21 Questions | Matt Sturniolo

26.

Lily and Alex were finishing getting ready when their doorbell rang. They were supposed to spend the day with Jade and Lucas as they would finally tell their friends everything that had happened with the Sturniolo triplets since the girls first went to a show. After exchanging hellos, the four friends went inside Lucas's car as he would drive everyone to an Italian restaurant they liked to go to. Once there and sitting in their usual booth with drinks, it was time for Alex and Lily to tell their story.

From the first meeting in Atlanta to the last in Fort Lauderdale, a lot had happened in between. While Jade was still shocked that Alex went on stage and managed to make her favourite triplet win the Orlando show, Lucas was praising Matt's courage and brain for eventually leading to the actual friendship that was now happening with Lily. The two listeners were searching for every single detail in the story and kept asking questions, mostly regarding Matt and Lily obviously. When the discussion then came to the little time the triplets had spent in Spring Hill, the mood also shifted. Lily was clearly missing Matt a lot although she wished not to — she blamed it on attachment issues with a nervous laugh and admitted her doubts about their relationship. The girl was afraid that Matt would eventually regret what he did and end up ghosting her, as it had been his initial thought months ago. Lily's friends assured her that it wouldn't happen and Alex started listing the proof that Matt valued Lily as much as she did him.

"Bro literally made this whole scenario up because he was afraid that you wouldn't want to meet him if you knew the truth about his identity," Alex sternly reminded as she started counting on her fingers between each sentence. "He got you to meet his family and friends at the same time as him. He put us in the same fucking hotel where he was staying and even offered to pay for the room. He accepted to come spend two days in a stranger's house and bro drove us there for a while. Do I keep going with the vlog and how he was always looking at you to make sure you're ok?"

"We get it, thanks." Lily was now looking away in embarrassment as she found her pizza very interesting right now. She knew that she shouldn't discard Matt's efforts that he had made from the beginning but the 'what ifs' in her head didn't want to leave. "I think we covered everything now though."

"I wanna come back on something," Lucas chimed in as a detail caught his attention. "May I?" When the girls nodded, he couldn't help the smirk on his face as he looked at Lily. "You, Lily, let an almost complete stranger drive your precious car when it took me more than a year to get that privilege?"

"Bro stop", Lily mumbled in reply. She hated him for pointing that out as she remembered Alex doing the same when it happened. "He's a designated driver just like me, I had to trust him. And also, I was fucking exhausted so it was nice to just be in a car and chill."

"I don't blame you to be honest," Jade chimed in. "Half of us have their licence so you and Lucas don't really have much choice when it comes to driving — I swear Alex and I will get it one day. And I watched a couple of their videos, you must have had a great view from the passenger seat."

As Jade winked at Lily before innocently taking a slice of pizza, Alex and Lucas snickered. Lily then laughed with them as she admitted that she wasn't one to turn a blind eye when the occasion of having a handsome guy driving next to you arose. The atmosphere then went back to a more light-hearted one and the rest of the lunch was spent filled with smiles.

~~~

    Four days had passed since Lily last saw Matt. Such a pathetic state I was in, the girl cringed at herself. Based on a brief exchange by text, Lily knew that Matt hadn't changed his mind regarding their friendship and thanks to her friends two days ago, she had managed to bury those doubts deep in the back of her head. Reading back their quick conversation, Lily hesitated before starting to write a message.