41

irl

"to walmart." chris points forward like he's guiding a pirate ship.

chloe laughs and matt starts the car, driving to walmart.

kaia gets aux and plays fine line, listening briefly but skipping the sad songs.

put a price on emotion, i'm looking for something to buy. you've got my devotion, but man, i can hate you sometimes.

after the short car ride, everyone gets out of the van and heads towards the front entrance of the large walmart building.

kaia reaches for matt's hand and holds it as everyone enters the store, wandering around and looking for something to do.

"oooh, let's go check out the bikes." chris happily suggests, dragging chloe by the hand to follow him.

they laugh and follow chris towards the bike aisle, watching him manage his way into sitting on one of the little kid's display bikes with training wheels on.

"chris, you're gonna break it." nick warns him.

"i'm not gonna break anything." chris shakes his head and continues slowly pedalling the small bike up and down the same isle.

everyone stands there watching him struggling, laughing at his childish attempts.

kaia smiles and leans her head against matt's shoulder while standing there, glancing over her shoulder to see if any employees were coming to kick them out just yet.

they don't make eye contact, but while she's looking behind her, she sees james and his group of friends being loud and obnoxious.

"matt." she whips her head back to see matt who was staring at chris.

"hm?" he turns his attention to kaia.

"james." she whispers, her teeth gritted.

matt looks behind kaia and he, too, notices james and his friends.

"guys, we should go." matt says to everyone.

"what? why?" chris pouts.

"james is here, we need to leave." he answers quietly.

"oh, shit." chris acknowledges, standing up off the small bike and putting it back on the display rack.

chris hikes his pants properly up and begins walking with everyone towards the exit, they're all careful to avoid eye contact with anyone james is with.

kaia drops her keys in a loud enough to turn a couple heads thud on the linoleum floor, resulting in one of james' friends hearing and looking behind him towards the triplets.

"is that your ex, man?" he whispers to james, tapping him on the shoulder.

james looks at their group, kaia quickly grabs her keys up off the ground and holds matt's hand as they speed walk towards the entrance.

"yeah, shit, it is." james nods.

"pussy!" james yells.

"sir, there are kids here. you need to be respectful or you can leave." a nearby walmart employee says to james and his group.

they ignore the woman and begin walking towards kaia and everyone, they start speed walking to the entrance. matt grabs his keys, ready to start the car as they enter the parking lot.

"i'm talking to you, sturniolo!" james shouts, following them outside.

"hey, fuck off, man!" matt shouts back, turning to make eye contact with james.

he doesn't speed up towards them, but matt and everyone hurries to the car, the doors already unlocked as they get to their parking spot.

"you gonna do something? wanna go for a round two without your little slut girlfriend fighting for you?" james shouts.

"fuck you, man. don't be a dick." matt replies, starting the car, everyone inside and ready to leave.

"do something, pussy!" james shouts, a few meters away from matt's van.

matt backs out of the parking space, speeding past james' little group. as they're passing, kaia opens her window and throws a half full cup of iced coffee right at james, nailing him straight in the face.

"fuckhead!" she leans out the window and screams at him as they speed away, james way too far behind to do anything.

nathan highfives kaia and everyone else in the car laughs, looking back and seeing james in a fit of rage, covered in old coffee.

"serves him right." nick laughs, crossing his arms in the backseat.

"nick, you're such a "serves him right" type of guy." chris jokes.

"fuck you mean by that?" nick raises a fake fist at chris.

"you're just a tough guy." chris laughs.

nick rolls his eyes and sits back, ignoring chris.

matt puts on his playlist as they drive around, eventually heading home.

i'm taking hits for you, think i'm feeling it now, just like you did. taking hits for you, 'cause i wanna feel like i'm supposed to.

after a few songs, they arrive home and everyone walks in the house after matt locks the car.

marylou greets them at the door, hugging nate, chloe, and kaia.

"first day back in boston, how you guys feeling?" she asks with a warm motherly smile.

"amazing. always puts us back in reality after la." matt answers his mom.

"that's good, sweetie." marylou replies, hugging each of her sons.

"you kids want anything to eat? i'm gonna make spaghetti for dinner here in a couple hours." she offers.

"i'm probably actually gonna be going home pretty soon, i wanna see my mom." kaia responds.

"okay, don't worry about it. if you want a snack, i can make you something, sweetie." marylou says.

"really, i'm okay. i promise." kaia insists.

"whatever you say." she laughs and walks back to the kitchen to unload groceries from earlier.

"what time did you wanna go home? i can drive you whenever." matt asks kaia as they all sit together in the living room.

"probably around 4:30 - 5 if that's okay. i would drive myself, but obviously my car isn't here." kaia answers him.

"yeah, that's totally fine." matt nods, putting his arm around her while chris and nate decide what to put on tv.

"you tell her yet?" chloe whispers to matt, motioning her head towards marylou.

matt quickly shakes his head no, a shy smile on his face.

"you tell her about you and chris?" he whispers playfully.

"shut the fuck up, matt." chloe rolls her eyes, sitting back into the couch next to chris, his arm around her.

"soon, though?" kaia joins the whispering.

chloe shrugs with a huge blush on her face, trying her best to ignore kaia and matt, more so focusing on the tv. and chris, of course.

1052 words