forward / slash ✭ matt sturniolo

THIRTY

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IRL
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Even with Leanna's gloves, sweatshirt, and winter coat, she was still freezing. It was a frigid January morning and Leanna was getting ready to leave for Boston. She's glad she took a semester off, it was a much-needed and relaxing break but she's a bit antsy to head off to college. Leanna is rubbing her glove-covered hands together, trying to retain some warmth as she waits for the triplets to arrive to send her off. Lilith was the first to get to Lea's house alongside her dads who are currently helping Lea's parents pack up her stuff in the two cars, one of which was for Lea to keep in Boston.

"Feels like I just got you back and now you're leaving again." Lilith pouts.

Leanna chuckles and knocks her shoulder against Lilith's, "Lil, you can visit me. Think of it as an incentive to get your license."

Her cousin snorts, shaking her head. "Yeah, that's not happening. I'll Uber."

"You are helpless." Lea points her finger at Lilith, walking down the steps of her porch when she sees the triplet's car pull up by her house. Nick is racing out of the car up Lea's driveway, apologizing to Mrs.Lawson as she reprimands him for running up the icy path, with Matt and Chris trailing behind him.

Nick meets Lea at the bottom of her porch steps and embraces her tightly. "I miss you."

"Nick, I haven't even left yet," Lea responds. "It's not like I'm going to war."

"Just preparing for missing you." Nick shrugs, sidestepping to let Chris get through. Chris wears a small smile on his face as he looks at Lea. He's proud of her. Signing with Columbia is a huge accomplishment and now that he's really looking at her, Chris is a bit disappointed they didn't see each other as much when she came back from New York.

"Christopher," Lea says, her tone light and teasing.

He raises his eyebrows mimicking her voice, "Leanna."

"Are you going to hug me or what?" Lea jokes, opening her arms up for him. Chris rolls his eyes and hugs her briefly.

Nick claps his hands, startling the rest of the group. "Chris, Lilith, why don't we help out with the packing?" He's met with questioning glances from Matt and Lea, but he pushes Chris into the garage and Lilith follows closely behind.

"He's not very subtle, is he?" Matt asks, looking at the garage the trio disappeared into.

Lea laughs, "No, subtlety has never been his specialty."

Matt glances over at Lea. Her coat is unzipped and he can the sweatshirt she has on underneath that's one of his. "Remember when he locked us in a room and wouldn't let us out until we confessed that we liked each other?"

Leanna nods, the memory replaying in her head vividly. Freshmen Lea and Matt were a sight to see. They were both nervous as they sat on opposite sides of the room. It was silent until Nick shouted from outside 'for the love of God, just tell each other what I know you're dying to tell each other!'

"I remember. I nearly fainted when he locked the door."

Before they can continue to reminisce over their younger selves, Lea's mom is calling her to get ready to leave.

"I hope you have fun in Boston," Matt says gently. He'll miss her and he wishes he could tell her that, but he's afraid. Terrified to mess up the civility they've formed now that she's back. He really wishes he wasn't so fucking scared.

"You can visit, you know." Lea blurts out, her cheeks burning as she says it.

Matt blinks rapidly, a bit taken aback by Lea's sentence. "Do you want me to?"

She replies quickly, not wanting to chicken out. "Yes. I do."

His mouth parts open to reply but he's cut off by incessant honking. Leanna gives him a small smile before walking towards the cars, getting in the driver's seat of her Hyundai with Lilith in the passengers. From inside the car, Lilith asks her if she's alright. Lea nods in response and puts the car in drive.

Boston University is a new chapter of her life. Leanna is hoping it's a better one too.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Leanna did not know she packed this much stuff. Her family is trudging said stuff through the dormitories and she's convinced that her room must be the furthest away from the entrance with the way they've been walking through the halls for what feels like an hour. When they do reach her dorm door labeled 337-B, Lea knocks and prays that her roommate is a nice person. The door opens to reveal a girl with curly hair and brown skin. The girl had overhead headphones hanging around her neck and chipped blue nail polish, which Leanna only noticed because she leaned her hand against the doorframe.

"Hi, you must be Leanna. I'm Odette, your roommate." Odette opens the door wider for Leanna and the rest of her family to enter. The dorm was small with two twin beds pushed on opposite sides of the room.

Odette stretches her arms out to showcase the room. "Welcome to our humble abode."

Leanna laughs as she tosses her suitcase onto the bed. Her family (with the help of Odette), unpacked her things rather quickly. Lilith and her dads had left with a teary goodbye. Now, only her parents were left in the room because Odette had excused herself to give them privacy.

"You know we're very proud of you, Leanna." Her father says. He's sitting on the bed with his wife on the other side of Lea, who is in the middle.

"I know," Lea whispers as she pulls her dad in for a hug, "thank you for being supportive of me."

She moves to hug her mom who gently says back, "That's what parents are for, sweetheart. No need to thank us."

After that, her parents left, prompting Odette to enter back into the room. So far, Leanna liked the girl. She seemed sweet and Lea is hoping that they'll be able to get along. The curly-haired girl offered to buy dinner, seeming that it was almost 8 pm and neither of them had eaten. The two decided on getting McDonald's deeming it the 'financially conscious' decision.

Odette takes a bite of her fries as she slides into the McDonald's booth. She wipes the salt off her fingers as she asks Leanna what she is majoring in.

"I'm in Behavioral Sciences," Lea responds, sipping on her Sprite.

Odette is visibly excited at her answer, "That's sick! I'm doing Sociology, so we should have most of the same classes."

Leanna smiles, she's honestly happy that she'll see a familiar face in her lectures. "Where are you from?"

"Oh, I'm Canadian. I'm from Quebec." Odette rests her chin on her hand "What about you?"

Lea gives a half-smile, her answer not nearly being as interesting as her roommate's. "I'm from here, I don't live too far."

"Then why are you living on campus?"

The blonde shrugs, "My parents said that everyone needs the on-campus college experience. I'm only living here for the first year or two."

Odette hums and the girls' conversation trails off into a different topic. As Lea is laughing at Odette's insistence that 'there is no way golf can be a sport when people say cheerleading isn't', she knows that this chapter of her life is going to be amazing.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

woop another character is introduced!

when i'm writing this the triplets' birthday is in like two days, can't believe they're 19 already

once again, i can't end chapters for the life of me.

until next time!