43

irl, messages

matt waves goodbye to kaia as he drives away in his car, looking back at her before she's too far away and out of matt's sight.

he turns up the volume on the music to listen to it by himself as he drives back home, thinking about her the whole time.

the death of me was so quiet, no friends and family allowed. only my murderer, you, and the priest who told you to go to hell. and the funny thing is, i would've married you, if you'd have stuck around. i feel more free than i have in years, six feet in the ground.

he arrives home, walking inside and immediately to the kitchen to grab a rootbeer from the fridge, joining nick, chris, nathan, and chloe in the living room as they play mario kart.

he sits next to nathan and watches in amusement as he beats everyone, chris right close behind him in the final lap.

"haha!" nathan shoots up out of his seat, pointing and laughing at chris who he beat by a hair.

"nate." matt laughs, sipping his drink.

"suckers." nathan sticks out his tongue and points at nick and chris.

"what about me? you beat me, too." chloe asks nate.

"yeah, you're not a challenge. they are." nathan responds jokingly.

"hey!" chloe retorts.

nathan just laughs and sets his controller down on the center console, everyone else doing the same and beginning to scroll on their phones.

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matthey i'm home safe, nate just beat everyone in mario kart

kaialol im glad ur home safehe bragging unnecessarily much?

mattoh yeah you already know it

kaiathats why i dont like playing with chris, he's always a sore loser

mattkid has a temper tantrum every 2-3 business days

kaiano fr he actually does

matti feel weird our contact names are so boring after you unblocked me

kaiasorry again ab thatbut yea we should change them to smth cuter

mattkai i told you to stop apologizing for that i already kissed you to make up for itguess i'll have to do it again 🙄

kaiaugh yeah ig you're gonna have to 😒

mattyeah?

kaiamhm you willhows "matty ❤" for ur contact

mattugh kai thats so boringtake out the "atty" and replace it with"y love" and we'll be good

kaiai actually will if u want me to

mattk do it i'll make urs "kai 💋"

kai 💋done i changed yours

my love ❤same

kai 💋k this is much better

my love ❤i agree

kai 💋i have a question for you

my love ❤ofc whats up

kai 💋i know we both talked about how strong our feelings are, but do you think we're moving too fast? i don't wanna do too much and freak you out with saying i love you the same day we start dating

my love ❤kai we've been saying it for years im not gonna stop now just because i mean it in a different wayeven though i have always meant it the way i do now i was just too scared to realize

kai 💋ok that makes me feel a bit betteri just love you and i really dont know what i would do with myself if i mess this up again

my love ❤i love you more kaiand trust me ik the feelingdon't worry about it, everythings gonna be alright

kai 💋ok can you do one thing for me

my love ❤ofc anything

kai 💋will you manage to suffer through babysitting willow with me tomorrow after school? my dad is dropping her off

my love ❤if i absolutely have to i guess i will 🙄

kai 💋okkkk tyty ilysm

my love ❤as you wish mlady

kai 💋YAYY I KNEW YOU LIKED THE MOVIE

my love ❤man hell no i didnt i'm a man 🧔

kai 💋okok enough ily ty for watching her w me

my love ❤i love you i guess

kai 💋enough with the mattitude wheres my little princess angel pookie matti hate tough guy matt

my love ❤i already told you tough matt is deadyou killed him

kai 💋i can't tell if thats an insult or a compliment

my love ❤a compliment igu slayed so hard you killed tough guy matt in the process

kai 💋that reminds me i have to set a new picture for your contactim using this

my love ❤i feel like thats not necessaryim using a good photo of u

kai 💋omg i forgot ab that daywe need to go to the beach again

my love ❤sounds goodi will take you anywhere in the world

kai 💋ok aladdinbe mysterious if you want to king

my love ❤i will remain vigilanta masked heromarvelous matt

kai 💋if you start reffering to yourself as marvelous matt idk how long i can do this

my love ❤okok im sorry i wontchloe's mom just got here and im gonna go eat dinner after shes gone so i'll talk to you in a bit

kai 💋ok i will text u laterily

my love ❤sorry? i dont understand

kai 💋🙄🙄🙄ur so annoyingi love you***

my love ❤i love you mosttext u later

kai 💋kk

my love ❤🙄read at 5:28pm

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kaia showers, changes into pyjamas, eats dinner, and watches movies with her mom for the rest of the night.

after shutting his phone off, matt eats dinner with his brothers and nathan after chloe leaves.

nate sticks around until about 11pm, then has matt drive him home when he's tired.

once matt can finally relax and nobody is over anymore, he showers and walks into his bedroom to wind down for the night.

he sees the old can of rootbeer still on his desk from when justin gave him one out of chris' fridge. he smiles at the memory, but it washes away when he remembers why justin gave it to him in the first place.

matt is determined to make things better this time and show kaia how much he loves her, the intensity of how in love he is with her scares him and he hopes he won't accidentally do anything to mess it up.

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