labyrinth - c. sturniolo

26

chapter 26 ✦

it had been weeks after my birthday and i hadn't spoken to chris since. i was hating how distant we had been, it was getting to my head not being around him anymore. we were so close, it broke me to see him fade away so quick.

chris and i had been on bad terms too, we weren't talking because everytime we did, we shut eachother out and gave up. it was actually just me that was acting like that, not him and i regret it. i didn't know what it was.

to get my mind of all this, i had asked nick if it was okay if i came over. he said yes, happily offering for me to stay over for the night too.

it was around 6pm when i decided to go, barely putting any makeup on and just wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. i drove to their house, almost driving over curbs without realizing several times.

when i arrived, i sighed before hopping out of my car. don't get me wrong, i loved going to their house, it was just the guilt deep down that i made chris mad. i walked up to the door, taking a deep breath before knocking.

i waited for a few seconds, hearing muffled yelling from inside saying they're coming to open the door. i didn't know who said that since the door in between us didn't let me, but i didn't expect chris to open the door.

when i saw him, both of our smiles dropped. turning from a genuine smile, to a forced one.
"hey." he said, letting me through. just the sight of him made me want to sob and i didn't even have a good reason to why.

"hi." i said, slowly walking in, refusing to keep eye contact.

nick and matt were both upstairs in their rooms, probably not realizing it was me who came in. matt came running downstairs, slowing down when he saw me next to chris. he came, putting his arm around me before leading me back upstairs.

"we'll be upstairs if you need us." matt said to chris as we left him standing there by the front door.

nick had walked into matt's room seconds before us, waiting for the two of us to come inside too.

we sat down, thinking of what we're going to do before nick put that thought to the side as he asked something new. he had probably noticed the small pool of water in my eyes, the shakiness in my breath and the lack of eye contact between the two of them.

"aria?" he said, frowning slightly at me. matt had been looking in another direction but when nick asked that, he looked back at me. "you okay?" he asked, seeing as when i looked at him, my eyes flooded in tears.

"yeah." i replied, wiping my eyes before the tear fell. "i don't know what's happening." i said honestly.

"you can tell us what you're feeling, we'll listen." matt said, looking down at me.

"im okay. thank you guys though." i said, forcing a smile on my face.

they nodded. they knew something was up but i appreciated that they didn't force me to tell them.

for the rest of the night, i sat in silence. watching what matt and nick did and replying minimally to everything they asked me.

my world was slowly falling behind me, or that's what it felt like. i had been feeling these strong emotions for weeks now and the fact that i didn't know why, was crushing me more.

matt and nick were talking next to me, indulged in their own conversation while i sat quietly on matt's bed.

nick started talking to me which snapped me out of my thoughts. i didn't hear the first thing he said, i just remember him saying he's going with matt somewhere and asked if i wanted to come.