basorexia || matt daddario au [completed]

19. the beach.

"i haven't been on the beach in ages." cassie grinned with the side of her hand against her forehead, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"college life." vanessa sighed and folded her arms together against her chest.

"are you even going to swim in the water?" alex smirked at cassie and raised one of her eyebrows.

"of course i am." cassie huffed and looked to the sides. "where are the boys?"

"mason forgot his phone in his dorm, so they hurried back a while ago. should be here... now." vanessa smiled and glanced behind her shoulder, where matt and mason approached them.

"okay, let's start with finding a spot." alex proclaimed, surveying the beach and the people on it. she then walked over to an area and put her towel down.

everyone else just mirrored her movement and cassie pulled her fingers through her hair as she looked up at matt. he sent her a soft smile and bent his legs upwards, resting his arms against his kneecaps.

"you guys brought a ball with you, right?" vanessa asked the boys and raised her eyebrows.

"how could i forget? you sent me ten messages about it." mason smiled sarcastically while putting the ball in the middle of them.

"matt?" cassie said quietly and poked his arm. "could you come with me for a moment?"

"mhm, yeah." matt nodded as he stood up, reached out his hand to help her on her feet and then left the group with her. "what is it?"

"i haven't told alex yet. have you?" she asked and folded her arms together while they wandered along the coastline.

"about... us?" he scrunched up his face questioningly, and she nodded. "no. i figured we should talk about it first."

"we need to tell her. we can just say that we kissed and that's basically it for now." she suggested, glancing up at him.

"twice." he smiled cheekily and looked down at the sand to avoid seeing her eyeroll.

"right, twice. anyway, do you think that's enough to say to her? she won't shut up for minutes." she laughed and pulled her fingers through her hair.

"considering it's the truth, i would feel safe to conclude that that's enough."

"oh jesus christ, vanessa's going to rub this in my face and be so annoying." she moaned and rubbed her temples with a sigh.

"why?" he chuckled and gave her a funny look.

cassie inhaled deeply and pressed her lips together as she gazed up at him. matt waited patiently and raised his eyebrows, automatically slowing his pace down.

"because she's like your sister, only worse. when i tell her about you and i, she's going to literally squeal. why? because she ships us. to her, this..." she explained, moving her finger between them to gesture. "... was inevitable."

"i like her."

"of course you do. she ships us."

"sweety, you obviously liked me before you even knew me." he smirked and slid his hands down his pockets.

"okay, first of all, i did know you. second of all, not fair. at least you knew who i was. i had no idea who you were." she muttered and nudged his body with hers.