River pov
I've been working on homework for the past three hours. Who knew you could miss so much in four days.
When I first got up, all I did was brush my teeth. I'm still in the same clothes as last night and I haven't done my skincare.
Mom and I are going out at one-thirty. It's twelve o'clock right now.
"Fuck this." I whisper to myself, closing my computer.
I flip my phone right side up again. I had only missed a couple notifications since I last put it down, granted that was ten minutes ago.
Messages
Chris
Are you busy today?
Snapchat
Jordan sent a chat!
Jordan is typing...
Jordan sent a Snap
Lillia
I clicked on the top notification.
yeah
i'm going out with my mom for a while
but i'm free tonight?
Will you come over?
yeah i'll keep u updated
Ok
Have fun
i will
thank you
I swiped down on my phone screen to see the notifications again. I already forgot.
I decided to get up and shower before I respond to anyone else.
First, I double shampooed my hair. This week has been so damaging to my hair so I deep conditioned it.
I used a claw clip to keep it off my back before I moved onto the rest of my routine. I didn't want the water to wash it out and I didn't want to keep the oils on my back.
Third, I washed my body and shaved before I got out.
I put my hair in a towel and dried off.
I changed into back shorts and a white t-shirt before I did my skincare.
My skin felt so smooth when I was done.
Then, I brushed my hair out and turned my fan on full blast so it can dry as I do my makeup. I'm not going to go heavy on the makeup, just some light work.
I put blush on, brushed up my eyes brows with some clear gel, added wings with eyeshadow, put mascara on, and added some highlighter.
Now, I need a break.
I scrolled through Tiktok for a while and then moved over to Instagram. It got boring quick.
I decided to open snap and respond to some people.
Jordan
i have fucking butterflies
Me
wait no that's so cute
and yes i will
Matt is really good for Jordan. I'm happy to see she's happy.
Me:
YES
YOU LOOK SO GOOD BABE
I opened the rest of my snaps and did one big group snap for the rest.
***
"Is this cute?" Mom asks, holding up a long, black romper to her chest.
"It is but I swear I've seen you wear that before." I say.
"I like my rompers." She says.
"I can tell." I laugh.
"And this one's a little bit different. See?" She says, pointing at the mini rhinestones where the waist line sits.
"I like it." I say.
"Me too. I'm getting it." She says.
"What about this?" I ask, holding up an item I have in my hands.
"If you want to get that you're going to have to get it with your own money." She says.
"Word."
We both payed and went into a few more stores before we decided to go to dinner. It was only 4 pm but we were both hungry.
We walked into a restaurant within the outdoor mall.
A nice women got us seated and took our drink and food orders.
"The shopping Gods were with us today."
"Literally thank God, I needed some new outfits." I say. Usually when I go shopping alone, I always by pieces of clothing instead of outfits.
"Thank you for taking me out today." I say.
"You're welcome." She smiles. "Thank you for coming with me."
All of the sudden I feel guilt build in my belly.
I should tell her about Chris. I hope she doesn't feel bad about me not telling her. There's a reason why I haven't yet though. Every time I tell her about a guy, I end up getting too comfortable with telling her things and I end up telling her every detail and then she gets annoyed because it's the only thing I tell her about. I don't want to accidentally end up annoying her especially because things are good between us right now.
"What do you want to do for your graduation?" She asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Uh, I don't know." I shrug.
"Do you want to have a party?" She asks.
"No but I'll go to other peoples." I say.
"Why not have one at our house?" She asks.
"Because people get drunk and end up breaking things." I say.
"What if it's just your friends?" She asks.
"Still." I state.
"You think your friends would break stuff?" She asks again.
"Not on purpose but, things happen."
"Do you break stuff when you go to parties." She asks.
"No, but I also never get drunk enough to break anything." I say being honest.
She nods. "You don't really like drinking, do you?"
"Not really, it makes me feel so gross. I end up super bloated and uncomfortable, and hungover the next day. It's not really worth it for me."
"Honestly, fair enough." She says.
I laugh at her picking up me and Noah's sayings.
"So then, what do you do?" She asks.
Smoke. "Drink one or two until I'm tipsy and then just hangout with whoever's there." I shrug.
I'm glad we can talk about these things together. However, I wish I could tell her that I'm literally a stoner but, I can't. Noah and I have been caught a few times and they just aren't anywhere near ok with it. Which is understandable. But, I do find it a little weird that they're ok with me drinking and not smoking.
"You keep zoning out, what are you thinking about?" She asks.
Fuck.
"Mom, I have to tell you something." I say.
"What..?" She asks, slowly putting her drink down on the table.
"Don't look so scared, it's not bad." I laugh.
"What is it?" She asks.
"I've been talking to this one guy." I say.
"Oh ok. Who?" She asks.
"Chris." I state.
"Oh," She drags out. "can I see him?"
I pull my phone out of my purse and show her Chris' Instagram.
She awes, "He's cute."
"Isn't he? Wait, why do you not seemed shocked at all, like in the slightest?" I ask.
She shrugs.
"Dad told you, didn't he?" I ask starting to put two and two together.
"Yeah." She whispers.
I dramatically gasp for just the two of us to hear. "What a fucking traitor."
"River." She says.
"Sorry, sorry. But what the fu-frick" I correct myself.
She rolls her eyes. "We don't keep secrets."
"Wow." I drag out.
"Don't be mad at Dad." She says.
"Who else could I be mad at?" I laugh. I mean seriously the one thing I told him not to tell her.
"We tell each other everything. I like to know the drama." She says.
I smile. I'm a mini her.
I guess I can understand that because I know I'll be telling my future partner all the tea.
"So, do you think you're going to date?" She asks switching the topic from Dad back to Chris.
There she goes asking the question I don't know the answer to.
"Hopefully." I shrug.
"Have you guys hung out yet?" She asks.
"Yeah, he's one of the triplets." I say.
"Oh," She says coming to realization. "Oh!" She says again. "Jordan's dating Matt."
"Yep."
"That's always so fun. I mean usually best friends go for another pair of best friends but this works too." She says.
I laugh.
"Can I meet him?" She asks.
"Oh my god, yeah." I say remembering he hasn't met either of my parents yet.
"Ok, ask him if he wants to have dinner with us sometime this week." She says.
"Ok, I'll ask him tonight." I say.
We ate our dinner and then drove home jamming out to old Justin Bieber albums.
Once I got home, it was already starting to get cold outside from the sun going down.
I grabbed the sweatshirt I was wearing last night from my bathroom hook and called Chris.
"Hey, I'm free now." I say into the phone against my ear.
"Yay, you can come over whenever."
"Ok, I'll head over in a few minutes." I say grabbing my purse off my bed. "What's the plan for tonight?" I ask.
"We're actually about to start streaming but, we can wait for you or if you want you can come over after." He suggests.
"No it's ok, you can start streaming. I'll just show up like midway through." I say.
"Sounds good." He says. "You can just walk through the front door, I'll leave it unlocked."
"You want me just to walk in?" I ask.
"Yeah." He says.
"Are you sure?" I ask again.
"Yeah, you're good." He says.
"What if you're parents are sitting in the kitchen and I end up scaring them." I laugh even though it's a genuine concern of mine.
"They're not gonna be home until later." He says.
"Ok and oh, what's the topic of the stream so I know what energy to bring." I ask.
"To be honest, I don't even know. I'm leaving that up to Nick and Matt. Don't worry about bringing energy if you don't have any." He says.
"Ok," I laugh. "I'll see you soon."
"See you soon." He says.
"Bye." I say.
"Bye Riv."
I smile as I hang up. I love when anyone calls me by that nickname but when he says it, my heart goes pitter patter.
***
I knocked on Chris' door before Matt let me in. "I brought drinks." I say, holding out the tray of drinks and taking a sip of my own.
Matt took the cardboard tray from me. "No way, thank you so much." He says.
"Thank you!" Chris and Jordan say at the same time.
Nick has headphones over his ears so I just set his drink next to him.
Nick gasps and pauses his game. "You did not."
I stare at him.
"River!" He drags out, standing up from his seat and hugging me. "Thank you!"
"Mhm." I hum hugging him back.
"Yo somebody clip that and tag me because I want this in my camera roll." Nick says.
"Somebody said 'I want River as a friend.'" Chris says reading the chat.
"I know, I know. I'm the best or whatever." I say being sarcastic as I take a seat next to Jordan on the bed. "Anyway, I'm here." I drag out.
"She's here." All three of the boys say at the same time mocking me.
Jordan and I burst out laughing.
"So what are we doing?" I ask.
"We're taking turns playing an escape room." Matt says.
"I just started this one but do you want to go next?" Nick asks me, sitting back down in his chair.
I form my lips into a line. "Umm, my brain doesn't work like that."
"I'll help you." Chris says.
"Sure." I say, looking at Chris.
Chris smiles before reading off the chat again with Matt.
I notice Nick didn't put his headphones back on before he started playing again.
"He'll help you." Jordan whispers for only me to hear.
I roll my eyes.
"What did we all do today?" Matt asks, reading the chat.
"I spent the day with Chrissy Whissy." Nick says in a fake baby voice.
Chris shrugs, "Yeah."
"Matt took me on a date." Jordan says.
"I took her on a date." Matt says, repeating Jordan.
"River?" Nick asks.
"I spent the day with Mama Schnapp." I say.
"What'd you do?" Chris asks.
"We went shopping and then got dinner." I say.
"Oh my god!" Chris says putting down his drink and turning around in his seat to face me and Jordan. "You got me a sweat tea?!" He says.
"Duh." I say.
"Ugh, thanks. Sorry to interrupt, keep going." Chris says.
"That's all I was gonna say." I shrug.
"Fuck! Where the fuck is the fucking key?!" Nick yells.
We all start laughing.
"Calm down buddy." Matt says rubbing Nicks back.
"No because the minuets are running out!" Nick yells again.
"That's how a timer works." Chris says, egging him on.
Nick holds out his hand out towards Chris. "I don't have time for your bullshit."
Chris giggles as he takes a another sip of his drink.
As Matt and Chris was busy helping Nick, I asked Jordan how her date went.
"Good, really good. He made me a cute picnic and then we went mini golfing." She says.
"Stop, I love that." I say.
"Love what?" Chris asks.
Your face, I say in my head. "Jimmy Sturniolo." I say.
"Yo back off my dad." Matt says.
"Fine then Mary Lou." I shoot back.
"Someone said 'Taking homie hopping to the next level.'" Chris reads off the screen.
"No shame." I shrug.
Jordan and I both give each other a look that says 'we'll talk about it later.' I do want to hear more about their date.
"Where the fuck is this key?!" Nick yells again. "I'm gonna rage quit!"
"Nick," I begin. "think about this. You've made it so far." I say.
"Ugh!" Nick drags out.
We all start laughing besides Nick.
"Chris this comment is for you." Matt says. "Someone asked if you would ever date a Bi girl."
"Yeah, I don't care. It doesn't effect me." Chris says.
I smile.
"'Thoughts on one direction?'" Matt asks, reading the chat again.
"They're not a thing anymore." Chris says.
Jordan and I both gasp.
"Chris." Nick says disappointed.
"You did not." I say holding my hand over my heart.
"That was disrespectful." Jordan says.
"I felt my heart physically fucking drop." I add.
"What? It's true." Chris says.
"Oh my god!" I yell. "Breaking my heart for real."
"What?" Chris asks again.
"You know what, I don't have time to educate you right now so for now, you're done." I say.
"You're in time out in my head." Jordan says.
"Big Time Rush is better." Matt says.
"Matt!" Jordan yells.
"You too?!" I yell. "I am personally canceling the both of you."
"I mean, I like Harry Styles." Chris says.
"No because if you really liked him, you would like or at least appreciate One Direction too."
"Preach!" Nick yells.
Matt hits Nicks arm.
"What? I'm with the girls on this one." Nick shrugs.
"Thank the mother of the lord." I say.
"The mother of the lord?" Chris asks laughing.
Once Chris started laughing so did Matt.
"Yeah, thank the mother of the lord that one of you has a fucking brain." I say. "Fuck, I probably shouldn't use Lord and Fuck in the same sentence-fuck I did it again-shit-I need to stop."
Everyone starts bursting into laughter again.
"See, y'all have me messed up." I say.
"Fine switching topics-" Matt begins.
"For now." I interrupt, correcting him.
"You guys have the whole chat hating on us now." Chris says.
"Good." Jordan says.
I nod.
"I found the key! I found the key! I found the fucking key!" Nick yells, aggressively moving the mouse around. "I swear to fuck if key doesn't unlock the dresser-"
No one interrupted Nick, he just ended the sentence there.
He sighs in relief, getting up from his chair. "If there was a fucking mic to drop, I would've dropped it."
We all laugh and clap for him.
"I need a breather." Nick says leaving the room, taking his drink with him.
"Your turn." Chris says, patting the seat next to him.
"After that? I don't think so."
"You got it." Chris says.
"No," I drag out. "in stressful situations my brain lags."
"I said I would help you." Chris says.
"Like you did such a great job helping Nick." I say.
"No I'll actually help you." Chris says.
"Fine." I say sitting down.
Matt reads off another question as Chris is setting up the next round. "'Would you rather never make a Youtube video again or never make a Tiktok again?'"
"Easy, never make another Tiktok." Chris says.
"Same." I say.
"Same." Matt says.
"I can't pick." Jordan says. "I make way more Tiktoks than I do Youtube videos. Tiktok is how I vlog."
"Fair." I say.
"But I like how Youtube is a good sit down type of content." Matt says.
"Agreed." Chris says.
"Nick!" Matt yells.
"Yeah?!" Nick yells back from another room.
"Would you rather never make a Youtube video again or never make a Tiktok again?!" Matt yells.
"What?!" Nick yells back.
"Would you rather never make a Youtube video again or never make a Tiktok again?!!" Matt yells even louder."
"What?!" Nicks yells again.
"Just come back!" Matt yells again.
***
We ended the stream about a half hour ago. We all went out separate ways as we normally do. Nick is trying to upload the stream to Youtube and Matt and Jordan are watching a movie.
Chris and I are laying in his bed watching random Youtube videos on my phone.
The video pauses as a Facetime notification from Spencer pops up.
"Can I answer this?" I ask.
"Yeah, you don't have to ask." He says back.
"You don't have to talk if you don't want to." I say knowing his social battery is still low from the stream.
"Hey Spence."
"Hey River, I was just calling because I got some new tattoos today." He says, excitedly.
"Show me." I say.
"Ok first," He says as he lifts his shirt up. "I got this compass on my chest. And then, I got this semi collan on my wrist. And last but not least, I got this dagger on my arm." He says speaking fast.
I know why he spoke fast, he doesn't want me to ask about them right now.
"Those are nice, I like them. Did you get them all today?" I ask.
"Yep. All three." Spencer nods.
"I would've passed out." I say, laughing a little.
"I thought you wanted tattoos?" He says.
"I do, just not all at once." I say.
"It's not that bad, I promise." He says.
"We'll see. Maybe we can get matching ones." I suggest.
"Can we?!" He asks excitedly.
"Of course."
"Soon?" He asks.
"Probably not but eventually. Mom won't let me anyway so I have to wait until I'm eighteen."
"How is Mom?" He asks.
"Good. We went shopping today and then went out to dinner." I say, playing with Chris' hair.
"Where did you go?" He asks.
"Olive Garden." I say with a smirk.
His jaw drops. "Lucky."
"I know."
"And Noah? How is he doing?" Spencer asks again.
"Good, he left early this morning with Dad to go refilm some stuff for season three." I say.
"I thought they were done with that." He says in more of a question.
"Me too but apparently not. He'll be back when I come back from LA though."
"Oh, yeah! When is that again?" He asks.
"I leave Wednesday with just Mom and then I come back for a week and then leave again on the 14th. And then, when I come back from that, Noah will be home." I say.
"I feel like I've missed so much." He says.
"That's ok." I say, hoping he doesn't feel bad.
"Oh, did I tell you I'm moving?" He asks.
"You did not." I say.
"Oh, well I'm moving." He says.
"Oh really?" I say, sarcasm in my voice. "To where?"
"Same apartment complex but different room." He says.
"Oh, how come?" I ask.
"I can't stand Ollie anymore." He sighs. "I don't want to get into it right now, it gets me too fired up but I'll tell you more later."
"Word. When are you moving?" I ask.
"End of this month." He says.
"I'm really proud of you." I say. "Send me moving vlogs on snap."
He laughs, "I will."
"Sorry Riv, I gotta go. I have to get ready for work but I just wanted to update you." He says, picking up his phone from the table.
"That's ok. We'll talk later." I say.
"Yeah, I'll start calling you more." He says.
"Good, thank you. I miss you."
"I miss you too, I'll try an visit more often." He says.
"Perfect. Me too." I say, smiling.
"Alright well, I love you." He says.
"I love you too." I say back.
"Good night." He says waving.
"Good night." I say smiling and waving before he hangs up.
I sigh, placing my phone on my bed, faced down.
"You ok?" Chris asks, picking his head up off my chest and looking at me.
"Yeah, I'm good." I say running my hand through his hair again.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" He asks.
"There's nothing to talk about. He's doing things that's good for him and make him happy." I say. Everything's falling into place for him."
"Well if you ever do, I'll listen. Anytime."
//
I want to shift to this reality bruh