as you wish

04

irl, social media

matt and kaia drive back to the school after they finish eating to pick up nick, chris, and chloe. the 5 of them hangout almost everyday without fail in some combination of the group.

"hey by the way, there's something i wanna talk to you about. later of course, not right now i'm not in a rush or anything." matt says, turning off the music and looking at kaia.

they haven't even had a conversation yet and his stomach is already doing backflips.

"okay matt, don't worry about it, you look anxious. i never want you to feel like that with me or any of us." kaia encourages him, putting a hand on the back of matt's head and playing with his hair as they wait for everyone.

kaia is a VERY affectionate girl. she loves cuddling, she loves hugging her friends, playing with their hair, invading their space, everything. her and chloe have been sleeping over at eachothers houses since before they could walk and even when there are two beds, the girls always choose to be close together.

kaia's childhood was complicated, but not really. her parents started fighting after kaia started highschool, they had one more kid to "fix their relationship" which innevitably destroyed it even more, they divorced after her dad hired a prostitute and her mom found out, and now kaia barely ever gets to see her little sister. maybe once every couple months. kaia's mom got full custody of her, and her dad got custody of her little sister.

she loves being able to see her little sister, willow. everytime they see eachother she comes running up and jumps into kaia's arms. she loves willow like her own kid.

her dad was never one to hit or be physically aggressive, but he would yell and berate her and her mother to tears. he was a very absent father from a young age, he didn't want the responsibilty of taking care of kids and being "tied down to one woman for the rest of his life" which is why he claims he had the right to cheat. ironic that he was the one to propose in the first place.

the love kaia never got from her father growing up is the reason she's so overly friendly now, why she shows so much affection to her friends, because she wants them to have what she didn't. she has so much love in her heart thanks to her mom and she shows it very well.

which is also another reason why matt cares for her so much. they bonded quickly and he met kaia long before her parents divorced, when they were still fighting everyday. she would sneak out the back door and run down the road to the triplets house and just hangout with them. marylou and jimmy are like her second parents. she especially loves jimmy because he truly is the best dad anyone could ask for and he's always treated her like another one of his kids, the daughter he never had and the father she never did.

kaia has a long history with her struggles of mental health because of her surroundings growing up, that's initially why her and matt got so close. they could recognize when the other was anxious, or having a bad week, or just feeling down. so they'd just spend time together until they both felt okay.

kaia being super friendly and affectionate may sound all good, but because she gives out love so easily, she is often taken advantage of. she's had several boyfriends throughout her highschool years, all ending in failure because once the men get what they want, they leave. and she's left to stew in her thoughts and feelings, which is where chloe and the triplets come in handy. they always make her feel better.

because of how many boyfriends she's had, she used to get bullied and called a "slut", a "whore", a "homie hopper", so many terrible things. all because she just wants to fall in love and find the right person to be with forever. she was the furthest thing from any of those names, but when a sweet girl bears all her love in a relationship and grows close to someone and they end up taking advantage of it, she feels like she has to give them what they want to make them stay.