𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐒, 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨

𝟎𝟔𝟎. 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

"𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲,
𝐢 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨,
𝐬𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟."

♫ you don't own me - dusty springfield

———

CHAPTER 60
"ALL NIGHT"

[real life]

chris watches as nick, izzy, ella, and layla run out the door. he's relieved that layla's the last one, giving him the perfect chance to pull her aside and apologize. he quickly takes her hand, making her stumble slightly. she sighs, her voice quiet. "chris, not now." she says, not facing him but still letting him hold her hand.

her hands are warm, unlike his, which feel cold. he watches her take a deep breath and steps closer, his voice soft. "layla, please, can we talk?" he scrunches his face in thought. "or i can talk and you can just listen if you don't feel like saying anything." he steps closer, hoping she'll hear him out.

layla finally turns to look at him, her frown still there. "there's nothing to talk about."

"yes, there is," chris insists, his tone serious. "what i have to say is important, and i need you to at least hear me out." he shuts his eyes for a moment, trying to steady his nerves. he can feel the anxiety creeping in, but he's determined to get this right.

layla studies his face, noticing the way he's clearly frazzled and nervous. it's... cute.

she shuts the door behind them, watching as a faint smile tugs at chris's lips. she lets him lead her toward the couch where they'd been sitting before. they share a quiet moment, their eyes meeting, before chris speaks.

"i'm sorry, about the other night." he blurts out, his fingers nervously twisting his hoodie string. layla can tell there's a hundred things running through his mind that he's dying to say. she lets him speak, giving him the chance to make things right, if that's what he's really trying to do.

after their last conversation, she's not so sure.

melina races down the wooden stairs, the loud creaking echoing under her shoes as she reaches the bottom of the steps. she looks around and finds matt out on the deck with the door closed behind him. she takes a deep breath before storming up to him.

melina opens the screen door; it's so fucking creaky, totally blowing her cover. and, of course, she trips over a step as the door slams behind her.

matt turns to her briefly. "way to make a grand entrance." he mutters as he leans against the wooden railing. he says nothing else as he glances up at the dark sky, enjoying the sound of the crickets as the light on the wall shines down on them.

he was enjoying the sounds of nature until melina's voice ruins the peacefulness as she immediately begins the conversation. "so this is how it's always going to be, right? like nothing's changed? the usual cycle of you getting mad at me and making me look like an idiot in front of everyone just because you don't know how to actually express yourself! and, you expect me to just take to your bullshit?! i thought we were past this, matt!" she yells, waiting on his reaction as she stands behind him.

"clearly we aren't!" he snaps, his voice low. he still doesn't turn to face her. melina throws her head back and shuts her eyes, hating that matt chose today to be in a bad mood. her day already wasn't the best, especially after her mom's phone call. of course matt had to take the cake for making her feel like shit.

"maybe we can start by you actually own up to your mistakes by apologizing to me over what you said upstairs like a normal boyfriend would do!" melina yells not really having the highest hope of even getting an apology.

just as she expected, he dodged what she said and immediately started going on a rant about something else.

fucking coward.

"you always do whatever you want without thinking about the consequences!" melina blocked out the rest of what he said, but that part? she heard. her eyes narrow, and she groans. "oh, and you do? please, matt. i'm so sick of you always criticizing me." she scoffs, crossing her arms. "i was just helping him because he asked me to! it's not my fault he misunderstood."

matt shakes his head while placing his hand on her shoulder. "mel, i'm not criticizing you! i just want you to avoid getting in situations that'll cause you to get trampled on, you tend to have a habit of doing it far too much!" melina rolls her eyes and sighs, not in the mood for a lecture right now. "i get it." she snaps.

matt takes in a breath and closes his eyes for a second before speaking again. "look, i appreciate that you're trying to help chris," he says, "but he needs to learn to handle his own relationships without depending on everyone else." he continues, "and i just don't want to be the one to clean up the mess if it backfires on both of you and he fucks it up again and ends putting blame onto you."

"aw, you're so caring." melina snaps sarcastically, then lets out a dry laugh, and grabs matt's arm and shoves it off her, while glancing down at the ground then back up at him. "right, because you're mr. perfect." she gestures at him as he rolls his eyes at her. "you really think my advice is what's going to make your brother mess up that badly?" she shakes her head in disbelief. "wow, that's a low blow, matt. you don't exactly have a clean record either." she scoffs, brushing a strand of hair out of her face, her eyes flashing with anger.

matt's eyes narrow, his jaw clenched tight at her sarcasm. "i'm not saying i'm innocent either, melina." he snaps, his tone cold. melina steps closer to him, unfazed by his gaze. she leans in, locking eyes with him, and mutters her voice filled with sarcasm. "really? because it sure sounds like you are."

matt goes quiet, letting her continue. "i could list plenty of times that you've fucked up way worse than chris has." she jabs a finger at his chest.

matt glares at her, hoping his stare would make her back off. it doesn't.

"fine. go ahead," he says, in a bored tone. "you clearly came down here to give me a piece of your mind, so tell me," he squints, "how much of a fuck up am i melina?" he rolls his eyes as he leans against the railing, crossing his arms over his chest, watching her.

"gladly," melina smiles. "we can sit here all night if you want, and really get all of this out of our systems." with a sudden move, she leans in and kisses him hard, catching him completely off guard. as he goes to place a hand on her waist, but she pulls away quickly, her eyes locking with his as her expression goes blank. she looks up at his hair and picks off a leaf out of it and spins it around her fingers. she looks at him again and in a quiet voice, she asks, "how does that sound, babe?"

———

🔏 THE ENDING. I FAINTED LIKE....
i love angst hehe
short chapter but the next one is full of angst so im sure that'll make up for this one!
love yew guys enjoy! :)

- vee <3