lover boy & dollar store girl ♬ matt sturniolo

XIX

CHAPTER XIX
[ our way ]
♬

"hey, minnie," nick greeted, his voice soft as can be, "sorry to show up out of nowhere."

"we wanted to know if you could talk for a second." chris chimed in. he stood between his brothers, front and center, and swung his arms around their shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension in the doorway.

minnie felt like if she tried to respond, no words would come out, so instead she just nodded and opened the door wider, allowing them to step inside.
the boys had never been inside her house before, and all of a sudden she grew very self-aware. the kitchen was a bit untidy, and the hallways and rooms were old and worn from their entire lives having been lived inside them. she hoped the house wasn't as bad as she thought it might look.
minnie tried to avoid them examining everything by leading them straight into the kitchen. the girl left them for a moment to poke her head into the living room and tell her sister to wait on the movie, and then she came back to see them all sitting at the dining table with shy expressions.

"hi." she croaked, clearing her throat as she sat with them.

chris was the first to lunge forward, unable to bite his words back. "are you okay? what happened?"

"chris! come on!" nick grumbled.

"no, it's fine," minnie smiled sadly, "it's okay. you guys have every right to be annoyed with me."

"we're not annoyed. we're just worried," nick huffed, "you went totally MIA on us."

"i know," minnie's eyes drifted to matt's, which were staring right back. inside the cloud blue color she saw him saying, please tell me what's wrong. he hadn't said a word. "i'm really sorry."

i acted really shitty, guys, i'm sorry. after that thing with hayley i just... i completely lost it. it's been so long since i felt like people cared about me, and breaking down on you guys like that... i don't know, i felt like i was just being overbearing or something. like i'd shown my only friends that i'm a total mess. i... i didn't want to scare you away."

chris and nick both leaned forward, reaching their arms across the table to hold her hands. nick practically scoffed as he said, "don't be ridiculous. you can't get rid of us that easily!"

"i'm glad you told us about what happened to you. now i know you better, and i know how to be there for you. we all do. it's a good thing you told us, minn." chris said, and minnie thought, there he goes again. so easy to trust.

"listen, as long as you have us, you don't have to go through things alone. we can help you. we wanna be there for you. just don't push us away, okay? that doesn't help anyone." nick asked. she knew he was right- time and time again they've proven themselves to be good and kind, and the kind of friends she'd always wished to have. she felt so stupid for not seeing that clearer.
nick and chris looked to their brother, who was quiet as a mouse and twiddling his thumbs atop the table. they shared a little glance, which minnie took to mean, it's matt's turn.

"we'll uh- we'll give you guys a second," the boys excused themselves, getting up from the table and heading out to the hall, disappearing around the corner near the front door. she knew they were gonna eavesdrop, but she didn't really care.