mona lisa , chris sturniolo

12 | coolest kid in town

♫ to the mountains / lizzy mcalpine  ♫
☆
oh, i'm headed to the mountains
where the air is sweet and new
the only place i feel peace
i'm trying to let go
i knew you'd come after me

🍊 🍊 🍊

| real life |

real life

Laura picks us up from the airport and as soon as I climb into the car, the world slips away and I fall into the land of sleep. I am faintly aware of the boys excitedly chattering with Laura and Madi, but their voices soon drift away like the tide.

After what feels like minutes, a gentle hand is nudging my shoulder, drawing me back to the land of the living. "B, you gotta wake up."

I mumble incoherently, unconsciously throwing my hand in the direction of the wave.

"B," the voice, who I now recognize to be Chris, laughs. "We're home. Let's go inside."

"Sleeping," I mutter, not opening my eyes.

"You can sleep inside on your new bed." Chris' arm reaches across me to unbuckle my seatbelt. "Come on, sleeping beauty."

"I thought you said I'm Ana." My eyes crack open a smidge. Everyone else seems to have gone inside, leaving Chris with the privilege of waking me up.

"Normally, yes, but right now you are acting too sleepy to be Ana." Chris tugs my backpack off the ground by my feet, swinging it over his shoulder.

"Ana hates mornings," I grumble, a yawn cracking my mouth open. "Sleeping Beauty is lame. I like Ana."

Chris shakes his head in amusement, but doesn't argue with me. "Let's go, Ana."

My brain foggy with sleep, I climb out of the car and follow Chris inside. I have visited a few times since the triplets bought their home a year ago, so the layout of the house is not new to me.

Matt, Nick, Madi, and Laura are in the kitchen, easy smiles and loud laughs being thrown around, and I feel a small grin creep onto my own face.

"Thank you for picking us up, Laura," I smile appreciatively at the boys' manager.

Laura waves me off, a friendly grin on her face. "Anytime, sweetie."

"Bryn's only being nice because she's about to excuse herself to go crash," Matt jokes, coming around the countertop to give me a hug.

"Blowing my cover, Matt, jeez," I huff, hugging him back. "But I for real need to pass out. Madi, let's hang out soon, okay?"

"Obviously," Madi grins at me. Her and I had hung out a handful of times over my few visits and I've always enjoyed spending time with her. I once told Nick that being with Madi felt like getting a really good breath of fresh air, and he proceeded to laugh at me for being corny for five minutes before he agreed.

"I would like to be invited to whatever you're doing," Nick interjects.

"Nick, you know you have an honorary invite to anything we do," Madi laughs lightly.

As Matt starts an argument about why he doesn't get an invite, I turn to Chris, looking up at him hopefully. "Can I go to bed now?" Exhaustion weighs down my bones like lead and my eyes are so dry I'm convinced next time I go to blink, I won't be able to lift my eyelids back up.

He laughs and moves towards the basement stairs. "Yeah, I'll just come make sure you have everything you need. The guest room, or your room now, is decently clean, I think there's just a few boxes on the floor, but we can move those tomorrow."