2:39 pm. if chris had waited maybe forty more minutes, he could've had his chance. he could've made her day. he could've made her smile, in the way where her face lit up and her eyes crinkled and her cheeks got really big. he thought it was adorable.
what was even more adorable was the brilliant red flush and sweat lining her forehead as she glared at him through her dark lashes, her light blue eyes flashing dangerously. he wanted to laugh at the way she kept her weight on her toes, bouncing on the balls of her feet, her eyes watching his every move. she was calculating what he was going to do.
chris didn't care. he just liked her watching him like that, like she was studying him, like she was really looking at him.
in his defense, soccer was never his strong suit. up there with skateboarding and track, he was never the best at using his feet. especially in soccer. the only reason he even played during recess was because of juliet and her obsessive competitive spirit.
2:42 pm. he had been dribbling lazily for the past three minutes, his teammates screeching at him to either pass the ball or shoot. juliet was a terrible defense. even nick, who was watching from the sidelines, knew. chris, with his lack of skill, could've easily kicked around her and made it into the net that was pretty empty due to thalia's lack of enthusiasm in the sport—another person juliet dragged to play.
2:43 pm. chris made a move. it was certainly executed poorer than the idea in his head—but the idea wasn't good in the first place. matt was screaming his head off, his teammates given up on chris' abilities long ago, and even juliet, who was still squinting at him through scrutiny, was becoming restless.
chris charged, sending all his energy into his right foot as his sneaker swung at the tattered black and white ball laying there limply on the yellowing grass. one second, the ball was up in the air, soaring higher than anyone could have expected, especially juliet.
2:44 pm. juliet was limp on the ground, the ball innocently rolling next to her.
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"oh my god, you're an actual child." juliet hayes groaned exasperated at the sight of christopher sturniolo. it wasn't chris' presence that caused the annoyed reaction, but rather the fact that he was sopping wet, droplets of water dripping into his pale blue eyes. chris simply let out a laugh as she shook her head at his stupidity. his dark hair was drenched and wild, his waves turning into curls, his shirt plastered against his body, his smile infectious. she shut her computer regretfully, staring sadly at her unfinished eight page essay as she pushed it away, replacing schoolwork with chris' soaked body. "i literally told you it was going to rain. you do this every time. be normal, please. for once."
chris shrugged with a grin. his stupid grin. the one that had grown up with them, so familiar that it was engrained in her brain forever. it struck her every time. juliet was terrified of that pretty smile. similarly, it made her melt a little, just how happy chris was. how genuinely joyful he could be. "i like walking in the rain."
juliet rolled her eyes, taking his hand and forcing him to sit, plugging in the hair dryer. "grow up."
"never." he argued, but complaisantly obliging. he shook his head as the warm air of the hair dryer struck his hair. "you don't have to—"
"shut the fuck up." jules replied instantly and chris laughed loudly. the fact that he was even insinuating that she didn't have to fix him up was a taunt, given the fact that this was a pattern that occurred once a month.
chris looked up as juliet aggressively brushed his hair with her fingers, chris wincing as the heat and her recently painted nails scraped his scalp. a smile traced the edge of his lips as his eyes flickered over juliet's concentrated face, her brows furrowed slightly. "film with us, sunshine?"
"i can't, chris. you know i can't." juliet sighed as she shut off the hair dryer, unplugging the appliance and shoving it back into the bathroom cabinet. "and don't call me that."
chris let out a whine of annoyance, following his friend back to her bedroom like a puppy, narrowing his eyes at juliet as she sat down on her bed, promptly opening her computer. she decided not to pay any attention to him, instead staring furiously at her computer screen. she still had two more assignments left to do before her final week of torture—i mean college.
chris prepared to argue, but she was already immersed in her reading.
juliet usually had all of her homework done by friday night so she could enjoy her weekend with her friends, but her teachers had decided to make her life a living hell before winter break.
"i still think you should drop out." chris crossed his arms and flopped backwards onto her bed, which juliet had turned into her desk. he attempted to lay his head on juliet's crossed legs, but she pushed him away with a seemingly forceful—but actually quite gentle—nudge of her knee. "you're such a good singer, and everyone loves you—"
"no one cares what you think." juliet replied almost automatically, gaining a harsh scoff out of her best friend at her interruption.
"you love me."
"this isn't about love, chris. this is about grades. i'm not failing psych for your stupid video." her gaze never faltered as she continued to type through chris' complaints. when the two were younger, teachers would find it appalling that someone as studious as juliet would ever want to work with chris. to be fair, juliet didn't want to. chris forced her to.
chris knew that jules would do anything to be at the top of her class. ever since they were kids, she was obsessed with being the smartest, the best. it led to her being one of the only students from their high school to receive a scholarship, so it did pay off. chris, unfortuantely, didn't know a fraction of where it stemmed from, but he liked her competitive spirit (more than he would like to admit). it made her interesting. fun to be around. fun to be with.
"you're not going to fail if you don't do one stupid thing." chris rested his chin on her shoulder, peering over her body to stare at the gibberish on her screen. he made a face as he recoiled. "what the fuck is that?"
"what? you mean school?" juliet let out an involuntary laugh. "plus, i have work tomorrow morning before class."
"but our work is so much more fun." chris argued. she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and could tell he was already playing his pleading face card. "and i miss you."
"oh, shut up. you'll live without me for one day, chris." juliet smiled despite herself. "i hung out with you this entire weekend, and i see you every day." it was hilarious, the fact that chris said that he missed her. i mean, she lived with them. (the reason why she lived with them was a long story that jules didn't have time to explain. she was in a time crunch.)
"i'll buy you ice cream."
juliet sighed dramatically and shut her laptop with finality. she knew that chris wouldn't have let up, and it was getting so late that the words on her screen were mushing together. might as well give in. "you should've started with that." she really shouldn't have pushed her schoolwork back any more than it already was—boston college was no fucking joke—but this was chris. it was hard to say no to him.
after all, she always had had a soft spot for him. ever since they were kids. even when she hated him.
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juliet jumped, then groaned. it was 9 am, who could possibly be knocking on her door at 9 am? at normal hours of the day they rarely got visitors, maybe one doorbell ring for mail and the few packages they get delivered for food and that was it.
"noah! there's someone at the door." she called weakly, the persistent hard bangs at her front door sending sharp pain through her newly concussed head. thanks a lot, chris, jules thought bitterly. she was insanely angry at that stupid boy. who kicks a soccer ball at someone's head? how does one even achieve that? jules could (humbly) admit that she was a talented athlete, but she thought chris was better than that.
when there was no response—expected but disappointing nonetheless—juliet mustered enough strength to drag herself off the couch. she fell promptly to the floor, causing more pounding to radiate around her head. she tried to scoot closer to the doorknob, but the room was starting to dim to black and she knew if she didn't get an advil in her mouth soon, she was going to split her skull open.
"just come in, it's open!" she yelled, grunting as she tried to stand. the door opened slowly and juliet prayed there wasn't a serial killer or a talkative salesman on the other side to ambush her.
a serial killer i can take, juliet thought miserably. i hope the death comes quickly. a salesman, though, i think i might vomit on him.
the boy who was immersed in the empty doorway, however, was almost worse than a salesman.
"chris," juliet groaned, pursing her lips as the brunette boy, patiently standing with a beanie covering his long hair—which was oddly attractive (must've been the hallucination kicking)—and the november chill making his cheeks flush a deep scarlet, stepped into her apartment. "what are you doing here?" finally registering that chris sturniolo was in her fucking home, juliet did an aggressive double take. "how do you know where i live?"
"oh, um," chris started to stutter, awkwardly glancing behind him where a minivan was parked, with zero intention of leaving quickly. "i—"
"okay, so you're either going to kidnap me or that's your mom." she noted, slumping against her wall as she began to become more unstable. "now make the visit quick, please, because i'm gonna pass out."
"my mom made you some soup." chris blurted out, sticking his arm out with a thermos in hand. "and she also invited you to come over so she could take care of you, but she wanted to meet your parents first to see if it was okay, 'cause she feels really bad." he said the words almost robotically, like he was taught to say that and rehearsed over and over again. "i do too. i'm really sorry." a hint of sympathy and genuine sincerity seeped into chris' dull tone, almost like he was forcing himself not to care.
juliet was taken aback, her eyebrows shooting up. never in her entire life had a mother made her a meal and offered help, and the words 'i'm sorry' leaving chris sturniolo's mouth was unheard of (the boy was a menace). but the words 'she wanted to meet your parents' made juliet grimace. it was the same reaction she had to her previous teachers wanting a meeting, or when she got in trouble and the principal wanted to give them a call.
she could always go the 'they're dead' route, but chris would become even more awkward and probably puke on her shoes. so she decided to go with the truth.
"oh, they're not here. they won't be home for a while, so i could just go over now." she shrugged nonchalantly. not that she wanted to go over to the cute chris sturniolo's house—the way all (really just five, but juliet thought that that was five too many) the girls in the fourth grade would be hysterical over going anywhere with chris had her slightly cringing—but the thought of having someone take care of her made her almost giddy.
she wanted to say no. she really, really did. chris drove her insane. he didn't care about anything and was always so loud. but, there was something about the boy that made it impossible to say no to him.
"oh! okay." chris' voice was filled with surprise and maybe a touch of excitement, but he quickly smothered it. he offered his hand out to her, seeing her obvious weakness and inability to walk, which juliet just stared at. "don't be weird," chris grumbled, snatching her arm and dragging her gently out of her own home. "i'm being a gentleman."
"well, thanks, i guess." juliet rolled her blue eyes, sarcasm biting at the grip chris had on her. "such a kind, handsome gentleman."
"right?" chris' lips broke out into a wide grin for reasons juliet didn't understand, but nonetheless her knees buckled, causing chris to have a firmer hold. his grip tightened as juliet leaned on him for ultimate support, and as she glanced up at him, her breath hitched. maybe it was because of how wildly unprepared juliet was for the autumn weather—the cool wind was nipping at her bare arms and dancing through her thin plaid pajama pants—or maybe it was because of the growing concussion to the head that this boy caused. or maybe it was because chris looked really, really cute smiling like that, smiling because juliet made him smile.
she refused to believe it was because of the last reason.
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"okay, i get it. i see how it is." juliet rolled her eyes, making a face at the camera. "so you guys ambush me, make me film with you, don't even buy me ice cream, and then make me drive you? completely fair. i have to get up early guys."
"and that's your fault." nick snorted. "who told you to be smart?"
"stop. they'll hate me even more."
"who could hate you?" chris rebuted, a crease forming between his eyebrows.
"um, your entire toxic female fanbase? cut that out, nick. i can't be caught shit talking the bad ones."
"do you mean... cut the cameras?" matt spoke up with an uncanny wink, causing the rest of them to groan simultaneously.
"shut the fuck up, matt."
"hey, don't get mad at me because chris is stupid."
"I DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING—"
"this kid." juliet couldn't help but burst into laughter as matt shook his head, muttering the words that caused chris to explode even more. although she felt the weight of procrastination weighing down on her, the nagging of the paper she had to complete and the work she needed to do, she wouldn't trade hanging out with her best friends for the world.
their setup for the video was always odd. juliet hadn't missed a car video since the triplets started their channel, despite all her complaints about being in it. jules was the first to get her license, so as she drove, chris was her passenger. but once matt took over, chris insisted on sitting next to her in the back. they would exchange seats as juliet and matt exchanged driving privileges. and that was just how they were. no one questioned a thing, because wy would they?
"aren't you glad you ditched your stupid school for us?" nick cooed teasingly.
"no." she deadpanned, rolling her eyes, parking in an empty lot. "i hate it here."
"wait, i just had the best idea for the video." matt said dramatically (totally off topic, too). juliet eyed him through the car mirror suspiciously. matt either had the best ideas, or the worst.
"so say it?" nick scoffed at matt's silence, the implied pronounced pause deemed ridiculous from the oldest triplet.
"jules q&a! we have so many questions about her."
"no one cares about her." chris jabbed, rolling his eyes.
juliet punched chris in the arm. "shut the fuck up." she glanced at the brothers hesitantly as matt smiled like he was a genius. she chewed the inside of her bottom lip, taking a second to examine each of the triplets. nick and matt looked excited for the prospect, already creating questions that they couldn't wait to grill their best friend about. but chris saw through her. "but, um, i mean, do people really want to watch a video about me?" she meant for her words to be lighthearted, a simple witticism, but it came out all wrong, all insecure and annoying. god, i'm annoying. she added a soft giggle to ease her awkward words, but nothing was helping.
"hey." he leaned in, his blue eyes—although identical to his brothers, so unique to himself—darting over her nervous state. "you okay? we don't have to do this if you don't want to." chris knew that jules didn't have the... best experience with fan responses to videos being centered around her.
juliet shrugged offhandedly. "your channel, your choice." she murmured quietly. she wasn't exactly sure whether or not she wanted to. matt seemed so excited, and she owed, well, everything to the sturniolo family. she wanted to be as easy going as possible. but she also didn't think she could deal with any more hate at the moment. she was too busy, and she just couldn't physically be more overwhelmed. "i don't care."
but chris knew exactly what to say, like he always did. he might have given off the vibes of the annoying younger brother, the loud and impulsive one, the class clown that everyone liked—and he was. but he was also the most caring and affectionate person juliet knew. "you can tell everyone about the concussion." he joked, immediately pulling jules out of the hole she was burying herself in. and he knew she was.
juliet couldn't help but beam. although her worries weren't fully dissipated, they were put off like her homework was: just for a moment. "i'm so in."
୧⋆💌⋆⭒˚｡⋆ sai speaks !!
word count: 2970
date published: april 22, 2024
thoughts: so i completely rewrote this chapter and i like it more but i'm still iffy about this whole story. much love for all of you though! <3
currently listening to: peter by taylor swift