labyrinth - c. sturniolo ✓

009 - ❝ over it ❞

CHAPTER NINE
[ real life ]

❝ OVER IT ❞

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ

as i sat down, cora spared me a dirty look. she was sitting next to chris and matt just pulled a chair for me next to him.

i was trying my hardest not to seem like a bad person in front of cora, but her questions were making it hard.

"wait so, you've only been friends with the triplets for uhh... a few days??" she asked, reallyyyy slowly. it actually made me loose my mind how slow she talks.

"yeah." i said bluntly and looked at chris before looking back at cora.

"so, you're not that close at all right? just friends?" she asked with a weird ass tone, i was fed up already by now.

"uhh, we're actually really close. especially me and chri-" i said before getting interrupted.

"we're bestfriends actually, now can we go home? i'm getting tired." chris said, also fed up. matt got up as soon as he said that, grabbing my arm and bringing me to the car alone.

"what?" i said as he aggressively brought me away from everyone. they'd all look at us weird as we left but i was just focused on matt dragging me across the parking lot.

"i'm so serious right now aria, is there something going on between you and chris?" matt asked as his face stiffened up.

"no... im confused. why would something be happening between us?" i asked, genuinely confused.

"he got all defensive when cora asked if you guys were close. chris isn't the type to just butt in random conversations especially if they specifically weren't aimed at just him." matt said, even more serious than he was seconds ago.

"i'm being honest, there's nothing i know about that's happening with me and chris. i honestly just think he was getting fed up with the questions." i asked truthfully, making it obvious that i was getting mad at the amount of sudden questions being thrown at me today.

matt sighs, "okay, fine. but if anything happens, i have to be the first person to know, okay?" he asked looking straight into my eyes.

"okay." i replied, "no can we go back inside, i'm worried for nick and chris." i pointed towards the door as matt laughed and pulled both of us back inside.

nick and chris looked absolutely defeated and annoyed it almost made me laugh. cora was already being hard to like and it was making me feel like a horrible person. even though it was obvious matt, nick and chris didn't like her either, i just felt like i hadn't given her enough chances.

i had already said bye to nick and matt who were walking away back to their car when chris suddenly came running towards me. i paused, really confused on why he was sprinting directly at me.

chris stopped in his tracks, out of breath but still being able to talk. "i'm sorry about everything that just happened, i didn't think cora could be so needy and annoying." chris stated, i let out a little laugh before he continued. "also, i got you this a while ago when we first started talking. i really hope you like it, i saw it at the store and thought it would look pretty on you." he said, handing me a box.

i opened it to see 2 beautiful pearl earrings, they looked gorgeous. "oh my god, thank you so much chris. i love them" i said, closing the box and going in for a hug.

chris hugged me tight, "im glad you like them." he said into my hair, slowly pulling away from the hug. i just smiled at him and thought about how much of an amazing friend he was. "im going back to the car, love you aria!" he said, walking away.

my stomach was full of butterflies. we'd always say that while texting but just hearing him say it made me want to scream. there was absolutely no reason for me to be feeling that way, i just did.

i walked back over to my car with a warm feeling my heart, i knew chris was my bestfriend but was how i acting normal for just friends? i drove home thinking about all of this, hoping it was just nothing and that id forget about it by the next day.

i had arrived at my house, already basically falling asleep when i heard my phone ringing from my back pocket. i opened it up to see an unknown number, i was thinking of just ignoring it but my intrusive thoughts convinced me to thinking it was someone that had to do with the party.

i picked it up, not expecting to hear a familiar voice on the other end.

"hello?" she said, i immediately figured out who it was.

"hi? is this cora?" i asked.

"yeah, aria right?" she replied then asked me too.

"yes. how'd you guys my number?" i asked, not thinking about the amount of people she knew that i knew too.

"chris gave it to me," she said bluntly.

"oh okay, do you need something?"

"i do actually, answers." my heart dropped, what answers? hadn't she asked enough questions tonight? "are you and chris... something?" she asked. this was like the 50th time i've got asked that recently and i was over it.

"no!" i snapped, people needed to STOP asking me that. go ask chris or something, i doubt he'd have a different answer to mine.

"okay okay, calm down. i just wanted to know." cora replied. i knew she was just being nosy, but it annoyed me how much id been asked that.

i hung up, not wanting to talk anymore. i was just looking forward to going to bed at this point. i put my phone away, laying down on my bed and letting out a big sigh. when i laid down in a certain spot, i felt something poke through my back pocket. i got up, taking out the box chris gave me and smiling. i put the earrings on and laid back in bed with the biggest smile on my face.

i immediately fell asleep, not even changing into comfier clothes or moving around. the thought of having the best friends were enough to make me drift asleep.

authors note:
small chapter because yesterday i had absolutely no time to finish this 😭 i literally have no idea what should go down at the party, thinking of some angst tho 😋

word count: 1083