back home | matt sturniolo

prologue

"im aria jones. im uh - im fifteen
. i work in a cafe," the shy fifteen year old girl said into the microphone.

her dark brown curls her slightly round face. her short but lanky body hunched over as she took pidgin toed in the middle of the stage. her pink cardigan began sticking to her skin tightly due to the sweat rolling down her arms, and she held on to that microphone as close as she could to her body. she let out a shaky breath as her eyes scanned over the audience to see all the people looking right back at her, causing her nerves to increase.

"alright, lets hear what you got," simon demanded slightly.

aria closed her eyes and let out a big breath quietly to herself. she reopened her eyes and turned her head to the side to catch a glimpse of her family off stage. then she caught sight of her boyfriend standing right next to her mom, which easily calmed her nerves. matt looked up and gave two big thumbs up, blowing her a kiss and smiling at the girl.

ari smiled in return and turned her head back to the audience, raising the microphone to her mouth. "ive seen the world," she started, and everyone in the audience began cheering and clapping at the sound of her voice.

matt smiled proudly as he watched his girl sing up on the stage. just ari's angelic voice echoing through the whole arena. ari sounded so raw and open as her voice echoed through the arena, sensing shivers down matt's spine.

after ari had finished and received three yes's to continue, she ran off stage feeling giddy. ari's mom, anne, and sister, leah, were jumping and cheering loudly as ari approached them. Robin, ari's stepdad, was clapping his hands with a proud smile as he stood next to anne. and well matt - he had his arms open as his girlfriend ran to jump in them.

ari wrapped her legs around matt's waist - his arms around his neck as she dug her fingers into matt's hair. aria nuzzled her face against her boyfriends neck and finally let the tears fall down her cheeks as the adrenaline of the audition finally hit her.

matt held on to ari tightly, jumping in circles and spinning them around. "you did it. you did it. im so proud of you," matt cheered against her ear. matt kissed the side of the girls cheek and placed her on the ground again, cupping her cheeks to wipe the tears in the corner of aria's eyes.

when leah and anne came closer, matt released his hold on ari so they could hug her tightly. soon leah and anne were squishing ari tightly in between their bodies causing matt to smile at the scene. robin laughed as ari began complaining against anne's chest and thought what the hell, as he joined in on squishing ari.

"this is the start of something great, baby," anne cried out, smiling wide as she pulled slightly back from ari so she could cup the side of her face.

and she was right about one thing.

this would be the start of something great.

to something new.

but it would also be the start of the end of something.