𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐒, 𝐦. 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨

◆ nine

''where's chris?''

''he's with ava and nick...they were going to get drinks.''

''let's go and tell chris.''

''what?!'' she asked in alarm. ''no!''

''maeve, you were almost assaulted! your boyfriend deserves to know!''

''he might not understand! he might get mad at me!''

''he won't. we have to tell him.'' he replied. he began walking out of the room when maeve grabbed his hand.

''matt, please.'' she pleaded. ''please just keep this between us.''

he hesitated. ''but-''

''please. i know that you hate me but just do me this one favour.''

''one favour?!'' he repeated with a laugh. ''i'm keeping all of your fucking secrets, maeve! i'm keeping everything from my own brothers, from our best friends...just for you!''

''why?''

''i don't even know! like you said, i hate you... but i have this thing where i have to do everything for you.''

she was quiet for a moment and then nodded. ''please just keep this a secret. i won't ask for anything else.''

matt suddenly noticed she was still holding his hand. he looked at it for a second and then intertwined his fingers with hers. he really liked how that felt.

''okay.''

she smiled lightly. ''thank you, matt. i appreciate you so much.''

''yeah?''

''yeah.''

the two of them looked at them each other for a moment, their hands still interlocked. matt barely registered what he was doing before he surged forward, pressing his lips to maeve's. she didn't even fight it - kissing him back. he put his hands on her cheeks, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

oh my god, matt was kissing maeve. he was actually kissing her. he never thought this would happen, and now it was! he felt so happy! he never expected this, he always thought she would be chris' girlfriend and-

he suddenly pushed her away, guilt and worry folding in the bottom of his stomach.

''what?'' she whispered.

''you're my brother's girlfriend. we can't do this.''

''matt-''

''i have to tell him.''

''no! no, we can't tell him!'' she exclaimed. ''we have to keep this between us, matt.''

''another secret?''

she nodded. ''just one more. it doesn't mean anything - i hate you, you hate me. we won't do this ever again.''

he nodded slowly. ''right.''

-

"you kissed another guy, maeve.'' chris said angrily. ''somebody literally saw you!''

"he physically pushed himself onto me. i tried to get him off me. he was too heavy. i got attacked by him, chris." she admitted.

the group sat in silence, the air was full of tension. on one hand, they were happy that after 2 hours of her refusing to speak to them, she was opening up but, on the other, she was sharing personal and upsetting information.

chris looked at her. ''what happened?''

she looked at matt. ''he saved me.''

ava squeezed her hands tight. josh look at nick and bumped his knee on his knee. the whole room felt like it was being squeezed. like it was loosing oxygen. no one knew how to solve this. maeve wasn't even crying anymore - she felt like that's all she had done. she was refusing to look at matt, and the rest of the group just sat around, wondering what was going to happen next.

''why didn't you tell me?'' chris asked finally, before looking at his brother. ''why didn't you tell me?''

matt felt awkward. ''maeve made me promise not to. it was traumatic for her, she didn't want anybody to know. i'm really sorry, chris.''

''i'm sorry too.'' maeve said quickly. ''but i promise, i would never kiss that guy. i love you.''

chris nodded. ''you should've told me, maeve. i would kick any guy's ass who tried to get with you.''

''i know. i'm really sorry - i just wasn't thinking clearly. me and matt haven't even spoke about it since he saved me...i guess we both just forgot about it.''

''yeah.'' matt agreed. 

chris pulled his girlfriend into him, kissing her forehead. ''i'm sorry that happened to you, and i'm sorry i wasn't there.''

''it's okay-''

''i'm just glad matt was. he's the only guy i'd trust with you...aside from nick and josh.''

both maeve and matt laughed uneasily, but nobody really caught it. they were all just glad everything was going back to normal. chris turned from his brother, pulling her into a hug. she hugged him back but when she lent her head on his shoulder, she made eye contact.

he rolled his eyes slightly, and she made a face. they were basically communicating with their faces - they both felt guilty for betraying chris. they both felt guilty for kissing each other two months ago, and not telling anybody.

and they both felt guilty because it wasn't true that they hadn't happened thought of it again.

because the truth was, they both thought about it every day.

maybe everybody else thought it was about to go back to normal.

but that couldn't be further from the truth.