NEIGHBORS ➢ C. STURNIOLO

08. lover's quarrel

"Whatever," Chris leaned back against the headboard with a hand cradled behind his head.

"Where's your oldest brother?"

"Justin is in Boston!"

"Fuck off Chris, where's Nick?"

"Laura picked him up, I think they had a meeting and he's gonna stay there for a bit and I think Madi is sleeping over tonight."

"Oh my, God, yay! I haven't seen her in forever. Speaking of forever, where is Bernard?" Elena sat up and checked her phone, seeing that Matt had been gone for four minutes now. His bathroom was three steps away, though?

Matt comes back into the room with a bowl of popcorn that he just popped, a bright smile on his face like he was proud of the popcorn. Elena found herself constantly amused with all the brothers and it was making her sad to think of how she's going to rarely see them once school starts up again.

"Why is it in my spot?" Matt points to his brother.

"Be nice, Matt. Chris came with snacks, I didn't know he was gonna take your place, though, honest."

"Shoo," Matt swats his brother who doesn't even think about moving. He side-eyes his brother and focuses his attention back to the TV. Matt and Elena make eye contact, both in disbelief at the youngest sibling behavior displayed by Chris at the moment.

"I can scooch down, I think there's space for the three of us," Elena tried to explain.

"See. She can scooch. Thank you, Elena."

"Mhm."

"She shouldn't have to scooch! Who invited you to movie night?!"

"Didn't know I needed a fuckin' invite to spend time with my brother and my friend," Chris grumbled as he followed Elena's lead and scooched to the right.

"This is all I got. I'm gonna fall off," Elena eyes the small sliver of bed that separates her from the floor and she has to cling onto Chris's back as she tries to stay stable on the bed.

"Hey, dickhead, stop moving for a sec," Chris tells Matt.

"Well I'm nice and comfy now. Elena, did you wanna stay there? Or come between me and Chris?"

"Mmm. I'll go between you guys," she climbs over Chris and situates herself in the middle.

"Feels like... you guys are my gay adoptive parents."

"Literally why would you say that?" Matt moves his gaze from the TV and onto Elena, who didn't see anything wrong with what she said, her eyes still glued to Oliver and Felix on the screen.

"I feel like your guys' baby. Nestled. Like a baby."

Chris and Matt share a look and shake their heads as they continued to eat their snacks and watch the movie.

The movie was almost over and Matt had fallen asleep, which was fine since he said he had watched the movie before. It was now just Chris and Elena awake, watching these weird events transpire. It was now the part where Oliver takes it into his own hands to remove Elspeth's intubation.

Once that had ended, she craned her neck to the right of her to see that Chris's jaw was dropped just like hers.

"What the fuck did Matt make us watch?" He whispered, eliciting a small giggle to come from Elena. Matt was knocked out at the moment, without a care in the world as he snuggled his stuffed puggle.

"I'm so confused, too. I should press this kid when he wakes up, why would he even... recommend this?"

"I don't know. I don't even know," the credits began to roll and Chris gathered his trash and belongings and tucked them into his pocket to throw out once he left Matt's room.