𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 & 𝗔𝗟𝗪𝗔𝗬𝗦, 𝐦. 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨

²⁴

the triplets walked into the newly opened restaurant they had heard all about with hope trailing behind them as she swiped her fingers over her phone's keyboard rapidly. she sent one final message to her mum before pocketing her phone and eagerly joining the conversation her friends were having.

after around 5 minutes of waiting, they were seated at a table and left to ponder over the options on the menu. it wasn't extremely fancy or anything so the decision on what to order was a quick one to say the least. they ordered very soon after and to their amazement, their food arrived rather quickly. the service was unbelievable for such a new and popular place.

it was a merely a regular day; all of them were free and decided on doing something together. everything was supposed to be normal but things never truly were normal. the meal consisted of laughter between the group, hesitant confessions that resulted in even more laughter and just people surrounded by the company they never wanted to leave. each bite of food they swallowed and each word they spoke resulted in smiles on their faces. it was perfect for them all and they knew they'd store the memory in their mind for a long time, potentially even forever.

when the meal ended and a waiter (who had been eyeing hope the entire time since she had arrived without anyone's knowledge) approached them, things were no longer normal. they were no longer normal because all the teenagers were glancing at the waiter curiously. he was shaking ever so slightly as he stood in front of the table with a sheepish smile plastered across his face.

"uh hi, my name's sean. you're really pretty. can i get your number?" he asked directly to hope and his nerves were very thorough as he spoke a little too hastily.

hope's eyed widened and she resisted the urge to look towards matt and take note of his reaction. her resistance disappeared as soon as she heard a fork clank on the table. she looked towards the source of the noise and saw matt staring at the waiter with his jaw clenched and an undeniable fury in his eyes.

nick and chris looked to one another in alarm and hope huffed out a shaky breath, preparing to say something. she was unsure of what to say but she knew she had to say anything, whether it was what the boy wanted to hear or not.

"sorry bud, she has a boyfriend," matt answered for her before she could say anything at all.

hope's head whipped towards him and he quickly glanced at her before returning his eyes to their previous gaze. why the fuck did he just say that?

chris slapped nick's thigh in a rush of panic under the table and the brother's had a silent conversation with their eyes. they prayed hope wouldn't take matt's words in the wrong way and that this would finally lead to something.

"oh i'm sorry, i didn't realise you guys were a thing" the boy apologised genuinely as he looked between matt and hope, evidently confused.

"okay well now you do, bye!" matt said in mock enthusiasm that surprised even himself.

the waiter shook his head and apologised one last time before hurriedly walked away. matt seemed to finally grasp what he had just done and as realisation set in, he abruptly got up from his chair and quickly walked towards the exit. soon enough, he was out the door and breathed slowly as he tried to calm himself down. he face palmed so hard, he had to refrain from stumbling back a little. why did he do that? why did he do that? why the fuck did he do that?

when he decided to confess his feelings soon, this wasn't exactly what he had in mind. it was meant to be in an orderly way with all he was going to say perfectly planned out yet here he was, left with no choice but to hurry up his confession. it was now or never, he guessed.

hope turned to look at his brothers frantically and then turned to look at matt's retreating figure before it disappeared entirely. her eyes were wide and her mouth was parted slightly in surprise, clearly not expecting matt to have reacted in such a way. her eyebrows furrowed slowly as she tried to make sense of the situation and what on earth she was meant to do.