forward / slash ✭ matt sturniolo

THIRTY EIGHT

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IRL
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Lea is still not sure how Lilith planned this party so quickly. Her cousin's house is decorated with 'CONGRATULATIONS' banners and streamers almost everywhere. Currently, the house is blaring Woman by Doja Cat while Leanna greets people by the door. After saying hi to another person, she checks her phone for any messages from Jude. It's almost midnight and she really hopes he's able to make it.

"You're off door duty," Lilith says, leaning against the banister of the front door.

Leanna presses her hands together, "Oh, thank you so much." Her voice is full of relief while her cousin laughs.

Lilith waves her off and Leanna makes her way into the living room. She's taken one step when she feels herself stumble at the sheer force of whoever just threw themselves at her.

"LEANNA!" The voice is muffled.

Leanna pulls away to find that the mystery girl is Alahna, "Jesus, you scared the shit out of me."

Alahna doesn't say much as she grabs Leanna's hand and guides her through the other partygoers.

"Where exactly are we going?" Leanna shouts over the music playing.

Alahna spares her a glance over her shoulder. "Seeing the triplets."

Leanna had greeted them when they arrived earlier with Rory in tow. Rory isn't mean, there's no malice behind her words whenever she speaks to Lea. She's arguably one of the nicest girls Leanna has ever met. But, the blonde can't help but have this residual distaste for her because of how close she is with Matt. Rory and Matt are never more than a foot from each other and she feels nauseous just thinking about them together. She pushes the thought out of her mind considering she has a boyfriend that she's satisfied with. Speaking of, he still has yet to message her about his whereabouts. Lea spots Nick laughing at something Rory said as Alahna pulls her towards the triplets who are currently conversing with Odette.

Lea waves to them, "Hey, thank you guys for coming!"

The group responds with a series of 'of course, we'd come' and 'no problem, Lea!'  A few minutes of chatting go by before Nick pulls her aside from the rest of the group.

Nick has been dying to talk to Leanna properly for a while. With her at college her responses have been a little bit more delayed than usual, and the topic he wanted to discuss was much rather suited in person than over text. "I wanted to talk to you real quick."

"What's up?" Lea asks as she checks her phone again for any message from Jude— still nothing.

Nick bites his lip, worried about how to address this, "Chris told me he saw a bruise on your arm."

Lea's smile only drops momentarily before she's placing a new one on. "It wasn't a bruise, I don't know what he saw."

"Lea, you're lying." Nick deadpans.

Leanna shrugs, "It wasn't a bruise. The stick and poke tattoo didn't heal well."

Nick is stunned by her insistence that nothing is wrong. He purses his lips, "Why are you protecting him?"

"Oh my god, can we not do this right now?" Lea flails her arms, "Nothing like that has happened twice."

Nick's mouth parts in shock. His eyebrows are raised, "So he did do it?"