back home | matt sturniolo

chapter 1

3 years later

the rain fell rapidly as the showers covered all of boston. the giant droplets of water were pelting against the misty window to make a relaxing sound for a lazy day. matt was slumped on his sofa in the living room. he aimlessly scrolled through the tv channels until he found one airing friends. he let out a little grumble as he tossed the remote to the side.

he let his body relax more as he tossed his feet up onto the coffee table in front of him. he felt his body sink further into the cushions as he stretched himself to get more comfortable.

rainy days always made matt want to curl up on the sofa and do nothing but watch tv. it was peaceful enough for him to have another lazy day with the horrid weather outside of his house. no work that day. no plans set. but then the front door flew open, and the rowdy voices of his best friends stung his sensitive ears when the fairly room was ruined with their entrance.

"hey matty" nathan greeted, rounding the sofa to sit next to the boy.

matt looked over at nate and raised an eyebrow. nick and chris followed shortly after nate and plopped down on the other side of him. matt turned to look at the two and frowned. "what?" matt asked.

chris began smiling as he shoved and envelope on to matt's belly, laughing when matt grunted at the impact. "look what we just got," chris cheered, wiggling his eyebrows as matt went to grab it.

matt rolled his eyes as he began pulling the flap off the envelope, groaning more to himself considering this was too much work for his desired lazy day. he pulled out about 8 tickets that were tucked inside. matt frowned as he picked on of them up, letting his eyes scan over the words until they harden into a cold glare.

aria jones in concert - live at mgm music hall

"no," matt grumbled, shoving the tickets back in the envelope and throwing them in chris's direction. nate let out a little hum as he pushed himself off the sofa to disappear into the kitchen he grumbled under his breath about going to grab some chips, but matt knew he was just trying to avoid this conversation.

chris shook his head sadly as he grabbed the envelope again to set it on the coffee table, "why not?" he whined.

matt pressed his lips together in a fine line and crossed his arms over his chest. he stubbornly refused to answer the question as he tried to focus on the tv in front of him rather than his two brothers giving him a glare.

nick let out a sigh and cautiously placed his hand on matt's shoulder, "come on. ari sent them to us." matt rolled his eyes and shoved nicks arm off of him, disregarding his attempt in trying to convince him to go.

matt honestly didn't care what the hell aria sent to them or not. it's been three years since aria left boston to become the pop star she wanted to be, and she never thought to call. or even say goodbye. matt remebered the night all too well when his whole world crumbled. he thought he was doing what's best for ari and their relationship, but he never thought there would be conflict from his decision.

matt thought about aria and her dream's - but it seemed like that all ari was thinking about as well. as soon as ari got the call to go on tour, she dropped her old life style and traded it in for the fame and the fortune. she left her friends without any contact, and more importantly she left her boyfriend in the dust.

"i don't care what that bitch sent us," matt snapped, dragging his eyes away from the tv to look over at nick and chris, "why the hell would i want to go watch her perform?"

"maybe becasue you still love her?" nick questioned, a softer edge to his tone because he knows how touchy this subject is for matt. they only like to remind him every chance they get in hopes matt would reach out to ari. its yet to work.

chris agreed, nodding his head, "yeah. plus, this is her final show of the tour before she goes on her break."

matt rolle his eyes and pushed himslef off the sofa. he stood on his feet and turned to face both nick and chris, feeling like his voice wasn't being heard from sitting down on the sofa. he furrowed his eyebrows and placed his hands on his hips, glaring at the both of them. "im not going. thats final. why would you even want to go? she left us," matt mumbled.

nate had walked back into the living room with a bag full of cheetos. his eyes widen when he caught sight of matt, and he walked back over to his spot on the sofa. "she is still out best friend," nate added quietly, more of a mumble as he shoved some more cheetos n his mouth, "and we haven't seen her in three years. miss her more than i can be mad at her."

"yeah," nick agreed, "when we told her we wanted to come, she was so excited, matt. super dorky and goofy. the same sixteen year old."

matt rolled his eyes, beginning to anxiously tap his foot on the ground, "when did you talk to her?"

chris stuttered as he looked at nick and then nate. he ran his fingers through his hair and bit his lip anxiously, "uh, we still had her number and email. just sent her a message on both," he quickly admitted.

"yeah, she texted," nate muttered under his breath, turning back to his back of of chips and avoiding matt's cold glare.

"she asked if you were coming," nick then stated, watching matt's feature carefully as he saw a tiny twitch in matt's eye.

but matt didn't care. ot at least he wanted to show them he didn't care. he can't help but feel his heart twist at the thought of ari wanting him to come to the show. it's been three years since they broke up, but ari still has the same effect on him as if they were sharing their first kiss.

god, matt was so in love with ari. just sixteen years old and he swore he found his forever in that girl. but then that love turned into pain, and matt hated that he's being constantly reminded of what he had with aria years ago. whether it's his friends mentioning something cool that aria jones had done. the awards she has won. the events she has attended to. the hot gossip of aria jones. god, matt hates it more than anything because thats not the aria jones he loved and grew up with. aria was just a mask of what fame painted on her.

"im not going," matt continued to argue. he shifted his eyes away from his brothers again and opted to look at his feet, finding more interest in cracking his toes than having this conversation with them.

"matt," chris sighed, "the girls know about the tickets, and they already said your ass is going."

"why are they going?" matt questioned defeated, frowning right away as he looked back up to chris.

"because ari was their friend too," nick added in, "she gave us the tickets and extras so we could bring our partners."

matt rolled his eyes and slumped into the arm chair he was standing by. he crossed his hands over his belly and began picking at his nails, pouting his bottom lip. "dont have a partner," he mumbled childishly.

"she doesn't know that though," nate added in, widening his eyes when he realized what he said. chris shot him a look that nate simply ignored, seeing matt's interest peak slightly at his comment, "that what the eighth ticket was for," he continued, wishing he could bite his tongue more.

matt raised his eyebrow, "was she trying to find out if i may or may not be in a relationship?"

nate shewed his bottom lip and shrugged. he went back to his cheetos and avoided sayng anything else. chris and nick looked at each other when they noticed and idea spring into matt's head. the way his face lit up and a sudden smile replaced the frown that was once on lips, they knew one thing - matt sturniolo was scheming.

"okay," matt jumped, standing from his seat and clasping his hands together, "i'll go."

nates head jerked up at the same time the bag of cheetos flew out of his hand. they landed all over his lap causing him to frown, but he ignored it quickly as he smiled widely and clapped his hands, "finally. this is going to be a blast."

chris raised an eyebrow though, knowing there was an ulterior motive, "matt?" he questioned

matt's smile then turned into a devilish smirk. he danced his eyes across all three of boys before turning them into a cold glare at the tickets on the table. he reached down for one and held it out in front of him. "i'll go, and i'll bring somebody," he repeated, "but i'm going to do what aria jones did to me, and im going to break that damn heart of hers."