𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑰 𝑫𝑶 - 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 { ✓ }

31

ALL I DO.
{ irl }

"what's going on?" camille asks as she returns with a tray in her hands, chris and nick walking behind her. she came back to the table with niola hyperventilating and matt standing about a yard away, looking like he wants to cry. "why- uh, what happened?"

niola looks over at camille, but all niola can see is a blonde-haired blob. the world feels like its spinning around her.

matt also looks at her, confused about niola's outburst. she's never yelled at him like that and meant it. they argued a lot, but it was always about something petty and joking. but when she told him to get off, she was dead serious.

"i feel sick," niola manages to say. camille grabs niola's wrist and gently pulls her away from the triplets, walking her to the bathroom where they can talk privately.

once they're in the bathroom and they make sure the room is empty, niola pulls camille into a hug. camille hugs her back, just holding niola in her arms for a few minutes while she calms down.

"do you want to talk about it?" camille asks her, not releasing her from the hug until niola feels comfortable.

"it's matt again." niola says, taking a step back from the hug. "i've never had someone make me feel weird like this. he makes me feel like i'm not in control of my own emotions. i feel useless in my own body."

camille sighs. she doesn't want to be the one to tell niola about the truth behind her feelings. she wants her to figure it out on her own, so it's not forced. but it hurts to see niola upset like this. she had no idea that having a crush on matt would make niola feel this horrible.

"do you want me to explain what you're feeling?" camille asks, making sure niola wants this before she tells her. "or do you want to find out for yourself?"

"i think i already know." niola admits, wishing it wasn't true.

matt had always been her rival. then, he became her fake boyfriend. and now? now, she's not even sure what she should consider him. she feels like calling them friends would be too much considering they only hang out because of their school project; but they're also more than friends. what type of friends would act the way they do? matt is like niola's rock, grounding her when life becomes too overwhelming — that's more than what a usual friendship would have to offer.

"i like like matt." niola admits, telling it to herself more than to camille.

when the girls had completely left the cafeteria, nick and chris look at matt, confused.

"what happened?" chris asks, wanting to punch matt in the face for somehow ruining this opportunity. but matt's not allowed to know about niola's crush, so chris unfortunately can't punch his brother in the face.

"well-" matt tries to explain before nick interrupts him.

"yeah, you guys were left all alone to talk everything out." nick tells him as if matt wasn't the one there. "how did you manage to make her freak out like that."

"well, she-" he tries again, but he's interrupted for a second time.

"we left the lunch line, thinking we would find you guys laughing together," chris says. "but instead, we come out and everyone is staring at you two as if she just karate kicked you in the face. what happened?"

"can i fucking talk!?" matt asks them, on the verge of screaming. the tone of his voice is enough to shock even matt himself. he takes a deep breath and sits down in his seat at the table, nick and chris doing the same as they sit in their own seats. "i asked her what was wrong and she said that i'm not allowed to know."

"hm," chris hums, pretending to not know her reasoning. "i wonder why!"

matt gives him a weird look before continuing, "then, she said that she started to feel sick, so i tried to help walk her over to the bathroom. but she shouted at me to get away from her." his voice makes him sound confused and a bit worried. but he levels it out before saying, "then you guys came back."

"just give her time, matt." nick says, sitting in the seat directly beside him and patting him on the back reassuringly.

"yeah." chris agrees. "she's been in a weird mood since the party."

"actually," nick says, trying to remember the little details from last night. "she's been weird ever since you two went to the bathroom together during truth-or-dare." as he puts the peices together, realization draws itself out on nick's features. "did something happen!?"

matt knows he can't tell his brothers about what niola confided in him. that's her privacy — he can't share her personal secrets, regardless of how much he wants to tell nick and chris about what happened.

"nothing happened." matt lies. "she threw up in the toilet, then i helped clean her up before we left and went home."

technically, it's not a lie. after she told him about her father's abuse, niola ended up vomitting in the toilet and matt helped to clean her face. then, they left the bathroom and drove to miss posey's house to pick up rayne.

"are you sure..?" chris asks, not believing matt's lies.

"certain." matt says, still feeling incredibly guilty for lying to his brothers.

but if he's certain of anything, it's that he'd do anything for niola. she can hate him until the day she dies, and matt would never once doubt his love for her. even if his feelings for niola isn't mutual, nothing could keep him from loving her.

matt would respect niola's decision, even if it broke his heart.

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a/n : the funny this is that I'M the author but i feel like i'm watching everything happen from the outside as tho i'm not the one creating all of this from my own little mind 😐😐
like the ending??? that made me GASP.
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