SINGLE || chris sturniolo

005 - ↳ 'don't fall in love with me''

CHAPTER 005 -
↳ 'don't fall in love with me'
[ real life ]

quinn was comfortably seated on the couch, intently listening to chris as he recounted the events of the day. he was adamant about being the one to break the news to them regarding the number of people posting about the two of them.

matt, looking at his phone, shook his head in disbelief at the large number of posts. "i can't believe so many people posted about it," he said.

nick, on the other hand, seemed to take it in stride. "well, it's quinn rae, after all," he said, grinning at her. quinn chuckled at the compliment.

chris, however, seemed less than thrilled at the attention. his face betrayed his confusion as his eyebrows furrowed, and he gave a half-hearted smile that looked more like disgust. "just quinn? what about me?" he asked, throwing his hands up in exasperation as he glared at his brother.

nick seemed to realize his mistake and quickly corrected himself. "yeah, i guess there's you too," he said, giving chris an eye roll as he looked away.

chris suddenly seemed to be confused, and he asked Matt, "so i guess we're done? things can go back to normal?" he was sincere with his question, and he genuinely wanted to know if he could go back to his usual routine.

matt couldn't help but chuckle at his question. he found it unbelievable that chris thought their agreement would only last one day. "chris! are you stupid?" matt replied, trying to hide his amusement. "did you not listen yesterday when we said a few months?" matt was amused yet confused himself because chris had clearly not paid attention to what was being said.

chris was taken aback by his response. "a few months?" he repeated, his jaw dropping in shock. "i must've been zoned out 'cause i didn't hear anything about months!" he was trying to process what he had missed, and he was clearly struggling to come to terms with the news.

matt nudged him, urging him to stop being weird. "all you have to do is post each other on social media and hang out," he said, trying to make him feel better. matt was hoping that chris would finally understand what was expected of him and not be so clueless.

"yeah whatever, what else do i have to do?"

"maybe you guys could go out for dinner, it'll let you guys get to know each other more," nick suggested, looking back and forth between the two. the awkward tension between them was clearly more obvious than they both thought.

"dinner?" quinn and chris said in unison.

"why do we need to go out for dinner?" she asked.

"you guys can talk about the plan, maybe set rules and boundaries with each other," nick explained and it did make a lot more sense to quinn after it was explained.

she laid back as the boys changed topics quickly, talking about some new idea for a video but she didn't pay much attention until chris shuffled closer to her.

"i guess we're going to dinner." he grinned.

she exchanged a smile back but once she had looked away, chris let out a heavy breath. one that seemed he had been holding in for a while.

nick had an excited look on his face as he turned to quinn and chris and asked, "so... you guys gonna go?"

she looked at chris in confusion, "you meant like, right now?" she asked, seeking clarification.

"yes, right now!"

chris helped her up from the couch, and the two walked in silence as they heard matt and nick's whispers and laughs behind them.

to break the silence she turned her attention to chris  "anywhere you wanna go?" chris shook his head, trying to think of something.

as they got into the car, chris's face suddenly lit up as though a great idea had just come to him. "actually, there's this place," he said, "it's not far from here, but they make really good food," he recommended the place with a smile.

they arrived at the restaurant, he scanned the room for a table that would offer them some privacy. he spotted one that was a bit secluded from other diners, but still close enough for them to talk without raising their voices. once they were seated and the waiter had left, chris broke the silence by asking about their "rules" for their fake dating act.

quinn seemed to ponder for a moment before responding, "none, really. i mean, i can't think of any right now."

chris chuckled, finding the whole situation amusing. "come on, there has to be at least one rule."

"well," Quinn said, shrugging her shoulders, "i guess we shouldn't tell anyone that it's fake, ever. And we need to hang out at least three times a week to make it believable."

he nodded in agreement. "okay, i can do that. i only have one rule, though." he raised one finger in the air. "don't fall in love with me." he said this mockingly in a high-pitched voice.

quinn burst out laughing, tears almost streaming down her face. "i would never!" she exclaimed, trying to catch her breath. "okay, another rule: never say that again."

"alright , i won't," chris promised, though he couldn't help but look a bit suspicious.

once the food had been bought out, they stuck to small talk which thankfully helped them open up to each other.

during their dinner, chris suddenly took out his phone from his pocket, much to quinn's annoyance. however, her irritation soon turned into curiosity as he held the phone up, as if he was about to take a picture.

"what are you doing?" quinn furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"just taking a picture."

quinn was not quite ready to be in front of the camera just yet. she playfully held up a hand to block the camera, stating, "not whilst I'm eating!"

chris, not willing to take no for an answer, pleaded with her to let him take a picture. he knocked her hand down, and quinn gave in, giving the camera a small smile that was almost hidden. he positioned the phone to get the best shot of quinn, who was sitting across from him at the table.

after taking the photo, she snatched the phone from his hand and took a quick flick of him looking at her, not so much at the phone, indicating that it was her turn to take a picture.