as you wish

12

irl, messages

the bell rings and james, chloe, and kaia all stand up to leave class. kaia fell asleep at the end so she puts in her headphones to listen to music to keep herself awake as they walk to the library.

they all sit down in their regular corner of the library, chloe and kaia sit together in the bean bag chair kaia and matt always used to sit in together.

"are the triplets meeting us all in here?" james asks chloe, kaia is distracted and can't hear the conversation over her music.

"ummmm, i'm not sure actually. could you ask nick?" she asks.

"yeah, for sure." james pulls out his phone and chloe shifts her attention to kaia.

she nudges kaia, and she takes out one headphone to hear her.

"do you know if they're coming here? did you tell nick not to bring matt here?" chloe whispers.

"fuck. no, i didn't think about it." kaia sits up.

"hey, it's fine. he's asking nick right now. don't worry about it." chloe reassures her.

"oh, okay." she leans back in her seat nervously.

"what are you listening to?" chloe asks kaia, trying to distract her.

"original cardigan. i love this version so much." kaia smiles.

chloe turns her head and sees the triplets enter the library.

"they got here before he could answer my text." james says.

kaia turns her head towards where chloe and james were looking and her stomach drops.

nick and chris see kaia and immediately stop in their tracks, slap a hand to their mouths, and look over at matt who looks like he just saw a ghost.

kaia and matt make eye contact and the gravity of their shock and emotions make turning away almost impossible.

"dude, i'm sorry, i had no idea they were here." chris says to matt, trying to get his attention.

kaia's hearing fades out and she only hears the music in her one headphone. she feels nauseous, and she just stares at matt while focusing on the song.

i knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss, i knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs. the smell of smoke would hang around this long, cause i knew everything when i was young. i knew i'd curse you for the longest time, i knew i'd wish you would've changed your mind. i knew you'd miss me once the moment died, i knew to love would be to lose my mind.

kaia looks at chloe like she's about to throw up, unsure of what to do. she can't move and doesn't know what to say. she knew seeing him was gonna be hard, but she didn't know how much of a physical effect he was gonna have on her.

chris keeps tapping matt's arm to get his attention, and when kaia looks away, he finally realizes chris is trying to talk to him.

matt turns around and walks out of the library with a hand cradling his stomach, chris follows.

they stop in the hall and matt looks furious at chris.