Bittersweet - A Matthew Sturniolo Fan-fiction

04 - days after

It was Thursday. Ever since Monday evening's dinner disaster, Chris and Nick had been hanging out at my house after school with Madi and I.

Nick and Madi have become pretty close and the boys and I have rekindled what we had when we were 15.

Anytime that I saw Matthew in the halls around school, he avoided my eyes, but in class I could feel his gaze burning into me although everytime I turned to check he was looking elsewhere.

I hadn't heard anything from my parents and I didn't mind to be honest. I was enjoying the company from Nick, Chris and Madi.

However, everytime we hung out I couldn't help but feel like there was a part of our group missing.

"Nick cmon you cheated!" Madi said, throwing the Nintendo controller down after Nick won yet another game of Mario Kart. "HA! No your just terrible Madi!" Chris exclaimed whilst Nick and I laughed at Madi's misfortune.
"Ugh whatever, I should head home anyway now, it's getting late", Madi yawned as she spoke. I checked the time on my phone. "Shit your right! It's 2am and we have school tomorrow!" I laughed.

We all got up from our various seats in my basement and headed upstairs. We waved bye to Madi as her mum Laura came and picked her up.

Nick and Chris hugged me before leaving. Chris turned as he got halfway down the drive. "We still on for movies tomorrow?" He asked me.

I nodded whilst waving, "Of course!". He gave me a thumbs up then they disappeared into the pitch black of the early morning. I yawned and headed to bed.

—💿🎧💿🎧💿—

I woke up to my alarm blaring and made sure to turn off the other 4 alarms I set as I got up and showered. As I got dressed and did my hair and make up. I felt excited for tonight and the weekend ahead.

TGIF was all I was feeling at that point.

I climbed into my car once I was ready to go and drove over to Madi's to pick her up before we headed to school.

Classes passed pretty quickly and then it was lunch. Madi and I sat at our usual table, and a couple minutes later Chris and Nick joined us, Chris sitting next to me and Nick taking the seat next to Madi.

"Sup prick face", said Chris as he stole a fry off my tray. "Sup dickwad", I replied, flicking his arm.

I glanced over his shoulder to see Matthew walk in, looking around for Nick and Chris. When his eyes landed on them with me, he frowned slightly before walking over.

"Hey Matty B", Chris teased, using the old nickname we made up for him when we were 11 after finding out Matthew's middle name was Bernard. "Hey", he grumbled before sitting next to Madi.

I stared at him in complete confusion.

Since when was he optionally choosing to sit near me? Or even be in a ten foot radius of me?

"Why are you staring at me Matilda?" He asked without looking up.

How did he know I was looking at him?

"I-I uhhh nothing", I stuttered. This whole situation was so strange that I just went back to eating my food, listening to Nick and Chris argue about some stupid shit.

—💿🎧💿🎧💿—

Matt's POV

I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she laughed at something Chris said.

She never laughed with me like that. But that's cause I'm a prick to her. But she started this war. I just like to have the last word. She pushed me away first.

"Matt", someone was clicking their fingers in front of my face, "Huh what?", I glanced up and saw everyone staring at me with confusion in their stares. "Dude you were burning a fucking whole into the side of Tilly's head with your glare. Chill out bro.", Chris laughed as he spoke.

I flicked my gaze to Matilda who was staring at me with curiosity in her eyes.

Those eyes. I could see the flecks of hazel in her irises from across the table. Her eyes were so captivating...

Fuck. "Sorry", i mumbled in apology before pushing up from the table and walking out without another word.

—💿🎧💿🎧💿—

Matilda's POV

We all watched as Matt stormed out the cafeteria. He seemed like he was in some sort of trance. "What was wrong with him?" I asked quietly.

Nick and Chris looked at each other with concern before Nick spoke. "Matt suffers from pretty bad anxiety. He sometimes lets his anxious thoughts get the best of him and he just sort of freezes up. Stuck in thought." Nick murmured quietly.

In that moment, all I felt for Matthew was...concern?

We all finished lunch and headed to our final lessons of the week which ran by pretty quickly, but there was no sign of Matthew anywhere.

At the end of the day, Nick, Chris, Madi and I all gathered around my car as we discussed how the day had gone. We were just finishing off our conversation when I felt someone behind me.

I turned around and there was Matthew, looking at our group and standing awkwardly to the side.

His hair was messed up, like he had been running his fingers through it. From stress? I didn't know.

"Uh mind if I catch a ride with you guys?", he asked nervously. I felt everyone's eyes flick to me since I was driving us all.

"Yeah sure I guess", I shrugged, not wanting to be a bitch after Matthew's episode earlier today.

He nodded and murmured his thanks before climbing into the backseat along with Nick and Madi. Chris hopped in the front seat as he started playing Frank Ocean on aux.

"Valid choice", I commented as I started the car, humming along to Novacane.

As I pulled into Madi's drive, we all said our goodbyes. "Sure you don't wanna come for movie night at the guys house?" I asked.

She shook her head, a disappointed pout on her face. "No can do sorry, mum is making me go shopping with her.", she complained. I nodded then blew her a kiss before backing out of her drive and heading for the triplet's house.

Author's Note:
I'm sorry this is such a boring chapter 😭 but we got Matt's first POV! wonder what will happen at the triplet's house...
I'm trying to make this a slow burn so they aren't just gonna instantly go from enemies to lovers lol there will be a lot of back and forth and confusion 🫶