mona lisa , chris sturniolo

8 | better not be lasagna

♫  i guess / see you next year  ♫
☆
you make me feel better
i wish i could see you more

🍊 🍊 🍊

| real life | social media |

real life

When Ethan saunters out of the grocery store he works at, I am waiting in the parking lot, music blasting through my car.

"Turn this shit down!" my seventeen year old brother groans as he climbs into the passenger seat, in the backseat.

"It's Taylor Swift, you bitch," I scowl at him, not moving to adjust the volume.

"I didn't tell you to turn it off, I just said turn it down," Ethan grumbles, reaching out to turn the music down himself.

"I just said turn it down," I raise my voice an octave, mocking my brother. "You're so stupid."

Ethan scoffs. "Says you, you're the biggest bonobo I've ever met."

"What the fuck is a bonobo?" A startled laugh bubbles up my chest as I shift my car into drive.

Ethan nods proudly, buckling up his seatbelt while I pull out of the parking lot. "It's a type of ape. I discovered three new b-named animals and I have been waiting for the right opportunities to pull them out."

For whatever reason, ever since he was young, Ethan has had a hobby of calling me by various animal names that begin with the letter 'B'. His favourite is barracuda, but other common ones include buffoon and boa constrictor.

"I look forward to hearing them," I roll my eyes at his enthusiasm. "Are you okay if we head to Lizzy and Noah's right away? She's kinda pissed that I didn't go straight to their house yesterday and stayed at the Sturniolo's instead."

"I don't care what we do," Ethan snatches my phone from the cupholder and fiddles with it for a moment to switch the playlist. "This is a cute picture of you and Chris," he holds up my phone so I can see the photo on my lockscreen. When the triplets were at school with me last month, we had a picnic at a park near campus. Chris and I were goofing off at one point, as we often do, and Nick started taking pictures, as he often does. The photo shows Chris' arms wrapped around me in a side hug, a huge grin lighting up his face as he looks at me. I am looking at the camera with an open-mouthed laugh, gripping onto Chris' forearm across my chest.

A warm feeling settles over me and I smile fondly at the photo. "That was a good day."

"I can't believe you two aren't dating yet," Ethan sighs, shaking his head as he drops my phone back in the cup holder.

"What the fuck, Ethan?" I groan, a familiar feeling of defensiveness rising in my check. I shoot him a look as I come to a red light. "Why would you even say that?"

"Oh, excuse me," Ethan raises his hands in surrender. "Forgot that was an illegal topic."

"It's not illegal, it's just not a thing," I grumble, stepping on the gas when the light changes colour. The car jerks forward a little faster than normal, betraying the way Ethan had thrown me off.

"Why not?" Ethan whines, sliding down in his seat and popping his feet up on the dashboard.

"Get your dirty ass shoes off my car," I flick out my wrist to slap his leg, grinning when he flinches. "Chris is my best friend. That's it."