CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
[ real life ]
❝ GET OFF MY ASS ❞
ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ
'intro (end of the world)' by ariana grande played as background music as i laid face up on my bed in my bikini with a thin cardigan over it, staring at the ceiling above me.
"you can't keep letting this boy take over all of your emotions every time he fucks something up." xavier stated from the chair in front of my dresser, nick painting his nails beside him.
"he didn't fuck up, it was me for once." i scoffed and rolled my eyes, sitting up right and against the headboard of my bed.
"he's my brother, i know when he fucks up and right now is a great example." nick said, dipping the nail polish brush into it's bottle, screwing it closed. "do you like it?" he asked, looking up at xavier to see his reaction to his newly painted nails.
xavier just simply smiled, "it's perfect, thanks nick." he said before both of them turned his head to look at me. "i think you just need to talk to him, every time this happens you both don't speak to each other for weeks and it just makes things worse." he explained, making me sigh in reply.
"but do i really want to talk to him, though?" i quirked a brow, tilting my head slightly.
"you kinda have no choice, matt just texted me saying he's on his way with lizzie, madi and chris right now." nick said, placing his phone back on my dresser as my eyebrows shot to my hairline.
i let out a fake laugh, "you're joking... right?" i said, true terror in my tone.
"nope," nick confirmed, making my eyes widen a little.
"but it was just supposed to be us three, liz and madi having a girls day at the pool! you promised, nick!" i said passionately, waving my arms dramatically.
"i didn't promise, you did." nick specified, making me scoff in defeat.
"what does that even mean?" xavier questioned, his eyebrows stitched together.
"i don't know but i'm going downstairs, i'll be waiting in the pool." i rolled my eyes, getting off my bed, grabbing a towel and running downstairs.
i opened my back door, closing it but leaving a little gap and walking over to my pool. this was where my family and i would hang out whenever they would come to visit, no finally being used after so long.
i heard the doorbell from inside ring as i sunk half of my body into the water, sighing before finding a corner of the pool to stick around. it may have been the middle of fall and extremely cold in the nights, but nothing could stop be from having a swim day with friends.
voices were heard from inside, slowly getting louder and everyone approached the back door. i could see figures from through the tinted glass door before it slid open, nick the first person to go through it.
"hi, aria!" lizzie yelled, running up and jumping into the pool with a volleyball in her arms.
"hi, lizzie," i said before getting completely soaked in her splashes. "are you 12? why would you do that, you idiot." i complained, using my dripping hands to push the hair in my face behind my ears.
xavier, matt, madi and chris walked through the door moments after, making their way to the little round wooden table with an umbrella on it to the left of my backyard. they dropped some towels and food on the benches and came running to the pool as well.
chris hesitated before hopping into the pool too, staying close to matt almost the whole time.
"bro, get off my ass." matt said, swimming backward and away from chris.
"it's seriously not my fault i only knew we were coming here in the car," chris replied, furrowing his eyebrows.
"just go find someone else to leach on," matt sassed before making his way to lizzie and madi on the other side of the pool.
chris just sighed and rolled his eyes, trying to find nick who was with xavier and i. he scoffed before swimming over there, deciding that it wouldn't be horrible to say at least one word to me.
"hey," he said, grabbing onto nicks shoulder from behind. nick snapped his head to chris, gasping slightly.
"you seriously need to stop randomly popping out of nowhere and grabbing onto me." nick said, chris rolling his eyes before diverting his attention to xavier and i talking, in our own world.
"aria, can you show me where the sodas we got are?" he asked, gaining my attention. i frowned at the sight of his face, sighing after.
"you've been to my house several times before, you know where the fridge is without me having to guide you around like a dog." i said as water dripped down my forehead, almost getting into my eye before i wiped it away.
"oh," was all chris said in reply, looking at me silently afterward. i wasn't stupid, i knew all he wanted to do was get us alone and get me to talk, maybe even apologize. he found his way out the pool, grabbing a towel to absorb some of the water on his body before going inside.
"the audacity of that bitch," xavier said, watching as chris shut the glass door closed and made his way to the kitchen from through the door.
"stop being so 'team aria,' i'm only being mean to him cause he's seriously acting like there isn't a 'problem'." i said, using air quotes as i spoke and slightly referring to words chris had said the night before.
my hands fell back into the water with a plop, xavier quietly laughing at my words. "the only option is being 'team aria', i doubt even chris is on his own team if he so desperately wants you alone." he said, his arm resting on the ground above the pool wall.
"okay, enough of the chris talk, can we go eat?" i said, referring to the unopened box of pizza on the table that matt had brought.
nick and xavier nodded, all three of us making our way out of the pool. i dried off slightly with my towel, beads of water still dripping down me as i went to sit on the bench that wrapped around the table.
matt, madi, lizzie and chris eventually joined in, finding a seat and grabbing a piece of pizza from the box. conversations eventually sparked as the group ate, debates and arguments brewing as well.
i may have been hallucinating but i'm sure chris was sending me looks the whole time, his eyes drilling through the side of my face each time i laughed at someone's joke or even simply smiled.
"i was supposed to ask you this earlier but.. madi's coming to your moms wedding, right?" nick asked, swirling around the straw in his drink.
"obviously," i said, smiling as madi's face lit up. "she's been a friend for so long, she's invited by default."
"good, because i don't think i'm going to be able to survive a day with the 5 of you without madi." nick said, gaining laughs from almost the whole table.
"i'm getting back into the pool, chris, you coming?" matt asked, sending chris an undistinguishable as he stood up.
"uh, yeah?" chris said, furrowing his eyebrows slight before getting up as well and follow matt to the steps of the pool.
the sun had started setting by now, the cool breeze starting to come in. chris and matt walked down the stairs and into the pool, pausing before matt started swimming to the farthest point of the pool.
"what's going on with you?" chris questioned, following matt before he stopped.
"no, what's going on with you?" matt repeated, turning chris' question against him. "you gotta get your eyes off of her, chris. just because you had a little argument yesterday doesn't mean you can't speak to her like a normal person." matt said, almost whispering so i wouldn't hear.
chris was a little stunned by matt's sudden response to his question, sighing before opening his mouth to talk. "you know i can't, matt. she's just so like, ugh-" he started, saying so much but so little at the same time.
"you fucker, just speak." matt rolled his eyes, his brother scoffing at his attitude.
"matt i can't mess shit up again, i did it before and it made a complete hole in our friendship. i can't do that all again when we're just starting to actually get somewhere!" chris whisper-shouts, his almost fully dry hair starting to get all messy from the wind.
"then fix it, i don't know what to say to you. if you want a real relationship with her, act like someone she'd actually be with. and don't go changing yourself, she obviously loves you for who you are but c'mon, man up a little." matt shook his head in slight disappointment, chris just sighing once more.
"how do i man up when i can't even stop myself from staring right at her whenever she laughs, or smiles, or talks, or even just chews on her piece of piz-" chris starts before getting interrupted by matt.
"okay, shut the fuck up you're being weird. i know you can do this, just talk to her." matt said, bring his arm up and out of the water to gently shake chris' shoulder.
"but when? her mom's wedding is this week and she'll never willingly be somewhere alone with me anymore." chris said, all of the progress matt had made trying to get him to talk to her flying away.
"maybe after her mom's wedding, just don't ruin anything." matt said, giving him a quick tight-lipped smile before patting his on the shoulder.
"the fuck you mean ruin anything?" chris said but it was too late, matt was already swimming away to the start of the pool. chris shook his head and rolled his eyes, bring up is dripping hands and pushing away some hair that had fallen onto his face before making his way to everyone else.
authors note 💌
lowkey a filler cuz idk what else to upload 😞😞
mf is down BADD
not proofread cuz im too lazy