puppy love ☆ chris sturniolo

19 || puppy love

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puppy love
𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨
chapter nineteen

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chris had decisions to make. several. and it wasn't the first time he's had to make a tough choice- of course not to this standard- but it should have been easier. if he knew who he wanted to be with, shouldn't it be a quick answer? 

"everything's going to be fine," he said to nate on the phone. "cynthia will go back to upper LA and i'll never have to see her. then valeri and i will start over," 

"or you could just start over now, man. make a decision. get cynthia out the picture and go for vali," nate reasoned. "you realize the only reason why you want cynthia to go back so bad is because then she's not an option for you, right?" nate sighed and readjusted his hoodie. he was right. 

"look, i know cynthia did something fucked up. and i know you're still upset, but you definitely still have lingering whatever for her," he stated. "if you didn't, you would have chosen valeri days ago," 

"it's not a choice. they're not-," chris began. "just watch your word choice, they're both actual people who care about a relationship with me," 

"whatever man," nate sighed again. "look, i gotta go but text me if something happens," they said their goodbyes and chris sprawled across his bed. matt knocked on the door and chris allowed him in. he walked in with a pepsi and a bowl of pizza pockets, putting them both on his nightstand. 

"hey," matt whispered. 

"hi," chris hadn't really left his room that day. or any other day for the past few. it wasn't normal of course, being the more energetic triplet. he sat up at the edge of his bed, with matt standing nearby. "dude, what the fuck am i supposed to do?" 

"well i don't know what you're supposed to do, but i know you have to come with us and film a friday video," he smiled. "come on, it'll be fun. plus you'll actually get your mind off of all this," chris shook his head. "shut up and eat you snack and let's go, we're leaving in 20," 

chris shot his head up as soon as the door closed. "i didn't even say anything?"  

***

matt did his nightly scream into the camera causing it to fog up. for the video, they debated on pets and what should or should not be a pet. nick of course thought that birds as pets are the most wild thing to exist as well as a singular fish. 

"i'm starving," chris complained. 

"there's the chris we know and tolerate!" nick cheered. chris mocked him turning around and suggested they stop at a cvs. he also suggested that he could just go in and grab something since there was no decent parking for all of them to leave the car. "go on," nick pushed. chris chuckled and left the car. 

"he's kinda back," matt said looking in the rearview as they looped around. 

"like not 100% but he's smiling and whatever. like today was fun," nick shrugged. matt agreed as they continued driving around nearby until chris texted he was done. 

he walked into the store and picked up a few things. arizona, pepsi, root beer, a bag of chips, corn nuts, the works. as he left- as if on cue- cynthia appeared. "stalking me?" he asked laughing. 

"no, just happen to be parked over here since the restaurant parking lot is full," she explained. "i had a meeting with some people. i'll be going back home soon," 

"you know, you parking here means that me and my brothers- paying cvs customers- have to send one of our party out into the streets and have the others loop around until we're done, right?" he joked. 

"you're fine, it's probably been no more than ten minutes," he walked over with her to her car and went to the driver's side as she sat into it. 

"you know, we never talked about the kiss..." he stated. "like what it meant," 

"it could be whatever you want. if you want to end it here, i'll just go back and we won't have to deal with each other," she smiled. "unless you had other plans?" she guessed. 

he looked at the ground, not sure how to answer. it's been another month since she arrived, meaning a month without seeing valeri in a good situation and a week since he and cynthia kissed. you'd think by know he'd know. he knew that he loved- yes, loved- valeri. but he knew that cynthia had changed. their relationship was great. little problems until the incident. what if she's changed so much to the point that they'd have a shot.

chris's conflict stemmed from the idea that they've spent so much time with each other that it felt familiar and comfortable to be with her. there was no guesswork. there was no going out on a limb of what she'd like. he already knew. did this mean he was scared to be with valeri? no. it's just the harder choice. 

"tell you what, you don't need to decide right now," she reassured him. "call me before i leave. if you call before i'm on the amtrak then i'll know you want something more and if not, i'll know to keep it moving," chris nodded his head seeing matt and nick loop around another time, slowing down since they seen him. 

"you go, they're waiting," she said seeing the van pull up roughly behind them. they said a brief goodbye and chris walked over to the van. 

"do we want to know?" matt asked as he settled in the passenger seat. 

"not unless you want to be pissed off," he mumbled. "i got you guys stuff too, here," he handed them the bag and they drove home in silence. 

***

getting ultimatums is crazy bc personally i would just go talk to valeri