. 

"hopefully she's not leaving right now," chris said worried. 

"she's not. like matt said, "she got you whipped," he said snapping rhythmically. chris started laughing as they walked down the stairs. "good luck chris," his dad whispered. chris nodded and went to find valeri. her coat was stuck at her elbow so he pulled it up for her. in some swift motion when he did, a small box popped out of his jacket. shit. he thought. trevor woke up and went to valeri's feet while abu went to chris, almost knocking the box farther away. 

they both went down to pick it up but chris beat her to it. thanks trev, he thought sarcastically. when the dogs cleared away from all the movement valeri thanked him. "thank you," she said sweetly. he was still in a daze for almost ruining the surprise. "for the helping with my jacket?" she reminded him. 

"yea i know, um..." he looked over at nick who was 100% in on his little project. he nodded at him mindlessly, trying not to make it obvious while he wrapped up a conversation with nathan's parents. "could we go outside for a bit?" he asked. valeri agreed and followed after him discreetly. 

"what's up, you seem tense," valeri put her hand on his chest and felt his heartbeat. "your heart is going a million miles an hour," she said concerned. 

"i know and it's because i've been really nervous to do this all night," he said ominously. 

"chris you're scaring me," she laughed. 

"i got you something," he said, pulling the same box out of his pocket. this time it went into her hand and not on the floor. "open it," he said eagerly. she looked up and then back down at the box and opened it. inside laid a pearl necklace with a planet charm. valeri liked astrology- which also happens to be one of her favorite songs by conan gray- and he thought it would be perfect. 

"chris, i..." she was stunned at the gift. "chris you got me the vivienne westwood necklace..." she was still so shocked at what she had received that she could barely make out a thank you, until she did. 

"chris, thank you so much but i didn't get you anything..." she said sadly. "i'm sorry, i didn't know we were there yet," she apologized. 

"it's fine. i knew you really liked these so i figured i should get you one," he smiled. she mouthed thank you again and with the box in her hands, she kissed him. "here, let me put it on you," she handed him the necklace and she turned around. she moved her curls to the side as he attached the clasps to each other. "it looks beautiful on you," he said as she turned back around. 

"hey, i don't really want to go back inside. i know my parents, we're not leaving for another 20 minutes," she laughed. "do you want to go for a little walk?" she asked him. he agreed and pulled out his phone texting nick that they're going out for a bit and he sent '😘😘😼'

"i hate nick, look," he showed valeri the texts as they laughed down their walkway. chris put his arm around her. as they walked and she looked up at him, admiring his face. "creep," he muttered, kissing her cheek. valeri reached her hand up so she's holding hands with the arm that's around her. 

they were enjoying the quiet as they looped around the cul-de-sac of homes but chris had one thing he wanted to say. "oh, by the way good job, my parents really like you," he said. 

"i love your mom so much, she's the sweetest ever. and she's so pretty, i don't know what happened when you and matt came along," though it was a compliment to his mom, it felt like an insult- because it was. 

"and what about nick?"

"nick is the more aesthetically pleasing triplet, he's except from this," she laughed. "and my parents liked you too. but yayyy, we're at the meeting parents stage," chris cheered with her quietly. 

"we're past that now," chris smiled. he stopped walking and took her hands in his. "i want to make it official and real or whatever. i want to go on more dates and do all the fun stuff with you," he admitted. 

"is chris sturniolo asking me to be his girlfriend? something he said was cheesy and lame when the movie said it?" she teased. 

"no... okay yea i am, but this is way better," he corrected her. "but seriously, i want to do all that stuff i just said and also put hearts and whatever next to your name in my phone. so yes, i'm asking you to be my girlfriend," 

"you know my answer, of course," she said moving closer. "as long as the profile picture isn't too bad, you can put all the cute little hearts you want next to my name," 

***

by writing this chapter, i learned that i cant spell twelve bc why did i write it like "tewelve" TEE-WELL-VE?

also i know technically they haven't known each other for long but also lets pretend viv westwood isn't super pricey? the one i'm thinking of is like 150 versus 250 so i think thats more affordable for mr. chris to give

also i hope this wasn't cringy...