back home | matt sturniolo

chapter 3

matt's body moved on its own accord as he stood up from the sofa. his knees felt wobbly as he took a step forward, mentally cursing himself for feeling so anxious and nervous. his blues eyes remained locked on ari's, but the longer he looked the more he noticed something in ari's features. the first thing to catch his attention was how aria's eyes were different, not the normal vibrant green they typically were.

the goofy sixteen year old girl who was always too happy and smiley seemed to be clouded by something that matt couldn't pin point. matt used to be able to read ari's face so we'll, and that trait must have never left as he stood looking into aria's eyes, knowing there's a story as to why she lost the spark in them.

aria was taller now, and with the platforms on he shoes it gave her a few more inches. her hair was more curly and long, and although her delicate locks held a special place in matt's heart, matt noticed how dry and unhealthy the strands of her hair looked.

and ari's skin. he skin was paper than normal, which doesn't correlate to the sunny areas she had been performing in. her skin was more of a milky white, looking rough and splotched with red. matt remembered how smooth ari's skin used to be, but now it looked quite the opposite. maybe it was puberty, but even matt could see the roughness.

ari's knees were caved inward, showing her timidness and uncertainty about herself. her feet were pigeon toed as if she was trying to scrunch her body as close as possible. her legs were long and thin, not a lot of muscle definition to show through her black leggings. her upper body looked slim and frail, adding more to matt's worry.

"hi," ari repeated again, even quieter as she wrapped her arms around her stomach.

matt jerked his head when he realized he had been staring and staying quiet. he looked back into ari's eyes and forced a tight smile on his lips, "hi."

"well, let's get this party started then," alahna then called out when the tension seemed to continuously build between the two. she stood up from the sofa and dragged nate over with her to the speakers. the two of them began scrolling through their phones until they found a playlist they want to use for music.

matt seemed u able to move as he continued to stare at ari, still in complete awe of her. ari noticed him staring and began blushing right away. she chewed on her bottom lip as she brushed past matt to join their friends on the sofa playing more games.

matt's eyes followed ari all the way to the sofa until leah walked up to block his view. leah snorted as she patted his back playfully, "don't act like you still love her, matt," she joked.

she walked past matt and joined everyone around the table. matt still stood there as he watched his friends interact with ari like the past three years never happened. he saw ari sat between alahna and nick as they completely ogled over how adorable she is - just like they did three years ago. like nothing had changed.

leah sat across from her sister and watched as the two friends messed with aria. she had a smile on her face which showed how happy she was to finally have her sister back home. elmer and chris sat on either side on nick and alahna and watched as the two of them began poking ari's dimples whenever she smiled.

matt couldn't believe it. he couldn't believe that all his friends were perfectly fine with aria when he knew how much they all hated the girl. they spent nights together just ranting about how ridiculous it was for aria to do what she did. him and his brothers even cried together, without their friends knowing about it. matt hated how the minute aria showed up they went back to how things were before she left.

"we missed you so much, ari," nick said sincerely, placing his hand on ari's knee.

"yes, and we actually missed your jokes, too," alahna teased, but the smile on her lips gave away how much she truly meant those words. she wrapped an arm around ari's shoulders and pulled her into her side so she could give her a hug.