🌟sparks🌟 (matt sturniolo)

- 25 - crowd -

a pile of eight suitcases sat by the villa's front door in a heap. it was almost as if the villa that had been their home for the past week had been stripped bare. every room looked exactly the same as it had when they'd arrived. 

"alright kids, gather round," jimmy raised his voice over the chatter of the restless teenagers milling around the entryway. mary-lou appeared by her husband's side, and the triplets, justin, madi, and freyja turned to look at the pair.

mary-lou looked nervously at her husband, and jimmy gave her an encouraging nod. "ok, so......um our anniversary," she gestured to herself and her husband, "is tomorrow, and we thought it would be nice to have a little time to ourselves. so, we are going to fly to florence, and the rest of you are going to stay at the filipowicz's until we get back." mary-lou held her breath, waiting for the group's reaction. jimmy held her hand. 

there was silence. and then chris broke it. of course, he did. "how long for?" he asked, looking at his parents.

"we will get back on friday, la time,"  jimmy answered.

more silence. "ok,"  chris shrugged and went back to talking to the girls. nic turned to justin and matt.

"that's it? ok?" mary lou questioned to no one in particular, confused.

"yeah, it's only four days, mom. we'll be fine," matt assured his mom, who smiled gratefully at her middle son.

"justin, do you know the plan?" jimmy questioned, looking at his eldest child.

"yup."

chris turned to his brother. "wait, you were in on this?"

"yup. im the eldest." chris punched him playfully, and justin glared at him before continuing. "im flying back to la with these idiots," a look to chris and matt, who glared. chris flipped him off. "and then im going to drive back to texas."

jimmy nodded in approval, looking at the clock on the wall. it was 8:57. 

"alright, lets go guys!" mary-lou called, and everyone grabbed their suitcases and began to head outside into the cold. the minivan they had had for the whole trip sat next to another one, picked up the day before. chris made a beeline for the new one, madi and freyja in tow. freyja was about to climb into the backseat beside chris when she felt a tug on her sweater. it was matt.

"do you wanna sit with me and nic?" he asked, frowning slightly. freyja shook her head, not quite meeting his eyes. "bu-" freyja slammed the car door shut in matt's face. 

matt stood, staring at the tinted window for a minute, before turning away, pulling his blue beanie down further on his head. but, of course, freyja had been looking at him as well.

 it wasn't that she was mad at matt, she could never truly be mad at him. she was mad at herself for letting the kiss happen. she had promised herself that she wouldn't let herself fall for someone as fast as she had fallen for einar losvango back in tenth grade again. but she had, of course, she had. and this time she had fallen quicker. last time it had been a few months, but this time it had been a matter of weeks. just over three to be exact. it was unhealthy to be able to fall for someone that quickly, and she couldn't accept that she had indeed fallen very hard. 

but freyja couldn't get the kiss out of her head. the way matt looked at her, and how his breath caught in his throat as they kissed, and the way his voice was hoarse afterward. but then she had made him stay where he was as she walked out of the room. it hurt her when she did it, but she knew she was saving matt from her. after that, she slept on the couch in the living room. when chris had asked her why she was there, she had told him she had been watching a movie and fell asleep.