𝑳𝑶𝒀𝑨𝑳𝑻𝒀 - 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 { ✓ }

• 37

『 LOYALTY 』
{ irl }

cora left about an hour ago and mae has still yet to speak to a single person here.

honestly, this party isn't much of a party. it's more of an awkward gathering. there's a total of three balloons. there's a small chocolate cake that hasn't been cut yet sitting on the kitchen counter. and there's one disco ball is spinning in the center of the living room -- barely gleaming any light at all.

other than that, nothing looks decorated or any different than the house would any other day of the week. all of the adults are drinking or smoking to get through this uncomfortable "party".

mae is sitting on the couch in the far corner of the living room, scrolling on her phone even though she has no internet and she's not even looking at anything other than a loading screen.

"hey,"

she looks up to see her favorite cousin, kent. he has dark curly hair and light brown eyes. his body is tall, skinny, and hunched over a tad due to years of poor posture. he's also gay. but nobody in the family knows that except for mae.

"oh, thank god you're here." mae sighs. setting down her phone as kent sits on the cushion beside her. "i was pretty sure i was going to go insane after a few more minutes of this torture."

kent scratches the back of his neck, "have you seen alice yet?"

"no." mae responds, "i've honestly avoided talking to anyone during this entire party. why do you ask?"

"did you see who she brought with her?" kent asks, timidly. "it's the guy who you were dating all last year. what's up with that?"

mae suddenly remembers that kent doesn't know about the drama between her, alice, and rian. none of the family does, frankly. most of the adults are against the idea of making money off the internet so they disaprove of mae -- even though alice does the exact same thing.

everyone likes alice more because she's prettier and smarter. so mae gets all the backlash while alice basks in the spotlight of attention.

"oh, rian?" mae shrugs. "yeah, i'm sure she did bring him. they're dating now."

"what!?" kent shouts, a little too loudly. he lowers his voice, "i thought you two had been together for over a year!"

"first of all, it was eleven months. not a year." mae corrects him. "and second, we broke up because he had been cheating on me the whole time with alice."

frankly, mae is surprised by her own carelessness. since when did she care so little about rian and alice? just a week ago, she could barely talk about memories that she shared with her twin. but now she's shaking off their disloyalty. strange.

kent's eyes are wide as he says, "i'm glad you don't seem to be super upset about it. because i honestly never liked rian. he gave off creeper vibes. not to mention the way he talked disrespectfully to me since i'm gay."

it's true. mae had brought rian over to meet the family and he kept making fun of the way kent dresses and the way he speaks. he called him gay, thinking it was a joke. not knowing that he actually was gay.

"well, we're not rid of him yet. he's still dating into the family." mae complains.

"ugh, that's true--"

"maeve!"

her father's voice interruppts their conversation. he's calling out to her from across the living room. kent and mae look up and see her dad leaning against the wall, talking to alice and rian with a wide, drunken smile on his face.

this can't be good. mae tells herself as she stands up from the couch and stalks over to the group of them, kent following closely behind her.

"why haven't you talked to anyone all afternoon?" her dad asks, his words slurring together from the alcohol in his system. "are you- is it because rian broke up with you?"

mae scowls at rian who just gives her a teasing grin.

"i don't know who through it would be a good idea to say that to you, dad." mae says, "but i broke up with him. not the other way around."

"don't lie to your father on his own birthday, maeve." rian coos, wrapping an arm around alice's shoulder and pulling her closer to his body. she giggles. "that's just rude, don't you think, mister hart?"

"i agree, son." her dad says to rian. "mae's behavior recently has been out of control."

mae scoffs, "what the hell are you talking about?"

"alice told me about how you lied on the internet about her and rian." mae's dad explains. "you said that they cheated!? that's so fucked up! i thought i raised you better than this. but you're spreading horrible horrible horrible lies about your dear sister and her boyfriend because you're jealous of their happiness."

mae wants to punch all three of them. then she wants to run back to the sturniolo's house and complain about it to nick and matt and chris- wait, no. not chris. just matt and nick. yeah. just them. not chris.

against her better judgment, mae doesn't say a word in response and she instead walks away from them and goes upstairs to the bathroom.

she walks in and sits on the closed toilet seat.

suddenly, memories of chris flood her mind. she remembers the way he looked at her when he was cleaning her cast in the bathroom. the memory squeezes her heart and makes it nearly burst with bittersweetness.

so she stands up from the toilet and steps into the empty bathtub instead.

but this doesn't help.

if anything, it's much worse.

she now remembers when she cried on his shoulder the nights they found out about rian and alice. the way he comforted her sends butterflies swarming her stomach.

goddamn, why won't he leave my head? just stop thinking about him already! mae scolds herself as she steps out of the tub and looks at herself in the mirror. she smooths her hair down. he's just as bad as everyone else. he's keeping secrets and- and he left you. just like alice. and rian. and mom. and dad. he's no different.

so why does it feel like he is?

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧.˚ₓ
a/n: why can't mae have a break 🙄