𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄, christopher sturniolo

008 ⋆ "my thoughts will echo your name until i see you again."

VALENTINE AND CHRIS STILL HADNT PROPERLY TALKED ABOUT THE KISS. they'd, of course, talked but that topic just hadnt came up. valentine hasnt even told makaya yet, she was also holding off telling her parents about finley.

it was valentine's family birthday bash, which basically meant that her whole family met up at their cottage every year to celebrate everyones birthday.

val's favourite cousins, addison and peyton, had finally arrived at the family cottage. they were celebrating addisons twenty-third birthday, peytons twentieth birthday, and a few other family members.

valentine had been sitting on the couch on her phone, she was very bored and trying very hard to ignore her younger cousins who were crying and begging valentine to play with them. addison, peyton, and their mom walked in the door with their luggages, normally their whole family wouldve started yelling and hugging them but lucky for the girls only valentine was in the cottage. "OH MY GOD IVE MISSED YOU SO MUCH." peyton screeched.

"IVE MISSED YOU TOO, YOU FU—" valentine started but was quickly cut off by her aunt.

"—dont you dare swear, val. i will fucking kill you." her aunt, kimberly, smiled and brought the girl in for a hug.

valentine chuckled. "hi, aunt kimmy. you do know im eighteen , right?"

"i dont care, to me youll always be the baby of the family." kimberly said which made valentines lips seal into a straight line. she wasnt even the baby of the family, she was just younger than both of kimberly's children.

addison coughed, "wheres the rest of the family?" she asked.

valentine looked behind her shoulder "theyre on the dock, i got stuck babysitting." she stuck up both thumbs pointing up and clicked her tongue.

the three girls walked up the stairs with their luggages and unpacked their stuff in the drawers, as children they were the eldest three grandchildren so they all got a shared room together. when they were little they all had their own rooms but as the family grew, their rooms got smaller. addison was putting stuff away in the drawers while peyton was putting toiletries away and val was sitting on her bed, addison and peyton had bunk beds and valentine had her own bed because she spent the most time there as a kid.

"val, how the fuck do you have so many instagram followers?" peyton asked, breaking the uncomftorable silence.

valentine smiled, "remember when i was 15 and thinking of starting a youtube channel and everyone told me it was stupid? i got two million subscribers now, bitches."

addisons jaw clearly dropped, "two million? thats insane, val, congrats." valentine nodded to say 'thank you' addison stopped unpacking and turned to look at her younger cousin, "also, who is that boy in your recent post? hes actually kinda cute."

"thats chris, hes my best friend." valentines smile grew larger even at the thought of the boy.

addison threw a shirt at her, "you totally like him!" she yelled

valentine tried to hide her smile and look intimidating but clearly failed. "i do not!"

"you so do!" peyton screamed from the other room

valentine playfully rolled her eyes. "i don't!"

"when you think of other people do you compare them to him?" addison asked

"well, yes but—"

peyton started "do you think about him before you sleep?"

"he's my best friend, ye—"

"so you like him?" addison chuckled.

valentine groaned and fell down on the bed, she had been sitting and now she was laying down. "i don't know." she said in defeat as her cousins cheered. "it's just hard, you know? he's my best friend. with my last boyfriend he really defended me and if i date chris, whos gonna defend me then?" valentine asked to nobody in particular.