𝑳𝑶𝒀𝑨𝑳𝑻𝒀 - 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 { ✓ }

• 51

『 LOYALTY 』
{ irl }

as mae and chris pull into the driveway, about to get out of the car, chris grabs mae by the wrist. she turns around, confused.

"i had lot of fun, mae." chris tells her. "thank you..."

mae leans back in the seat and grins at him, "of course. i had lots of fun, too."

"also," he says, suddenly feeling very timid. mae notices his strange behavior and looks at him weirdly. "i've been meaning to ask you something."

"you can ask me anything." mae tells him.

she can tell how much he's struggling to ask this question, she she places a hand on his shoulder and rubs his back reassuringly.

chris sucks in a deep breath and says, "can i be your boyfriend?"

mae's eyes widen and she retracts her hand back to her lap. of all questions he could have asked, that's the one that she was least expecting. chris notices her silence and is quick to apologize.

"sorry! i just thought that- uh, since the kiss, that maybe you'd feel the same way." he tells her, words falling from his mouth before he can finish processing them. "you don't have to agree. i don't want you to feel obligated to go out with me if you don't want to—"

"no." mae says, interrupting him.

"oh," chris suddenly feels upset. his entire face drops and his smile has vanished. even though he was worried about being rejected, he didn't think she'd be so blunt about it.

"oh, i meant no i don't not want to! i'd love to be your girlfriend, chris." mae says as soon as she notices chris's disappointment. "shit, i managed to fuck up getting asked out."

chris grins, leaning over the arm rest and pushing some hair out of her face. he leans in before saying, "can i kiss y—"

before he can finish, mae presses her lips to his.

nick and kent have been flirting with each other all night and cora feels like she's going to go insane.

"let's go outside," she hears lorelai offer form behind her. cora turns around and sees lai smiling at her. "i can tell you're sick of watching them. so, would you like to come sit in the porch with me?"

"yes please!" cora doesn't hesitate to accept her offer.

they walk outside together — where there's only a couple people. now that they're not being smushed by everyone in the house, cora feels like she can finally breathe.

she leans on the porch railing and takes a deep breath of fresh air. she sighs, looking up at the stars above them.

"you like stars?" lai asks her, noticing her staring at the night sky. "i hadn't pinned you to be the stargazing type."

"typically, i'm not." cora admits. "but the stars are really
pretty right now. but on the other hand, i might just be drunk."

for a second, lorelai thought cora was going to say some heartfelt comment about the beauty of the stars. but then she had to ruin it by talking about alcohol.

lorelai sighs, leaning back on the railing beside cora and looking at her, mesmerized.

when cora and lorelai were friends back in high school, lai had a huge crush on her. but she never had the balls to do anything about it — which is what made her so much more angry when cora ghosted her.

it's refreshing to be reacquainted with an old friend, but she can already feel her buried feelings beginning to resurface.

especially since they're pretending to be together. maybe that's what's causing it. maybe she only thinks that she has a crush on cora because she has to pretend she does and she's mixing up fiction with reality.

yeah. that's what it is. totally.

"i've missed you, y'know." cora says out of nowhere, causing lorelai to blink in surprise. "even though i'm the one who ruined our friendship, i've regretted it ever since it happened."

"then why didn't you text me back?"

cora shrugs, "i was scared, i guess."

"of what?"

"rejection." cora tells her, "i was scared that you wouldn't want to talk to me again. i thought you would hate me. so i masked my fear by acting nonchalant about it."

cora looks at her and their eyes meet. and under the glistening moonlight above them, lorelai feels her heart flutter just due to a little eye-contact.

"i'd never hate you." lai says, her voice hardly above a whisper.

something clicks between the girls and suddenly, cora is leaning in. her eyes flutter closed and their faces are inches apart.

"WE'RE OPENING GIFTS!!" nick yells from inside the house. cora and lorelai jump apart, both of them left confused and blushing.

"we should- uh," cora says, pointing to the door.

"yeah." lai agrees before they both walk awkwardly inside the house.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧.˚ₓ
a/n : i absolutely ADORE cora and lai's relationship because the fake dating trope is >>>>
btw a little itty bitty secret is that i'm adding the fake dating trope to my next fanfic (which is a matt fic 🤭)