14| Thank You For Acknowledging my Name's Hotness
"DOES he look just like you? I bet he looks just like you. What's he like? If he's anything like you, we'll get along swimmingly. Hell, if he's a complete dick but has your same blessed genes, I'll do just fine," Matteo said.
"That's a lot of questions."
Matteo and I were on the bus heading into downtown Syracuse to meet Will. It was Saturday (finally) and Will had agreed to come up to Syracuse for the day to hang out and meet Matteo since Matteo was going to tutor him for his statistics class. So we were meeting Will at Peaks Coffee and he had texted me a few minutes ago to tell me that he was already there and we were running late.
WILL: where u at bitch? u r late. i am going to drink 10 coffees by the time u get here
He was dramatic. But I guess that's all part of being a theater kid for him.
"They're valid questions. Most were comments. Is he attractive?" Matteo asked.
"I don't know. Do you find 16-year-old boys attractive?"
"Depends," Matteo said. "Have you seen Finn Wolfhard?"
I just rolled my eyes.
Matteo, for as much as I'd already learned about him, was still a bit of a mystery. His relationship with Maverick and his old addiction to drugs of some sort was already interesting enough. But on top of that, I had questions about his relationship with Maverick. Questions about whether Matteo was into Maverick or not. Whether Matteo was into guys or if he was just a dude who was able to admit that Finn Wolfhard was hot.
For now, I brushed off any questions I had and deemed them irrelevant.
The bus pulled to a stop and Matteo and I both got up and left the bus. The coffee shop was right around the corner and we headed in its direction.
The exterior of Peaks Coffee was all windows and modern. We walked inside and directly in front of us was a giant black counter. Off to the side we're sitting areas: A bar lining the windows in front of the café and small wooden tables all around the open area. Matteo immediately stepped up to order coffee and asked me if I wanted anything, but I opted against it. I'd already had coffee this morning and didn't need any more.
I spotted Will sitting at one of the tables towards the back of the café with a coffee cup between his hands and staring at his phone.
Once Matteo finished ordering, he turned and caught my line of sight.
"Oh. That has to be your brother," Matteo said. He looked at me and smirked. "He definitely has your good genes. And he's definitely arm candy."
Before I could respond, Matteo was already walking over to the table Will was sitting at. I followed him and we sat down. Will looked up and put his phone down.
"Hey, Will," I said.
I was about to introduce Matteo when he beat me to it. Matteo held out his hand and said, "And I'm Matteo, the best person you'll ever meet, the handsomest, and the smartest when it comes to all of your statistical needs."
Will looked at me with his eyebrows raised. "Yes, Matteo is a handful," I said.
"A handful that you're going to love to handle," Matteo said.
Will shook his hand and then Matteo leaned back in his chair. "So. William. Stoked to learn from the best?"
"Um. I mean, I guess," Will said with a shrug.
"I don't think anyone can say they're stoked to learn statistics," I said.
"Except for me clearly. And don't worry, I've already figured out that we are going to get along just fine," Matteo said. "I've used the rough linear relationship between distance and probability, and since you and I aren't even 300 miles away, we're perfect!"
The barista called Matteo's name and he stood up quickly to grab his drink. While Matteo was putting cream and sugar in his coffee, Will looked at me and widened his eyes.
"He's interesting," Will said. "He, uh, seems energetic."
"He is very interesting and energetic, you are correct," I said. "But he's also really nice."
"And apparently, he's also the best, handsomest, and smartest," Will said.
"Hey, I mean, you did say that Matteo was a hot name," I said.
Will shot me a look. "That's because it is a hot name—"
"What's a hot name?" Matteo said as he sat back down. His sudden appearance made Will jump a little in his seat. "Sorry. Sometimes I have a habit of sneaking up on people. I just can't seem to help myself."
"Will said that your name is a hot name," I blurted and Will glared at me. He looked like he wanted to throw his mug of hot coffee at me but he didn't.
Matteo smirked at Will. "Thank you for acknowledging my name's hotness. Does the face live up to the name?"
Will sipped his coffee and then cleared his throat, ignoring Matteo's statement. "So, uh. Matteo. Thanks for agreeing to helping me out."
Matteo waved him off. "It's no problemo. It's actually fun for me. I get to spend more time grinding numbers and hanging out with AC's adorable brother."
Will's cheeks flushed and he raised his eyebrows at me before burying himself into his coffee. My brother, despite loving to act and be on the stage, wasn't the best when it came to getting compliments. And I think he didn't really know what to do with Matteo calling him adorable. So he just drank his coffee like it was water.
When he came up for air, Will said, "How did you meet each other?"
"During rush week," I told him. "He came into the library and talked to me while I was buying stocks."
"Of course you were buying stocks," Will said. "There's nothing more typical than Ava buying stocks for fun."
"So it is a normal occurrence. When did she start buying stocks?" Matteo asked.
"Out of the womb," Will said.
I rolled my eyes while Matteo chuckled. "Ha-ha. Will meet Matteo, Matteo meet Will. It seems you already have something in common: Joking about me."
"And what great news," Matteo said. "It seems we are going to get along swimmingly. We'll just have to spend lots of time together."
"And that won't be a problem because Will needs a lot of help," I said.
"Ava—" Will tried to protest, but I didn't let him.
I focused on Matteo. "He's not exactly a big fan of many things besides the arts. He's never even remotely enjoyed anything that had to do with business, so business statistics is kind of kicking his ass."
"Okay, okay. It's not kicking my ass, it's just a little bit of a shit show," Will said. "I'm too focused on preparing for this semester's play to care."
"What play?" Matteo asked.
"The Crucible. I'm trying out for John Proctor and I am going to get it," Will said.
Matteo wiggled his eyebrows. "Scandalous John Proctor," he drawled. "So let's see, you need a balance of focusing on your play shit and also not failing statistics."
"Bingo."
Matteo grinned at Will. "I can help with both. You can learn your lines and learn statistics all the same."
"Literally? How?" Will asked.
"Don't question the Matteo method," he said, leaning back and stretching his arms in the air behind him. "For now, let's drink some coffee and chill. I need to learn more about the sweet little William Cunningham more before we dive right in."
"Okay, I am not sweet or little," Will argued and I held back laughter. "It's not a joke, Ava, fuck you."
"It's kind of funny," I muttered and Will glared.
"Well, you're sweet and little until you show me otherwise, Mr. John Proctor," Matteo said. "If this all works out, I expect an invitation to your school's production."
"If this all works out and you help his ass in statistics," I added.
"Shut up," Will muttered and then looked at Matteo. "Deal."
Matteo grinned. "Fantastic. Point for Matteo, the one with the hot name!"
❥❥❥
The cookie delivery service was going to be a success and I could tell. So could Ally. However, Chloe didn't seem like she was going to even acknowledge the idea that the cookie service was going to be good. Chloe was pissy while she handed us all clipboards with sheets of paper.
"Make sure you get their name, number, order, and address," Chloe said. She handed me and Skylar a clipboard and simultaneously glared at us. "There is a list attached to your clipboard with the addresses of the apartment and homes you'll be going to today. Make sure to hit them all."
"And," Rainbow added, "there is also this folder with all of the cookies we are going to sell. We're getting them from Insomnia Cookies." Rainbow walked around and handed us each a folder.
Skylar grabbed the folder and placed it on top of the clipboard I was holding and smirked at me.
I rolled my eyes. Apparently, I was in charge of carrying everything.
"Okay, ladies. That's it!" Chloe yelled, clapping her hands vigorously. She was pissed. It made me happy. "The only good thing about this cookie shit is that I get to sell cookies to Theo." She winked and squealed before running off.
Skylar and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes before leaving and heading out to sell cookies, I guess.
We started walking on the path towards the line of houses just outside of campus. Skylar snatched the folder again just to look at the list of cookies we were going to sell.
"So Matteo is tutoring your brother?" Skylar asked while she flipped through the pages.
"Yeah. Will sucks at statistics."
"Does Will suck at anything else?" Skylar looked at me and winked.
"Disgusting."
"You are too innocent."
"I mean, I can't argue with that," I said. "But still, gross."
Skylar smirked and didn't say anything else. We kept walking. I then looked at the list of addresses and furrowed my eyebrows. Then, I stopped walking completely and Skylar slipped the folder back into my grasp.
"Skylar. Didn't Chloe say she was going to Theo's?" I asked.
Skylar smirked.
Oh, that fucking bitch.
"Oops?" Skylar said. "I must have accidentally switched her list of addresses with ours. How funny is that?"
"Why. Why did you do that."
"For young love," Skylar gushed. "Or because I want Chloe to pout about it and also because I thought it would be funny to make you walk up and sell Theo cookies all by your lonesome."
"My lonesome?" I asked. "You're coming with me."
Skylar shook her head and started backing away. "Actually, I have a hot date with my hot girlfriend. India and I are going to the movies, if you know what I mean." She winked. "But have fun. Selling cookies. To Theodore the Third. Alone."
"Skylar you bitch—"
She blew me a kiss. "Bye, Newbie! Make sure to sell those cookies! If you need to sell more, just shake your cookies a little!"
And then Skylar disappeared.
And I was alone and being forced to go to the Lambda Xi house alone. Not to mention, it was the first house on the stretch of houses outside of campus.
I rolled my eyes. Maybe, if I was lucky, Theo wouldn't be there.
Or, maybe I wanted him to be there.
Don't get me wrong, I was going to stick to my morals. I had to continue to keep my boundaries when it came to him, but messing with him was fun. Watching him try so hard just to then tear his ego down a little was probably the most fun part.
But there was also a part of me that was genuinely hoping he opened the door. Because seeing him and hearing his smug voice wouldn't be so bad...
I started walking towards the house, getting lost in my thoughts as I wondered about Skylar and the fact that I actually had made friends pretty quickly.
It was weird going from being pretty much under the radar and keeping to myself to now having a pretty decent group of semi-friends and acquaintances. It was weird because I was just getting to know all of these people and though I could pretty quickly pick up on their personalities, there were so many things that I didn't know still. So many questions.
Meeting new people, becoming friends with new people, was so fucking weird and foreign to me. I enjoyed it. But it didn't change the fact that it was all so confusing. There were too many people to get to know, I wasn't sure I could ever get to know all of them to the fullest.
(Maybe even if you get to know someone for a long time, there are still hidden parts of themselves that are never shared, things that you'll never know. You never really know a person in and out no matter how hard you try.)
I approached the door to the Lambda Xi house and reluctantly knocked on the door. I wasn't sure who I was expecting to answer the door (maybe Theo, maybe Matteo, or maybe Maverick), but it certainly wasn't Richard Butler.
Butler answered the door and opened it just a crack to peer through, then he opened it completely.
"Hi," he said in the quietest voice possible. I didn't know him very well, but from what Maverick had told me, Butler was incredibly quiet and shy. It was obvious now by the way he held the door open and close to his body, almost like he was trying to hide behind the door.
"Hey, Butler. I, uh, came for this sorority fundraiser thing," I said.
"Cookies? Right?" he asked.
"Yep. Lots of cookies."
"BUTLER WHO'S AT THE DOOR?" a booming voice yelled. I heard loud footsteps (they sounded like an elephant descending the staircase) and seconds later, the huge dude that was Chad was standing in the doorway.
Butler slipped under his arm and disappeared effortlessly. He vanished, I swear, out of thin fucking air.
"Miss Ava," Chad drawled, resting his hand against the doorway in an attempt to look cool. Most girls probably thought he looked cool. I thought he looked like a fucking douche bag. "You're looking fine."
"I came to sell cookies," I said, ignoring his half-assed compliments.
Chad stepped closer and I had the urge to back away, but the concrete stairs were right behind me and I was afraid I would fall.
"Well, I'll buy any cookies you're selling. Anything special for me?" Chad asked, winking.
Chad gave off a major creepy vibe. He gave off the vibe of one of those frat boys who would roofie girls at parties just to get them to make out with him. Or more. Who knows? He seemed like the typical frat boy Chad and I wasn't liking his vibes.
I also wasn't liking the tone of his voice. How he sounded so sexually charged and stood too close to me for comfort. I was wishing for Maverick to appear, but I can't believe I was grateful when I saw Theo step behind him in the doorway.
❥❥❥
"Ava," I greeted from behind Chad's huge body. He was basically blocking the doorway. I could just make out Ava standing on the concrete patio of the house holding a clipboard and a folder and, if I do say so myself, looking creeped out.
Chad didn't spare me a glance. "Ava was here to sell cookies. Don't worry, I've got this under control, The-o."
I rolled my eyes. "Actually," I laid my hand on his shoulder and pried him away from the door so I could squeeze through, "Ava came to sell cookies door to door, but since Skylar couldn't join her, she asked me for help. So she doesn't have to walk alone at night."
"I can do that," Chad said, trying to shove his way back in the door.
I turned fully around and pushed my hand on his shoulder again. "We're good, Chad. Man the house. Be back soon."
Chad practically growled but then complied and went inside. I shut the door behind me and came face to face (very closely, how fun) with Ava. I motioned towards the small concrete staircase behind her.
"Shall we?"
Ava turned around and I followed her. We started walking down the road as if it actually had been our plan and not just a lie I'd made up to get creepy Chad off her ass.
"I never thought the day would come that I would be grateful to see a Montgomery," Ava said.
I smiled over at her and caught a glimpse of a smile on her face. "You're warming up to me!"
"Only because you saved me from Chad," she said.
"He can get pretty creepy. And when he sees a pretty girl, he practically turns into some flirtatious weirdo," I told her. "Stay away from him at parties."
"You don't have to tell me twice."
It was late enough that the sun was about to set any minute now. Honestly, it was fucking perfect weather. Mid-60s and not too sunny but not cloudy and grey, either. The sun was there but it didn't burn so bright to the point that it felt like I was being sucked into the depths of Hell. It was warm but the light wind made it perfect.
Ava looked practically perfect too. It made me wonder if she knew that she looked perfect or if it was just something I couldn't help but notice. Her hair was up in a bun and there was just something about the way she walked and loose strands of her hair fell out and around her face that just... I don't know.
She was fucking pretty. I don't know. Is there a need to get into the details?
"I'm not afraid of walking home in the dark. Just so you know," she said.
"Of course you're not. Why would you be?"
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you stand on your own. Clearly, you're independent and you don't need me to tell you that," I said. "So obviously, why would you actually need me to walk with you as the sun sets and the day turns to night? Why would you need me to walk with you as it gets pitch black out down the line of frat boy houses?"
Ava shot me a look. "I don't need protection."
I held my hands up in defense. "I'm not offering protection like you need a guard outside of your palace, Juliet. I'm simply offering to, you know, walk beside you in case any creepy Chads jump out when it gets darker and try to pull something sketchy."
"Now you have me paranoid," Ava muttered. "Stop calling me Juliet."
I smirked. "It is your name isn't it?"
"It is. But I don't care."
"Why do you go by Ava, anyway?" I asked.
She scoffed. "Because. Why would you want to be named after one of the most intolerable Shakespearean plays of all time?"
"Oh, damn. So you don't like Romeo & Juliet, then, I take it?"
"It's stupid. And it's so fucking annoying. Romeo & Juliet, two people from families who aren't supposed to like each other, fall in love and then commit suicide together. I know that it's supposed to be a satire and all, but god, it's just a bore," Ava went on.
"Sounds familiar," I said.
Ava glared at me. "Yeah. It does sound familiar, doesn't it? That's what makes it so goddamn annoying."
"So... If you think it's annoying, then shouldn't you just stop hating me because of my name and give into my hotness?"
She poked at me with her clipboard. "Stop."
I chuckled. "Okay, I'll stop. I'll try and respect your boundaries."
"But you won't, will you?"
"Not always."
Ava rolled her eyes and stopped to face me. She sighed and handed me the folder she was carrying.
"I still need to sell these cookies. And it wouldn't be terrible to have someone walk beside me. You know. In case any Chads pop out," Ava said. "If you want to."
I grinned and took the folder. "Gladly, Juliet. Gladly."
❥❥❥
HEY GUYS
I was totally gonna upload spontaneously a few days ago but then I FORGOT because I just kept WRITING more chapters... smh. I'm on a roll though (don't tell my professors I'm doing this instead of studying for my exams)
William sure seems to be studying for HIS exams. Or... just his class. Which, by the way, I hate all math and I MEAN IT when I say that I CANNOT DO MATH. So I'm with Will on this whole statistics shit: It sucks ass.
Anyway, get Chad out of the WAY. Make room for THEO. We love that bitch.
I. Am. So. Excited. For. The. Next. Chapters. Yay.
But when am I NOT excited, you know? I think I'm always excited. I just like to upload these and gauge y'all's reactions.
Anyway, I'm gonna go eat the gelato I got from work. She's the flavor Bacio, which is "kisses" in Italian. She is molto delizioso. She's like a nutella flavor, we love it.
HAVE A LOVELY DAY OR NIGHT OR WHENEVER YOURE READING THIS!!!
& y'all should follow me on my wattpad insta if you want — @babyjwrites because we vibing on there & I love to connect with all you guys even more
🤍🤍