Leviticus: Return back home

Ch.7: Friends

《MATT'S POV》

"Wait, Nick did what?" Levi looked at Matt in shock.
"He nearly drowned." Matt took a bite of his sandwich.
"Is... he alright now?" Alex sounded concerned.

"Yeah. Riven said he's fine now. He just had a bit of a cold until New Years."
"Oh, that's good to hear. Also, have you guys already started packing for the trip next week?" Levi asked.

"Why would I have started packing already? We still have tonight, or tomorrow morning." Alex said.
"You want to pack on the morning of the trip itself?" Levi clearly didn't think that sounded like a good idea.

Matt grinned. "As if you've already packed everything."
Levi looked at him. "Yes."
Matt let out a deep sigh. "Of course. I totally forgot you're that type of person. The one that's always on time and prepared for everything."

"I'm not-" Levi started, but Matt didn't let him finish.
"Yes. Yes you are. More than me at least."
"Omg, guys." Alex interrupted their disagreement.

He nodded his head to point out something behind Matt. When Matt turned around, he saw Charley, who was just sitting down at a table with some guys from Jay's class. The boys were all talking to each other, except Charley who seemed to be a bit left out.

Matt couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him.
School was tough without real friends. He had no idea what he would've done if he hadn't befriended Alex and Levi.

"What's your brother doing doing, Levi?"
Matt and Levi both looked over and saw Professional Little Snitch walk over to what seemed to be yet another one of Levi's many, many siblings.

He talked to her for a little bit and then left.
"What the fuck?" Matt mumbled. "What is he doing?"
The girl got up and started walking over to their table.

"I guess we're about to find out." Levi figured.
The sister arrived and turned towards her brother. "He has to do some preparations for a presentation he has to do. He asked me to watch you."

When nobody responded and just stared at her instead, she continued. "I didn't see anything."
Levi instantly started smiling. "Leah, you're the best!"

She nodded. "Hmm, obviously." She left to go back to her table and Levi immediately got up and started gathering his stuff, so Matt and Alex followed suit.

Jay looked up when Levi tapped him on his shoulder. His face instantly lit up. "Oh my god, what are you doing here?"
Levi quickly sat down. "My brother isn't gonna be here this entire break."

Apparently that was all the confirmation Jay needed, instantly pulling Levi in to hug him tightly.
They didn't let each other go for quite a while and Matt had to look away, because though he was happy for the both of them, it was still a bit cringy for him to see his brother like that.

Luckily Riven pulled him down on the seat next to him. "Jeez, it's been so long since I've seen you."
"Ugh, I know." Matt rolled his eyes. "My mom refused to let me go out at all this vacation. But at least this week we'll be able to see each other more during the trip."

Jay and Levi had finally let go of each other and were now softly speaking to each other, not loud enough for Matt to understand what they were saying.
"Oh, about the trip. I'll probably be spending more time with Nick as well."

This surprised Matt. Nick and Riven's relationship hadn't been great these past few weeks. "Oh? His near death experience has brought you closer?"
That made Riven laugh. "I guess you could say so."

They then both looked at Nick, who was staring at his phone, while running his free hand through his thick, dark brown hair. He finally lifted his head and spotted them observing him.

He frowned, obviously confused why they were staring at him like that. They both started laughing, which puzzled Nick even more about what was going on.

Riven turned his head towards Matt again, who noticed his hair was a bit messed up. Without even thinking about it for a second, he brushed his hand through his best friend's hair.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Nick's face drop. Matt saw him quickly lower his eyes.
Fuck. He hadn't intended for that to happen.

Riven hadn't seen it happen, but when he saw the way Nick was sitting, suddenly acting overly interested in whatever was on his screen, he raised his eyebrow at Matt, who nodded at him.

He sighed, but didn't say anything. Matt gave him a look, but he shrugged.
"So do you have like 20 siblings too?" Felix blurted out.
"Eh, no. My mom isn't a human incubator, so it's just my brother and me." Alex said.

"Hey, my mom isn't a human incubator either!" Apparently Levi had been listening along too.
"Never said she was." Alex defended himself.

"I will, though. She definitely is one." Matt had to join in on the conversation.
"Hey, that's not very nice." Nick reprimanded him.
"He has 11 siblings."

"Wait, what? What the fuck, that doesn't seem healthy."
Nick looked actually concerned.
"Oh my god, I thought that was a joke?" That was Riven.

"Okay everyone, calm down. Yes, I have 11 siblings. Yes, my mom is fine."
Nick frowned, still not convinced. "Are you positive?"
"Now kids, you see what happens when you don't use birth control." Felix warned them.

Matt gave him a dirty look. "What are you looking at me for, I'm literally gay, you should be looking at yourself instead."
"Oh no, yuck. I don't want to have sex." Felix looked disgusted at the idea.

"Sure." Matt laughed.
"No, seriously. Grosses me out." Felix face showed he was telling the truth.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't know that."
Felix shrugged. "No need to apologize."

He then continued talking about school and Matt took the moment his friends' attention wasn't on him as an opportunity to look to his right, where he knew Charley would be.

He was on his phone, but as soon as Matt laid eyes on him, as if he could sense his gaze, he raised his head up and made eye contact.

He seemed shocked to find Matt staring back at him and Matt realized he hadn't sensed his gaze at all, but rather he had probably been looking at them routinely this entire time.

Matt knew he should probably feel angry that this guy had been staring at him, but he couldn't. Something about seeing this guy sitting there, basically all by himself, watching them laughing and all having fun together... it made him a bit sad.

But no. This guy wasn't sad, or pitiful. He was someone who wouldn't be scared to be mean or even hateful towards his friends, just because they were in love. Matt hated him.

He abruptly turned his head around, back to his friends and their cheerful chatter. These were the people he should be focused on. They were the ones that really mattered.

When they were going on this trip tomorrow, they'd be the only people he was going to be spending time with, he wasn't going to care about anyone else.

《END OF THIS CHAPTER》

A very short chapter, I know. I just see this as a little inbetween chapter away from all the angst.

But next up is the trip and that's gonna be great I hope ehhehee.