𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 | Matt Sturniolo

Thirty Three

"Omg, Venus cleaned up!" Divina yelled excitedly as the other girl ran past her to go find their friend.

Venus was laying in her bed with her laptop to her chest answering emails - something she hadn't done in a while when her door flung open revealing two excited teenagers.

"How long have you been awake bitch, you cleaned up the entire apartment!" Divina yelled with a beaming smile. Laylah ran and jumped on her, wrapping her arms on either side of her.

"Yeah I did!" Venus laughed, "I think I've been up since 6, I couldn't sleep," she smiled lightly at them both as Divina joined Laylah on the bed.

"I'm so happy you're ok," Laylah sighed into the sheets.

"And thank you guys for being there for me that's why I cleaned up everywhere, I wanted to do something for you," she responded.

"You're the cutest," Divina replied, "also when and where are we all meeting, Nick said he's down to go out like 20 minuets ago."

"Beach?" Venus grinned at her best friends and they all laughed happily.

It was now 1pm and the girls were ready to go, they packed their bags into the car along with a sun umbrella - which Chris said was a necessity. They were going to wait till the evening to go to the beach but in the meantime Nick said to hang out at theirs so that's where they were going. They sat in their usual places as Divina started the engine. It had been a while since they had all gone out and they didn't realise how much they missed it until they felt the nostalgia of Venus and Laylah in the back seats whilst Divina sat in the front driving. It hadn't been that long but seeing it was coming on two weeks since Venus spiralled, to the girls it was an eternity.

"Guys, i'm nervous," Venus blurted out whilst Laylah scrolled on their playlists to find a song.

"Why?" she asked, glancing up from her phone. She knew exactly why she was so anxious but she knew she couldn't tell them because it would make things awkward again.

"I don't know, I feel like it's been a while," the brown eyed girl played with the rings on her fingers.

"It has for you but you'll see once we get there it'll be like nothing happened. They understand what happened and your situation so there's nothing new to tell them," Divina reassured her.

"Yeah, you're right, you always know what to say Div," she let out a shaky laugh.

"Girl, don't stress it, I promise you it will be fine," she replied, keeping her focus on the road.

"Ok."

They walked up the drive of the triplets house and knocked on the door. Venus was watching her hands as they continued playing with her rings, moving them round and round her fingers. The door opened and Chris stood there with a big smile on his face.

"Greetings," he said, extending his arm out to them.

"Who even says that," Divina laughed, shaking his hand nevertheless.

"Dude you're weird," Laylah added.

"What? I was greeting you the way a gentleman would," Chris responded, holding his hands up in defence. "So happy to see all three of you this time," he said, looking at Venus who hadn't looked up from her hands. Divina nudged her, causing her to look up at her with a confused look.

"Oh hello," she chuckled lightly, "my bad, i was daydreaming," she lied.

"Well it's nice to see you finally," he brought the girl in for a hug.

"Hey, i don't wanna stand outside here forever," Laylah waved her hands in front of him.

"Oh shit yeah, come in," Chris walked inside to the living room.