• Chris •
Chris was a wreck.
He had been thinking for hours, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Did he say or do something to make her uncomfortable? Did she not like it when he held her hand under that table? Or was she really just not interested?
He went back to Somerville on Saturday morning, not feeling up for a weekend with his friends anymore. He had tried everything, calling and texting, no response. Not even a read receipt.
He finally asked Nick for Cass' number, hoping that she would have the answers that he wasn't getting. When he asked, he was met with more questions. Why would Mae not tell Cass, her best friend, anything about why she was no longer responding?
His cheeks were wet, a weird feeling growing in his stomach. If she didn't like him, then why was she the one to kiss him last week? He had sat awake for hours, scouring over everything that had happened since Tuesday, and he couldn't figure out what he had done.
She was fine until Thursday, responding to his texts as she normally did. Then, she started responding less. Until she stopped responding on Friday, right before he left for the train. He figured she was in Boston, at her dads house. He knew where it was. But he got the hint that she didn't want to hear from him.
Him and Matt now sat in an empty parking lot, it was silent other than the sounds of the two boys eating fries. Chris enjoyed this much more than when his mom tried to cheer him up, he didn't want to talk much. Matt understood more than some people.
"Is it about Mae? You haven't mentioned her the last few days." Matt spoke softly, and Chris was grateful that he asked a yes or no question.
"Yes." He whispered, going back to eating his food.
"Do you want to talk about it? You don't have to, but if you want."
Chris didn't respond, pondering on it. He wanted to talk about it, but he was scared that Matt wouldn't understand how Chris felt.
"I think she ghosted me." Matt turned to him, shocked.
"Really? Dude she was whipped! How on Earth could she ghost you?"
Chris explained everything that had happened so far, the train ride, the texts, and even now he had called Cass. Matt listened intently, trying to figure out exactly what his brother had done. From what it seemed, he acted completely normal, so would could have pushed Mae to ghost him?
Matt didn't respond right away, and Chris appreciated it. He liked it when he didn't have a bunch of questions to answer, he could just talk and then sit in silence.
"Do you think she really liked me? Because if she didn't that's the only way I can think of what went wrong." Chris spoke softly, feeling like he already knew the answer.
"She was never not blushing when she was here for dinner. Plus, you said that she kissed you when she left." Chris looked down at his lap, smiling a little bit. "Also Cass told Nick that Mae said she was really into you."
"So what happened?"
"Who knows? Maybe she just needs a few days."
~~~
So, Chris gave her a few days. Nothing.
He didn't know how she could just ghost him, especially right after she had been at his house for dinner. MaryLou had even told him that she was great.
Matt hasn't mentioned Mae since Monday night, which Chris appreciated. It was easier to ignore how sad he was when he wasn't reminded of her.
On his bed, Chris' phone lit up with a text. He eagerly grabbed it, unlocking it to read the text. It wasn't from Mae, but it was from Cass.
Cass: she really misses you.
Cass: she said something about being scared tho
Cass: in general, not of you
What could Mae be so scared of, that she would ghost him? Her dad seemed to like him, and he had gotten along with Amanda great. He hadn't met her mother, or even mentioned meeting her so that was off the table.
She had told him that she enjoyed hanging out with his family, so it wasn't like one of his brothers or his mom had scared her off.
Chris: Can I do anything?
Cass: go visit her. she needs it.
Chris stared at his phone. Surely, he couldn't just show up at her house. Her moms house especially, he'd never been there or met her mom. Plus, he didn't know where it was. Before he could fully talk himself out if it, Cass texted him again.
Cass: take the train. i'll drive u to her house
So he was going, he grabbed his jacket and threw on some shoes. God this was so stupid. What if she just threw him out? Or her mom opened the door? He shuddered at the thought. He was sure she was a lovely lady, but that scared the shit out of him.
Matt sat in the kitchen when he walked down the hall. "Where are you going? It's Thursday."
"Mae's."
"So she finally talked to you! Congrats, man!"
"No, but Cass said something about needing to go talk to her. She giving me a ride from the train station."
Matt nodded, not saying much. "Well good luck."
Chris thanked him and left, hopefully to get to the bottom of whatever was going on with Mae.
