chapter SIX!
── hungover waffles
💋 real life and instagram. 🕯️
༻¨*:·. 💋 ༺♥༻ 🕯️ .·:*¨༺
🕯️ real life.
"matt! hurry up, bro, i'm starving!"
with an exasperated sigh, matt placed his phone in his pocket and stood up, a groan slipping past his lips as he stretched upwards. down the hall, chris and nick were stood by the door, waiting for him to drive them all to waffle house. they were evidently impatient, nick's loud voice telling matt to hurry his ass up for the 3rd time in the space of five minutes.
to tell the honest truth, he'd been talking to thalia thompson on snapchat, mainly trying to comprehend how he was the one who'd been left on opened at the end of the conversation. not quite to terms with the switch in roles, matt's thoughts had then diverted to the conversation itself, which had come to a conclusion over 10 minutes ago, but had flowed so nicely it was almost scary.
she'd messaged him first, in somewhat of a state due to her heavy memory loss after a heavy night of drinking; understandable, but matt had been having quite a lot of fun teasing her about her inability to string a set of events together. it was later on after they'd established how she'd ended up with his snap that thalia had mentioned all the girls he talks to being 'dry and high pitched giggly', which in turn had gotten matt thinking about the subject of, well, girls. or, one specific one.
as he pulled on his shoes, choosing to ignore the grumbles and groans of his brothers from outside his door, matt took a minute to think about the obvious chemistry that rested between him and the girl his fans wouldn't shut the fuck up about. it was a subject brushed upon briefly after their drunken interaction at the brand launch, and was, arguably gladly, resurfacing as a result of the snapchat conversation.
matt hated that he'd never even had a face to face, sober exchange of words with thalia thompson, yet was grinning at the thought of his lips pressed against hers. maybe it was a subconscious reaction his body had, what with his receipt of hookups and situationships, but he enjoyed the thought nonetheless.
he also hated that his fanbase had known all along that they'd get on so well, clearly so invested in this fake relationship that they'd resorted to the editing of paparazzi pictures. he didn't want to admit it, but after that conversation on snap, matt was a tad bit grateful.
"matt!" nick's voice echoed through their house for the umpteenth time and matt fought back an eye roll.
"sorry, i'm coming!" matt's fingers worked quickly over the laces of his airforces, thoughts of thalia dissipating into the back of his mind to join the rest of the girls he was talking to. "i'm just putting my shoes on!"
laces finally tied, matt stood up from his chair yet again, lifting his hoodie to scratch his torso absentmindedly. he was exhausted, annoyed that his two brothers had drank enough the previous night to be in apparent desperate need of waffles and soda. he patted his back pocket, relieved to feel the outline of his phone against the denim, and pulled his door open, taking one last glance around his room before switching the light off and stepping out into the hall.
it wasn't even 10am yet, but the bright morning sun was shining through the windows of the house, bouncing off every surface and making matt's already marginally sore head hurt that slight bit more. he grimaced, one of his hands coming up to his forehead, rubbing the centre vigorously as if it would make his headache magically disappear. it did not, instead amplified as soon as he made eye contact with the sore state of chris and nick by the door.
the pair were kitted out in sweats, both with sunglasses resting on their faces alongside scowls shot in matt's direction. nick stopped scrolling through tiktok, placing his phone into the front pocket of his hoodie, before starting to ream matt out. "took your fucking time. i'm so hungry i could eat chris' leg."
"the fuck?" that got chris' attention, the boy lowering his phone down to hang limply by his side. he turned his head towards matt who was bustling through the kitchen in the direction of the car keys sat on a little dish above the sink. "matt, could you get a move on before i become an amputee?"
"yeah, one sec." he retrieved his keys, hooking them through the belt loop of his jeans, before pouring himself a glass of water, sipping the drink slowly as his brothers writhed in annoyance before him.
nick's eyebrows furrowed, eyes most likely narrowed behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses at the sight of matt now rifling through the medicine cupboard tucked in by the window for some aspirin, arms crossed, foot tapping. once two of the tiny pills were swallowed, matt tipped back the last of the water, rinsing the glass out before placing it on the draining board by the sink.
it was only when nick sighed purposely loudly that matt became aware of their presence again. "you're doing this on purpose, i swear."
"doing what?" matt asked innocently, knowing full well that nick was borderline about to implode due to how long he was taking. "i'm just taking some aspirin for my headache."
"yeah, like a fucking snail. can we go now?" nick jerked a thumb towards the door, and matt tilted his head to the side, his next words somewhat predictable.
"maybe you should get your license and drive yourself to waffle house next time, hm?"
matt told nick this every time the boy complained about him being slow on the transport front, and every time without fail nick would respond with a middle finger and an eye roll, although the latter was disguised behind his sunglasses, somehow obnoxiously bigger than the last time matt looked.
"okay, don't pull the license card on me, but can we actually go now? me and nick have been waiting for quite a while." chris murmured from beside nick, head bent as he tapped away at what matt could only assume was the next level of candy crush. "and we're hungover. if you couldn't tell."
matt scoffed at chris' last statement, giving the two of them a pointed once over before starting past them towards the door. he spoke like a smart ass over his shoulder as he walked. "not my fault you two drank your body weight in beer at pres."
"are you always this insufferable in the morning?" nick bit back, suddenly at matt's shoulder, watching with beady eyes as his fingers undid the latch.
chris chuckled lowly, a few paces behind nick as he became slowly more engrossed in the level of candy crush on his phone screen and matt hit him round the back of the head for the note of sarcasm resting in his laugh. he then turned his head slightly to answer nick. "i'm not insufferable, you just can't deal with hangovers."
"whatever." nick rolled his neck, shoving past matt who had finally opened the front door. "i want waffles."
he watched the eldest triplet stomp angrily over to the car, stopping by the back door and pulling out his phone, glaring at matt before then angrily scrolling through tiktok too. chris was next out the house, the audible sound of the candy crush level being passed ringing out from his phone as he walked past matt. the device was then pocketed, a visible grin on chris' face as he went to stand by the passenger door.
with a deep sigh, matt was the last to leave the house, pulling the door closed behind him, unclasping the keys from his belt and swinging them around his pointer finger before locking it. the last thing matt wanted was waffles and social interaction, his headache not reduced despite the aspirin and both his brothers pissing him off for separate reasons. but still, it was better than sitting around dwelling on thalia thompson and their blatant texting chemistry.
the drive to waffle house was silent, much to matt's discomfort, chris now on the next level of candy crush and so engrossed that he'd somehow forgotten to connect his phone to aux and play some music. LA flew past them in a blur, buildings large and small, a vision of grey in his peripheral vision. he pulled to a stop at a red light, fingers tapping lightly on the steering wheel as his eyes travelled around all the cars waiting for the red to fade to green.
matt had never really entertained the idea of living in LA, more than happy in boston as he had been for 19 years of his life. when nick and chris had posed the idea of moving to the west coast, he'd tried to shrug it off, and act like he couldn't give two where they lived, but on the inside, his heart had twinged slightly. matt belonged in boston, and still did, his mouth always pointing downwards each time they left their house. it was right now, as a matter of fact, that matt's mind was helplessly thinking of how the world was revolving back in his hometown of somerville.
the lights went green, and matt stepped on the gas, the car grunting slightly from the sudden acceleration, but reluctantly turning the right hand corner nevertheless. the car continued to sit in dead silence, and matt physically had to check in the rearview mirror that nick hadn't died in the back. he was never usually this quiet, but he was also never usually this hungover. the two clearly held some correlation.
now that matt really thought about it, last night's brand launch was probably the only time nick and chris had been borderline blackout and matt had been borderline sober. he'd still felt the fuzzy feeling that came with being tipsy, naturally, but wasn't throwing himself around the dance floor like nick had when maneater by nelly furtado had come on.
usually, it was matt who was seeing stars after consuming one too many glasses of alcohol, doing stupid, spontaneous things like kissing girls, but last night, he'd had way less fun than anticipated. instead, he'd hidden himself away in a corner, trying to remember when and why the rumours of him and thalia had sprouted on tiktok.
the shopping mall was on the car's left now, restaurants sprawled around the building, with waffle house's logo pointing up higher than the others, distinguishable from a mile away. matt sighed, turning the wheel into the parking lot of the mall, eyes scanning the rows of cars for an available space.
"do you guys see anywhere to park?" the car crawled along the full lanes, matt's eyes squinted as he tried to see past the big cars for a golden empty space. chris and nick hummed disinterestedly, and matt rolled his eyes.
he continued to drive slowly through the parking lot, eyebrows scrunched up, relief eventually washing over him at the sight of a free space pressed into the wall by the front of waffle house. he reversed the car into the spot, putting it in park, and exhaling loudly, the signifier of their arrival to his two brothers.
candy crush was clicked off to matt's right, and a seatbelt was unbuckled over matt's shoulder, and suddenly he was the only person in the car. he leaned forward, grabbing his phone from where he'd stashed it in the small compartment underneath the stereo system, checking the notifications with a sliver of hope. alas, there was no snap back from thalia thompson... not that he cared, of course.
he shoved the phone into his pocket, lifting his hips, and exited the car once he'd done so. he shut the driver's door behind him, locked the car, and hooked the keys back onto the rightful place of his belt loop. chris and nick were waiting for him on the pavement round the other side of the car, their sunglasses removed, hence why they were squinting against the morning light in order to see matt approach them.
they'd also surprisingly both taken the hoods off their heads, and their phones were away. on a regular day, this would've meant nothing to matt, but today, the fact his two extremely hungover brothers were finally ready to engage in some form of productive conversation, evident due to the display of their faces, was practically revolutionary. it was almost as if they'd sensed the pool of dread forming at the bottom of matt's stomach at the thought of having to interact with the waiters at waffle house single-handedly.
an unfortunate consequence to chris and nick's exit from their clothing hibernation was that their hangovers were now plain for the entire world to see. the bags under chris' eyes and nick's unbrushed hair were both respectively enough to make matt grimace. this reaction from him naturally caused nick to raise an eyebrow and fold his arms defensively as he question his brother.
"why are you looking at us like that?"
matt coughed, straightening his back as he attempted to morph his lips back into a smile. "like what?"
"like we're something you found on the bottom of your shoe." chris muttered, and then turned to nick. "do i look off to you?"
"no. you look normal." nick drew out the last word, waiting for matt to further his point more. when he didn't, nick rolled his eyes and swivelled on his heel, walking into the restaurant.
chris stuck his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants, twisting his mouth to the side as he waited for matt to join him, before the two of them wordlessly followed the other triplet into the waffle house.
the restaurant was a lot brighter than matt remembered from their previous excursion here only last week. it was mildly busy, a few booths down by the doors to the kitchen free, and a smattering of tables in the middle also available. matt secretly hoped for a booth as him and chris stood awkwardly behind nick who was talking to the waitress.
she was young, blonde, and definitely interested in matt judging from the small smiles shot at him over nick's shoulder, but he couldn't care less, surprisingly. matt always reciprocated the wordless flirting bestowed upon him in public, but today he was hungry, tired and still confused as to why thalia had left him on opened. so he drew his mouth into a sharp line and gave her a half-hearted nod, enough to make the waitress' shoulders droop.
picking up three battered plastic menus, the girl led them across the restaurant to the booth in the far left hand corner, gesturing to the blue padded seats with a dulled twinkle in her eye. "is here okay for you guys?"
"perfect, thank you." nick assured, already sliding into the booth, encouraging matt and chris to follow.
"alright, well, i'll come back over to take your order. if you need anything, my name is macy."
nick smiled at the waitress politely, and watched her leave, before digging his phone back out and falling down another tiktok spiral. chris and matt had taken the other side of the booth, the soft noises from nick's phone their only company as they both flicked through the menu, despite knowing what they were going to order.
"have you guys heard of angel amaro?" nick spoke up, looking up from his phone and turning the device towards chris and matt who were both shaking their head.
on the screen was a beautiful woman, dark hair, big eyes, holding a small chihuahua with a smile residing on her face. above her were the words ANGEL AMARO'S INFAMOUS BDAY PARTY in the obnoxiously bold tiktok font, and matt furrowed his brow, completely at a loss to who this girl was and why her birthday party was so important.
chris voiced matt's exact thoughts. "why the fuck is her birthday so important if i've never heard of her before?"
nick rolled his eyes and pulled his phone back into his chest, typing away for a few seconds, before holding out angel amaro's famous birthday's profile. "she's like the richest LA influencer, and holds the craziest birthday parties every year. only the top influencers at the time are invited."
"so you're trying to say we could get an invite?" matt muttered, raising a sceptical eyebrow.
"maybe." nick shrugged. "this tiktok says that she's only releasing invitations on the day, and that the guest list is pretty small and exclusive. it's her 21st so she's trying to go for the more mysterious route."
"when is it?" chris asked, looking infuriatingly interested.
"next saturday."
matt thought the whole thing to be kind of ridiculous, but before he could share his opinion, the waitress was back at their table with a pen and paper, trying to avoid eye contact with matt as an embarrassed blush formed on her cheeks. nick ordered three pepsis and three chocolate chip waffles, joking about their shared yet simplistic tastebuds with the girl. he then handed her the menus and shot her another warm smile, dropping it as soon as he turned back to his brothers.
"thoughts then?"
"it sounds fun." chris offered a positive approach, and matt groaned.
"no it doesn't. it sounds ridiculous. how can someone be so self entitled that they feel the need to make their own birthday party a fucking event?" matt sighed, shuffling down in his seat and crossing his arms. "it's stupid."
"alright, fun sponge." nick glared at matt, moving the phone screen back round to face him again. "if we get an invite, we're going."
"can't wait!" matt said, smiling sarcastically at nick who responded instantly with a middle finger.
chris elbowed matt's side just as the waitress returned with their glasses of pepsi, taking no notice of her and deciding to continue speaking. "you're not allowed to be miserable, we're the hungover ones here."
"also hungover." matt raised his hand in the air as if to re-establish his presence, giving the waitress a one sided smile in the form of thanks as she placed his pepsi down in front of him.
"if you want refills, just ask. the waffles should be ready soon." she smiled, tucking the tray under her arm and walking away once the triplets had all said thanks.
nick took a long sip of pepsi from his straw before speaking as if unbothered by the waitress interruption, shaking his head at matt. "you are not hungover. i've seen you in much worse states."
"yeah, and you also saw me pop two aspirins this morning. unless you were too busy being grumpy cus i wasn't available to drive you wherever the fuck you want."
nick threw his head back. "my head hurts. i'm
not having this argument again."
"fine."
"fine."
"would you two shut the fuck up?" chris got their attention and pointed in the direction of macy the waitress, bearing warm breakfast goods. "waffles are here."
the three plates of waffles, loaded with chocolate chips, were placed down in front of each triplet, and they expressed their gratitude once again, before instantly digging in. matt felt his miserable attitude slowly dissipate with each bite, and when he was finished, before chris and nick might he add, he was a lot happier, sipping his pepsi with the trace of a smile on his face.
this silence invited matt to revisit thoughts of thalia, this time alongside angel amaro's birthday party that nick had briefly mentioned. maybe, just maybe thalia would be invited to that too; after all, her and her brother were pretty popular as of right now.
if this was the case, matt was going to try and talk to her before she was falling over everywhere drunk. and, he'd not text her until then too, to try and add an element of surprise if they did see one another. matt sipped the last dregs of his pepsi up, happy with this plan he'd formulated.
nick's groans of frustration from opposite matt retracted him from his planning, and he immediately painted a concerned expression on his face at the sight of his brother's grey face. beside him, chris was in a similar state, both of them clutching their stomachs, their plates only half cleared.
matt tried to hide the smug laugh in his next words, having known this would probably be the case ever since nick had texted him demanding they get food. maybe he wasn't suffering as much as he thought, as he had been able to clear his plate. hangovers and rich food didn't really work well.
"guess we won't do hungover waffles again then."
simultaneously, nick and chris glared at matt. "no."
༺♥༻
🕯️ instagram.
matthew.sturniolo posted!
liked by christophersturniolo, thaliathompson and 506,221 others.
matthew.sturniolo: Tie was annoying me
view all comments. . .
christophersturniolo: Twinnn 🤞
user: my man is so fine 😫😫😫
↳ user: hey girlie, i'm coming to u as a
woman...
user: Matt, don't listen to the haters. I love you, and you love me. We do not owe anyone anything. Our family is what matters. If you get likes and comments great, if you get hate then whatever because THEY DON'T MATTER. I love you 💕 besides they jealous because you are rocking my world every night... yeah, I said it, the D is fire 🔥 happy wife happy life ❤️
nicolassturniolo: Photo creds? 😊❤️
↳ matthew.sturniolo: Um no!
↳ nicolassturniolo: You should be doing
things for me I just threw up waffle house
↳ matthew.sturniolo: Not my problem?
↳ user: LMFAOOOO SASSY MAN
APOCALYPSE OVER HERE 😭😭
lizmoon: oh he's got that shit on though 🔥
↳ matthew.sturniolo: 😎
↳ user: wait a second what is liz moon doing
here 🤨🤨
↳ user: isn't she friends with....... thalia 🤨
user: WHAT KIND OF ALTERNATE REALITY ARE WE IN...... one of thalia's friends commenting on matt's post..... thalia actually liking matt's post..... my dreams are finally coming true 😭❤️
user: @matthew.sturniolo get thalia on the podcast!!
user: no guys you're all fake i literally claimed thalia and matt from the start
↳ user: boy you don't own them 😭
mabelquinn1: fire fits
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༻¨*:·. 💋 ༺♥༻ 🕯️ .·:*¨༺
✧˖*°࿐ polly's section!
make sure you remember the name angel amaro her bday party will have some significance in this plot 😊😊
writing this instead of doing my film studies presentation for homework i'm DEDICATED