upside down , chris sturniolo. ✓

thirty.

"i cannot believe i'm letting you do this." mackenzie rolls her eyes as ayla digs through her closet. the two were at mackenzie's house for the weekend and since today was mackenzie's birthday, ayla decided to throw her a party. she invited almost half of their class, plus the triplets and some more friends. 

"to be fair, you didn't let me do this. declan did." ayla responded as she pulled out a white dress with flowery patterns. "ooh, this one's cute!" she exclaimed, giving it to mackenzie, who took it with a sigh. 

"remind me who's coming again?" mackenzie asked, although she knew full well who was coming.

"you've asked me this so many times and the answer will not change." ayla says. "yes, chris will be there." 

"i hate that i'm mad at him." mackenzie lays back in her bed. ayla furrows her eyebrows. 

"then...forgive him?" ayla suggested. "you've spent the last week sulking over him and he's coming today, so why not just finally hear him out?"

"i don't know." mackenzie sighed again. "i think it just hurt how he didn't trust me, like at all. and he refused to hear me out. and once he realized he was in the wrong he just assumes i would forgive him just like that."

"i mean, it's completely valid how you feel." ayla pointed out. "but chris kissed you in the pouring rain, mack. i don't know about you, but i would fold so fast."

"it was hard not to forgive him." mackenzie admitted. "but i don't want what happened before to happen again. the one thing i needed was for him to trust me and he couldn't." before ayla could respond, the doorbell rang, causing a panicked expression to fill her face.

"holy shit, people are already here." she looks to mackenzie. "we'll finish talking later, just put the dress on and come out." ayla leaves mackenzie's room without another word. mackenzie changes into the white dress and finds a pair of white converse in her closet to match the dress. she takes a deep breath before plastering a smile on her face and walking out the door.

she sees a couple people from school that she recognizes, along with emaan, abby, callie, val, and mady. she starts to go towards them when a familiar face caught her eyes: logan white, her high school ex-boyfriend. logan catches her glance and waves. mackenzie returns the wave, but quickly looks away. the last thing she needed was chris to see logan and all hell to break loose because of mistrust again.

"happy birthday, mack!" emaan walked up to her, giving her best friend a hug. "i got you a present but it won't be here until tomorrow."

"it's no worries, e." mackenzie reassured. "thank you so much!" 

"great party, ayla throws the best."

"she really does." mackenzie replied, her eyes trailing towards the door as a familiar set of faces walked in. "fuck." she quickly looked away once she met chris's eyes. "emaan, hide me."

"i can't." emaan chuckled. "it's your birthday, kenzie. they're already walking towards you."

"mackenzie!" nick exclaimed. "happy birthday!" he pulled the girl in for a hug. "your gift is in the car."