Lights Down Low ≫ tom holland

08

THE FINAL BELL OF the day had rung and students were piling out of the school to get away for the four day weekend. the following day was thanksgiving and the oxlem's were staying at home instead of going to their cousin's house like they normally did. angelica wanted to make the traditional thanksgiving meal at home and invited her sister and niece, but they declined.

chase was only slightly disappointed because his cousin was creepily attracted to matteo and the brunet enjoyed watching his brother get uncomfortable around her. "we're not actually related, so it wouldn't be really weird", she had stated and chase remembered laughing so hard at the comment while matteo simply ran away. other then that, he was happy they weren't going.

as he approached his locker amara stood with her hands clutching her books. she offered him a smile, which he returned, as he spun in his combination. "usually you're the first one out of class, ox." amara stated, using the nickname she had given him years ago.

"the teacher wanted to talk to me because i actually passed a test for once and she thought i cheated." he shrugged his shoulders, shoving his bag in.

amara rose an eyebrow. "did you?"

"nope," i smile formed on his face. "i studied for once. well," he shut his locker, handing her the graded paper. "alec forced me to study with him, but it ended up being worth it."

"holy shit, chase! a b? that's amazing." she hugged him. "i'm proud of you."

matteo came sprinting down the hall and nearly ran into amara. "let's go, losers! i have to beat sebastian home or he's gonna eat the rest of the pop tarts!"

amara snorted, "not if i eat them first!" she raced down the hall with matteo hot on her heels and the brunet shook his head, shouting after them.

"i have the keys!"

by the time he made it to the car the two other brunettes were fighting over the front seat. chase did what he did every time and only unlocked it once so just the driver's door unlocked and the two raced around to climb in. amara beat him by a few steps and slid over to the passenger seat, nearly knocking over the empty mug that was placed in the cup holder.

matteo huffed and climbed in the backseat once chase unlocked it and the three headed home. they weren't even in the driveway before amara was opening her door and sprinting towards the house causing chase to slam on the breaks.

"i fucking hate her." matteo groaned, opening his door. "you need new friends." he joked before sprinting after her.

he pulled into the open garage and climbed out, grabbing amara and matteo's bags, and his test. he locked the car and brought his gaze to the black car parked behind his mom's car, feeling his stomach turn. as he made his way inside there was a lot of chatter in the kitchen. he dropped the bags on the floor by the couch and walked over to the commotion. amara was eating the last pop tart while matteo pouted, but she was nice enough to give him one from in the packet. pippa and lacey were talking excitedly to their mom about wanting to help with thanksgiving dinner and jt was gushing over a girl from his class to brinley.

chase passed them all and made his way to alec's room. it had been nearly a month since he was supposed to move out, but he decided to stay awhile longer. the red head's door was closed and he bit his bottom lip, unsure if he wanted to knock. he knew tom was in there with him and he wasn't sure if he wanted to see him. he hadn't seen him since halloween, but the one-sided kiss that he sadly couldn't remember still lingered in the back of his brain. as he finally got the courage to knock on the door amara came bouncing down the hall and pushed open alec's door, causing the two older teens to look at them.

"hey, mar." alec rose from his bed to hug the girl. "i haven't seen you in awhile."

amara playfully glared at chase. "chase hasn't been hanging out with the group much, but you know i never miss out on thanksgiving dinner with you guys."

ever since amara was twelve she had been attending thanksgiving dinner with the oxlem's. her parents didn't care about the holiday because they worked through it anyway, so she always spent it with chase's family. chase felt bad for her, but she always had a smile on her face so he was never sure how much it really affected her.

chase slowly entered the room and gripped his test in his hand, watching the two talk. alec noticed amara's gaze shift to tom who was sitting on the bed with a bunch of papers in front of him. "that's tom. we go to school together. tom, this is chase's friend amara. she's practically family." alec looked over to chase and saw the slightly crumpled paper in his hand. "is that your test?"

chase's gaze shifted from his brother to tom who was looking at him. his hair had grown out a bit and it was messy. his arms looked bigger and he seemed fitter. chase was frozen in his spot as he looked back to alec and amara rolled her eyes, snatching the paper from his hand.

"seems like you work magic, alec. the boy actually passed a test."

alec looked at the paper before looking back to chase with a smile. "chase, this is amazing!" he pulled the boy into a hug, snapping him out of whatever daze he was in. chase gave him a smile and returned the hug.

"thanks to you." alec ruffled up his hair and chase shooed him away. the four stood in silence for only a few seconds before amara sat on the bed to find out what tom was working on. she was one of the most outgoing people he knew and he could never understand how she had no problem talking to people.

he made his way to his room and tossed the test on his dresser before laying on his bed. he had a text from amara that made him roll his eyes, tom is hot wtf. when he didn't respond she sent another message, why'd you leave?

he ignored her again and sat up, fixing his shoelaces before walking through the attached bathroom that him and matteo shared. he plopped down on matteo's bed and the brunet looked up from his laptop. "what do you want?"

chase shrugged his shoulders. "nothing, i'm just bored."

"where's your pop tart stealing best friend?" he asked, turning back to click on the web.

the blue eyed boy smirked, "hey, she still shared with you."

matteo rolled his eyes, "that's beside the point."

"she's with alec and tom." chase finally answered. "probably taunting them."

"it's been awhile since tom's been here." matteo pointed out. "i almost forgot he existed." chase wanted to say 'me too', but the stupid nineteen year old college sophomore hadn't left his head once. "mom was looking for you, by the way. she wanted to talk to you about something."

chase huffed, "what did i do now?"

matteo shrugged his shoulders. "maybe she's unadopting you because your stupid best friend ate the last pop tart."

"you're pathetic." chase laughed and headed out of his room. he made his way to the kitchen and jumped up on the counter, catching his mom's attention.

"off the counter, sir. there's food on it."

chase stuck his tongue at her and hopped back off. "matteo said you needed to talk to me?"

"yes," she nodded. "i'm gonna have tom sleep in your room since you and amara are gonna be in the living room. he's spending thanksgiving with us this year because his parents went to visit family and he couldn't get off work, so he couldn't go."

chase shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "can't he just stay in alec's room?"

angelica chuckled, "i don't think two grown boys should sleep in the same bed. they'll end up pushing each other off. i don't even think it's big enough for both of them."

the brunet let out a puff of hair, making the hair on his forehead tickle him. "okay, fine."

"thank you." she smiled, mixing stuff in a bowl.

"if amara comes out and asks, i'm outside shooting hoops. she's in with alec and tom." jt followed him outside and sebastian soon came out, upset that there were no pop tarts, but happy to play with his siblings.