You and Chris have always been attached at the hip. Everyone who knows you, knows it.

You’re close with all the triplets, of course. But it’s always been different with Chris. Ever since you were five and he bought you a new ice cream because a boy pushed you and you dropped yours.

You tell him everything, he tells you everything. There’s nothing you don’t know about each other. You’ve always been each other’s confidants.

You can’t remember exactly when things changed, when this layer of an unresolved tension appeared between you and even if they were there, neither of you ever admitted to having feelings about each other.

You left for college three months ago, to NYU. And even though New York is not that far from Boston, you didn’t get to visit, trying to figure out your courses and schedules.

But it’s Christmas and your family is spending their Holidays with the Sturniolo’s as usual. You walk in the familiar house, just across from your family’s home. And you see him, his gaze avoiding you pointedly, with a tall and beautiful blonde girl sitting next to him, dressed to the nines.

You look down at your snowy beanie and sweatpants and internally cringe.

And while you do feel your heart plummet, you force a smile. Chris stays quiet, looking everywhere else except at you,