lover boy & dollar store girl ♬ matt sturniolo

XXIII

CHAPTER XXIII
[ oh, lover boy... ]
♬

the four burst out the front door of the house into a wall of freezing halloween air. the weather stung their skin, but it was a welcome feeling after the stuffy, humid atmosphere inside that house. chris let his brother go then, and matt just continued to try and shake the pain out of his palm as he paced around the front lawn.

     chris took his lion headband off and ran a hand through his sweaty hair, eyes wide with stress. "matt, what the fuck were you thinking?!"

     "i don't think you've ever gotten in a fight!" nick added, his expression incredulous.

     minnie leaned against the house, feeling the cold siding rigid against her back. it was barely even five minutes ago they were content by the staircase, and now she was counting every breath and trying to make them even. she zoned out, feeling unbelievably overwhelmed.

     "he was being fucking stupid, that's what happened! whistling at her, making eyes at her, that fucking jackass!" the boy spat.

     nobody- not even his brothers- had ever seen matt so angry. it was almost like it wasn't even him. the matt they grew up with was rude, and had a terrible attitude at times, but he was never violent. they didn't even think he had the will to beat someone up inside him. but clearly he did- and his hand was beginning to bruise with evidence to prove it.

     "you mean at minnie?" nick asked.

     chris rolled his eyes and told nick, "obviously at minnie. come on, bud."

     matt ran his good hand through his hair, starting to come down off the adrenaline with every rub nick pressed into his shoulder. he was still not entirely sure of the last few minutes; everything felt like it was all blurring together in one big, hazy moment. his eyes began to focus around the edges and he took a few deep breaths, and then he started to process what he had done.

     "shit. i can't believe i just punched that kid."

     "you broke his nose, matt!" chris chuckled, sounding inappropriately proud, "it was kind of awesome, actually."

     nick giggled too, and soon matt fell in the groove. the boys patted his shoulders roughly as they found humor in the pain plaguing matt's right hand, and in recounting the stupid look on mike's face after their brother rocked his shit.

     "i'll tell 'ya, he had it coming, too! he's been treating girls wrong since tenth grade!"

     "i don't blame you, bud!" chris grinned.

     nick swatted his words from the air and stated the obvious. "please don't punch anyone else, matt. like, i get it, assert your manly dominance or whatever, but seriously, no fighting. guys like that aren't worth it," he shook his head with a pleased expression. "i bet it felt good though, didn't it?" he added, a cheeky smile tugging at his lips.

     matt nodded in agreement. "hell yeah, it did."

     it was then that the triplets remembered there was someone else involved. sometimes they forgot other people existed outside their little world. they rushed over to minnie guiltily, realizing they left her to stand by while they sorted matt out.