𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛&𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 • 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚘

twenty one

• Matt •

Matt sat and stared at the girl in front of him, for once not caring if she noticed. He still held the envelope tightly in his hands, as if he would lose it if he didn't.

"What does this mean exactly? I don't want to make any assumptions." Of course, he knew exactly what it meant. What he didn't know, was what Sienna meant to do when she gave it to him. Was it her attempt at asking him out? Or was she not ready for that? She had just broken up with Josh, after all.

"It means that I love you, and that I want you to know, even though I can't be with you yet. I hope you wait for me." The words hurt him, but the voice that said them soothed him. She could never truly hurt his feelings, everything she said sounded like honey to him. How had he not realized his feelings sooner?

"Of course. I'd wait for you forever." Sienna smiled, her cheeks growing a little pink. Even if it was a little cliché, he meant every word.

"Just until everything with Josh blows over. You know how much shit I'd get if I broke up with him and started dating you the same day."

"It'll be old news by next week."

"I know."

~~~

Sure enough, all Matt heard at school the next day was whispers about Josh and Sienna. Apparently Josh hadn't told anyone about why Sienna had broken up with him, or it just hadn't gotten out yet. He'd gotten a few glances as he walked around with his black eye, that was barely on his eye but it sounds cooler to say black eye, and he was sure people could assume what happened.

Matt found himself taking different routes around school, taking the long way to his classes to see Sienna. Each time smiling and waving, he couldn't believe that he'd spent three weeks going out of his way to avoid her.

As he sat at the table in the lunch room with his brothers and friends, his attention was on his phone instead of the conversation going on around him. Unlike Chris, he was actually good at iMessage games, meaning that he saw a lot more messages that said he won than lost.

"Matt, are you even listening?" His head shot up, unaware that the others had been talking to him.

"No, sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if you were going to the preseason camp for lacrosse next week?" Aidan asked again as Chris glanced at Matt's phone, now laying on the table.

"Isn't Sienna in a class right now?" Matt hated that he had drilled the fact that Sienna had a class during their lunch into his brothers heads.

"Yes, and yes." He reached for his phone, which was immediately plucked off the table by Chris, who began to play the game that he had just been playing.

"Let your girlfriend do her work, she's not gonna pass if you text her all day."

"She's not my girlfriend." Chris gave him a side eye. "Yet." He added.

He got a few claps on the shoulder, and a few guys saying "way to go, Matt". He hasn't realized how many of his friends had been rooting for him in the background.

"How long do you think you'll have to wait?"

"Just until she feels like she's not gonna get shit about it. She only broke up with Josh yesterday."

"You guys are like, madly in love though, right?"

"I don't know if I'd say 'madly', but basically."

"Matty's finally growing up. It brings a tear to my eye." Aidan wiped a tear from his eye to enunciate his point, earning a laugh from the group.

"Shut up, we're not even dating yet."

"You've basically gotten in a fight for her, even if it's not official, you're together." Matt didn't respond, he grabbed his phone out of Chris' hands, who had just lost him a game of archery, and went back to texting Sienna.

Matt: Heard anything about Josh?

Sienna <3: loads, so far everyone's on my side tho
Sienna <3: apparently people think he's a dick and they're proud of me for breaking up w him
Sienna <3: i didn't tell anyone he punched u tho, just in case u didn't want that out

Matt smiled at his phone, at least he wasn't the only one to think that Josh was an asshole. He also appreciated that she wasn't going around telling everyone that it was because Josh had punched him, it was kinda obvious because of the bruise, but it was nice that she wasn't confirming anything. It wasn't even a fight, and honestly, he won if it was, but he did have more bruises than Josh.

The bell rang and he leapt to his feet, eager to see Sienna again. The letter had given him a new spring in his step, something to look forward to. He met her in the science wing, which he knew she walked through on her way to lunch. He turned around when they crossed paths as his class was the opposite direction than he was going.

"Hey Sienna." His steps fell in line with hers as they walked.

"Hey Matt, I've seen you a lot today." Sienna knew why she had seen him, she always knew. It was one of the reasons that they had become friends so fast, and why he had inevitably fallen for her.

"Yeah, I've been trying out some new routes today. Like 'em?" He nudged her, earning a laugh.

"You know I like any excuse to see you."