NEIGHBORS !
╰┈➤ 10. hello kitty cafe
irl
She was used to this routine by now.
With her packed tote bag thrown over her shoulder, she turned off her lights and smiled to herself at how often she was doing this as she turned the key in her lock. She really loved her friends.
She walks over to her second home at this point, and knocks. As she waits, she's shifting her weight between both feet and she looks up at the sound of the lock unlocking.
Elena is greeted at the door by Chris. Specifically, a Chris that had wet hair, was fully dressed in his fit for the night, and with a toothbrush in his mouth.
"Hnnh," he's trying to say hi but it's obviously difficult when someone is trying to brush their teeth.
"Say it don't spray it," she wiped off her arm, "I'll be upstairs. I told Mila and Roman we'd head out by 6," at the sight of Chris's nod, she knows she was understood and headed upstairs.
Nick was just getting out of the shower, already fully dressed as well. Seeing that everyone was just finishing their shower, she was glad that she had cleaned up before she headed over to help them film.
"Hi. I'm gonna sit on your floor for a bit, I shouldn't take more than an hour!"
"Here," he grabs a blanket from somewhere in his closet, "sit on this so it doesn't hurt as much. I'm gonna go see what Chris and Matt are doing, I'll be back."
She thanks him and he walks out the door. She clapped silently to herself as she unpacked her makeup and noticed she brought her small JBL speaker and connected and turned on music. YOSEMITE by Travis Scott started playing, and it was loud enough that it summoned Chris upstairs.
"Two-tone Patek," Chris walks in rapping along and nodding his head to the beat and Elena sees him in the reflection. They make eye contact through that and she smiles at him, continuing to do her base.
"What are you doing here? Nick told me he was looking for you," the beauty blender now bouncing on her face.
"Yeah. I saw him, told him I'd stay in his room for a bit, him and Matt went somewhere to take pics," he explains, "you just started?"
"Mhm. Gimme a few moments and I'll be ready."
"Got it."
Music kept playing, drowning out the silence that could brew between the two. The next song was Nightcrawler and Elena hummed to herself, must've been the get ready hype playlist.
"Aw, shit," Chris sits up on the bed to start rapping along and Elena ignores him, used to his behavior when the song came on. She looks up and sees him, moving along and making motions to the song as she finished her eyebrows.
Huffing out a breath, she leans back from how close she was to the mirror to get a better look at her appearance. She hums and nods and continues and begins to rifle through her bag for eyelash curler and mascara, her last steps.
When she finishes both eyes, topping off the tips of her lashes with more mascara, she inserts the wand back into its container and throws everything back into the makeup bag before grabbing a lip liner and lip gloss to throw in her bag for the day.
She cleans up her area before standing up and taking her tote bag to the bathroom to change.
"Hey, I'm gonna get dressed. Let Nick and Matt know I'm almost ready, yeah?"
"Mhm. I'll text them right now."
"Thank you," Elena draws out the last sound of the word as she closed the door and Chris smiles at his phone as he texts his brothers.
She changes and gets dressed, sizing herself up and down in the mirror before shrugging, looks good enough she thinks.
Her hair was her next area of concern. At this point, she knew that all she could do was straight it some. She pulled out the flat iron from her bag and plugged it in, leaving to check her outfit in the full length mirror in Nick's room.
She does a twirl in the mirror, looking at herself from all angles and Chris smiles. Elena sees it, and smiles at herself as well.
"I like your fit," Chris compliments.
"Aw, Chris! You're too sweet, thank you," and she walks back into the bathroom trying to contain happy squeals. The nicer Chris had been to her, the more she's starting to feel flustered by him.
A few minutes later, she's finished with her hair and she's curled a few pieces and fixed her bangs. After cleaning up her area completely and throwing out any hairs she had shed, she walks back into Nick's room and sees all three brothers in there.
"Hi. I just need to spray on perfume and I'm good. Are you all completely ready?"
They all nod in sync and Elena smiles, "great. You guys can go downstairs," and points to Nick and Chris, "Matt, do you have the keys?"
He nods and unlocks them from around his belt loop, "mmkay. I'll meet you there. I promise I'm driving, I'll turn off the lights and everything."
"I'll leave my house key in the door, lock up and grab 'em before you head out," Chris explains as he's the first to walk out of the room. She nods even if he can't see her and starts spraying perfume as she gets her bag ready and shoes on. Happy with how she looked and felt, she was ready to leave.
Doing what Chris said, she puts the keys in her purse and jogs over to the driver's seat. The car was already playing music, more Lil Skies blaring through the speakers. She gets in and adjusts the seat, asking Matt to text Camila they were leaving and they headed over to Orange County.
A good hour or so later, they were parking in the designated structure and specifically on the rooftop as they waited for the couple to arrive. While waiting in the car, they see Camila's car driving uphill to where they were parked and all of them get out of the car to greet their friends.
Elena locks the car and puts the keys in her purse as well, knowing they always lose their keys and the first person they always ask is Elena.
Roman parks and Camila jumps out before he can turn off the car, jogging to Elena. They're both sporting the widest grins on their faces at the sight of each other. Camila jumped into Elena's arms as Matt held her upright to stop the two from toppling over.
Roman daps up the boys as the two kept hugging and Elena spins the girls around to face Roman and points a finger in his face, "do you see how happy she is? You are depriving her of that because you can't live without her! Which is fair. I can't either. But still!"
Roman is laughing and he wraps his arms around the two girls hugging and Nick hugs Mila from the side as well, and Matt and Chris join in.
"Aw! Group hug!" Mila says.
"Yay," Nick says in an extremely monotone voice, Elena snorting at his tone. She pulls back and everyone follows suit.
"Okay. Let's go. Roman wants pasta, supposedly, let's go find a place then we can do whatever else."
The plan was agreed upon and they headed over to the restaurant that Camila had looked up beforehand, Del Frisco's Grille. The only pasta dish on the menu was the one Roman had been craving and she thought it was perfect. As she led the way, a few people walked up to the triplets for pictures and a short conversation as the other three talked to a few fans as well and they eventually made it to the restaurant.
"Hi, I'm Luke! I'll be your server tonight, anything I can start you guys off with?"
Only a person with their eyes closed would be as oblivious as Elena was to this man's stare. Everyone was looking down at the menu, whereas Chris was glaring at the waiter who was so lovingly staring at Elena.
"Pepsi," Chris mutters. He's usually more polite, especially toward service workers. He wasn't so sure why his mood was immediately dampened. Well, he had a clue why he was acting this way. But, he wasn't sure.
"Um, do you guys have like... strawberry lemonade?"
"We do! What else for you, love?"
Chris rolled his eyes, so corny he thought. Elena didn't think it was corny, though, as she smiled up at the waiter, "I'm good for now. What about you guys?"
He disappears for a bit and returns with drinks and for the main order, and Chris can hear the giggling from Elena. Furthermore, he could hear the snickering from Matt and Roman as they notice Chris's glare. Chris leans to his right where Matt was seated and slaps his thigh, making laugh Matt more and catching the attention of Luke and Elena.
"Sorry. Saw something on TikTok. Continue, please."
Elena scrunches her face in annoyance, Matt's phone wasn't even on. It was face down on the table.
After a whole meal of eye-rolling, Chris is asking for the bill and slides his card inside. He was so over the flirting that he decided to pay for everyone, just to get out of there quicker.
"Um, you got the bill?" Elena asked, "you didn't want dessert?"
"Oh, that's perfect! I saw the Hello Kitty Cafe was still open, let's go?" Camila suggested. They all nodded and she flashed two thumbs up and a smile, happy that everyone was on board with the plan.
Luke comes back with the card and check and Chris signs off, tucking his card back into his wallet and sitting up to shove it into his back pocket, "let's go."
He grabs the receipt and waits to the leave the restaurant before he opens it up, realizing he didn't even check the price.
His eyes don't bulge out of their sockets due to the price, but rather due to the fact that Luke had written his number on the receipt for Elena.
"What? Did you want us to Venmo you?" Matt sounded anxious upon the sight of Chris's shocked face. He's wordless as he flashes the bottom of the receipt toward his brother, who gasps and laughs.
Elena was preoccupied talking to Camila, which meant Roman was hanging in the back with the brothers. Matt grabs the attention of his brother and their friend to show them the bottom of the receipt, and Roman laughs a little too loud. He couldn't help it, it was just so funny to watch two people not know that they liked each other.
"What? What's so funny?" Camila stops her and Elena in their tracks as she holds onto Elena's arm. They both walk to the boys before Chris hides the receipt behind his back, "it's nothing. It's just... the waiter left his number for you and we thought it was funny. Not because like, you're ugly!–" Roman snorted at this, "but like, it's corny! He could've given it to you. I don't know why he wrote it on the receipt! I paid!"
Elena was laughing, "maybe it's for you!"
Chris's face dropped in annoyance, "ha ha. Here. Take it."
"I'm okay. I was just flirting to see if he'd sneak me a cocktail without carding me but he wasn't getting the hint. You can throw it out," she turns on her heel and her and Camila continue walking.
"Best case scenario for you, seriously," Roman pats him on the back and walks next to Matt, "bro doesn't even know how lucky he got," he mutters.
Chris was confused, what did Roman even mean by that?
He knew what he meant, obviously. He was born at night, but not last night.
But what he was confused by was where was anyone getting this weird assumption that he and Elena like each other? It was obvious that's what they were hinting at, but what evidence did they have. These were all Chris's sober thoughts, by the way.
Before they knew it, all 6 of them were stood in front of a pink building with double doors and Nick opened the door for everyone. Camila and Elena were huddling together for warmth as they pointed at the cute pastries while trying to hold their hands close to their chest to retain warmth.
"We'll go find a table, let's go?" Roman patted Chris on the back, and he nods.
They sit at the table in silence together for a bit before Roman speaks up, "are you ever gonna realize that maybe you like Elena?"
"The fuck are you on about?"
"I'm just saying. We all see it. Me and Matt don't get jealous when Elena flirts with other men."
"Well for one, I would hope you wouldn't get jealous. You dog. You're dating Camila."
"You're deflecting! I've known Elena longer and I have never gotten jealous over a man she's flirting with. Just saying."
"I'm not deflecting! Besides, there's nothing to see. I just like having her as a friend and I feel protective. What if that Luke dude was a creep? Or some weirdo who just... I don't know! He could've been weird. You never know."
"Kid works at an upscale restaurant in Irvine. In Orange County. I'm sure here's fine," he laughs.
Chris lost count of how many times he's rolled his eyes in the past two hours, "you're tweakin', kid. Not sure what you started smokin' but you gotta ease up on it."
Roman smacks him and laughs, knowing he was kidding about one part.
"I'm just saying!" He holds his hands up in defense, "you just never know."
Chris was going to continue, but the other four were walking back from the register.
"What did you guys get?" The blue eyed boy was adjusting his position in the booth, hopefully relieving some tension by stretching his neck out a bit and unclenching his jaw.
"Mila got a hot latte, I got three macarons, Nick got two cupcakes and one is for you, and Matt got a cookie."
"And for me?" Roman pokes Mila's shoulder and she rolls her eyes, "strawberry smoothie," and the boy smiles and pecks her forehead.
"Aha!" Elena yells and points, "your first kiss in front of us!"
Camila's face heats up and flushed red as Roman smiles at Elena, "sorry. Sorry. Okay, sorry."
Their buzzer vibrates and Elena and Matt go to grab everyone's orders and Chris slumps in his seat again, being beat by Matt in a competition he was fighting alone.
The night ended with them staying at the cafe until they realized they were about to embarrassingly get kicked out. Eventually, they ended up back at the parking structure and took pictures as well, Elena had insisted on it after talking about how long it took her to get ready. It was a catch up type of night for the group. There was nothing juicy, there was no tea to be spilled. It was just listening to each other and how they've been growing and Nick let everyone in on a secret: his new brand!
"So," they were now at their parking spaces and standing around their cars, "I know you two won't be here during Christmas. So I wanted to give you guys a little gift," he grabs his tote bag, "here they are! My new brand's first launch!"
Camila and Elena were about to cry, so insanely proud of their friend. "Nick! No fucking way!" Elena's voice was shaky as she held the three lip balms in their component.
"Okay. There's really no need to cry. Like seriously. But here! I hope you guys love them. Really. Let me know how you feel about them, seriously. I need the feedback for improvements, so please let me know if there's anything I should adjust or anything like that."
Camila and Elena throw their arms around Nick and he pats their shoulders, "okay. Are you guys okay yet."
Elena glares at her friend, "yes. We're okay. Oh! New Years. We wanted to talk about New Years real quick and we can head home."
"Yes! What's the move?"
"Well the boys get back from Boston the 30th I think? So we'll be in Boston for about two weeks?" Elena turns to Nick who nodded.
"Okay. We're heading back up from San Diego the 29th. We can see who invites us to parties, regroup, then choose. Sound good?" Camila proposed and again, everyone nods along to her great plans.
"Ugh, I love today! You guys all appreciate my plans!"
They all bid each other goodbyes and have-a-safe-trips and they all get back into their respective cars, and Elena is driving again.
Now that the traffic had cleared, Elena got them home in 45 minutes. She shook Matt and Nick woke up from the car being parked and he woke up Chris. She unlocked the door and clicked the lock button on their key fob once she saw the brothers were now all inside the house.
"Who's sleeping with me?" Nick asked as all of them were still in the foyer.
"Me." Three different voices chorused.
"Fuck. Okay. Elena, sleep next to me, whoever else can fit next to Elena can stay. Whoever doesn't. You know what to do," he's trudging upstairs and dragging his feet, everyone was tired at this point.
No one ever talks about how tiring socializing can be.
By the time Elena was ready for bed, the two other brothers were wearing their pajamas and hoodies for bed, both of them even bringing an extra pillow. And of course, Matt brought one of his stuffed animals with him.
Elena's contacts were out and she was wearing a Fresh Love hoodie with the hood pulled over her head with pajama pants. Nick takes his place on his bed and Elena gets behind him, and Chris and Matt look at each other.
"Either one of you. Get next to me. It's fucking cold and the space heater hasn't kicked in yet."
Matt walks forward and throws his stuffed animal at Elena, "you're on the floor."
"No way."
"Yeah. I was lying. Get here."
Chris is on the foot of the bed, and he somehow fits. He grabs another blanket and drags it over himself. Nick was fully asleep and so was Elena, Matt was scrolling on TikTok on the lowest volume his phone can go without being on mute, and Chris stares at a single Christmas light that was on.
His head was empty as he brewed over Roman's words.
What did he mean by "like Elena?"
And again, he knew what he meant. He just needed more time.
Good thing she was coming to Boston, but he didn't even know that yet.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘˗ˏˋ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ˎˊ˗∘∙⊱⋅•⋅.
📂 l1velaughluke says:
WE'RE SO BACK!!🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️ as a gift i will be providing at least 2 chapters of boston chrilena. i hope u guys enjoy, i'm so excited to write about it! also idk if they were born at night. it just sounded funny for the line lol
to anyone who cares:
i'll be posting my preview for my new chris fic soon! i hope u guys love it, it's a friends to lovers but unconventional in a way!
again, thank you guys so much for your continued support even tho i'm the worst updater ever, but i hope you guys are enjoying their little love story so far.
votes and comments are always appreciated, thank u for all the luv, u all mean so much to me!
xoxo MWAH🩵