RIVALRY,, matt sturniolo

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. CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
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elaine knew that something was wrong the second she saw the devastated face of nick, who quite literally crashed into her arms when she opened the front door.

her confused eyes looked at cinzia and vera, who stood a bit further away with small frowns on their faces.

she hugged nick tightly back, giving his back a few comforting rubs as she whispered into his ear, "what happened?"

nick hugged her for a few more seconds before he pulled away. his eyes showed visible guilt and some anger as he still held onto elaine's shoulders while looking into her eyes.

"i know what matt did."

elaine's confusion got wiped from her face rather fast as she opened up her mouth, wanting to say something but nothing came out. her eyes just stayed on nick while she stayed silent.

"i'm so sorry." nick whispered out and by the way his voice cracked, she could tell that he was close to tears. he looked at her with so much guilt, she had the feeling that he was blaming himself.

"no, no. matt didn't-" elaine stopped herself from talking as she went silent.

she was still fighting with her trust if she should believe matt or not, so she didn't had the courage to end the sentence and tell nick that it wasn't matt because she didn't know it herself.

"why don't you come in?" elaine smiles a bit, hoping to ease nick's sadness while she opened the door further for the boy to walk through. her eyes went towards cinzia and vera, who where by now already back at vera's car. elaine got the message that the girls thought it was better when nick talked alone with her.

elaine closed the front door as she walked ahead to her room with nick following behind. she opened her door, letting nick in before she closed it and took a seat on her bed, next to nick. she sighed before looking at nick.

"how do you know?"

"matt admitted it to the whole school."

what?

elaine's eyes widened as she was not expecting that. she stayed silent for a few seconds before she said with disbelief in her voice, "what?"

"he made a whole speech about it." nick sniffed while fumbling around with his hands, she took notice that nick didn't felt very comfortable talking about it.

elaine just stared at nick as she remembered matt telling her that it wasn't him.

take your time.

and she did exactly that, she took her time. but she wasn't done with taking her time even tho she already knew the whole time that she believed matt, the second that he told her that. she sighed loudly while rubbing her hand across her face, she couldn't leave nick in the dark like that. she couldn't let nick be mad at his brother for something that was a lie.

"matt lied." elaine breathed out while waiting for nick to finally look up at her.

nick did look up at her with pure confusion, but she could see the small relief that was hidden behind those eyes.

"what do you mean?"

"matt didn't make the rumor." she sighed out, not even knowing how to explain this whole situation. this was all so utterly confusing.