Every Story Has Two Sides
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine, I’m just borrowing them for a little while and will return them unharmed.
Author’s Notes- This is just my mental picture of Chris’s ex, Nicole. My theory was it was a high school relationship that had just about run its course and she knew that, but Chris is the type who can’t bear to walk away from anyone or anything, so he would have held on to the bitter end. The idea for this randomly popped into my head (maybe because of the Chris/MC headcanons I’ve been doing lately). It’s set during Christmas Break of Junior year.
Pairing- Chris/MC
Rating- PG
Summary- While visiting Chris for Christmas, Savannah meets his ex.
Words- 1423
“What do you think of Winter in Cherryfield Maine?” Chris asked me with a grin. “Everything you thought it would be?”
“It’s definitely cold,” I said, with a little shiver. “But really pretty. I’m so glad you invited me to spend some time here.”
I would be in Maine until December 23rd, when I would return home to spend time with my family. I was enjoying the chance to get to know Chris’ mom and siblings and to see his natural habitat.
“Well, you have me to warm you up,” Chris promised, wrapping his arms around my waist, “I’m really glad you are here, Savannah.”
“Me too,” I said, turning in his arm so that I could lean up and kiss him. “I would have hated having to spend the whole break away from you.”
“Me too,” Chris commented and then made a face. “Not that there’s going to be a lot of alone time.”
“We’ll figure out a way,” I promised after all Chris and I had never had an issue finding creative places to hook-up. “But first, tell me about your friends. Who’s hosting this party?”
“Jacob, he was on the football team with me,” Chris said enthusiastically. He launched into a rundown of who I could expect to meet that continued for the rest of the short drive. Soon we were pulling into his friend’s driveway. “Come on.” He said, opening the door for me and taking my hand. “I can’t wait for everyone to meet you.”
I smiled at him and let him lead me to the door. A good-looking guy with red hair and friendly blue eyes opened the door. “Chris, my man!” He said, giving Chris an enthusiastic hug, then turned to me, “and this must be Savannah. I’m Jacob.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand.
He smiled and then ushed us inside. “it’s too cold to be standing around outside. What kind of host would I be if I let my guests get frostbite?”
I laughed and we followed him inside. Chris helped me with my coat and then guided me by the hand over to a circle of people. For the next little while, Chris proudly introduced me to most of his old high school friends, in full doting boyfriend mode. After a while, I became aware of a pretty brunette who was watching us from across the room.
“Chris, who’s that?” I asked, realizing we hadn’t been introduced.
Chris followed my gaze and then looked away quickly. “That’s Nicole,” he admitted.
“Your ex.” It was a statement, not a question. I knew who Nicole was. The girl who Chris had dated for four years, who had dumped him once he had decided to go to Hartfeld.
“Yes,” Chris confirmed. He looked apologetic. “Cherryfield is small and we have a lot of mutual friends. I didn’t know she would be here tonight, but…”
“It’s fine,” I told him. And it was. It had been over two and half years since Chris and Nicole had broken up and we had been together for just under two years. I had never been jealous of Nicole before and there was no reason to start now. “I managed to live with Becca, I think I can handle going to a party where Nicole is present.”
“That’s true, you are pretty amazing,” Chris told me.
I smiled up at him. “Why don’t you get me another drink?”
“Of course.” He said, giving me a quick kiss before disappearing into the crowd. A moment after he left, I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned to see Nicole.
“Savannah?”
“Yes,” I said coolly, not sure what she wanted with me.
“Can we talk?” She asked quietly. “Maybe somewhere private.”
I had no idea what she wanted to say to me, but I nodded and followed her out of the living room and into a small side room. A den of some kind.
“You are even prettier in person.” She began, I must have looked surprised, because she smiled, “some of my friends like to send me screenshots from Chris’ Instagram. You’re a frequent star.”
“They don’t seem like very good friends,” I said bluntly.
Nicole laughed. “You might be right. I think everyone thinks I’m an idiot for letting Chris go. He’s the local golden boy. The small-town boy made good, with the potential to go even further. Plus he’s smart and funny and genuinely nice. My mother still mourns for the son-in-law she could have had.”
“Chris is great,” I agree, wondering what the purpose of this was. Did she want him back?
“But not for me,” Nicole told me, “Or at least not now. What has Chris told you about our relationship?”
“That you were there for him during his hard days,” I told her, “that when he got into trouble, you supported him. That you were together for three years, but once he accepted the scholarship from Hartfeld and you picked a school down south, you broke up with him. I know it really hurt him.”
“I know,” Nicole said softly. “And I feel bad. I just wish he would understand why I did it. I broke up with him when I did, hoping that by doing so, I would be able to preserve our friendship, but I failed.”
“He was hurt,” I said softly. “I think he felt like you could have maybe tried harder.” It was weird for me to be talking about this, because I didn’t want to betray Chris’s confidence, but also because if Chris and Nicole had worked out then he and I wouldn’t be together.
“It would have just prolonged the inevitable,” She told me, “and made things messier. If I had told Chris that I worried about what distance would have done to us, he would have insisted on trying because he can’t stand the thought of walking away from things.” She wasn’t wrong. “And so we would have tried and we would have failed and it would have torn at us both.”
She looked at me. “How many girls were after Chris during first year?”
“A few,” I said cautiously. “But I know Chris, he doesn’t cheat.”
“No, he doesn’t.” Nicole agreed. “But he’s human. He would have been tempted and it would have been a strain and he would have kept on fighting it because he wouldn’t be the one to walk away and I think he would have hated me by then, more than he does now.”
I tried to imagine what that first year would have been like if Chris had still had a girlfriend. He wouldn’t have cheated, but would his being in a relationship have stopped our amazing chemistry? Or would it have made everything even weirder and more awkward than the Becca situation had? It was hard to say.
“You know, you should be having this conversation with him, not me,” I said awkwardly after a moment.
“It’s hard when he won’t speak to me,” she pointed out. She sighed, “but you’re right. I just… I guessed I hoped maybe you could at least tell him I’m not a heartless bitch.”
“I can do that, I guess,” I said, though I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about the idea. “But I don’t control Chris. I don’t tell him how to think or feel.”
“Of course not,” she agreed, she smiled, “it really was nice to meet you, you are every bit as lovely as I expected.”
“Uh… Thank you,” I said, not sure what else to say.
A moment later, she disappeared back inside, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Whenever I had pictured meeting Chris’s ex, that wasn’t quite how I’d expected it going. Nicole had seemed nice and genuine, though I was still a little uncomfortable that she had sought me out instead of Chris.
Still, I would mention the conversation to him later. Not because she asked me to, but because Chris and I didn’t keep secrets from each other. However, that would have to wait, for now, I wanted to find my boyfriend and try and enjoy the rest of the party.
- End
