Switched Up For you | Matthew Sturniolo

01 - since when?

“Why are we still here?” The air is stale and my throat is tightened. My eyes follow the room for a familiar face but none show. The room is crowded with bodies trampled on top of one another and overlapping chatter and laughter that's sickening to my ears; music blares through the walls and shakes the foundation of the home.

Doors open and close; letting the cool fall breeze brush against my ankles whilst I lean within the sofa. My hands are clammy around the same drink that I poured when I had stepped inside. “Nathan” I say softly, looking over at my brother whose eyes are glued onto his phone screen. I wait for him to respond but he never does. I'm frustrated now.  I nudge his shoulder which results in him flipping his head to look at me, he looks exhausted but he masks it with a loving smile.

“Can we go home now?” I ask, examining his facial features. He's a spitting image of me and sometimes I forget. “Of course” He speaks so quietly that it's almost unrecognizable.  My pulse quickens as I stand with the help of my brothers hand, we are in a tight space so for reassurance he grips onto my palm and guides me through the wavers of people that we didn't know and finally when we are outside I see my breath and for the first time in a long time I enjoyed it.

“Nate-!” I hear a shout from a distance, we turn around in sync to the obnoxious sound of three boys running into our direction. Nathan releases me and approaches them. I immediately recognized them, I knew them. Half of my childhood has revolved around them and I’d be lying if I said they haven't made the biggest impact on my life yet; well for at least one of them. I hid behind my sibling and watched them all interact as if I didn't know the trio at all. They talk but I don't listen. I'm aggravated with Nathan. I wanted to go home and try to save my Saturday night in front of the television going ballistic on a bowl of pasta –

“You know I would but Aria wants to go home.” When I hear my name I'm taken by surprise, and suddenly I'm intrigued. I glance at the row of dark blue eyes; we all collectively make eye contact but it doesn't last long “What's going on?” I question, watching Nates brown eyes flicker towards mine.

“Nothing they just wanted to go get some food maybe?” He leans down and whispers in my ear. That didnt sound too bad and the look they all were giving me made me feel guilty like I was holding them back from the decision when in reality I didnt give a fuck but what got me was my brothers puppy dog eyes staring into mine. I accepted the offer and watched Nate's face shift with excitement as Matt led us a little ways up the street to where his car was parked. Seemed to be a big party.

I felt calm before entering their vehicle, looking at my own as it remained on the side of the road, untouched. We drove through the rest of the hushed neighborhood and I kept to myself as everyone cracked jokes and made snarky comments towards each other. I didn't participate and instead just screwed around on my phone in the backseat. Nick and Nate squished right beside me. I slightly tilted my head against the chilling glass and tried my best not to fall asleep to the comforting sounds of familiar voices speaking.

“Aria, aux?” Chris said, passing back a thick black chord that conveniently smacked Nick across his face and in the matter of seconds Nick reacted by screaming and smacking his arm which only resulted in a tumbling mess of arms smacking each other when the cars tires jolt, we all squeal and laugh at the feeling of swerving while Matt found it quite unfunny.

He shut the two up instantly.

Once we arrived into town an argument erupted on where everyone wanted to go so I chose to speak up and say McDonalds, It's a classic. Matt and Nick wanted to go to Dennys while Nate wanted Wingstop; his vote quickly being casted out since it would be a messy meal no one was trying to clean up.

"I'm down for Mcdonalds” Chris comments, trapping his flowy locks beneath a red cap. “Alright” Matt says as we stop at a red light,

“Fuck yeah baby-!” Chris cheers, reaching his hand back for me to slap, I collide our palms confidently with a grin plastered on my face. This is the happiest I've been in a while and that's saying a lot. Everything felt nostalgic almost. When we were younger we always went out for food together, that was our trusting bond. It warmed my heart.

Eventually we made it to the restaurant and pulled through the drive-thru, all ordering the usual. When we received our food Matt pulled us into the back of the parking lot and turned on the interior lighting as we began to eat and spitball anything that comes to mind.

“Do you think there's a car that runs on water?” Chris grins playfully while stuffing his mouth full of chicken nuggets drizzled in sweet and sour sauce. “Definitely” I say, sipping from my straw. “Yall say the dumbest shit–I swear” Matt shakes his head with disappointment, “Oh wow, he's tough”

“I'm not tough, you're just an idiot” He snaps back, Chris has no comeback and only responds in the way most brothers do. He smacked down towards Matt's lower waist, reaching for a sensitive area but failing miserably which didn't end well for him. “You two sicken me” Nick chuckles, watching as they argue. Matt's sassiness has never changed and I adored it.

He's been the same since middle school, personality wise at least.

We sit for a little while longer after we finish eating and the late night is turning into the early morning so Matt decided to drive us back to where we previously were and we say our goodbyes before crawling into our own car and driving home, gossiping about the exchanged we shared between the triplets before Nats phone starts buzzing, I look over the screen and see Chris’s name with a red heart beside it. “Will you answer that?” He asks with eyes focused on the street. I quickly swipe up and put the speaker on before propping it beside the middle console as I continue to sip down my flat fountain drink.

“Nate, are you guys tryna come over and watch a movie, Madi’s coming over.” Chris announced, Nate glances over at me, I shrug my shoulders. I actually didn't mind, I couldn't think of anything important I would be doing besides sleeping back at home right now or getting yelled at by my mom to actually do something with my life. It's quiet for a moment, the only sounds being from the engine sputtering white slowing down. “I'm down.” I speak up, my brother looks at me with a confused expression,
“Alright, see you then” Chris says before ending the line.

“Since when?” Nate says, palms sliding against the steering wheel while attempting to make a U-turn.

“When what?” I smile innocently, assisting him by watching through the adjusting mirrors. “When did you want to hangout again?” He laughs softly and I'm silent for a moment. I couldn't find a way to respond.

I could think of a few reasons why but I chose not to list them. Everytime I interacted with the triplets It was nothing small talk whenever they came over for my brother but tonight was different, the energy, the connection and the spark all came flooding back to me. “I'm not really sure.” I say, I was lying. I was chewing back on my tongue to avoid the conversation.
“Okay.” He smiles, he for sure knows.