about twenty minutes later, mackenzie exited the airport doors only to be met with a grinning matt holding a sign that says "MACK" on it. rolling her eyes, but smiling nonetheless, mackenzie wheeled her suitcase over to him, taking the sign out of his hand.
"you did not have to do that, you know." she said. "that's movie shit right there."
"how do you know we're not filming right now?" matt asks, slyly. mackenzie knows he's joking but plays along.
"vlogging without my consent now, are we? i can sue you for that." she raises her eyebrows. matt sighs.
"you're no fun." he shakes his head. "c'mon let's go." he leads her to the minivan. she heads for the passenger seat while matt puts her suitcase in the trunk.
"i cannot believe i'm in the minivan right now." mackenzie marvels as matt sits in the drivers seat and starts the car.
"it's not as special as you think." matt laughs. "it's just a regular old minivan."
"yeah, that you film countless iconic tiktoks and youtube videos in. admit it, matt. your minivan is not like any other."
"okay, fine, i agree." matt says, rolling his eyes. he looks at mackenzie for a moment before looking back to the road. "why'd you skip school to come here, anyway? and don't say it's just for a visit. i know you're here to talk to chris, but why? we just left orlando like two days ago."
"well..." mackenzie trailed off, trying to find the best way to explain to matt how she didn't mean to reject his brother in the harshest way possible. "chris sort of confessed his feelings to me a couple days ago and i, um, i rejected him." matt turned to her in shock before turning back only hit the breaks abruptly, almost hitting the car in front of him that was stopped for the red light.
"chris did what?" he asked incredulously as he started driving again. "how did he do it?"
"over text." mackenzie grimaced. "and it caught me off guard, so i panicked and said that i don't like him like that."
"how do you say something like that accidentally?" matt asked, skeptical.
"i don't know." mackenzie admitted. "it all happened so fast and the first thing i thought of when he told me was 'what would the fans think' and i guess me being in multiple fandoms myself and having witnessed how girlfriends of celebrities are treated just scared me. i already get so much hate for being friends with chris and being a fan and i just..." she sighed. "i don't know."
"mack, chris cares about you. more than i've seen him care about anyone. and you've known him for only two months. if you get together, why should the fans even care? he's happy with you and they should be happy that he's happy. don't let their jealousy get to you because once they get to you, they'll feel victory in that and we don't want them to feel like they won something just because you're upset."
"wow, two months." mackenzie smiled. "chris really likes me, huh?"
"he does, kenz. he really does."
"i really like him, too." mackenzie sighs. "but now he probably doesn't want anything to do with me."
"i wouldn't count on that. chris isn't the person to hold grudges." matt explains as he parks in the driveway of the house. he heads to the trunk, taking out her suitcase. "come on, let's see what he and nick are doing." he leads mackenzie up the porch stairs and unlocks the door. "welcome to the sturniolo household."
"mack harper oh my god." mackenzie was met with a bone crushing hug from nick. "holy fuck i'm so happy you're here. c'mon you can stay in my room, we'll set up a mattress or something." nick grabbed her hand, starting to lead her to the kitchen.
"wait." a voice was heard from by the stairs. it was chris. he looked nervous, but cleared his throat. "she can, um, stay in my room. i'll take the couch and she can have the bed."
"chris are you sure–" mackenzie started.
"i'm sure, mack." he said, his eyes signaling that he wanted to talk to her, alone. he motioned her to follow and picked up her suitcase for her. mackenzie nodded, waving goodnight to nick and matt and following chris upstairs. when she got to his room, she noticed that his computer was open to disney+ and austin and ally was paused on the screen.
"great show." she commented, setting her backpack on the floor by head of the bed.
"you got me back into it." chris admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "i forgot how good the songs are, especially upside down."
"that one's my favorite." mackenzie said, taking her pajamas out of her backpack.
"our bathroom's down the hall, just the first door on your left." chris points before mackenzie could even ask. smiling, mackenzie thanks him and goes to the bathroom. while she's getting ready for bed, chris hastily cleans the rest of his room. he shoves the clothes on the floor into the laundry basket in the corner, reorganizes his lyrical lemonade cans, and throws away any useless papers on his desk. by the time mackenzie comes back, he was just placing her bags against the wall next to bed, so that she doesn't trip over them.
"trying to impress me?" she asks, catching chris off-guard. noticing his shocked expression, mackenzie laughs. "relax, chris. i'm just messing with you. your room looks nice."
"thanks." chris replies. both teens look at each other, meeting the other's eyes and looking away awkwardly. mackenzie clears her throat and nods, heading towards the bed while chris walks to the couch. the room is silent, but neither of them could tell if it was an awkward or comfortable silence. it was sort of in-between.
the two are laying down in the dark, chris on the couch and mackenzie on the bed. after a couple minutes of silence, mackenzie decides to speak up.
"hey, chris?" she can tell chris is hesitant to respond.
"yeah, mack?"
"i..." she contemplates whether to tell chris her feelings or not.
"you okay?" he asks. mackenzie quickly shakes her head to herself. she has to do this now, she thinks to herself as she sits up.
"yeah, i'm fine. i just wanted to say that i, uh... i didn't mean what i said the other day."
"what do you mean?" chris also sits up. he reaches over to the window sill, turning on his led lights to a light blue. the two can see each other now. mackenzie takes a deep breath.
"i don't just think of you as a friend or a celebrity crush." she says. chris is about to respond, but she stops him. "can you let me finish, please?" chris closes his mouth and nods.
"i like you. really, i do. but when you confessed to me, i panicked. i didn't know what to do because this hasn't happened to me before where someone as big as you asked me out. i thought about how much hate i would get and i didn't want it to add on to the hate that i already get just for being friends with you."
"you get hate just for being friends with me?" chris asks, immediately feeling guilty that he didn't know about this. mackenzie nods.
"it's not too much, but there's always a hate dm or comment from jealous fans every now and then."
"mack, why didn't you tell me? i would have stopped it."
"i know, but i didn't want them to think that i made you do it. i didn't want to deal with the toxicity of the fandom, no matter how big or little it is."
"and that's why you rejected me?" chris asked.
"yeah, pretty much. and i know you would stop them because you care about me, but like i said, i panicked. i didn't want you to think that i was pathetic for letting them get to me."
"you're not pathetic, mack." chris says immediately. "you're one of the best people i've ever met. you have a way of getting back to people, whether it be in a nice way or just straight up insulting them, you always have a good response. it's what i lo– like the most about you." he rambles, praying that mackenzie didn't notice his slip up. she didn't.
"you mean it?" she looks a little relieved that chris didn't find her as a loser for thinking like that.
"i really do. and i cannot believe you skipped school and flew all the way out here just to say that." he added. mackenzie shrugs.
"to be fair, i did try over the phone, but you kept leaving me on read. i figured the only way to get you to listen was to come here myself."
"wow. you're crazy committed." chris comments. he suddenly stands up and walks over to the bed where mackenzie is sitting. "can i kiss you?" he asks, standing over her. mackenzie gets out of the bed and stands in front of him. he's a little taller than her, the top of her head reaching just above his eyes. the two stare at each other for a moment before mackenzie impulsively places her lips on his.
it was only a couple of seconds, but it felt longer. it was as if time stopped. the second their lips connected it was like a billion sparks flew all around them.
and it was in this moment that mackenzie harper realized that she was in love with christopher sturniolo.
maha speaks :)
as if she wasn't already in love with him 🙄