𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 | Matt Sturniolo

Thirty Four

Venus rubbed her eyes open as she heard the room grow louder with chatter and the faint sound of August by Taylor Swift, courtesy of Laylah. Confused as to where she was, she turned her head quickly to see who's lap she was in, forgetting she went to the triplets.

"Hi there," Matt smiled down at her. She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to figure out how she ended up lying on him.

"How did I end up here?" She asked, sitting up and running her hands through her hair to try and tame it.

"I moved earlier to get more comfortable and I didn't know you were asleep. Then, you fell from my shoulder to my lap and you stayed unconscious so i just let you be," he explained.

"That was a very detailed explanation, thank you," she chuckled.

"You were out the whole movie," Nick commented.

"You'd think that after coming out of hibernation for two weeks she wouldn't be tired," Divina laughed.
"Hibernating, oh naw," Laylah cackled.

"Well it's actually 5:36 now, so should we get going cause i think the sun is gonna set at like 7:30," Chris suggested.

"Yah, have you guys packed?" Venus questioned.

"Matt has but me and Nick haven't," the long haired boy answered.

"Nick and 'I'!" Nick shouted at Chris.

"Give me a break," he rolled his eyes.

"Ok, well we'll go pack, Divina come with me and Laylah go with Chris," Nick winked at his friends to which they all mouthed 'ohh,' immediately understanding what he was doing.

"Ok, leggo," Laylah jumped up, grabbing Chris' hand and pulling him up and out of the room, the other pair following closely behind.

Matt turned to Venus with a small smile, it was a comfortable silence, the music in the background easing the hidden tension a little. Venus scanned over his face, the dim light highlighting his jaw and cheekbones and the black hoodie complimenting his dark hair ever so perfectly. He ran a hand through his hair and turned so he was facing her.

"Can we talk now? About what happened," the boy began.

"Yeah, I think we should," she replied in a soft voice.

"Listen, i understood everything you were saying, it all made sense but it seemed like there was more to it and it all happened so quickly. I definitely felt some tension when you left the room although you said it was all in the past and then you ghosted everyone for almost two weeks and it just seemed like you weren't telling me something," Matt continued as he tried to remember the advice Nick gave him, just tell her how you feel. "I just want to know if you're okay and you can talk to me about anything," he put his hand onto hers and traced little circles on her skin.

"If i'm being honest, i don't exactly know what happened either, i think i was just very confused and," she took a deep breath and looked him in his eyes, come on be mature now.

"It's ok, take your time," he squeezed her hand reassuringly .

"Well, i don't think i was over you when i said all those things," she said, almost a whisper, unsure how he'd react. Matt was trying his best to keep composure and to make her feel as comfortable as possible since he wanted things to go back to normal but knowing this, it was difficult.

Venus looked down at his hand and took another deep breath. "I think I was a little jealous and seeing that you were telling me all about Kya, when it wasn't really my place to know, confused me. I knew that you'd moved on so I just did the best thing and made sure that we had some type of... closure?" Her voice was high pitched as she looked up at him hoping he understood. Matt's brows furrowed but his eyes had this look of sadness about them, she couldn't exactly read his expression and it bugged her because she was so scared of what he was feeling.