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ALL I DO. { irl }
it's been a week since niola's dad took her in. during that time, quite a bit has happened. her mom did exactly what niola thought she was do – she signed the divorce papers without a fight, but when he mentioned custody she argued with him for at least an hour.
her dad's initial plan was to stay at their house. and since his wife is never home, there wouldn't be a problem with that. but after their custody argument, she changed the locks and refused to let him stay there.
so niola and her father have been staying in a fancy hotel for the past few days. the place is really nice and they serve the most amazing food she'd ever tasted. but knowing that he's this expensive treatment with her mom's money? it ruins the experience.
the only good thing that's happened to niola in the last week was matt.
even though her father forbid them from hanging out, they still get to meet up at school all the time.
whenever she sees matt in the hall, she runs and hugs him. he does the same to her, just much more gently. he likes to come up from behind and kiss her shoulder – which has caused her to nearly punch him a few times before she realizes who it is.
they still haven't announced their relationship to nick and camille, but they definitely know there's something going on between the two. nick has seen them in the hallways being super clingy; camille has seen them smiling at the other's texts. and they've both seen how flirty they are during the car ride home.
"at least the food and beds are nice, though." matt tells her while walking side-by-side in the halls.
niola has been telling him everything about her father, the hotel, and her mom. he wishes he could help her better, but he can't. so he's been trying to get her to look on the bright side of things. but that hasn't been doing much either.
"but he's using my mom's money to afford the nice shit, and makes them not seem nice." she tells him. "i want to enjoy the hotel's service. i really do. but i can't."
"i get it," he says, reaching over and grabbing her hand to pull her against him. their shoulders brush and she smiles up at matt, glad that he can be with her through all of this.
she thinks about how supportive and kind matt has been, and she wants to show her appreciation for him. but she doesn't know how. all she can do is thank him while he adjusts his entire life to make room for her.
he's been texting her nonstop just to check on her. and all week, niola has had to hide who she's talking to from her dad, to keep him from getting mad again.
last time, when she asked to hang out with matt, he started screaming at her. he said that she needs to break up with him because 'matt assaulted him for no reason'. the way he talked about him pissed her off, but she needs her dad to think that niola is completely on his side – so he trusts her enough to bring her to the court to testify.
so niola told her dad that she broke up with matt.
which means whenever they text, she has to hide his contact name. and whenever they call, she has to go to the bathroom with her volume way down so he doesn't hear matt's voice.
"i just wish we could hang out more," she grumbles, resting her head on his shoulder while the walk. but she quickly finds the position uncomfortable and straightens her neck again.
"after all of this is over, we can hang out as much as we want." matt promises.
niola sighs, "god i can't wait."
as they turn the corner, about to enter the cafeteria, nick runs up between them and slings an arm over each of their shoulders. he knows he was probably ruining their moment, but he doesn't really care. they can't complain since they haven't told him about whatever is going on between the pair.
"are you two busy this weekend?" nick asks.
"you know i have nothing to do." matt says, wishing his answer was different and he could say that they did have plans.
"depends," niola answers. she hasn't asked her father if she could hang out with anyone besides matt, and that didn't end well. so she's scared to ask to do anything with nick this weekend. what if he makes her cut him out of her life too?
nick, chris, and camille haven't mentioned the whole incident regarding niola's dad yet. they want to let her tell them at her own pace.
"lucas invited me to go to the beach with him and some of his friends." nick explains. "but i really don't wanna go alone."
"then tell him you got sick or something."
"i already said i would be there." nick complains as if he weren't the one who dug this hole for himself. "it's saturday at noon. which is tomorrow."
"yes, we know the date, nick." matt says, rolling his eyes. "give us some time to think about it. then we might go with you."
nick turns and hugs his brother tightly, "thank you matt! this is why you're my favorite!"
"i said might." matt restates, reluctantly hugging nick in return.
"you guys have to come with me, though!" nick says as if the situation was life-or-death. "i can't go to the beach alone with a bunch of straight guys. well except for luke, since he's bi. but still, if i show up alone, my confidence will be shitty and they'll hate me! i want them to like me because i want to at least have a small chance with lucas. and if-"
"nicolas!" mat interrupts him, grabbing nick's shoulders and shaking him. "you're rambling! just calm the fuck down and leave us alone!"
"fine!" nick replies. "but we sit at the same lunch table, anyway. which means you'll be dealing with me in a few minutes again. so enjoy you're minimal moments of peace."
with that, nick walks ahead of matt and niola. he vanishes in the crowd of people entering the cafeteria. once he's gone, niola starts laughing at how dramatic nick made the beach invite seem.
the sound of niola's laughter makes matt's heart flutter. for years he's admired her from afar. it's insane that he can now blatantly tell her how he feels without it being weird.
"you're so pretty," matt says.
niola's laughter dies down as she looks at him, "you're prettier."
"eww." matt says, turning his face away from her and pretending to be disgusted by the compliment. "that's so cheesy."
"whatever," niola rolls her eyes.
.∘◦❀◦∘. a/n : i'm so behind on writing its insane 🤯 i like to have at least 7 chapters written ahead of when i update AND I ONLY HAVE TWO??? 😧😧😧 ◦∘.❀.∘◦
