𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐒, 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨

𝟎𝟏𝟐. 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

"𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐢 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞? 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤
𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞?"

♫ invisible string - taylor swift

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CHAPTER 12
"ENCHANTING PRESENCE"

[real life]

on the way to the library in the car, layla sits in the back. chris surprisingly joins her, leaving melina to sit in the front seat with matt. the atmosphere remains tense, with the only conversation being chris's awkward attempts to flirt with layla.

noticing the silence from the front, layla turns to chris and whispers, "are they always this quiet?" chris laughs and faces her. "no, never. you just missed their dramatic screaming match two days ago; i'll fill you in later."

layla chuckles quietly. "luckily, i caught a glimpse of it on monday. something about a girl? it was thoroughly entertaining." chris squints at her. "thoroughly? is that even english?" layla giggles, placing her hand on his knee. "yeah. it means very amused."

chris barely registers her words as he stares at her hand. he looks back up and hums. "guys, can you fight or something? the silence is killing us." he groans, stretching.

melina snaps her head back. "oh, are you finally done talking about us?" she retorts, and chris shrugs with a light laugh. layla leans back in her seat, crossing her arms and smiling. "the way you emphasized 'us' is interesting; it's like you see you and matt as one."

melina raises her eyebrows at layla's newfound confidence. she narrows her eyes at chris. "are you seriously corrupting her already?"

chris leans forward in his seat, noticing matt hasn't said a word. "notice how neither you nor matt denied what she just said." he feels like instigating.

matt turns in his seat, reaching over to shove chris back. "chris, shut the fuck up," he snaps, then looks at layla. "she said 'us' because we're the only other two people in this car," he explains, pointing at her for emphasis.

melina lets out a sigh of relief. "finally, i can get out of this car!" she exclaims, opening the door. the group walks into the library.

chris enters the building with layla ahead of matt and melina. at the front desk is a lady, and layla greets her while chris stands awkwardly by her side.

suddenly, chris hears a screeching sound and turns to see melina bump into a sign, making matt laugh loudly. melina smacks matt on the shoulder and snaps quietly, "shut up! we're in a library, moron!"