my old friend, chris

chapter 1, day one

"mom? where are you?"
"in my bedroom, honey. what do you need?"
"there's someone at the door."
"ok, i'll be right there."
my mom walks down the stairs with a smile on her face. we aren't expecting anybody, so i'm curious as to why she's so happy to answer the door.
"hey guys! oh my, how you have grown!"
i turn to see who she's talking to.
"chris? nick? matt? oh my god i missed you guys so much!"
the sturniolos have been a family friend of my family for years. the triplets and i have always been inseparable, especially me, nick, and matt. i used to be close with chris, like really close, but i messed it up when i stopped talking to him for...well not no reason. i started to develop feelings for him and i couldn't really handle them so i just, stopped talking to him. i ran up to nick first with arms wide open, he brings me in his arms for a big bear hug.
"i missed you so unbelievably much!" i mumble into nicks ear.
"i've missed you more, mills!" he mumbles back.
i pull from our hug to hug matt, my literal twin.
"matt! i'm so happy you're finally back!" i say in his ear.
"mila! i missed you so so much!!" matt says in my ear.
i pull back and hold on to his hands. i smile and say,
"you got so tall, it's crazy!"
he smiles back.
i walk over to chris and give him a slight hug.
"hey, chris!"
"hi, mila." he says with a blank expression.
i pull back and smile, tilting my head. i signal for them to come in so i can say hi to marylou, jimmy, and justin.

i sit down at the dining table with everybody else.
"so, we all need to catch up." my mom says, smiling.
"well, i've heard from lily that mila over here has a trip planned to italy with her friends!" marylou exclaims holding my hand from across the table.
i let out a slight smile and say,
"yeah! i'm actually going with mya and penelope! we are super excited."
i shoot a glance at chris. he and i used to have this plan when we were younger that as soon as we graduate high school we would travel to italy for 3 months. he looks at me for a second, turning his head away quickly. nick sees this and to break the silence, he says,
"well that's great, mills! i'm happy for you!"
"thank you, nick!"
"yeah, that's great, mila! i know you've always wanted to go." matt says, smiling.
"cool, i guess." chris mumbles.
i glance at him with a dirty look, he can't even be happy for me for once.
"matt, i heard you got a girlfriend! i saw pictures from your mother, i have to say she is absolutely beautiful!" my mom says.
"yeah, she's great..you would love her!" matt says with a grin.
"i can't believe you didn't bring her matt! i would've loved to meet her." i say punching his shoulder, playfully.
"well, i would've but she couldn't come. maybe you could come down to boston one time to stay with us and then you could meet her!"
"well, what's her name, matt?"
"phoenix."
"oh, i love that name!" my mom exclaims.
i smile, getting up,
"im going to get some water, does anyone want any?"
"i'll come with you." chris says, looking at me in my eyes.
i look at him with a shocked look but i then smile and tell him to follow me. i walk towards the kitchen while chris trails behind me.
"so, do you want water? juice? pepsi? we just stocked up." i say.
"mila, stop acting like nothing happened." chris says sternly.
"i don't know what you're talking about, chris." my back still facing him.
"stop. just stop it! you know what happened."
"chris, please i don't wanna talk about it."
"no, mila. you literally stopped talking to me out of fucking nowhere. we were best friends for years and you fucked it all up."
"chris, it wasn't for no reason! i just..can't tell you the reason..."
"mila, it doesn't matter. you need to stop acting like nothing happened. or at least don't talk to me."
"our parents don't know anything about this. so if i just ignore you the whole time you're here, they're gonna know something's up. so we're going to have to pretend to still talk to each other."
he doesn't reply, instead he just walks away back to the dining room.

i walk back with waters and a pepsi for chris, even though he didn't ask for one, i just wanted to be nice. i sat down across from chris and slid him the pepsi, smiling slightly, he looked at me and for the first time in forever he smiled at me. my heart fluttered at the sight of his lips turning into a perfect smile. all of his teeth showed and his cheeks were a rosy red. i melted into a full smile. he stopped smiling and took a swig of his pepsi still making eye contact with me.