Three's A Crowd

Eighty One | Reassurance Is Safety

"Hey there, sweetheart." Chris smiles lazily immediately goes in for a hug, subtly placing a kiss on your cheek. You could smell the pungent, dizzying scent of beer reek off of him mixed with that cologne you bought him for Christmas. You were so glad for the familiar scent of home wafting through the air that you almost put your hand on his face to coax out answers from him on the drinking, usually interrogation technique. Still, you luckily stop yourself in the nick of time at the sight of the gorgeous curly-haired brunette beside him.

"Oh, uh... hi, I'm (y/n)," you say as Chris leans on your shoulder and shake hands with the brunette, hoping to force a smile that you hope doesn't look like a grimace.

She giggles. "Yeah, I knew that. I'm Jenny. Chris' co-star for the film."

"Oh..." you start to remember what Sebastian had told you. You wince a bit, feeling Chris continue to put weight on you that you actually have to hold onto him, all while trying to push that angry, bitter green feeling under. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Ditto. I think I already know you with how much he's talked of you," she laughs again while you force out a small one to try and uplift the mood. You were still feeling bitter and sour, especially when Jenny's eyes trailed back up at Chris. "He's a lovely fella. It's a miracle that he's still standing."

"Oh yeah, you could imagine what it's like to drag his heavy ass around when he's actually drunk," you rolled your eyes as you tried to adjust yourself so you could 'assist' him in standing up properly. You knew he was trying to be cute. He probably already knew that Sebastian called you. Your eyes widen, and you immediately snap back, an apologetic look on your face. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. That was... really rude."

"No, it's okay," she laughs again. "We're all grown-ups here. Speaking of which," Jenny paused, lowering her voice slightly. "These grown-ups lost a kid. And we are not proud of it."

"I wonder why..." you mutter under your breath as you pinch Chris' side a little more complicated, causing him to flinch a little and stand upright. "Wait, you guys are the ones who lost the kid?"

"It's..." Jenny looked over her shoulder, leaning closer to you while rubbing her arms. "McKenna was told that she is to always be with Chris. I don't think they told her that Chris would be with me to film our scenes together today, so she might've wandered off to find him."

You look over at Ian, who has been quiet for quite some time, eyebrows brought down in slight worry. You poke your tongue out to wet your lips, shaking your head a bit before looking over at the blond. "You wouldn't have let that happen... Chris, she's eight."

"Yeah... I wouldn't." Chris squeezed his eyes, rubbing a hand over the growing stubble that had peppered the lower half of his face. "I, uh, might've told her a few things?"

A few things..?

"You upset the kid?" Ian finally piped in, looking at Chris with a little more suspicion.

"No, no, I could never!" Chris defended, both hands in front of him as he quickly removed his arm from around you as "It's not like that, I, uh-"

"We last saw her hanging around her trailer," Jenny recalled, grabbing your attention once more. "She was just playing around, and then we noticed her absence three hours in."

"Three hours?" you asked in disbelief. You couldn't leave your nephews alone for thirty minutes without worrying your ass off. "And you guys were filming at night, and you guys should've checked up on her more."

"We didn't leave her there. Octavia also checks up on her, so we didn't think McKenna'd actually be gone."

"Octavia?" you repeated, tilting your head in confusion. You know an Octavia, but you weren't sure if—