upside down , chris sturniolo. ✓

eighteen.

about twenty minutes later, mackenzie exited the airport doors only to be met with a grinning matt holding a sign that says "MACK" on it. rolling her eyes, but smiling nonetheless, mackenzie wheeled her suitcase over to him, taking the sign out of his hand.

"you did not have to do that, you know." she said. "that's movie shit right there."

"how do you know we're not filming right now?" matt asks, slyly. mackenzie knows he's joking but plays along.

"vlogging without my consent now, are we? i can sue you for that." she raises her eyebrows. matt sighs.

"you're no fun." he shakes his head. "c'mon let's go." he leads her to the minivan. she heads for the passenger seat while matt puts her suitcase in the trunk.

"i cannot believe i'm in the minivan right now." mackenzie marvels as matt sits in the drivers seat and starts the car.

"it's not as special as you think." matt laughs. "it's just a regular old minivan."

"yeah, that you film countless iconic tiktoks and youtube videos in. admit it, matt. your minivan is not like any other."

"okay, fine, i agree." matt says, rolling his eyes. he looks at mackenzie for a moment before looking back to the road. "why'd you skip school to come here, anyway? and don't say it's just for a visit. i know you're here to talk to chris, but why? we just left orlando like two days ago."

"well..." mackenzie trailed off, trying to find the best way to explain to matt how she didn't mean to reject his brother in the harshest way possible. "chris sort of confessed his feelings to me a couple days ago and i, um, i rejected him." matt turned to her in shock before turning back only hit the breaks abruptly, almost hitting the car in front of him that was stopped for the red light.

"chris did what?" he asked incredulously as he started driving again. "how did he do it?"

"over text." mackenzie grimaced. "and it caught me off guard, so i panicked and said that i don't like him like that."

"how do you say something like that accidentally?" matt asked, skeptical.

"i don't know." mackenzie admitted. "it all happened so fast and the first thing i thought of when he told me was 'what would the fans think' and i guess me being in multiple fandoms myself and having witnessed how girlfriends of celebrities are treated just scared me. i already get so much hate for being friends with chris and being a fan and i just..." she sighed. "i don't know."

"mack, chris cares about you. more than i've seen him care about anyone. and you've known him for only two months. if you get together, why should the fans even care? he's happy with you and they should be happy that he's happy. don't let their jealousy get to you because once they get to you, they'll feel victory in that and we don't want them to feel like they won something just because you're upset."

"wow, two months." mackenzie smiled. "chris really likes me, huh?"

"he does, kenz. he really does."

"i really like him, too." mackenzie sighs. "but now he probably doesn't want anything to do with me."

"i wouldn't count on that. chris isn't the person to hold grudges." matt explains as he parks in the driveway of the house. he heads to the trunk, taking out her suitcase. "come on, let's see what he and nick are doing." he leads mackenzie up the porch stairs and unlocks the door. "welcome to the sturniolo household."

"mack harper oh my god." mackenzie was met with a bone crushing hug from nick. "holy fuck i'm so happy you're here. c'mon you can stay in my room, we'll set up a mattress or something." nick grabbed her hand, starting to lead her to the kitchen.