the aftermath || chase and marina
𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: chase’s house // 7th of february 2021.
𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: chase x marina.
𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: none?
𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: chase is devastated by his breakup with gabrielle, and marina comes over to comfort him.
@chasinwaterfalls: single :( not by choice 🤡🤡🤡
DMs: @marinaholly: you okay? maybe a quest can help!
DMs: @chasinwaterfalls: biggest quest I am doing is moving from the couch to my bed
DMs: @marinaholly: :( what happened?
DMs: @chasinwaterfalls: she dumps me all the time, but i think she was actually serious this time, she hasn't talked to me in a few days
DMs: @marinaholly: im sure everything will work out. i can come over if you want?
DMs: @chasinwaterfalls: i am a mess, but please do
DMs: @marinaholly: omw
Chase usually kept a pretty clean house, but there were dishes crowding the sink and bags of trash waiting by the door for him to take out. The maid usually came by once a week, but he had told her to go away this morning. He was too ashamed to have her clean up his mess. He had been watching Bachelor re-runs of his favorite seasons for the last two days, and eating whatever he felt like ... if he did feel like eating. He had sweatpants on and a big baggie hoodie, just becoming one with the couch.
Marina decided to stop by a connivence store and grab a bunch of candy for Chase in hopes that it would cheer him up a bit. She also snuck a bottle of wine from her house, hoping her mom wouldn’t catch on. Though Marina was technically the one to do the breaking up in her relationship with Kyle, she was very familiar with heartbreak. Once she got to the Hale’s property, she made her way over to Chase’s house and knocked on the door. She would have dressed up a bit more, but it was Chase. She was comfortable being around him in the casual clothes she was in.
Chase heard the knock at the door and called out loudly, "ITS UNLOCKED, COME AND MURDER ME!" Chase felt beyond exhausted to begin with. All his friends were so happy right now, and the break ups usually didn't last ... but this one felt more real than the others. He hadn't even seen his daughter in a few days, he had just been absorbed by the couch. "Hey Marina" he said looking over at her, not moving his body at all.
Marina opened the door and noticed how messy the house was. He usually kept it pretty clean, but she understood how it could get to this state considering the fact that he just got dumped. They had been together for so long, this must have hurt so much. She was in a groupchat with Gabrielle and Juliette, but she hadn't mentioned anything yet. It was actually pretty quiet in there recently. Marina made a mental note to clean the place up later. She headed to his room and walked in slowly, "Hello. Deliver for Chase Stephens." she said as she held up the candy and wine. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel like death" said Chase, realizing he had not brushed his teeth in a hot minute. "I will be right back, make yourself comfortable in the depression crevice." Chase headed off to his bathroom to go brush his teeth and quickly came back, "Okay now I'm not completely disgusting" said the boy as he plopped back down on the couch, "You want to watch the bachelor?" he joked as he turned the TV off. Chase put his head in Marina's lap, "Thanks for coming over here, the guys just don't get it. They're all way too happy right now."
Marina frowned at her friend and sat down on the couch as she waited for him to come back. "Well we could if you want." she said, trying to keep the mood as positive as possible. "Whatever you want, I'm up for." she nodded once. Marina looked down at Chase once he laid his head on her lap. She automatically began to run her fingers through his hair, it was just something she did a lot to Kyle. "Of course." she spoke softly. "Do you want to talk about it? Or maybe I could talk to her for you? I don't want to make anything worse for you though."
Chase sighed as she ran her fingers through his hair, "I know we're gonna get like ... back together at some point. There was a lot of crying, and she was really mad and I was really mad. I think I did the breaking up in the end, but she definitely started it" Chase rambled, "It just sucks because she just ... she fucking keeps me on the line all the time because she knows I'm going to come back to her". He was weak like that. He loved her so much, and he would do anything for her. It had all just become too much. "It's just bullshit, because when we started dating in the 8th grade, I wasn't really wondering things like if she liked what I liked or anything like that. She just thought I was funny, and that was what made me happy. That I could make her laugh, and I love her laugh. Like I seriously love it, but I just feel like other than that we have nothing in common sometimes. Like there's this huge disconnect."
It hurt to hear Chase say that Gabrielle simply knew he would come back to her. Marina was in a very different situation, it almost felt wrong to try and find some common thread between his relationships issues and hers since she was the problem, but sometimes she felt that way. That no matter what Kyle did, who he hooked up with, she would go back to him in heartbeat. It was just a matter of when he'd actually ask her to be his girlfriend again. She settled for what he was giving her right now. "Don't let her have that hold on you. It doesn't seem right for her to treat you however she wants because she knows you'll go back to her. That's just not fair." she tried giving some kind of advice, but it was hard. "Maybe you both could try getting into each other interests? I mean, if you want to try and fix things with her. Like, maybe bring her to a LARPing session. That might be fun." she suggested with a small smile.
The missing piece of the puzzle was of course that Chase and Gabrielle had a kid together, and he lived there. That's what made it all messy, and made him love her just that much more. Chase shook his head when she suggested he bring Gabrielle along, "She doesn't even like dressing up for sex. Closest thing she'd ever do to Larping is she dressed up for Halloween" he replied. They had argued about it a bunch, and they didn't even do a couples costume. "It just doesn't make sense, because she does the costumes for the theatre department. It has to do with the fact that she thinks her dressing up for me is like ... me imagining her as someone else. Which is bullshit, it's just having sex in a character. It's fun, I'm ... I'm fucking assuming. I haven't gotten to try it. I'm off on a tangent, please just tell me to shut up."
"Oh. She won't even try it out once? I've also heard it's fun. Haven't tried it out myself, but here's to hoping one day I could." Marina raised her shoulders and laughed under her breath. She wasn't sure if her ex would be into that, she hadn't brought it up to him before. "No you're fine. Rosie & I go on tangents all the time. We get so off track, it's insane." she smiled, thinking about how chaotic her and her sister's conversations could get. "Plus, it's good to get it all out. You said you couldn't really go to the boys about it, so I don't want you to hold back." she told him. "Have you ever talked to Gabrielle about this? That you feel like there's a disconnect between you both?"
"What am I gonna do, say hey babe. You don't like anything that I like and that sucks. It's just gonna hurt her feelings if I talk like that, I can just keep doing what I do and slowly showing her stuff until she finds something she likes. Not that it matters right now because we're done currently" Chase continued on. He felt like he was putting a lot of weight on Marina, "I'm sorry for being so angry, I'm just so frustrated and I'm tired of crying. I'm ... I'm ready to be mad" he added.
"Well I know she doesn't have to like the things you like, but she could always be supportive of it? Maybe that's not the word." Marina shook her head, trying to find the words. "Like with Kyle, he's super into music. That's his life. I'm terrible with all of that, but I would always go see him perform wherever it was. Even if it was for the marching band back then, I just liked going for him. It made him happy. I would even ask him to teach me how to play something every now and then even though I knew I wouldn't catch on." she explained with a dumb smile on her face as she thought back on those times. "Our interests or hobbies could be a very big part of who we are, so I get why you're frustrated." Marina shook her head as Chase apologized, "Oh please, I'm the last person you need to apologize to for being angry. If you need to get mad, get mad." That wasn't the best advice, but Marina wasn't very good herself at controlling those type of emotions.
"And that's really sweet of you, but music is cool and entertaining even for people who don't participate. She doesn't want to hear me explain my comic books or show her my action figures" said Chase, cooling off a little. He sighed as he sat up to face Marina, "It just sucks, because in a few days she is going to have some guy over and I'm going to hear about it at school, because that's what always happens. One time they were in the pool and I saw them flirting and whatever right in front of my house. I've kissed three people that weren't her in my entire life, and she's had sex with other people" said the boy, "and then we're going to date again and I'm going to have to think about that, and it's ... it's just all shitty. Do you want to watch a movie? I feel like a movie would make things better. I need to distract myself"
Marina nodded her head as she listened to Chase. She understood where he was coming from, but she always enjoyed hearing people gush about the things they were passionate about, though she kept that comment to herself. This wasn't about her, or making Gabrielle look worse, this was about Chase right now. "So why don't you try getting with someone? Maybe it'll take your mind off of it." Yet again, not great advice, but Marina was naturally a very jealous person and liked to make things even. "We could watch a movie. What do you have in mind?"
He looked at her when she said that he should try to get with someone, he immediately had a horny idiot boy thought about being with her. He shoved that thought straight out of his mind, that would be so chaotic and messy. She was his best confidant, and the only person in town that wasn't Jonah that shared all his interests. They had a LARP campaign together, it was a dumb thought. Chase turned to Marina with a smile, "Why don't we ... simply just watch all the bring it ons?" Chase loved the bring it on franchise, "I have all the DVDs don't worry" he said, getting up and opening up the DVD cupboard, pulling all the disks out. "Obviously I don't own a physical copy of cheersmack, but we don't need to watch that anyways" he added with a laugh as he put in the first disk and came back to the couch to sit next to her.
Marina noticed that Chase didn't comment on her suggestion and she quickly regretted bringing it up. If he wanted to get back together with Gabrielle, it was best to not try and mess anything up. She also couldn't help but feel like a bad friend towards Gabrielle. Marina was definitely closer to Chase, whether his ex-girlfriend knew that or not, but she was slowly getting closer to Gabrielle through Juliette. She didn't want to ruin anything. As he began to speak, she could have sworn he was going to suggest that they do something together, something physical. But he brought up watching Bring It On and it caused her to let out an awkward laugh. She was almost embarrassed for thinking that. "There's never a wrong time to watch Bring It On. We can definitely pass on cheersmack. The only good thing about that one is Imogen from Degrassi and Christian from Dance Academy." she said as she passed him the candy she bought him.
"Stoppp, don't say Dance Academy to me. Now I'm either going to have to watch the sammy death reactions on youtube or watch the whole show over again" Chase said with a laugh as he took the candy and opened it up. "You're the best, you know that right?" he said as he passed her the open box. "Did you want wine? I also have some here if you don't want to get in trouble with your folks" Chase added as he got up to go get them two wine glasses and the bottle opener.
Marina sank into the couch once Chase mentioned Sammy's death, "Oh god, it gets me every time. But I will happily watch the whole show over again with you. Rosie and I haven't watched it in so long." She looked over at him with a proud smile, flashing her teeth in his direction. "I try my best." she stated before taking some candy for herself. "Nah don't worry about it. It's already out of the house, I've accepted my fate." Marina and her mother had been getting into more arguments lately, whether it was from her constant fights at school or her frequent partying. One more fight won't make much of a difference at this point.
"I cry like a bitch, I will be honest" said the boy, smirking a little at the admission. He put the glasses over by them and opened up the wine bottle, pouring two big glasses. "Are you cold?" he asked as he passed her a glass and held his own, "I have some big blankets". The movie was already playing, but it wasn't like they were really going to miss anything. They had both already had seen it so many times. Chase pulled the blanket up over the both of them as he sat next to her. "Cheers" he said as he clinked his glass to hers and started drinking. He kept thinking about what she had said though, that little voice at the back of his head. Telling him to get even with her, level the playing field. Maybe he should ask her to tell Gabrielle that they did something, that was stupid though. He had gotten caught in that lie last time.
"Aww I'll make sure to bring some tissues so you can wipe your tears." Marina teased the boy, as if she doesn't also cry like a bitch over the character's death. She grabbed the glass and nodded her head in response to his question, "A little." Once the blankets were over them, she unintentionally scooted a bit closer to him. It didn't mean anything, she was just a fan of cuddling. Who could blame her? "Cheers!" she repeated before tapping her glass against his gently and taking a big sip. As she was taking her sip, she noticed the bracelet she gave him for Christmas on his wrist. "Hey, nice bracelet. You get that from someone? They must have great taste." she joked with a grin on her face.
Chase was immediately comforted by Marina sitting close to him, he was just so used to cuddling with Gabrielle during movies if she wasn't chasing their kid around. Chase was taking a sip when she asked about the bracelet, "Oh this old thing? Had it forever, cute girl gave it to me in another life" he teased back. Chase wondered if he was pushing some kind of boundary, he would have acted exactly like this when he was dating Gabrielle. Maybe he would have sat a little further away, but calling her cute was nothing new. He felt like he was making up the tension that was building for him.
Marina's small smile grew as Chase mentioned the girl being cute. No matter how insignificant it was for him, comments like that meant a lot to her. She needed to be told something like that to actually believe it, just for a little bit. Hearing it from Chase felt a little different though, maybe it was just the fact that she was particularly lonely right now, but she tried not to think too hard on it. "From another life and you're wearing it now? She must be real special then." she continued to tease him. "I got a feeling you mean a lot to her too."
"My writer thought it would be good for continuity if I wore it across all multiverses" Chase teased as he broke the fourth wall. "Oh is that so" said the boy as he took another sip of wine, the movie playing out in front of them, but neither of them were paying any attention. He was just making eye contact with her and smiling. He knew that he was going to go crawling back to Gabrielle, but something about this made him want her to come crawling back to him. Something about the way she was looking at him.
"Very smart of them." Marina giggled as she nodded her head. "Mhm." she hummed as she shifted a bit to be facing him more directly. "I get why too. You just seem to draw people in." she said as she looked into his eyes. She should have held back and just continued watching the movie, but she couldn't stop. Part of her didn't want to stop. "It might be the hair, it's powerful." she said with a smile. "Or maybe it's that biiiig smile of yours. Very cute." she told him as her eyes travelled down to his lips.
This was most definitely a signal, and this was his only chance. If he blew this he would never kiss Marina Hollingsworth. Not that he had really thought about it at all until right now, but he definitely wanted to. He wanted to pull her in for a kiss, but let's face it. He's a bottom and a whimp. There was no way this girl actually wanted to kiss him, she was just naturally flirty. So was he. "You have that effect on people too" said Chase, staring at her mouth. He was still thinking about kissing her, but he just didn't have the balls to do it.
Marina found herself inching closer and closer to him as he spoke. Any thought of being a good friend to both Chase and Gabrielle went straight out the window. They were both in weird situations with their relationships. But that was the thing, they both weren't in relationships right now, they were free to do what they want. "Yeah? Do I have that effect on you?" she asked as she looked up to his eyes, their lips almost touching at this point.February 9, 2021
He knew he shouldn't be doing any of this, first things first ... she was a teammate. Second thing, she was his larping teammate. Third thing, she was definitely friends with his ex on some level. Fourth thing, she was one of his closest friends. Fifth thing, Chase put his hand on the nape of her neck and pulled her in to kiss her slowly and softly as he put his wine glass down on the table.
Marina closed her eyes as she felt his lips on hers, moving in her closer to him as he did so. She shouldn't have let it get this far, but she was too into the moment to stop. This would be something she'd worry about later, not right now. Marina placed her glass on the table beside his before wrapping her arm around his neck and slowly moving her hand up through his hair.
Chase was sure he should stop, but he couldn't bring himself to. He put his hands on her hips to guide her onto his lap. Chase felt like he should say something, "Is this okay?" he asked under his breath. That was such a stupid thing to say, why did he say that. He was so embarrassed, her put his lips back on hers before she should answer.
Marina placed her hands on Chase's shoulders as she moved on top of him. She was about to answer when he immediately went back to kissing her. It caught her off guard, but she pulled away to speak anyways, "Is this okay?" she asked back. "Should we stop? Do you want to stop?" she asked quietly, her nerves were slowly kicking in. She was worried she was doing something wrong or wasn't pleasing him in some way.
Chase looked up at her and put his hand on her cheek, "You are so hot, it's kinda making me stupid" said Chase honestly. His brain was cloudy from all the crying and sleeping he had been doing for the last few days. His body definitely wanted Marina, that was more than evident. He just didn't want to use her, and he knew he would be with Gabrielle again. "Do you want to keep going?" he asked.
Marina couldn't help but smile at Chase's comment, it slowly eased her tension. She was so fragile when it came to her self esteem. Anything could set her off, but simple compliments fueled her confidence. She needed this kind of distraction anyways, they both did. "Yes, definitely." she said sweetly with the nod of her head before going back in to kiss him slowly.
She said definitely, his whole body relaxed a little. She wanted to do this, and Marina wasn't just doing it out of pity ... well at least not entirely. She put her lips back on his and he moved his tongue into her mouth for a while as they kissed. When their lips parted, Chase knew he was putting his foot in his mouth, "Just two friends, doing very good friend stuff" he replied nervously, "You can shut me up anytime".
Marina cupped the sides of Chase’s face and moved her body up against his as they continued to kiss. She looked at him with a small smile on her face as he spoke again, she couldn’t help but find his nervous comments endearing. “You do this with all your friends? Now I don’t feel so special anyone.” she teased him before kissing down his jaw and to his neck.
This with Marina, it felt like Chases first time all over again. That same nervous excitement, it was an intangible high that he had completely forgotten. He had never done anything like this with anyone. Yeah he had kissed Chanel and ... Thalia. But this was so different. Chanel Hampton was beyond beautiful and very sexy, but that was very transactional. The only rush he had gotten from it was the feeling of getting under Gabrielle’s skin. This? With Marina? It was life giving. “Me and Jonah every Monday night mid clone wars” said Chase, a little out of breath as she worked her way down his neck, letting out a little laugh from the joke and because it tickled.
Marina was quickly becoming more comfortable with all of this. She always felt like she needed to be the best at everything she did, but being around Chase was a breath of fresh air. When she LARPed with him, she never had those worries and that sense of comfort was transferring over to this moment. “That’s some stiff competition.” she continued on with the joke. “But I don’t like to lose.” she told him before sitting up straight and removing her shirt. Marina couldn’t tell how far they were taking this, but her confidence was kicking in again and she didn’t want to hold back. She leaned forward once more to give him a hickey right on the side of his neck.
Chase was going to make a comment about how Jonah is a straight up stud, but when the girl took her shirt off his mind went blank. “Wow, wow” said the boy. He knew it was stupid to say, but he honestly couldn’t control his mouth when hers was on his neck. Chase was aware she was leaving a hickey, but he honestly was going to need the reminder that this wasn’t a dream. “Do you want to go to my room?” he asked as he put his lips on her neck, moving down slowly to the exposed skin.
- Fade to Black -