20.

537 22 16

by lovemelanzon

by lovemelanzon

Chris' POV

"Dude, how are you even pulling this off right now!?" Ethan exclaimed, his voice crackling from the speakers of my laptop because he was being too damn loud. The two of us were on video call, just catching up a bit and talking about what I had planned for Olivia on her birthday. "Absolutely mental!"

I quickly brought my index finger up to my lips and shushed him harshly before replying, "Could you keep it down? You two live in the same house, she might hear you."

He simply rolled his eyes at this and waved his hand dismissively, which only made me more agitated because this whole thing was supposed to be a surprise and I didn't hop on a plane and fly all the way to the other side of the country in secret just for Ethan to mess it up now.

"Psh, no way, bro," he replied, letting out an obnoxiously loud chuckle. "She's been locked up in her room studying all week with music blaring in her ears. If the end of the world happened right now, she wouldn't even hear it."

"Still though. Please keep it down. I already almost got caught yesterday."

"Why, what happened?" Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow, his voice finally returning to normal volume as he shifted his position on his unmade bed. It was two in the afternoon and he still hadn't gone out of his room. What a life he lived. (a/n: honestly me on a daily basis. ok carry on bye)

"She noticed that I wasn't in my house because of the color of the walls," I sighed, bringing one hand up to mess up my hair before fixing it again. "So I lied and told her I was at Lara's."

I watched as he stroked his chin in contemplation, looking a bit laggy because the wifi at this hotel sucked and I was probably going to lose all connection at any moment. "Hm, not bad. I'd rate that lie a nine out of ten."

I simply rolled my eyes at his comment, but immediately focused back on the screen when I heard a door swinging open and it definitely wasn't the one in my hotel room.

"Ethan, I'm hungry!" Olivia said, examining her nails as she walked in. She hadn't spotted me yet, which was good, but Ethan had always been pretty slow to react, so it was still possible for her to look up from her hands and see me on his laptop screen.

"Close the laptop, you idiot!" I whisper-yelled, trying to be loud enough for Ethan to hear but not enough for Olivia to notice, but before he could even slam the laptop shut, she looked up and saw me and I gave her a nervous wave. Before she could get close enough to be in earshot though, I managed to sneak an, "Ethan, I'm gonna strangle you when we see each other again."

"Chris!" she exclaimed when her mind finally processed that it was me on the video call. "How are you? I'm sorry for not being able to talk in a while. I've just been really busy with school work and I haven't even left my room in days. Plus, my birthday's coming up ("Mine too," Ethan added from the corner of his room, since Olivia had practically pushed him aside to talk to me.) and my mum's ("Our mum," Ethan corrected.) been really fussy about how I was going to celebrate it. I don't know, I'm just really stressed out and I haven't been able to think about any of that and I --"

"Olivia," I said as calmly as possible in order to get her to slow down a bit. Her rant had been quite overwhelming as I tried to wrap my head around everything she'd just said. "It's fine. I understand. We've both been really busy. It happens. It's normal." I spoke in short and simple sentences as I watched her eyes flutter shut before she let out a breath.

"I'm sorry, I've just been really stressed."

"It's okay," I reassured. She was really getting worked up over nothing and all I wanted to do at that moment was hold her, but I forced myself to snap out of it and get back to business. "So, what do you have planned for your birthday?"

"Honestly, I haven't even been able to think about that." She brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose, and I would've done anything in my power to just wrap my arms around her and make all her stress and problems disappear. It was hard to not get carried away, because God, I missed her so much. "My family and I are probably just gonna go out for dinner. Then, we can do a video call whenever you're free. I just -- " I heard the hesitation in her voice and I watched her expression waver slightly as she contemplated on whether or not her next words were worth saying. "I just miss you so much, Chris."

"I miss you too. I miss you so much more," I blurted out, my voice cracking at the very end, although, I doubt she noticed because I covered it up with a cough.

"I just want to see your face and hear your voice, because my birthday -- or any day, for that matter -- wouldn't be complete for me, if you weren't a part of it," she said and I could see Ethan in the background pretending to gag as he exited the room, throwing in a vomiting gesture right before he was out of sight. How mature. "I just wish you were here with me. Like, in person."

My eyes lit up and my posture straightened up at her words, but I guess she mistook my reaction for something else because she looked almost ashamed at what had just left her mouth and it sort of broke my heart a little bit to see her get embarrassed over something that she really shouldn't be embarrassed about.

"I wish I was there too," I replied, reaching my hand towards the screen and letting my thumb glide over where her cheek was and her lips tugged into a cute little smile and I felt my insides explode with emotion. "But don't worry. I'm sure we'll see each other in the flesh again soon, okay?"

"Okay," she replied, nodding her head as her smile grew both wider and brighter.

I smiled back.

Soon.

a/n: hola im alive!!!

i wanted to get this update up by today bc umm... HAPPY VALENTINES DAY MY LOVELIES MWAH

if you have a special someone to spend valentines day with then i applaud u and i hope that u're at ur happiest and if u're single and lonely like me, then hey, i'll be ur valentine have no fear i am here for u haha

anyways, i hope u liked this chapter, yall are the sweetest, i love each and every single one of you like a hella lot, and i hope u have the greatest day, week, month, year, and life ever xx

p.s. the next chapter could possibly be the last one for this story bye