14

irl, facetime, social media

james pays the cheque and walks with kaia back to his car.

"i had a really fun time tonight." kaia smiles as him.

"me too. i'm really happy you agreed to come with me. i couldn't have dreamed of having as good of friends this early at the new school, let alone meeting someone like you." he nods.

"i'm happy i came, too. i enjoy hanging out with you." she smiles and they stop once they're by the car.

moving too fast, moon is lighting up her skin. she's falling, doesn't even know it yet. having no regrets is all that she really wants.

they look at eachother and james smiles at her awkwardly, scanning her face.

"i hope i'm not misreading the situation, but-" he starts.

"i want to kiss you, too." she smiles.

"oh, okay." he nods.

he leans down and kisses her, her mind flashes to the dream about matt. she continues to kiss james and pictures herself in that dream, thinking it was matt.

when she realizes what she's doing, she backs away and opens her eyes.

he smiles at her and opens the car door for her, she smiles and gets in. as he's walking around the back of the car to his side, she runs her hands through her hair.

"what the fuck am i doing?" she whispers to herself before he gets in the car.

he sits in the driver's seat and offers her the aux cord. she smiles and puts on some of her favourite songs as he drives.

eyes full of stars. hustling for the good life, never thought i'd meet you here. it could be love. we could be the way forward, and i know i'll pay for it.

"anywhere you wanna go before i take you home?" james asks.

"that's a one direction album." she says quietly.

"hm?" he asks, not paying attention.

"nevermind. maybe 711?" she covers.

"matt would've known." she thinks.

"yeah, sure." he agrees.

they drive to 711 and kaia runs in like a kid in a candy store. james wanders around and looks at snacks.

kaia gets the biggest cup they have and filled it with diet coke. james grabs a couple things and they walk up to the register.

kaia pulls out her card and tap pays for everything.

"oh, i was gonna cover it." he says with his card in his hand.

"i wasn't gonna get the biggest drink and just assume you would pay for it. plus, if i suggested going here, why would i make you pay?" she asks.

"thank you." she nods to the cashier and they walk out.

"well, i'm the man. shouldn't i pay?" james laughs as they get in the car.

"i don't think it needs to work like that. plus, you paid for dinner." she insists.

"whatever you say." he shrugs.

kaia has always had this problem. she HATES people buying her things. absolutely despises it. she can't stand the feeling of thinking someone might see her as a gold digger, or think she's taking advantage of their money when she has her own.

it took years of being friends with the triplets and having conversations with her mom and marylou to convince her that it was okay if someone wanted to be kind and buy her something. she didn't even let matt pay for her food until last year when she finally got used to it.

james paying for dinner was hard enough for her, she hated that she didn't even offer to pay. she thought he must hate it. in fact, everytime her and matt used to come to this exact 711, she would lock him in the car so he couldn't even go in the store and try to pay.

"why can't i stop thinking about him?" she thinks, cursing herself.

"ready to go home?" he asks, leaving the parking lot.

"yup." she nods.

they drive back to kaia's house and every song that comes on, everything she sees outside on the way, everything james says, makes her think of matt.

they arrive at her house and he gets out of the car first to open her door.

he walks her up to the front door and they stop. they make eye contact for a few seconds, and she looks at the rest of his face.

she raises her feet to her tippy toes, and pecks a kiss on his lips.

"thank you, i had fun." she smiles.

"i did, too. goodnight." he waves and walks back to his car, her entering her house.

she closes the door, and slides to the floor. she sits there for a few seconds and sets her drink on the ground.

she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. the dream replays in her head for the 500th time today.

"what is wrong with me?" she huffs.

she almost starts crying, but the feeling passes after a couple minutes. she stands up and walks to her room.

she takes off her dress and undoes her hair, walking over to her closet to pick out more comfortable clothes.

she opens it and immediately sees the pile of matt's clothes in the corner. she crouches down and rummages through, looking for a specific sweater.

"here it is." she smiles.

she puts on matt's 1 million merch sweater, throwing on some plaid pyjama pants.

she ties her hair up in a bun and walks to the bathroom to wash her face. after she's done, she pats her face dry and walks back into her room.

she picks up her phone to facetime nick.______________________________________

hey, kaia. what's up? how was the date?

it was good. but i need your advice.

anything.

i had so much fun with james, i really did. but i had this dream last night and i couldn't stop thinking about it.

okay. lay it on me.

so in the dream, i showed up to school  and saw matt in the hallway. then he walked up to me and saw james, then he kissed me. but it started the exact same way my morning did for real today. like, it felt so real.

so your mind is showing you what might've happened if you guys kissed in the car and you didn't kick him out?

i'm assuming. but that's not the bad part. i keep thinking about it all day. like, not just once or twice, it hasn't NOT been on my mind since i woke up.

don't torture yourself, babe. give yourself some peace. matt fumbled a baddie, it's not your fault.

nick, he didn't. we weren't dating. but these past few days, everytime i think about matt it feels like a god-awful breakup. it makes me want to start crying and throw up, which i have been.

honey, these emotions are normal. you and matt were BEST friends. you did everything together. if you didn't think about him, i would be more surprised. i'm honestly surprised you guys have held out this long so far. i mean, i really thought you would've made up by now. it's been, what? 3 days?

yeah. 3 days that i've been losing my sanity.

it's okay. i'm sure that if it's meant to be, you two will work things out. you're kaia and matt, nothing will break you two apart forever.

there's one more thing.

what's up?

james and i kissed twice.

OH MY GOD! that's awesome, kaia. i'm so happy for you.

no, there's more.

sorry. continue.

both times we kissed, when i closed my eyes, all i could think about was the dream. i couldn't stop picturing it was matt kissing me.

oh, damn.

yeah.

i don't even know what to say, girl. i mean it's obvious you don't hate matt, why not just make out- i mean make up with him?

nick.

what? it was an accident!

no, it was not. and no, i don't hate him. but i have to stand my ground. and i really want to be with james. matt has to understand that what he did was not okay. i can't just forgive that, y'know?

yeah, i get it. but matt is really not handling it well. and if you think about him everytime you kiss james, how well is this relationship gonna go?

i can't let those thoughts distract me. i care about him, but i want to be with james, not matt.

whatever you say.

i mean it, nick.

i'm sure you do.

whatever. i need to call chloe. i'll text you later.

okay. love you babe.

love you to the moon and to saturn.

______________________________________

matt was walking past nick's room when he heard kaia's voice. he stood and listened. he grew more and more excited at hearing her talk about him. and hearing about that dream made him smile.

he realized it was exactly that; just a dream.

then he heard her say that james kissed her and he stormed away without hearing the rest. he didn't hear her say she pictured it was him, didn't hear her say she doesn't hate him, and he didn't hear her say that she cares about him.

he stomps back to his room and lays down in bed.

"i don't know how much longer i can do this." he grumbles.

______________________________________

matthewsturniolo posted

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liked by nicolassturniolo, chrissturniolo, nathandoe, 456,339 others

matthewsturniolo this is about nate

comments

nathandoe i love you pookie 🥺>matthewsturniolo i'm not doing that nate

nicolassturniolo we believe you king!>chrissturniolo right

chrissturniolo sexy>matthewsturniolo bro go do something

user that shit is NOT about nate>user who does he think he's fooling 😭 liked by chrissturniolo

chrissturniolo what do you think pookie @chloe.warner>chloe.warner 2 things. 1- don't call me pookie. 2- i'm staying out of this.

user i can't stand matt and kaia being broken up>user how do you think they feel? bros listening to folklore. its BAD>user they. never. dated.

user nah hes heartbroken

user matt she was ugly move onblocked by matthewsturniolo

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1678 words