CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR !
[ real life ]
❝ THE LITERAL FUCKING STUFFED ANIMAL ❞
📂﹖﹕𓂃𐩐💻
ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ
"what the fuck?"
"eli..." aurora tries, giving her brother a pleading, 'don't go crazy' look as he stands in front of her.
"no, what the actual fuck?" he exclaims, eyebrows furrowed harshly as his eyes jump to matt who stands in the corner of the room with his arms crossed. "did you know?"
just as matts eyebrows raise, aurora cuts in with a sigh, "eli, stop," she tells him, making his eyes go back to her. "matt doesn't have anything to do with this. he just found out."
"so you told him before me?" is all he gets out of it, making aurora hastily look away from him. he instantly scoffs, running an angered hand over his face. "what the fuck, aurora? i'm your brother. you know how many times i've told you that if dad ever gets physical with you, to fucking tell me right away."
"i was stressed and i didn't want to talk about it. i'm sorry, okay?" frustration is clear in her voice as she talks to him, making some of the fury in his eyes dissipate just a smidge.
"you're right. i'm sorry, i didn't mean to get mad at you," he sighs, making aurora wash over with some sort of relief. it doesn't last long though when elijah shakes his head to himself and continues on, "i just wish you had told me sooner so i could fucking lose my shit on him sooner."
"what?" her jaw goes slack when all of a sudden, he turns his back on her and begins storming through matt's bedroom door, where she had originally called him to come to.
matt sends her a concerned look and she doesn't even pay attention to it, quickly deciding on following her enraged brother.
elijah paces out of the room and nick and chris notice him when he passes by the living room. nick raises his eyebrows. "what's going on?" he calls out since he first assumed aurora needed him for something small and that he'd be back quickly.
"not now, nick," elijah grumbles as he makes his way to their front door. hurt flickers over nicks face for just a second before chris shakes his head from next to him and points at aurora following behind elijah, assuring him it's some sort of sibling fight.
"elijah, i swear to fucking god," she murmurs under her breath as she trails a while behind him.
he reaches the front door and begins making his way out but auroras close enough to him now to quickly be able to follow him out. "stop, you fucking idiot!" she exclaims as he's already making his way down the porch steps once she closes the front door behind them.
elijah doesn't stop so she quickly makes her way down the steps as well, trailing behind him as his back is turned to her as he walks to his car. "he's in his fucking forties, elijah. what do you think you're gonna be able to do to him?" she throws her arms out as she walks.
she's a lot harsher with him, compared to how she acted when matt told her he'd totally knock her step dads teeth in. it was a sentimental moment between the two then so she decided not to pitch in with a reality check—but with elijah, it's completely different. elijah is angry to the point he clearly wants to go off on their father and aurora knows it'll only end badly.
if their step father has unashamedly and continuously put his hands on their mother and now slapped aurora, aurora can only imagine what he'd do to elijah if he came storming at him with a purpose.
"i don't know, something!" he turns on his heels to face his sister, making her halt her movements with a huff. "look, rory, it's one thing when it's mom because she's just as bad as him sometimes, but it's another thing when it's you."
she just shakes her head at him. "whatever you go in there to do is just gonna make it ten times worse for when we have to go back," she tells him sternly, clearly thinking more than him since he's currently blinded by rage.
"when we go back?" he repeats her words, scoffing. her eyebrows furrow but before she can focus on it, he's attempting to turn back around.
she quickly grabs out for his shoulder and pulls him back before he can face his back to her. she softens her tone to plead with him now. "eli, please stop. i get that you're mad, but you're being irrational."
he pauses and glances over her face for a prolonged moment. he eventually sighs and instead of turning to continue walking to his car, he walks past her. she instantly washes over with relief and turns to see him heading to sit down on the porch steps.
aurora follows him in doing so, taking a seat next to him on the same step once he's fully sat down. she blows a puff of air from her lips and rests her hands on her knees, unsure of what to say now.
"are you like..." he trails off for a moment when he finally speaks, his voice a lot more gentler than it had been before. "okay?"
she thinks on her answer for a second before shrugging her shoulders, humming out a simple, "yeah, i'm okay."
"good," he mumbles. a silence forms after he's spoken and auroras almost certain that that's the last thing to be said between them before they just go inside, when he speaks again. "it's not gonna happen again."
"eli," she sighs exasperatedly.
"no," he stops her before she even starts, her head turning to him. "i need to tell you something," he confesses, catching her off guard.
"what?" her eyebrows are instantly scrunched together.
"i was going to tell you on your birthday but," he pauses. "now this happened so i need to let you know sooner," he explains, just making her even more confused as he goes on. "it's only a week away anyway."
"yeah okay, what is it?" she questions, wanting him to cut to the chase already.
"you know how i've been taking a gap year before starting college?" he asks, earning an easy nod from her. he sighs before speaking again, "it's because i didn't want to leave you in the house by yourself."
a frown instantly takes over her features. "eli i—"
"listen," he cuts her off, making her clamp her mouth shut. "two months ago, i got this apartment about twenty minutes from campus and twenty minutes away from well.. here," he tells her, her eyes widening comically. this is all plenty news to aurora and her heart is definitely sinking before he says his next sentence, "it's a two bedroom so... i figured we could just move out once you turned eighteen."
"what?" her jaw drops, a look of shock taking over her entire face.
"yeah," he shrugs honestly. "i've been trying to figure out when to tell you and i decided like last month i'd just tell you on your birthday before this happened."
"oh my god," she exclaims, holding her hand over her mouth for a second before dropping it and suddenly reaching forward to hug her brother. "what the actual fuck? thank you."
elijah's eyebrows raise to his forehead because he honestly can't remember the last time him and aurora hugged. he's not sure when she became a hugging person since she's always claimed to hate them, but it's probably got something to do with matt, he guesses. whatever it is, he decides he likes it, and hugs her back.
when they pull away, he gives her a smile. "so we can start moving shit out whenever you want since you're practically eighteen now."
"i just want to make sure she's oka-"
"no because i've never heard him get so snappy with me befo-"
"and i don't want her to shut me out so i like need to check on-"
"he like definitely hates me. what am i even supposed to-"
chris hopelessly glances between his two brothers sat in front of him, both going on some stressful tangent about their significant other. he couldn't tell you a single thing they've said since they keep interrupting and speaking over each other as they talk.
when he hears the sound of the front door finally opening, he's sure it's some sort of miracle. he somehow raises his head even faster than nick or matt to find elijah and aurora coming inside.
"hey guys," aurora sighs loudly, a lazy smile on her face as she rests her hands on her hips and stands. chris almost laughs out loud at how quickly matt washes over with relief from her relaxed state. he's so whipped it's a little embarrassing to watch, in chris' opinion.
"hello..." nick says skeptically, eyes jumping between the nonchalant pair who were clearly about to argue just a couple moments before.
"hey," elijah sends him a grin which immediately takes this huge weight off his shoulders, him somehow having thought he suddenly began hating him. "who wants to go check out me and rory's new place?"
"WHAT"
"why is the fridge empty?"
"chris, are you fucking stupid?"
"what?" he huffs, turning back around as he closes the fridge door and faces nick. "it's a valid question...?" he says questionably like he doesn't get nicks tone at all.
"chris," elijah sighs, walking into the kitchen and leaning his hands down on a counter. "i don't know what's more sad..." he trails off for a moment. "the fact that the first place you went into was the kitchen or the fact that you genuinely don't understand that of course there isn't food in the fridge, i just got the fucking place!"
chris just sighs in response, crossing his arms like a toddler and looking elsewhere. elijah rolls his eyes amusedly at his behavior.
nick walks into the room, sniffing happily. "it smells like paint in here," he tells them mindlessly, resting his hands on his hips. "i love it!"
elijah smiles fondly at the boy for a moment before his attention goes elsewhere, matt and aurora entering the open space. aurora is seemingly dragging him around by their connected hands and he is making no complaint.
"which one did you say is my room again?" she asks elijah, stopping in place for a second.
"the one on the left of that hallway," he answers, extending his hand out to point in the direction of the area he's talking about.
"'kay thanks," aurora hums before instantly heading for that direction, pulling a chuckling matt along with her.
elijah watches the pair as they go and chris blinks at them repeatedly until they disappear. "that's still crazy to me," chris speaks up mindlessly, walking over to where elijah and nick stand on the opposite side of a counter from him.
"what?" elijah questions. "matt and rory?"
"yes," chris answers. "like bizarre," he specifies with a sigh. "i can't believe they're actually together together now. like who would've thought?"
nick blinks at him. "um, us?" he answers obviously. "like for literal years now?"
"okay but you get what i mean," chris huffs, tapping his fingers along the surface of the counter mindlessly. "like i'll never be able to fully comprehend the fact that they're dating and not at each others throats anymore."
"okay yeah," nick ultimately agrees with a slight laugh. "i keep waiting for rory to scream at matt and like.. tell him to shut the fuck up, and then i'm like oh wait nevermind, they're out of that era."
"exactly!" chris exclaims. "like what do you mean we all peacefully get along as a group now without matt and rory's constant bickering.."
"no yeah, it's actually crazy." nick nods his head.
elijah glances between the two and laughs slightly, earning looks from both of them. he shrugs his shoulders. "i always knew it would work out like this," he tells them easily. "like me and rory used to ride home from school and she'd be going on and on about how 'matt was being a dick like he always is'" he makes air quotes with his fingers for a moment before putting them back down and shaking his head to himself. "i'd be like 'yeah, thats crazy,' but in my head i was just like 'yeah.. she's got it bad.'"
"woah, what's this about rory complaining about me during car rides?" matt suddenly speaks up, causing the trios heads to all collectively turn and spot him. he enters the room with aurora trailing behind him, her letting out an annoyed huff at the topic they've walked into.
elijah grins at him as he walks over to stand next to chris. "we're reminiscing on when you and rory hated each other," he fills him in. "kinda fun honestly."
matt raises his eyebrows. "who said we don't anymore?" he questions jokingly.
aurora rolls her eyes as she comes to stand next to him. "you're so unfunny."
he just glances over at her amusedly, mindlessly resting his hand along her waist as she stands behind the same counter as him. chris sees and shakes his head to himself. "no because that is literally crazy."
"chris..." aurora just sighs, trailing off instead of attempting to even continue whatever she was going to say.
nick looks between the two and sighs loudly, everyone's attention going to him. "okay yeah... let's go do something worth our time and figure out where you guys are gonna put a couch or whatever the fuck."
"oh my god, no. i found my polaroid pictures era."
"no way!" nick gasps, leaning on auroras bed to reach her on the floor by her closet. "let me see."
"um, no," venus legitimately flops past him on the bed and hangs off the edge of it to also reach the girl. "let us see."
aurora rolls her eyes and holds up a small ziploc baggy to show them. "there's like a fucking hundred in here," she tells them as nick quickly reaches for the bag. she allows him to grab it from her.
the entire friend group is at auroras house to help her and elijah move all their stuff out in time for them to be able to not have to come back after her eighteenth birthday, which is friday. it's currently wednesday. they've been staying at the triplets' place for the past nights and they had to stop postponing it and actually start moving by today. luckily, thank fucking god, their parents aren't home. elijah texted their mom about it and supposedly their step fathers on a business trip of sorts. neither of them care enough to actually wonder about where he could be.
as venus and nick both become preoccupied with going through the pictures and gasping every five seconds, aurora takes the time to continue going through the storage boxes she's always kept shoved in the back of her closet behind all her shoes.
"wait, where's THE polaroid?" nick suddenly speaks up as auroras going through a box of her old jewelry. venus instantly gasps and begins looking through the pictures with him as aurora looks up at them knowingly.
"i swear to god if you're talking about that fucking lipgloss picture," aurora groans, having seen it far too many times in her life.
nick gapes at her. "it's been our only solid proof from day one, rory!"
she just sighs and resumes going through the box in her hands. after a while, she hears him groan. "i can't fucking find it!" he exclaims.
"aw, i found this one though," venus' smile is heard through her voice, causing aurora to look up at her. she shows the polaroid to nick first. "it's before rory got her license revoked and when we would always force matt to sit shotgun," she tells him.
nick glances over the picture and grins. "no because he lowkey always gave in way too easily too..." he brings up as venus hands the picture down to aurora.
aurora gently grabs it from her hand and takes a good look at it, an immediate smile subconsciously taking over her lips. the picture is taken from outside auroras car door, the window being rolled down. she's not even looking at the camera, not at matt in the other seat either, she's looking ahead of her. her middle finger though, is easily pointed at matt even though she doesn't care enough to place her actual eyes on him. his arms are crossed over his chest and annoyance is written all over his face as he gives aurora a blank look, clearly unamused by her middle finger being pointed right at him. although she was sure they hated each other during the time, there's a certain fondness that pulls at her heartstrings just from looking at it. she almost wishes she could go back and experience it all again just so she could watch them get to where they are now.
once she's looked at it, she hands it back up to venus and nick. she's about to continue going through her stuff when she spots a picture that must've fallen to the floor while they were sorting through them. not just a picture, the picture. she sighs to herself before, of course, picking it up.
she sets her eyes on the one picture that was used against her and matt for all of junior year and instead of feeling the annoyance she's used to feeling from it's mere existence, this time she feels endearment spread throughout her chest. a grin can't help but take over her lips.
in the picture, she sits on a couch applying lipgloss to her lips with a tiny compartment mirror in hand. raven is seen next to her, only halfway in frame, and matt sits on the floor in front of the couch. he's resting his back against it and despite the controller in his hand since he was clearly playing a video game, his attention is on aurora instead. he's gazing up at the girl and his lips are parted slightly, as if in awe. his eyebrows are raised just a tad and there is nothing but soft adoration clear in his eyes. aurora didn't even notice him when the picture was taken, but there he was, staring at her like she was a sculpture specifically designed to be admired by all around her.
every single time matt was asked about the picture, he said he was 'obviously' mid cough. aurora pretended to believe him at the time. come on, who would she be, if not oblivious?
she looks up at nick and venus who are still busily looking through pictures and decides yeah, she'll keep this one for herself. she easily slides it into the back of her jeans pocket and she knows it's place will soon be in the back of her clear phone case.
she finishes sorting through the jewelry box and deciding what she'll keep, nick and venus now finished with sorting through the pictures. she sets the box to the side as nick sighs, "you should totally bring back the polaroid era."
aurora rolls her eyes as she reaches back into her closet to grab the last box shoved against the wall. "don't you literally still have your own polaroid camera?" she questions as she pulls the box out.
she pauses for a moment though, when she spots something she can now see squished against the wall from her pulling the last box out. she furrows her eyebrows slightly. she must've purposely put it in the very back and she can't even remember what it is.
"okay yeah, but still!" nick exclaims pointedly, earning a nod from venus as she now munches on hot cheetos that she brought in here with her earlier. "it's a joint effort."
aurora loses focus in whatever he's talking about and decidedly reaches further into her closet for the mysterious object. her brows scrunch together once she feels something soft, almost fuzzy, and she immediately pulls it out. once she has it clear in her view, her eyes widen at the sight of the familiar frog stuffed animal staring back at her.
"woah, is that luc-"
"NICK! VENUS!"
all three of them jump in surprise, heads immediately turning to see matt now in the open doorway. he's staring at nick and venus like they've done something completely wrong.
"matt, what the fuck?" nick holds his hand over his heart, still taken aback by his brothers sudden presence. "what?"
"you were supposed to take all of the pillows and blankets off of the bed so we could move the mattress, you fucking idiots!" he scolds them like an annoyed dad, the pairs eyes both widening in realization.
aurora chuckles to herself as venus slowly finishes chewing the hot cheeto in her mouth and nick awkwardly scratches his neck. once venus has swallowed her food, she coughs. "well..."
matt cuts whatever she was eventually going to say off with a sigh. "just... go help kingston or something," he tells them, the two sharing a look before beginning to get up with ridiculously dramatic groans. "apparently he took an edible before he came here so he's lost the capability to move literal pillows."
nick and venus both chuckle to themselves, venus with the bag of hot cheetos in her hands, and begin walking to go do as matt said. he steps to the side so they can exit and once they've done so, he's quick to walk over and plop right down on auroras bed. aurora amusedly watches him as he lays down on his back and sighs loudly, "well thank fucking god. my back hurts and your bed is the comfiest. i've claimed it," he tells her.
he turns his head to glance down at where she still sits on the floor after he's spoken and quickly catches sight of the stuffed animal on her lap. "is that the frog stuffed animal i gave you in fifth grade?" he's immediately raising his eyebrows.
"yes," aurora answers, a grin taking over her lips. "i didn't think i still had it, but it was stuffed at the back of my closet."
matt's lip twinges upwards. "i remember i made mom take me to build-a-bear for it," he informs her, earning an amused tilt of her head. "it was for your birthday, right?"
"mhm," she hums, glancing down at the stuffed animal in question. "there used to be a tutu, i remember. it's probably in one of the boxes i haven't fully sorted through," she tells him mindlessly before something clicks and she looks up to him. "oh my god, i remember i gave it a name and every thing."
matt glances over her features and chuckles slightly, him having remembered the name when he first caught sight of the stuffed animal. "lucinda."
aurora instantly gasps. "yes!" she exclaims, standing up with the frog in her hands. "it took us like an entire hour to name her."
"us?" he questions, shaking his head at her as she sits on the bed next to where he lays, body turned towards him. "i did not help you name the literal fucking stuffed animal, aurora."
aurora instantly scoffs in offense. "yes, you fucking did," she responds defensively. "i remember now, you thought lucy was a good name and i made it longer with lucinda."
matt stares at the girl, clearly remembering that. he clicks his tongue though. "yeah, no..." he shrugs as her face scrunches up in more offense. "that never happened, rory."
she narrows her eyes at him. "stop trying to gaslight me, you fucking sicko," she exclaims, lunging herself forward slightly and ending up laid on her stomach next to him. he glances down at her with a playful roll of his eyes and lazily rests his arm around her, hand coming to mess with her hair like it always does.
"is lucinda going to the apartment?" he asks as aurora pulls the animal from where it had come to rest under her arm, instead putting it on the other side of matt.
aurora sighs happily. "yes."
💌
last idfc double update EVER. it's actually crazy how fast time flies by???
next chapter is the last. i'm going to miss u guys and matt and rory so much 😕😕
also while i'm here i'm going to address:
i've seen some people saying it's really weird for two siblings to date two other siblings which i'd completely get if marriage was in the picture, but it's not! the two families are not related to one another and neither of the couples will be getting married or having kids. i assure you there is nothing to worry about, they'll be fine !
<3
jaden