my ex's best friend , hudson

SEVENTEEN

★          ★          ★

chase pulled up to rena's building and got out of his car. he grabbed the chick fil a bag that was sitting in the passenger seat and started to make his way up to her door. the whole way there he was silently praying that rena was at least somewhat okay. after two flights of stairs, he got to serena's door. chase knocked on the door and stood there for a few minutes; he got no response. he knocked again and said something this time, "rena, it's me. can you let me in?"

chase was met with silence again. he knocked on the door for a third time, "serena, i know you can hear me. i brought chick fil a with me."

chase was hoping that serena could actually hear him because he didn't really want to eat twenty four chicken nuggets all by himself. after a minute or two, chase could hear some shuffling coming from the other side of the door. the deadbolt clicked and he was met with rena's blank stare.

serena didn't look like a complete wreck, but she also didn't look like she was having the time of her life. chase knew serena had a lot on her mind. he felt for her, but chase wished that she didn't have to keep going through this constant cycle. chase didn't like that she would only look and feel like herself for a short period of time before something would happen and rena would be back to square one. chase wanted so badly to take it all of the bad away from her, but unfortunately that wasn't an option. he was going to do everything in his power to help her feel better, even if it meant being attached at her hip for a while.

"do you uhm wanna come in?" serena asked, breaking chase out of his thoughts.

he nodded, "yeah, if that's okay."

serena nodded and opened the door wider for chase to walk in. chase saw that there were some dishes and old starbucks cups in the living room and kitchen area. he wasn't bothered by it, but he felt the waves of embarrassment coming from serena.

"sorry about the mess," rena bit her lip, keeping her gaze fixated on the floor, "i haven't really done much cleaning."

"rena, it's totally fine. the mess isn't even that bad," chase sat down on the floor of the living room by the coffee table.

serena walked over to where he was and sat down on the floor next to him. serena was silent and so was chase. for once an awkward silence was encompassing the two. it was odd because neither of them had ever been in a situation where they didn't know what to say to each other.

"uhm i brought food," chase gestured to the chick fil a bag, "i didn't know if you were hungry or not. it's cool if you're not hungry though. you don't have-"

serena placed a hand on chase's leg as a way to shut him up. as soon as he felt her hand on him, he was unable to focus on everything else. all he could focus on was her hand on him.

"chase it's okay, i appreciate it a lot," serena reached for the bag and took out the boxes of chicken nuggets and fries.

the two sat in silence again. the only sound in the room was the sound of serena eating her food.

"did you not get anything for yourself?" serena asked while dipping a waffle fry in the chick fil a sauce.

chase shook his head, "nah. i wasn't really in the mood for chicken."

rena gave him a confused look, "then why'd you stop at chick fil a?"

chase shrugged sheepishly, "you said that chick fil a was your comfort food, so i thought you might want some."

serena's eyes glazed over at his words, causing chase to silently pray that she wouldn't start crying. he would feel bad for making her cry, even if it was happy tears.