cara mia || tommyinnit

xix

Chiara had taken the fattest nap possible after she posted that TikTok of her. It was spontaneous and abrupt so she immediately shut her phone down and took a nap after her drastic decision. She had woken up to Faraday's ass in her face as she blindly searched for her phone in her duvet cover.

Once she felt the solid shape of her phone, she held the power button and waited for a few seconds before she could sense it turned on. She officially knew it was on once it started buzzing rapidly, a new notification coming in every 2 seconds. Chiara groaned into Faraday's side and threw her phone to the edge of her bed. She didn't want to answer anyone's texts.

It wasn't until her home phone began ringing in her kitchen that she got up, taking two kittens with her.

She shuffled herself over before falling down onto the island kitchen and picking up the phone. "What."

"What the fuck, dude!" Marcela yelled through the phone. Chiara pulled her ear away from the phone in agony. The kittens she had brought with her hopped out of the girl's grasp and scurried on the island. "Why would you drop the bomb like that and then disappear for hours, Chiara?"

"I was bored," she mumbled. "I didn't plan to do it, it was spontaneous." She checked the messages on the landline to see Jojo had left 5 within the last few hours.

"Y'know how many people have texted me trying to reach you?" she complained, jumping on what sounded like her bed. "Articles are being published as we speak."

Chiara made herself a cup of matcha while putting Marcela on speaker-phone. "I'm sorry, babe. I would've told you to go awol for a while but I turned my phone off the second I posted the video."

Marcela sighed. "You look hot, I'll give you that. You're little friends commented on the TikTok too."

This sparked her attention. "Little friends? Like who?"

"Y'know, your gamer friends. Dream, Sapnap, Quackity, etc."

"Did... someone name 'Tommyinnit' comment?" she hesitated to ask.

"Yeah," the friend snorted, "he did. He asked you to answer your phone."

It was no secret that his reaction mattered to Chiara the most. She scurried over to her bed to grab her phone. It was heating up like crazy. She scrolled through the millions of notifications and the first one that caught her attention was a text from Wilbur.

Chiara tried tapping his notification but at the same time a call from Dream came in, making her accidentally answer him.

"Shit, shit, shit!" she whispered before the call came through.

"Ara?" a frantic Dream responded. "Or... ChiChi? I've been trying to reach you for the last four hours."

"Chiara? Did you answer the phone while you're on the phone with me?" Marcela deadpanned through the speaker. "You butthead."

Chiara tried to respond but was stopped by Dream's voice. "Wow, Ara, such a low blow. At least hang up on one of us."

"Thank you, stranger."

"My name's Dream!"

"I'm Mars," Marcela chimed.

"Stop having a conversation through me," Chiara ordered, making the two giggle. "Mars, I'm hanging up. I'll call you later." The girls said goodbye, redirecting Chiara's attention to the boy. "Hi, Dream. I didn't mean to answer your call."

"I'm hurt, Ara," he sarcastically cried. "But I got you, so, here I am. Is that really you?" His voice became hushed, like it was some secret.

"Yes, Dream," she sighed.

"You're ChiChi?"

"Yeah," she sighed again. "I hope that's okay."

"Why the hell wouldn't it be?" Dream reassured with a laugh. "Holy shit, we literally met. We had dinner. You're a popstar. I've literally been nice to you as ChiChi and then start acting like a dick when you're Ara, what the fuck? You don't deserve my niceness."

Chiara laughed. "Awe, shucks. Don't treat me any different."

"God forbid," he huffed. A beat went by. "Have you talked fo Tommy yet?"

"Why him specifically?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

" 'Cause he likes you," he casually said, "as both Ara and ChiChi. Damn, I still haven't processed you're both."

"As both?" she repeated in disbelief. "Not even. I've never understood how someone can like someone without knowing what they look like."

"Yeah, well, spend a day with him and you'll see how much he finds ways to bring you up," Dream joked, walking around his house. "He's been conflicted about this for weeks and then you spring it on everyone that you're the same person? What the hell!"

"Is that Ara?" a voice called from behind Dream. Dream confirmed before the phone was forcibly taken from him by the supposed voice. "Ara! It's Nick!"

Chiara's smile softened. "Hey, Sap. How have you been?"

"Good," he replied. "And also, what the fuck! Why did we have to pay to go to one of your concerts when we literally know you?"

She chortled. "First off, you didn't know me at the time. And secondly, you guys didn't even pay! You got those tickets for free from Will."

"Ohhh, you're so right," he sighed in clarity. "Welp, whatever. Dream's yelling for the phone back so, bye!" Incoherent bickering was heard away from the phone before Dream was back.

"What were we talking about?" she asked once he came back.

"Uhh," he slurred, collecting his thoughts. "Talk to Tommy. Talk to everyone else too. I'll send you a screenshot later but everyone was freaking out. The world is freaking out, technically. You started trending on Twitter the minute you posted that video."

She nervously laughed. "I didn't want it to be a big deal."

"Sweetheart, you are fucking ChiChi," he reminded. "You're the embodiment of a big deal."