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IRL
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It's been more than an hour and Matt still hasn't shown. Ok, Leanna is being dramatic. It's been ten minutes and Matt hasn't appeared, it just feels like an hour. He did text her warning her that he'd be late. But, as time continues to tick by, Leanna is growing more anxious. Checking the time once more, she decides to leave.
"Hey, I'm sorry I'm late." Matt apologizes, he's holding something behind his back that Leanna is trying to get a glimpse at. Sensing her impatience, he reveals a bouquet of flowers. "I found a place that sells bouquets of white poppies, they're like 40 minutes away."
Leanna takes the flowers out of his hands and holds them to her chest. "Thank you."
The pair sit down on the bench. Grabbing her hand, Matt sighs. "There was so much I didn't know about being an influencer. I didn't know how fan bases operated." He pauses, "Do you remember when you were in that TikTok with Chris and me?"
"Yeah." She replies, still confused as to where the conversation was going.
"Do you remember the reaction of the fans?"
"They didn't like me all that much." Leanna chuckles, gripping the bouquet tighter.
"I hated seeing that. I thought that me being alone would protect you from that. If you were tied to me, then I'd be putting you in harm's way. That's the last thing I wanted."
"So, you broke up with me?" Leanna asks.
He nods, "I told you it was the timing because I didn't want you to try and come after me. I thought I was doing it for your own good. There was so much change going on— good change. Nick, Chris, and I were finding ourselves as influencers and Youtube was going well. I didn't know how to handle it at that point and then they started giving you shit and I knew that I couldn't do that to you."
Setting her flowers down beside her, Leanna responds, "You could have experienced that change right next to me. You didn't have to leave for you to figure that out. I would have helped you."
"I know, but the tipping point was the hate comments—"
Lea cuts him off, "I'm going to get hate no matter what. Look at what happened yesterday. I can handle it."
Matt quickly glances at her and then looks away. "Leanna, yesterday you told me that they're telling you to kill yourself."
"I can handle—"
"You said you thought about it." His voice shakes, "You told me you wanted to drive your car into a light pole. They're only making you feel this way because of me— because we dated."
Lea can feel him pulling away from her emotionally and she can tell that he's rethinking this entire meet-up. She uses her hands to gently turn his face towards her, "I want to be with you, I don't care what they think."
Matt smiles, gripping Lea's hand on his face softly."I want to be with you too."
Lea senses a 'but' coming to his sentence.
"But, not at the expense of your mental health." He pulls her hand away from him and looks straight ahead. He does love Leanna, but she needs to put herself first.
There's a long pause. Leanna knows what he's saying isn't crazy, it's incredibly valid. But, she's waited too damn long to let Matt slip through her fingers. "I'm going to give my social media to my management. They'll promote my singles for me. I won't see any comments, I'll be ok."
Matt squeezes her hand gently. "We'll have to take our relationship slow and we'll grow as we go."
She squeezes his hand back, "I'm ok with that."
The pair sat in comforting silence. They know what they want now and nothing can stop them from pursuing it. Leanna moves closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Matt rests his head on top of hers.
"I missed you." Matt kisses the top of her head.
Leanna blushes, "I missed you too."
The quietness that had formed was disrupted when Matt catches Lea fishing for her phone out of her pocket.
"What are you doing?" He asks, his cheek resting against her head.
"Calling my manager, you gave me an idea for a song," Lea responds as she lifts her head up from his shoulder.
Matt pushes the hair that's falling in her face, behind her shoulder. "Oh, so I'm like your musical?"
Lea stops before she can press her manager's phone number. "My what?"
"Your musical. You know like inspiration for art and shit." Matt shrugs, throwing his arm over Leanna's shoulder.
She leans back into his arms, "That's a muse, Matt. Not musical."
"Oh." He flushes out of embarrassment, "Must've mixed them up or something."
"You're cute," Leanna says, pressing the phone to her ear. She hears the line connect and greets her manager, Juliette. "Hi Juliette, I have an idea for a song. I was wondering when I could come to New York to record it."
Juliette tells her that she'll call Columbia and asks Leanna to stay on the line. As Matt focuses on her, he can't help but pepper kisses on her face.
A kiss is placed on her cheek.
He can hear her manager ask her when she's done with her semester.
He kisses the temple of her head.
Lea discloses to Juliette that her last exam is in two weeks.
Matt briefly kisses her neck as he readjusts her necklace.
Leanna pulls the phone from her ear and chastises him for distracting her. He can tell she's not upset because after she reprimands him she kisses him on the lips and focuses back on her phone call.
"Late July to early August of this year is available?" Leanna repeats her manager's statement as a question, looking at Matt. If she says yes, that means she'll miss their birthday two years in a row. At that moment, she knows she'll decline the offer. Even if she has to wait for the next open slot, which is in November.
"Say yes." He whispers.
"Sorry Juliette, can you hold on for a moment?" Leanna speaks into the phone, pressing mute. "I'll miss your birthday, again."
Matt shrugs, "It's ok. Making music is what you want to do, isn't it? Don't let me stop you. Besides, I'll be in California then. We can have an early birthday celebration, just the two of us."
Lea unmutes her phone, "Yeah, that works for me."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
There was a blanket of ambiguity wrapped around Matt and Leanna as they walk into the Sturniolo house. Their confession of love did clear up some things, but not all. For instance: When Matt said they'll take it slow, how slow did he mean? Are they boyfriend and girlfriend again? So many questions, but the answers would have to wait because Matt ushers Leanna into his room quickly, ignoring the looks from Nick and Chris.
Entering his bedroom, Leanna finally asks the question that's been weighing on her mind. "Are we dating now?"
Matt shuts the door, "Before I answer, why'd you and Jude break up?"
Weird deflection, Leanna thinks.
"I dyed my hair, for one thing."
Matt makes a face at her statement, "Are you serious?"
"He said he was more into blondes. Then he told me he cheated on me—again. So, he broke up with me to be with his ex."
"He sounds like a dick," Matt says, sitting on his bed.
"Yeah, he is." Leanna whispers and sits at the edge of Matt's bed, "Wanna hear something embarrassing?"
Matt tilts his head, "Sure."
"I only started dating him because I thought that you were with Rory. It's stupid, but I just wanted to be able to move on like I thought you were."
"Oh."
"Can I ask you something?" Lea shifts uncomfortably, "Were you and Rory ever together?"
Matt averts his eyes away from Leanna. "No, we weren't. We've just been friends."
Leanna licks her lips and frowns. "Then why can't you look me in my eyes and say that?"
He stays silent.
"Did you kiss?"
The quietness that follows her question is deafening.
"Oh my God." Leanna stands up from his bed. She points at him, "You're a liar."
"I didn't lie."
"Yeah, you just conveniently left the part out where you two kissed when I gave you the chance to tell me."
Matt gets up from his bed, moving closer to her. "It wasn't like that, ok?"
"Then what was it like?"
His mouth parts, making an 'o' shape, but no words come out. Matt clears his throat, "I can't tell you. But, she kissed me and I pushed her away. We're just friends, I swear."
Scoffing, Leanna crosses her arms over her chest, "You just stay friends with pretty girls you kiss?"
"She kissed me!" He exclaims. Matt touches her shoulder gently but, she beelines for his bedroom door.
"Same fucking shit," Leanna says, grabbing the door handle and leaving his room in a haste.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
just a little more pain before we can be happy, i apologize + important to note that lea a definitely still jaded from her relationship with jude which is why she snaps so quickly
the middle of the chapter is so cute like happy mattxlea>>>
anyways i have a lot of ideas for the chris fic im going to write so im excited to start that after this!!
until next time <3!