𝑳𝑶𝒀𝑨𝑳𝑻𝒀 - 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 { ✓ }

• 26

『 LOYALTY 』
{ irl }

mae wants to tear the cast to shreds. it makes everything so much more difficult. she can't even hold jeff anymore without her entire arm aching and screaming at her in pain. as much as she feels bad for doing so, chris helps her with a lot. she's never broken a bone before so she has no clue how to adapt to this misery.

"ugh!" she groans, throwing her head back in annoyance.

"what's wrong?" she turns around and sees chris leaning against the doorframe with an amused smile on his face.

"i somehow got dirt all over my cast and i have no idea how to clean it." mae explains, gesturing toward her arm.

chris chuckles, "i can help you if you want."

"i don't want to make you do that," she sighs, "god, i feel so fucking helpless with this thing on me."

"look on the bright side-"

"there is no bright side!" she inturrputs.

"you only have a week left and then you get it taken off," chris says with a kind smile. he walks into the bathroom and stands behind her, looking at her through the mirror in front of them. "then everything is back to normal."

she smiles at him through the reflection, "i guess you're right."

"now," he says, "let me help you clean that off."

her cast is light grey, so its easy to see every single particle of dirt that's clinging to it. and it disgusts her and really really pisses her off.

"fine," she sighs, holding out her injured arm.

"will you sit here?" chris asks her, pointing to the closed toilet seat. mae nods and does as he says without a second thought. chris crouches down in front of her, "i have to grab something, i'll be right back." with that, he stands up from the ground and exits the room, leaving mae alone in the bathroom.

she's all by herself for a moment, just glancing around the triplets' bathroom. then, matt walks past the door. his attention is suddenly caught on the girl.

he raises a brow at her, "why are you just sitting like that?"

"i'm waiting for chris. he's going to help me clean my cast." she holds up her arm, showing him how dirty it's gotten within the few weeks she's had it on.

"he's really been caring about you a lot, huh?" matt says.

"yeah, i guess so." she thinks back at all the things he's done for her recently. he doesnt let her carry anything. he forces nick to sit in the front every time they get in the van just so he can make sure she's okay. he's helped her work around all of the issues she's had with getting used to the shift. he always gives her long hugs whenever she complains about the pain -- even after she takes painkillers. and now he's cleaning her gross cast for her.

"he must really love you, don't you think?" matt says with a teasing smirk on his face.

mae doesn't exactly understand what he means by making that comment. but before she can think about it for too long, chris comes out of nowhere and punches him in the back, making matt groan in pain.

chris clears his throat, "you can leave now, matthew."

before matt can even answer him, chris closes the bathroom door on him and locks it behind him. mae laughs, still feeling like she's missing something.

"i'm gonna try to just scub it clean with soap and water," chris explains. mae notices a rag in his hands as he hunches over the sink and begins to soak it in soap and water, making the fabric get all bubbly. "if that doesn't work, i'll try something else."

"how do you know so much about broken bones?" mae asks casually as chris crouches down in front of her.

"lets just say nick doesn't only break other people's bones. he breaks his own as well."

chris presses the rag to her cast. mae is glad that her arm isn't being weird and sensitive right now. sometimes, it randomly starts throbbing with pain and she has to take medicine to numb it and even then it sometimes doesn't even work then. and that's when she resorts to her favorite form of comfort -- chris hugs.

as he scubs her cast clean as carefully as he can, mae can't help but scare at him. she never noticed how utterly attractive he was. well, she always knew that he was good-looking, but damn.

his skin is so warm and soft. his eyes are full of so much life. his hair seems to always be on point. even something as insignificant as his nose bridge looks perfect.

"why are you staring at me like that?" chris asks with a chuckle, without looking up.

mae's face heats up, "i don't know what you're talking about. i was not staring!"

"you're a horrible liar," chris laughs, "i could see you in my perephrial."

"i'm a great liar, actually."

"then look me in the eye and tell me that you weren't checking me out." chris reaches behind her to set the rag on the counter. as he does, their faces are mere inches apart. and his eyes are on hers the entire time.

he would normally pull away by now, since he set the rag down. but he doesn't. he stays there. with their eyes locked and his nose nearly brushing hers.

"go on," he urges, "tell me you weren't staring."

mae feels small under his gaze. her face is hot, her stomach is doing backflips, and her heart is racing. why the fuck does she feel like this? chris is her best friend.

she looks away, breaking the contact and leaning back from him. "yeah, i was staring."

chris leans away from her, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable around him. but the moment he's not hovering over her, mae feels cold. she wants him back next to her. well- totally not because of him, because of his body heat! yeah. body heat. that's all.

"it's all clean," chris tells her as he exits the bathroom.

god, why did he do that? what the hell made him so confident anyway?

just because i like her doesn't mean i should force her to be around me or force her to like me back. that's fucked up.

chris flops down on his bed. his mind is reeling as it replays the image of her face so close to his. even if she starts to like him back, chris knows that he doesn't deserve someone as perfect as mae. she's beautiful and smart and funny and just an overall good person. what does he have to offer in comparison to that?

he needs a distraction. something else to think about. or someone maybe?

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧.˚ₓ
a/n:
i have so many plans for these upcoming chapters but also none at all like???
THANK YOU GUYS SO SO SO MUCH FOR 1K READS I LOVE YOU ALL 🫶🫶