[texts, irl, social media!]
—————
TW: MENTIONS OF ABUSE, VIOLENCE, AND HOSPITAL VISITS!
[texts!]
little quinn (lily) has added 5 others to group chat!
little quinn has titled group chat as 'elle's children'!
acting girl — elle
mattitude — matt
prideful one — nick
young goof — chris
miss popular — mads
little quinn — lily
little quinn
hello everyone 👋🏻
acting girl
wtf is up w the name???
prideful one
yea that's hella disrespectful 😒
little quinn
sir ☝🏻i made the gc
therefore i get to name it and leave it as whatever i want
miss popular
nick is glaring at his screen
just thought u should know
little quinn
LMAO this is everything 😭
mattitude
so hru doing?
little quinn
thank u for ur CONCERN matthew
but i am FINE
young goof
u have lied before
so should we really believe u??
little quinn
ugh u guys r ruining what i was trying to ask
acting girl
what is that?
and why aren't we talking in the other gc w everyone else?
little quinn
BC i wanted to ask just the triplets and madi along w u to hang out
so that we can get to know each other
and i've already hung out w everyone else
prideful one
AND?
little quinn
AND i don't want to hang out w u guys AND the full group yet
especially if we're not comfortable around each other
acting girl
😁
little quinn
🙄 yes elle we all know how long u have been waiting for this
pipe down.
acting girl
WHATEVER
u can't blame me for wanting us all to get along
little quinn
no
i just think u are a little TOO excited
prideful one
who cares??? i would love to hang out!!
mattitude
me toooo
let's do it
miss popular
count me in too
little quinn
okay
did chris just disappear or is he just not going to agree?
prideful one
hold on
miss popular
omg
little quinn
what??
prideful one
i just slapped him
little quinn
are u fr 😭😭😭😭
mattitude
yes he is
unfortunately this is something he does a lot
little quinn
omg
i already like nick pls
young goof
would u guys like to continue to make fun of me?
or do u want my answer???
little quinn
🙄
we're WAITING christopher.
young goof
DON'T CALL ME THAT.
miss popular
excuse his manners but he absolutely HATES when people call him that
little quinn
oops maybe he shouldn't be an ass 🤷🏻♀️
young goof
has anyone mentioned how annoying u are?
little quinn
excuse me
young goof
because u ARE.
acting girl
jesus christ chris
just answer her already.
little quinn
yeah. what is it going to be CHRISTOPHER.
mattitude
bro is literally glaring at his screen rn
little quinn
so?
now, yes or no?
are u in?
young goof
YES I FIGURED THAT MUCH WAS OBVIOUS
little quinn
DONT FUCKING YELL AT ME.
young goof
THEN DONT BE STUPID.
little quinn
wow elle
u really know how to pick ur friends 🤨
mattitude
HEY
prideful one
that's rude
don't associate us w our dumb brother 😐
miss popular
guys i'm sure she was just talking about chris
little quinn
duh
madi gets me
maybe i should just ditch u losers and hang out w madi 🤔
prideful one
EXCUSE ME.
little quinn
chill nick
i'm kidding i promise
acting girl
ANYWAYS
when do u wanna hang out?
little quinn
well i'm free pretty much whenever
so can we do sometime tomorrow?
mattitude
we can do it around noon maybe?
and u could hang out at the house w us?
and we have a vlog planned tomorrow so if u don't wanna be in that we can hang out later than that
little quinn
yeah noon at ur house sounds good
just text me the address before i leave
and also ab the vlog, i don't wanna impose or anything so i'll only do it if ur comfortable w it
prideful one
yes we're comfortable ofc!
our vlogs are pretty fun so it'll give us some time to get to know each other w out it being so serious y'know?
acting girl
and if things get too real and personal, nick can always cut it out
little quinn
okay, yeah sounds good
miss popular
omg i'm so excited now 😁
little quinn
fr i can't wait to see u in person madi!!
can i call u mads tho?
miss popular
yes omg fr yes!!
prideful one
wow
mattitude
way to leave us out 😭
little quinn
guys i'm kidding 😭
chill
well
sort of
prideful one
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN LILY
little quinn
i just mean i'm also excited to see u and matt
but chris obviously hates me and i don't exactly LOVE him so
shit will be awkward around him but i'm excited to see u and matt and madi
young goof
DAMN OKAY
little quinn
IM JUST SAYING
whatever
anyways, im excited to see u guys
—————
[irl!]
THE NEXT MORNING, LILY WAKES up with a feeling that she hasn't felt in a very long time—excitement.
as she checks her phone for the first time, she notices a text from elle consisting of the triplet's address.
it's not a long drive, so she takes her time getting ready.
after her shower, she gets dressed and dries her hair. she decides to leave it natural.
then, once she's done brushing her teeth and putting on her usual face of makeup, she does the rest of her morning routine; feeding her kitty, rascal, cleaning up a few places from the mess from when everyone was over, etc.
after grabbing her phone and a zip up hoodie—in case she needs it—and the rest of her things in her purse, she walks over to the door.
once she shuts the door and locks it with her keys, she walks down the long hallway and pushes open the entrance door.
only as she walks down the steps of the porch near the door, someone is leaning against the railing.
rolling her eyes and pushing down her fear, she keeps walking. "go away, alex."
"come on, baby!" he complains, trying to grab her by her wrist, but she moves out of the way just in time.
he tries it again, and this time, he pulls both of her wrists towards him, bringing her body closer to his.
she shakes in his hold.
"you know you want to get back together." he says with a smirk, thinking he has her right where he wants her.
but, that's the thing. maybe in the past she would've thought that being with him was the right thing. but, after all of the abuse? and after elliot was able to get her to see alexander for who he really is? as the evil monster that he is?
no, she knows for certain that he doesn't deserve her. even if she struggles to believe that she's worthy of anyone's love and more than enough, she knows—she's always known—that he doesn't belong with her, no matter how many times he tries to manipulate her into believing it.
she laughs in disbelief as she rips her wrists out of his grip, trying to ignore the burning pain from it. "are you serious right now?"
alexander's eyebrows furrow in confusion, genuinely oblivious to his terrible actions.
"was chris' punch not obvious? was his words not clear enough to you?"
he scoffs, his jaw clenching. "is that his name? of course. of course, it's about him."
lily scoffs right back, shoving him back. "it's not. i don't know him enough to care about him like that, alright?"
"then why are you letting his opinions cloud your judgement? your beliefs, huh?" he spits out, grabbing her again by one of her wrists and trying to pull her back towards him—towards his car.
that fear that she pushed down before swallows her whole. "no!" she yells, yanking her wrist out of his strong, deathly grip, even though it hurts terribly.
he stops and turns back to her with an angry expression—one that she's quite familiar with.
but, for the first time, she doesn't care.
instead, as he gets closer to her, she does something completely out of character for her.
her fist hits his jaw with a sharp crack.
"fuck!" she yells, shaking from the pain.
she tries to shake her fist, but it only makes it worse.
"what the fuck? you bitch!" alexander yells from the ground.
"stay the fuck away from me!" she spats, before shakily running to her car.
just as he gets up, she's able to get her door unlocked, throw her body into her seat, shut the door, and start the car.
once she's reversed and driving out of the parking lot, the tears blur her vision.
but, she doesn't let it deter her from getting to the address elliot sent her last night.
in fact, she pushes those emotions down—she pushes that episode down that makes her want to lose her shit and lash out.
—————
LILY RUBS AT THE BRUISES on each of her wrists from under the zip up hoodie that she put on as soon as she got out of the car.
she didn't have time to put concealer on her wrists to hide the evidence of her very abusive and idiot ex-boyfriend.
with that, she pulls her sleeves further over her wrists, as far as they'll go, before knocking on the door.
her anxiety has just now begun to take effect—this morning, she was a little anxious, but with everything that happened with alexander, it's all completely magnified.
as she waits on the doorstep, she hears several voices near the door.
a second later, matt's pulling the door open with a welcoming smile.
"hey, lily. what's up?" he asks, moving away from the door to let her in.
"nothing, just a little cold." she murmurs, shivering, but not from the weather.
she walks further into the room, noticing her best friend, who wears an extremely excited smile.
"lils! you're here!" she gleefully exclaims, running over to her and throwing her arms around her body.
lily laughs awkwardly, her nerves about her wrists still bothering her.
matt shuts the door as he walks into the kitchen, while nick and madi stay behind to say hi.
"hi, guys." she says nervously, throwing an awkward wave into the air.
"sorry it took me so long." she says, trying to explain to distract herself.
"i..." she trails off, remembering the scary moment with alexander. "i got held up back at the apartment."
madi waves her off as nick motions her to follow them up to the kitchen. "don't worry about it."
as she walks into the room, she ignore chris, who ignores her just as much.
madi walks over to one of the cupboards to grab a snack.
when she opens the door and can't reach it, she turns to lily with a sheepish look. "lily, can you grab that pack of graham crackers for me?"
lily laughs, shrugging jokingly. "i don't know, can i?"
madi and lily giggle, making her feel a lot more at ease as she walks over to the cupboard and reaches her hand up to grab it.
she doesn't think anything of it as she grabs it, not noticing her sleeves falling down to the top of her arms.
"here you go." she says, handing it to madi.
but, the startled look on her face confuses her. "w—what's wrong?"
she glances back at the cupboard. "did i...did i grab the wrong one?"
madi shakes her head, expression full of worry.
completely bewildered, she turns around to look at the rest of the group, who're just as shocked—they're all gaping at her.
"what?" she asks, confused once more.
she laughs nervously. "what is wrong with you guys? why are you looking at me like that?"
elliot is the first one to shake herself out of her shocked daze and storms over to her best friend worriedly.
she reaches for her wrists, turning them around to see the dark, purple marks on them and then the cuts on one of her fists.
"lily, what the hell is this?"
lily herself looks down, her breath catching in her throat as she finally realizes why they're all looking at her like that.
she pulls her wrists away from her best friend's hands, hugging them to her chest nervously. "i—it's nothing. it's not a big deal."
elliot scoffs.
"it doesn't look like nothing," matt says with concern. "what happened?"
"i..." she stops short, clenching her eyes shut from trying to figure out how to tell them without worrying anyone. "i didn't want to make it a big deal..."
"make what a big deal?" madi asks as elliot watches with straight irritation and worry.
"i...i may have ran into alex when i was leaving."
her words are rushed and quiet, but all of them hear it perfectly.
"he came back?" chris asks her, his eyebrows raised in shock.
lily rolls her eyes at herself. "he tried to get me to go back to him, i guess." she murmurs.
"he what?" elliot exclaims, stepping forward with a fiercely angry look on her face.
lily sighs, trying to ignore the tears stinging in her eyes. "he tried to convince—more like manipulate—me into getting back together with him."
elliot scoffs.
"well, you said no, right?" madi asks.
lily scoffs, sniffling. "yeah, of course. he..." she trails off as angry tears spill at the audacity he had. "he almost straight out tried to say that i didn't fucking know better—that being with him was the right decision," she mutters.
"he was so fucking condescending about it. and when i told him no? when i told him about how chris punching him and telling him that he didn't deserve me was a clear fucking hint, he tried to turn it into something else!"
"what do you mean?" nick asks, sharing a confused look with matt.
lily moves to sit down at the main table in the room, her hands shaking.
she sniffles. "he made some bullshit comment about it being about chris," she points to chris. "i told him it wasn't, since i don't even know him."
"but, he still kept going on—saying that i was letting chris' opinions cloud my judgement and belief." she says angrily, glancing down at her shaking hand.
"like why the fuck would it be about that? i don't even know chris enough, let alone have any feelings like that for him."
chris can't explain it, but he flinches at hearing that. for some reason, that statement hurts.
elliot moves to sit down beside her. "of course he would try to blame it on someone but himself."
"what else happened?" matt asks, sitting down from across her and elliot.
she takes in a deep breath, shutting her eyes for a second to get the courage to finish explaining—she knows that once she does, elliot will lose her mind.
"he...he tried to make me go with him to his car."
elliot inhales deeply, before she slams her fist on to the table in anger. "he did what?"
lily sighs, trying to ignore how she jumped from instinct.
elliot sighs, giving her an apologetic expression, but continues to talk in that angry voice of hers, "i'm going to kill him." she seethes.
"it's fine." lily shakes her head, holding her fist with her other, uninjured hand.
elliot glares at her in disbelief. "how the fuck is it fine? this has gone on for too long!"
frustrated, lily yells. "it doesn't fucking matter!"
everyone is in shock at hearing both the pain and anger in her voice.
"why not?" madi asks quietly.
"because..." she trails off, thinking back to what happened next, suddenly feeling guilty. "i shouldn't feel this guilty, but i gave him a taste of his own medicine."
when they don't understand, she says with a choked breath, "when he tried to get me to go with him, i pulled away from him. and he looked so angry."
she looks down, tears spilling this time, before she quickly wipes them away. "but, it's fine, because next thing i knew, i punched him and this," she says lifting up her hurt hand to emphasize. "is how i hurt my hand. and the marks on my wrists were from him trying to drag me away."
"he got angry when he was on the ground from it, but i told him to stay away from me and got in my car and left before he could follow."
even though nick feels for her, he claps, almost scaring lily.
but, she laughs at what he says, "damn, girl. you really showed him!"
"yeah...yeah, i guess i did." she says breathily, before turning to elliot.
"i'm sorry. i didn't want to worry you," she says genuinely, before turning to point to everyone else. "besides, this is our first time hanging out together. i didn't want to ruin it. and not to mention, you guys shouldn't have to be dragged into my stupid dramatic life."
"it's not though," matt says, cutting her off when she shakes her head and is about to say something, "it's not. you didn't ask for any of this."
madi nods. "yeah, you shouldn't have to go through all of this alone," she says, making lily softly smile in appreciation. "besides, if he's been at your apartment, it's good you told us because it might not be safe for you to go back."
lily shakes her head. "it's fine, really. i'll just get a hotel room for a little while. although, i don't know what to do about leaving my cat there."
suddenly, her eyes widen as she realizes what she just said. "shit! rascal! what am i supposed to do?" she grabs elliot's hand in stress. "i can't just leave him alone!"
elliot laughs, waving her off with assurance. "girl, i got it. i will take care of him."
"but—" lily starts to say, two entirely different thoughts stressing her out.
elliot cuts her off with a serious look on her face, —"no buts, lily!"
"but..." she cuts herself off when her best friend glares at her seriously.
"god, i just...what if you go back and alex is there? and what if rascal misses me? you know how he gets if i'm not around!"
she sounds like a baby right now, but elliot laughs. "it'll be fine. i promise," she says, putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "besides, if alex is there, he'll be in for a rude awakening."
lily groans. "elliot..."
"no, i'm serious. if i see his face, i'm going to beat his ass so bad he won't even be able to walk straight for the rest of his life."
lily laughs in disbelief.
"she's not serious, is she?" madi asks, never hearing their friend talk like that.
"oh, she is." lily says to her, before turning back to elliot.
lily gives her a look of worry and, as if she can read her mind, elliot tells her, "don't worry about rascal. i'll get your baby and his stuff out of there safely and bring him to you. and then, we'll find a place for you to stay at, okay?"
lily sighs, moving away from her best friend to let her head hit itself on the table as she groans in frustration. "why won't he just leave me alone?" she mutters, not being able to help the tears from springing to her eyes again.
elliot sighs, rubbing her back. "it's going to be fine."
as lily lifts her head up, something distracts her. "ow!"
she whimpers as her injured hand starts to throb erratically and gives her a burning type of pain.
nick rushes over to her, sitting by her on her other side as his inner mother instincts come out. "what's wrong?"
lily flinches, tears falling to her cheeks from the pain. "my...my hand is killing me."
elliot breathes deeply. "how...how hard did you hit alex?"
as nick gently observes lily's hand, she turns to her with a guilty expression. "well..." she trails off, remembering the moment in her head now.
"lily," she says seriously as the rest of the group, excluding nick, watches them cautiously. "how hard did you punch him?"
lily groans guiltily before answering, "well, it did hurt really bad. and i think i heard a crack. i just don't know if it was his jaw or my fist..."
"lily!"
"what? i'm sorry!" she responds back with just as much volume.
"i was kind of busy trying to escape my fucking abusive ex-boyfriend! how was i supposed to think about that, while trying to get out of there before he could get to me?"
matt sighs, looking at the both of them. "guys, let's calm down."
lily sighs and nods, but jumps in pain when nick accidentally touches her hand a little too hard. "ow!"
"sorry," he apologizes, before looking over at matt and chris. "guys, i think her hand might be sprained or broken."
lily turns to him. "what? no."
"i think she needs to go to the hospital." nick tells them, ignoring lily's alarmed voice.
she gets up from her chair and shakes her head. "guys, no, i don't."
elliot turns to glare at her from her seat. "lily, since you're the one that injured it, you do."
"come on, guys!" she whines seriously, throwing her hands up in the air. "you guys have a vlog planned! this is just going to ruin it."
"i think this is more important." madi says, shrugging.
"and we can always just vlog this," matt says, pausing. "if that's okay with you."
lily sighs. "you guys are going to make me go to the hospital anyways, aren't you?"
they all nod.
when she sees elliot's insistent stare, she sighs in defeat. "fine. we'll go and fine, you can vlog it. but, we are not revealing that it was alex who i punched."
they all nod, except elliot who wishes that the world could know what type of person alexander is.
"and if they ask for any family members to be notified, it's only allison, alright?"
elliot nods silently.
"seriously," she gives her a serious look as they start walking to the door. "i do not need a surprise visit from my parents, trying to act like they care."
no one says anything as they all pile into the van.
—————
[social media!]
lilquinn has posted!
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liked by ellejames_, matthew.sturniolo, nicolassturniolo and 15,679 others!
lilquinn when u sprain ur hand and they decide to make fun of u instead of being sensitive and just letting u eat ur ice cream 😒 (ps, go watch their vlog!! it's up and u can see for urselves of them making fun of me)
tagged: madifilipowicz, matthew.sturniolo, christophersturniolo, nicolassturniolo and ellejames_
view all comments!
nessabarrett omg no 🙁 what happened?
liked by lilquinn!
↳ lilquinn i sprained my hand...ask elle or literally any of these fools bc they found out right after it happened 😤
liked by nessabarrett!
christophersturniolo u gotta admit...it's KINDA funny
↳ lilquinn excuse me CHRISTOPHER take that back
↳ christophersturniolo WHAT DID I SAY AB CALLING ME THAT????
liked by lilquinn!
user omg i hope she's okay 😳
liked by lilquinn!
↳ lilquinn i'm okay now!! thank u bae <33
liked by user!
↳ user omg she responded!! ily @lilquinn
liked by lilquinn!
ellejames_ ikr
↳ lilquinn girl don't even act innocent u were the one laughing the most 🙄
liked by ellejames_!
nicolassturniolo it was good content tho don't lie
liked by lilquinn!
↳ lilquinn ugh i guess 🤨
matthew.sturniolo it was funny but also concerning 😐
liked by lilquinn!
↳ lilquinn ugh i guess matthew. it's really hard to be serious when i find everything funny
andy_anders omg did what i think actually happened??
liked by lilquinn!
↳ lilquinn yup.
↳ user omg what does this mean? is this ab alex?? if so good for her!!
liked by lilquinn!
sabquesada i swear if i see him it's on sight.
liked by lilquinn!
user omg the comments?? wtf is going on between her and alex??
liked by user!
↳ user ik wtf is going on??
ralfiemoon love u but seriously don't be reckless like that again ☹️
liked by lilquinn!
↳ lilquinn duly noted sir 🫡
liked by ralfiemoon!
jakemanks he's so lucky alli and i weren't there.
liked by allsquinn and lilquinn!
↳ allsquinn fr.
liked by jakemanks and lilquinn!
madifilipowicz on a real note though, i'm so glad ur okay ❤️🩹
liked by lilquinn!
↳ lilquinn ty ily <3
liked by madifilipowicz!
alahna111 if i saw him it'd be over for him.
liked by lilquinn!
alex.wren interesting.
↳ ellejames_ FUCK OFF. NO ONE WANTS U HERE.
liked by christophersturniolo, nessabarrett, lilquinn, and 13,000 others!
—————
A/N: i'm sorry this is really long but i didn't wanna split it into another chapter to finish because i have to work tomorrow!! i hope this isn't too long but yeah i feel like this was an important chapter for elle, lily, the triplets, and madi and their friendship together. but for the next chapter, i'm going to write out the vlog!! that's all. i will write more tomorrow after work. bye!!
—hannah <3