𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 - 𝑪𝑯𝑹𝑰𝑺 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑶𝑳𝑶.

nine!

she rolls her eyes at him, opening her mouth to say something to him, but he cuts her off, "i know you're mad at her. and you have every right. but, right now, she's spiraling."

elliot sighs, a little bit of that anger falling away, but not completely.

then, she turns to chris, remembering what lily said before she left the room.

"what did you say to her about alex?"

chris gulps, trying to ignore the nauseous feeling in his gut, also known as guilt. "i may have made a comment about alex fucking her up bad with her trust issues and that she's like him..." he trails off, realizing how bad it sounds when he says it now.

elliot scoffs, walking up to him and slapping him upside the head.

"ow! what the fuck, elle?" he rubs his head, looking over at matt to help him out.

matt rolls his eyes at him. "dude, don't look at me for help. you deserved that."

"you're an idiot, christopher sturniolo!" she exclaims quietly, becoming protective over her best friend, even when she's mad at her too.

"this is why she doesn't get into relationships."

chris opens his mouth to defend himself, but she cuts him off, "you may haven't meant it as how it sounded—or maybe you were just mad and didn't think. but, you saying that, that's just proof to her that everyone is the same as alex."

chris gives her a confused and offended look.

"don't give me that look. it's true."

"well, i didn't mean it like that!"

"look, i'm not mad at you. i'm mad at her. but, that doesn't mean i don't get why she's acting like this," chris and matt give her confused looks, so she continues. "it's either drinking, or starving herself and binge-eating, or isolating herself and ghosting everyone."

"yeah, but none of those options are good." matt responds.

"yeah, i know," elliot sighs, feeling like she's betraying her best friend all over again. "look, those are all bad coping mechanisms that she ended up getting involved in with her relationship with her parents and alex. there were other more toxic environments that brought that on too."

both of the brothers don't say anything.

elliot groans, running her fingers through her hair in stress.

"now, if you guys excuse me, i'm going to have to do some damage control for my best friend, before the rest of our friends figure it out."

when she walks out, she stops at the end of the hallway.

elliot watches the scene playing out in front of her, causing both chris and matt to bump into her.

"hey, what the—" chris starts to say, but matt immediately smacks him on the back of his head to shut him up as they watch what happens.

lily has somehow gotten even more drunk, if that's even possible.

but, considering she drank almost most of her other bottle, the three teenagers assume that the effect of the recent alcohol she'd drank has just now begun to take effect.

lily's leaning against madi and alahna, giggling at something that's probably not even that funny.

the rest of the friend group, including elliot, chris and matt watch in worry.

but, before anyone can find the courage to ask the questions they want to, jake walks over to lily to help her stand upright and allison storms over to elliot angrily.

"what did you do, and why the hell is she drinking right now?" she asks elliot in a whisper-yell.

elliot takes in a deep breath, ready to take on the responsibility, but chris speaks up from behind her, "it's my fault. i'm the one that caught her."

allison's glare is now directed at the youngest triplet. "we got into an argument and i said something i didn't mean."

allison rolls her eyes. "well, you better fix it!"

though, before they can actually try to fix it, a knock sounds at the door.

jake starts to walk over to the door, but lily stumbles in front of him, shaking her head insistently. "no! i wanna do it!" she slurs excitedly.

jake sighs, nodding in acknowledgement, but helps her walk over to the door.

though, when she opens the door, her breath hitches at who she sees on the other side of the door.

he smirks, leaning against the door with a cocky expression. "well, hello, gorgeous." he says, letting his sleazy eyes drag down her body slowly.

lily's eyes darken and she clenches her jaw as a shiver goes through her spine at how uncomfortable she feels under his gaze.

"alex."

—————

A/N: oops! more tea to come guys LMAO. also, i just posted a matt fic that i came up with yesterday and today!! i posted the introduction, so go check it out! it's called want u back!!
—hannah<3