• Chris •
Chris took his time walking home from the train station, he wanted some peace and quiet before the barrage of questions that his brothers had waiting for him at home. All of which, he knew, would be about Mae.
When he finally reached his front door, he took a breath before opening it, surprisingly met with quiet. It wasn't too late, there was a chance that his family had all developed better sleeping habits over the weekend, but he doubted it.
He shrugged, and made his way to his room, where his brothers just so happened to be waiting for him.
"Chris, dude, you can't just drop something like that on us and then not respond!" Nick was obviously not happy with how Chris had handled his outing with Mae.
How he handled it had entailed him texting his brothers telling them that he was going out to see her and then muting their notifications. He truly loved his brothers, but he could never have a full conversation with Mae if they were blowing up his phone, and he had an amazing time with Mae.
Every time they hung out, he found himself wishing more and more that they could see each other more often. Hell, he'd be fine sharing her with his brothers if it meant spending more time with her. He silently chastised himself for wanting more out of his friendship with Mae, because logically, that's all they could ever be.
"Yeah, man. You gotta give us something!" Matt was growing a little impatient with the lack of news he had received over the past few days.
Chris took off his jacket, his good one, as he spoke. "We just got coffee, it was fun. There's literally nothing more to it." He opted to not tell them that he had been invited to dinner at her dads house next week, not sure if he could handle their excitement.
He had also neglected to tell them that it would be Christmas Eve dinner that he was attending. He was stoked for sure, but he knew that it would inevitably mean nothing. Nick didn't look convinced, but he didn't ask anymore questions, thankfully.
The boys fell into a comfortable silence, just doing there own thing until Nick and Matt inevitably had to go back to their own rooms to sleep. Chris wouldn't have minded if they stayed, as long as they weren't grilling him, but he did appreciate being alone sometimes.
~~~
Chris was pacing. He still hadn't told his brothers about his dinner plans tonight; Which meant that he would either have to fess up or calm himself down. He had tried the latter, unsuccessfully, and he would rather not tell Nick and Matt now, it was too late. He and Mae had agreed to take an earlier train together, as the train that they normally took wouldn't arrive in time for the dinner that her father had planned, and that only added to Chris' anxiety.
He left early, really trying to not miss the train this time. He knew that there was much more at stake than his jacket, and he did not want to mess it up.
When he arrived at the station, he had 15 minutes to kill before the train would even pull up, he opted to sit on the bench and wait, he was not in the mood to stand around.
When the train finally pulled up, he was one of the first people to board, and he beelined it right to where Mae was sitting. She was already taking out her earbuds, and he found it sweet that she no longer waited for him to sit down to take them out.
"Hey, Chris!" She smiled wide when he sat down, but he could tell that she was nervous about dinner as well.
"Hi, Mae!" He really was glad to see her, even if he wasn't looking forward to meeting her father and future step-mother. He was sure that they were great, but meeting anyones parents is nerve-wracking.
"Oh, just a few things about my dad. He's going to make us break the wishbone, he always has me do it with Amanda, but since you're coming, it'll most likely be you." He nodded, that seemed simple enough. "He's going to grill you, but like not about super important things, just like little things. Speaking of," Now that made him nervous, "he is going to ask why you left your jacket on the train twice, just tell him you're forgetful. He really has it in his head that you did it on purpose. I've tried to tell him but he won't listen to me."
Great, so now her old man was on to him. The second time really had been an accident, but he knew that because it had happened twice in such a short amount of time it would look like he was doing it on purpose. And sure, he had the first time, but he has a little more game than that!
"Got it. Sounds simple enough." He nodded, trying his best to make note of everything that she had said, he really wanted to make a good impression.
When the train pulled into Boston, the two got off together, and Mae led him down the familiar path to her fathers home. There was a nice contrast to the normal energy of the street when they normally arrive, it was calmer, but busier, a strange combination. But it did wonders to helping him calm down.