{ twelve }

                                        

                                              
"i'm going to DIE!" 
"shut up!" matt yells at nick. "you're giving me a headache." 
"i don't care, matt, i can't find my sunglasses!" 
"it's 9 p.m." matt rolls his eyes. 
"thanks, captain obvious. they're one thousand dollar sunglasses and i was going to wear them tomorrow! i need them!" 
"go look in your room then." 
nick stalks off, leaving me, matt, and chris on their living room couch. 
it's my first time at their place, and i've been here all evening. their house is nice and spacious, but not particularly tidy. not that i mind. they should see my apartment. 
i texted chris yesterday, asking if i really could come over and practice lines with him. he seemed really excited about it, and said i totally could. i got here today around 6 p.m. 
for two hours, i was alone with chris. not even matt or nick were in the house. he helped me go over my lines, and practicing them with him made me feel genuinely more confident. i always thought i would be insecure if i ever had to practice my lines in front of people, but i didn't feel that at all with him. something about his presence just . . . comforted me. of course, there was a lot that still needed work, and some scenes i could tell weren't quite right, but i made a lot of progress and felt really good about it. 
he actually looked really moved by my acting. normally i would have convinced myself that he was only putting it on to make me feel better, but i know him too well. he was being genuine, and that made my heart swell with gratitude. he complimented me a bunch, and i wonder how much he noticed my blushing. 
just as we were finishing up with the practicing, his brothers returned home from their errands. i was ecstatic to discover that they were carrying two chocolate milkshakes with them; one for me and one for chris. 
we finished the milkshakes an hour ago, but i'm still here, sitting with them on their living room couch. 
"he's so dramatic," matt mutters once nick is gone.
i have to contain my laughter. they are so funny to watch. 
matt checks a few messages on his phone and then suddenly speaks. "chris, are you still going to the party on friday night?" 
chris scrunches up his nose. "i don't know." he eyes me for the briefest of moments. "did the invitation say we can bring friends?" 
matt taps on his screen a few more times, likely pulling up a text message. he reads for a few seconds. "yeah, sounds like it." 
chris sinks back into the couch and says, "i'll only go if bree goes." 
his answer catches me off guard. "oh? i don't even know anything about this." 
matt gives me a rundown on the information: time of day, location, host. i shrug. "i mean, maybe. i'll have to make sure i'm not working. are you sure though? how many people are going to be there?" 
"a lot," chris says without hesitation. "this guy's a pretty big tiktoker, and from what i can tell, he's invited a lot of people. and like matt said, the invitation said to bring friends." 
i've been to parties with them before. not many, but a few. the space camp party from a month ago, our second time meeting. another small party hosted by one of their friends. there was one that georgia was invited to, and she brought all of us with her. once, there was a bigger party that we stopped by only briefly. we were already hanging out, and decided to stop by. we only stayed for a few minutes, though. this party sounds bigger than all of those, and the thought makes me a little nervous. 
as if chris can read my thoughts, he says, "don't worry, we'll be with you the whole time. we'll invite georgia too. totally up to you, though." 
"okay, sounds fun. this friday, you said?" 
"friday, 8 p.m.," matt confirms. 
today is wednesday. that means the party is in two days from now. "sounds good." 
"I'LL KILL YOU, CHRIS!" the yell from upstairs makes me jump half a foot in the air. nick comes thundering back down the stairs, clutching his expensive sunglasses. 
chris says weakly, "oh good . . . you found them." 
"in your bedroom," nick seethes. 
"what? how'd they get in there?" chris laughs nervously. 
"you tell me." 
"it's getting late," i announce suddenly, partly to come to chris's rescue, and partly because it's true. 
chris hops up. "i'll walk you to your car." 
"i don't own a car," i whisper to him. 
"i know," he whispers back. "i'll call you an uber outside." 
nick and matt can probably hear us anyway, but they don't say anything. matt because he doesn't care, and nick because he's too angry. i say goodbye to both of them. they say bye back, but nick gives chris a smoldering glare to let him know that their fight is not over. 
we walk out their front door into the warm evening air. chris pulls out his phone, taps a few buttons, then puts it back in his pocket. "uber's on its way." 
"thanks, chris. let me pay you back." 
he waves away my offer. "i insist. i should be all gentleman-ly and drive you home anyways, but i don't have my license. this is my way of making it up to you." 
i smile. "well thank you." 
"i'm really excited for your audition, bree. today was only practice, and you did so well." 
having someone else be excited for me, particularly him, makes me so incredibly happy. and i don't like to talk myself up, but he's kind of right. i did do well today. better than i usually do. what if . . . "i feel like i do better in front of you," i admit. 
he turns his head towards me. looks at me intently. "really?" he asks softly. gosh, sometimes it's hard to look at him. 
i think about the way i felt so comforted by him, the confidence i had when acting, and the way he seemed to actually listen to me when i spoke. "yeah," i say. 
a slow grin takes over his face. "that makes me happy to hear." 
"maybe you could come with me when i audition next month," i suggest. then, i immediately start rambling. "only if you want to, i don't know. it's stupid, maybe i'm just making that up. i just feel more comfortable, is all, but if you're busy—" 
"i'd love to." 
i shut my mouth and just smile at him. 
my uber arrives way too quickly. 


author's note:
not to give anything away, but . . .
the next chapter gets interesting 👀