sk8termikey

[sk8termikey]

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I'm so in love w isack hadjar i wanna cry

[sk8termikey]

[sk8termikey]

A Side Of Your Number | FC43

Pairing: Franco Colapinto x Reader

Summary: You work as a waitress at the restaurant where the grid is having their 2024 drivers' dinner, during which you catch the attention of a rookie.

Author's Note: y'all can't imagine how much i love this one like i was so inspired when i saw the pics of the drivers' dinner that i immediately ran to my f1 google docs🤭 i hope y'all enjoy, this is my 1st time writing for franco!!

F1 MASTERLIST🏎

“Good evening and welcome!” You exclaimed as you smiled at the drivers entering the room.

Everyone walked past you with a smile and went to get seated. The last one of the lot was Lewis Hamilton, who had organised the dinner.

“Hey, thanks for having us.” Lewis put his hand on your shoulder with a grateful look in his eyes.

“No problem, sir.”

“How many times have I told you to stop that?” Lewis sighed as he shook his head. “I’ve known you for years, and I have to remind you of that every time I see you.”

“Usually I do it just to annoy you,” you explained with a teasing smile. “Tonight however, it’s my job to be polite and professional so you don’t really have a choice. It’s the restaurant’s policy.”

“Fine. But don’t abuse the title please.”

“Of course,” you replied with a nod. “Sir.” You almost laughed as Lewis’s lips twitched. “Okay, sorry. I’ll just let you join the others then I’ll come give y’all the menus.”

Lewis did as you said and walked to the table where everyone was already sitting, before taking a seat with his current teammate George on his right while his future teammate Charles was on his left.

True to your words, you were bringing a menu for everyone a couple minutes later.

“I’ll let you make your choices and come back soon”, you told them before going back to the counter to get your notepad and pen.

As the drivers were deciding what to get, the atmosphere was light-hearted and cheerful. Everyone was exchanging their doubts about what to eat tonight, while others were giving advice on the food they were already familiar with. Having eaten there several times in the past – hence why he was friendly with you, Lewis was able to share his knowledge with the people around him. While George and Carlos were listening to his every word, Charles and Pierre were debating about how to approach the recent drama that had been occurring. On the opposite side of the table, another world champion had captured his friends’ attention. Franco, ever the fanboy, was nodding at everything Max was saying while Lando and Oscar had a similar goal as the French speakers on the other side.

As it had been deliberate to have Max and George sitting at opposite ends, the majority of drivers were hoping to get some new comments on the situation without being too obvious. The two protagonists of this feud were honestly aware of that, but didn’t let it show on their respective faces and decided on having a peaceful night.

When you saw that most of them had put their menu down and heard the chatter getting a bit louder, you took that as your cue to get everyone’s order. You felt lucky that some drinks and meals had been chosen several times, meaning that you didn’t have to write too many things. Your way of organising your notes was pretty simple: next to each item, you were just writing the number of the drivers as you knew them all by heart. Soon enough, you were bringing everyone their drinks after you had sent the food orders to the kitchen. Even though almost all the grid was there, you didn’t have any issue in navigating around the huge table that was accommodating seventeen drivers. Starting from the furthest side away from the counter, you made your way up to the other side of the table. Everyone was being really nice to you and thankful for your service, which made Lewis smile as he was glad that your work was being appreciated.

Almost done, you now only had four drinks left to bring to Max, Lando, Oscar, and Franco. Although you were a big Mclaren fan – more of the drivers than the team nowadays, you managed to remain professional. Lewis knew about your preference, but never took it the wrong way because you had once told him that you became a Mclaren fan when he was still with them. Therefore, he had no right to judge you for playing favourites when he was the original reason for that. Moreover, he knew that you were supporting him as an individual driver, whatever team he was on.

You had to admit that you were also nervous to serve Max as the Dutch was really intimidating. However, the smile he gave you when you set down his drink was the most genuine you had ever seen and all your worries went away in less than a second. Finally, you gave his drink to Franco. You didn’t have a strong opinion on him yet. Sure he was cute and had a certain charm to him from what you had seen in interviews, but you still had a hard time judging his racing as he hadn’t been in Formula One for long and had probably been pulled from Formula Two way too early. And despite the points he had scored during his first races, he had crashed several times recently so you’d need to see him do a full season one day in order to rank him as a driver and not only as a person. Safe to say, you were quite neutral to face him compared to the others. Still, you offered him your kindest smile when you put down the glass on the table.

“And this is for you, enjoy!” Despite using your customer service bubbly personality, you were truly happy to do your job tonight and no one could deny it.

Turns out that someone else was now also very happy that you were doing this job. See, as you barely had time to remove your hand from the drink you had set down, someone else’s was grabbing it. You didn’t really register the physical touch as you honestly didn’t mind – it didn’t happen that often, but the other person was surprisingly perturbed. So while you were waiting for them to remove their hand from yours, it seemed that they hadn’t even realised it. Franco, who was the one with his hand around the glass and around your hand, was looking up at you. He blinked a couple times and opened his mouth to speak before following your gaze that was focused on the drink.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Franco apologised as he immediately retracted his hand, letting you put yours back to your side.

“No problem, don’t worry!” You smiled at the young driver before taking a look around the table. “I’ll be back with the first dishes soon guys, enjoy your drinks in the meanwhile!”

Everyone thanked you before they began clinking their glasses together, and once again the chatter got louder. The drivers were comparing drink choices and their tastes, as they shared souvenirs of past dinners. One driver, though, was a bit more silent than others. Franco was currently nodding along to whatever story Yuki was telling about one of his trips, and just quietly sipped his drink. Easy to say that he wasn’t going to remember anything as it seemed that his mind was occupied with something else – or rather someone else. His eyes kept drifting back to you, back facing the drivers as you were organising some shelves behind the counter. If one wasn’t really paying to where Franco’s gaze was directed, they could’ve just thought him overwhelmed from the setting. That was what Esteban had assumed.

“Hey man,” he called out to catch Franco’s attention. “Are you okay?”

“Hmm, yeah, yeah…” Franco mindlessly replied. “All good, don’t worry.”

Esteban didn’t have much time to wonder about whether to drop the subject or not due to Franco’s lack of convincing, that someone else had picked up on the short conversation.

“Franco, mate, everything alright?” Lando questioned, keeping a low voice as to not alert the whole table.

Now realising that he was worrying the others and catching too much attention, Franco sat up before repeating his previous words:

“I’m good, yeah. Sorry, I got a little bit distracted there. Just need to eat and I’ll be energised again, no worries!”

“I see,” Lando replied. “I get you, you’re young and still growing! You’re absolutely not distracted because you got a crush on our waitress.”

“Exactly,” Franco agreed before he processed the last sentence. “Wait– what did you say?”

“Lando said that you definitely need food while you’re still growing,” Oscar repeated. “Even though he’s barely a couple centimetres taller than you.”

“I meant growing as in growing up”, Lando retorted.

“Well, you’re not that much older than him anyways.” Oscar shrugged before going back to his conversation with Liam and Yuki who were sitting on his right.

While Max was quick to replace Oscar in teasing Lando, Franco was experiencing an entire life crisis regarding the conversation that had just happened. Did he imagine Lando’s words? Did no one else hear that? He wondered as he looked around: Esteban appeared to have stopped caring as he was talking with Nico about Haas, and the other drivers sitting across Franco didn’t seem to have paid any attention to him as they all deemed him fine. Franco truly thought he had gone crazy – he probably had. First, he loses all ability to speak because a pretty girl is serving him. And now, he can’t even differentiate his imagination from reality? He really wasn’t acting like himself. Franco was usually the one to flirt and make people nervous, never the opposite – except that one time when Oscar said he was funny in his interviews and that he needed to learn Spanish. He had to fix the situation, no more getting flustered because of eye contact with you.

Safe to say: it was easier said than done, because it was happening again.

As you started to bring everyone’s food, Franco couldn’t help his gaze following your every move. He had to think of something to make you nervous, not him! And now that he was remembering the moment from ten minutes ago, he realised that you hadn’t even done anything special for him to act like that. You were just doing your job and were as nice as the next person, so why was Franco already smitten from a thirty second interaction? He sighed as he tried to find a way to reverse the roles, which was a difficult task for him and proved impossible when you were once again in front of him.

“There you go, Franco!”

Your smile didn’t fully reach your eyes, but Franco could tell it was sincere; and how he was loving it! And did his name ever sound as good as when you were the one to say it? Was he the only one whom you had addressed by their first name? He wouldn’t be able to tell, Franco had kinda muted everything around him until you had reached him. Realising he hadn’t even replied after you had set down his plate, he quickly tried to thank you before you would be leaving the table as you had just given Oscar his food.

“Excuse me!” He called, albeit loudly which made him cringe that he would catch the other drivers’ attention, and waited for you to turn to him. When you did so and looked at him, he talked again. “Just forgot to thank you for the food, sorry.”

“Oh, that's no problem. Don’t worry about it, enjoy!”

“Thanks, again.”

Oh God, why was he so nervous to speak to you? Franco wanted to facepalm at how badly he had handled the situation. You would never be able to take him seriously after that, would you? Not wanting to keep embarrassing himself, Franco decided to start eating before someone would call him out on his actions. However, it didn’t take long as he felt someone nudging his leg from under the table. Franco looked up and his eyes met Liam’s.

“So,” Liam began. “I forgot to thank you for the food, sorry!” The blonde laughed at his own imitation of Franco, which amused the other drivers that had watched the interaction between you and the Argentinian.

“Oh my God…” Franco sighed and put his head in his hands. It was over for him, everyone would tease him and he would have to find a job in another racing category to be left alone.

“I don’t blame you,” Lando said. “She’s nice and she has a sweet smile. Is she your type?”

“She doesn’t need to be his type for him to like her”, Nico added. He turned slightly to be able to face Franco before continuing. “You should shoot your shot as you kids say nowadays, can’t hurt to try.”

“Agreed,” Yuki nodded. “We’ll make you look good in front of her, don’t worry.”

The other drivers confirmed and Franco thought it would be over for now, before someone kept the conversation going:

“Who are we making look good for whom?” Alex asked as he hadn’t been listening, having been talking with his future teammate Carlos.

“Franco”, Esteban replied. “He likes the waitress.”

“Hey!” Franco exclaimed. “Can we not air my business like that? I’m pretty sure we could be discussing other gossip.”

“But you’re not denying it,” Valtteri pointed out.

To that, Franco had nothing to reply for a good minute.

“I don’t like her, I barely know her.”

“Then get to know her,” Liam said as if it was obvious before he took a piece of food to eat.

“The kid is right,” Valtteri agreed.

“Thank you!” Liam was grateful to be supported.

“Lewis,” Valtteri eventually called to his friend who was a couple seats away. “What can you tell us about her?”

“Hmm?” The eight seven-times world champion looked up from his plate, fork in his mouth. He was confused about what he was gonna get involved in as he had spent the last half hour talking with Charles and George, the three of them having been in their own little bubble. He swallowed his food before wiping his mouth. “What’d I miss?”

“The waitress, what can you tell us about her?” Valtteri repeated.

“Why?” Lewis raised an eyebrow, confused as to why you were the topic of the table.

“I think little Franco over here wants to ask her out”, Carlos replied. He hadn’t given his opinion on the discussion yet, happy to just be a spectator and listen.

“I never said tha–” Franco began to argue.

“You want to date her?” Lewis asked, the serious tone obvious in his voice. At that, everyone around the table fell silent.

“I don’t know!” Franco desperately answered, stressed by the fact that Lewis was now getting involved.

“So you don’t like her?” Lewis rested his chin on his hands, to better focus on and assess Franco’s reactions. “She’s not to your liking? Not kind enough perhaps? Not hardworking enough?”

“I–” Franco was at a loss for words. He was truly about to shit himself and disappear from the face of the earth. Right now, he was almost glad to not have a seat next year because he didn’t think he would be able to handle facing the drivers anymore after this whole chaos. “She seems really nice, yeah.”

“She is,” Lewis simply stated.

“And yeah, she’s pretty.” His gaze landed once again on you. Fortunately for him, you were far enough from the table to not hear anything, but he was still able to look at your profile while you were chatting with some of the cooks. To his luck – really? – you had decided right at this moment to turn back to quickly check on how the drivers’ dinner was going and your eyes met his for a split second. Just a smile from you was enough to make Franco flustered again, making him drop the eye contact immediately. You went back to your conversation, completely unaware of what was happening barely ten metres away from you. When Franco realised that everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to keep going, he gulped. “I guess I wouldn’t mind being friends with her.”

“Just friends?”

“That’d be the main goal indeed”. Franco decided to be more confident in himself, and even though he was facing his idol, he had to be tough. “But becoming more could eventually be a great bonus.”

As Lewis kept asking questions about Franco’s intentions for another minute, which the young driver didn’t hesitate in answering, the rest of the drivers were still silent. They were all absolutely invested in the conversation unfolding before them, their heads turning left and right as if they were watching a tennis match. If the drama between George and Max had been the most interesting thing at the beginning of the night, it was now the least of their worries. Finally, the exchange between Lewis and Franco was coming to an end – almost to everyone’s disappointment as the entertainment would stop.

“Fine”, Lewis said as he let his hands drop back to his side and got more relaxed in his seat.

“Fine?” Franco repeated.

“I’ll give you a chance,” he explained. ‘Can’t say yet that she’ll do the same, but I guess you wouldn’t be too bad for her if anything were to happen.”

“Thanks…” Franco mumbled as he scratched his neck. He was still embarrassed that he had to have this conversation about you with the Sir Lewis Hamilton. At least, it was safe to shoot his shot now.

Not expecting it, you suddenly heard the whole table erupt in cheers and got startled as they were probably the loudest clients you’d ever heard in the restaurant. Looking at the cooks in confusion, you then let out a laugh at the drivers’ happiness. You had no idea what was happening, but you were glad that they were having fun. You knew from Lewis that the relations between drivers weren’t always rainbows and sunshines, but it warmed your heart to see them all getting along for one evening.

Debating if it was your cue to go up to the table when the cheers got quieter, you got a confirmation when Lewis called out your name. You excused yourself to the cooks – telling them to maybe expect orders soon enough – and walked up to the drivers with the same smile you had harboured since the beginning of the evening. At first, you had stopped at the table end that had been closest to you, but Lewis actually made you sign to join him at the other end where he was.

“How’re you doing?” He asked you when you were beside him.

“Good, good. What about you, guys? I heard a pretty nice celebration there.”

“We are indeed celebrating”, Lewis confirmed as he stood up next to you. “Toast with us?”

“I’m working Lewis”, you replied with a sigh. You had abandoned your smile and opted for a straight face that you hoped would remind your friend of your actual duties here.

“Just one drink?” He almost pleaded. “We’ll be very disappointed if you refuse.”

You reluctantly agreed – to which Lewis grinned – and quickly got yourself a drink before you came back to stand by the Brit. Thinking that you could treat yourself, you had taken a beer that you were definitely planning on charging Lewis for.

“So, what are we toasting to?” You wondered as you swirled your drink.

“To us: the 2024 grid. To the new drivers, and to the drivers that have been there for years and will still be there next year. But most importantly…” Lewis took his time glancing at his former partner at Mercedes, before his glance drifted to the others that had limited time left in Formula One. “We toast to the ones that won’t be here with us anymore starting next season. We’ll remember them to have been amongst the twenty best drivers in the world, and we’ll remember their meaningful careers. To us!” Lewis repeated, which was echoed by everyone else around the table.

To say you got chills was an understatement. Lewis’s speech was short, but enough for everyone listening to understand the weight of his words. No matter how long they had been in Formula One for, no matter how long they’ll still be here, no matter their achievements: there will always be someone to tell the stories of the drivers that had once reached the pinnacle of motorsport.

You knew Lewis had never taken his position for granted. He had fought to get to it, fought to stay there for the past seventeen years, and kept fighting to keep his place for the future. You had always admired him for his resilience, and you were always one to admire someone whenever they would reach the top step that was Formula One. Therefore, you were soaking in this moment. A moment shared with the seventeen people around you, whom you would never forget.

Your eyes, once again, met Franco’s. You gave him a discreet nod with a smile and slightly tipped your beer in his direction, as a way to tell him that yes, you would remember even him amongst the greatest. He shyly smiled back, and took a sip of his drink to distract himself from the way your eyes were softly looking at him from afar. After a moment of silence during when everyone had stayed quiet as a way of honouring those around them, you decided to fall back into your work persona.

“Not that I hate getting involved in this little get-together, but I am actually employed to serve y’all and not drink with the clients. Someone,” you emphasised with a look to Lewis, “better remember that.”

“Alright, blame it all on me.” Lewis raised his hands in defence. “I guess it’s time for some desserts then, right?”

The other drivers all agreed with the offer, and you took their plates to bring them back to the kitchen. After you had cleaned the table – except for the drinks that weren’t done yet, you gave everyone a dessert menu and let them make their choices. You came back to the table a couple minutes later to take the final orders, and wrote everything down. When you double-checked that you had seventeen desserts noted, you told the table that you’d be back soon and turned away. However, someone called out to you.

“Excuse me!” You recognised the voice as Lando’s. “You didn’t get Franco’s full order.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” You immediately apologised, wondering what you had missed as you clicked your pen, ready to add anything else.

“What are you doing?” Franco asked the Brit. Although he was whispering, everyone could hear the stress in his voice as he had no idea what to expect.

“So what can I get you?” You looked at Franco and smiled, waiting for him to tell you what he wanted.

Absolutely panicking, Franco didn’t know what to answer. His only option was to look at Lando for an explanation as to what he was expecting him to say, but it turned out to be his biggest mistake. Your gaze followed the direction in which Franco had glanced, and your eyes met Lando’s. He had already been looking at you, a grin on his face as he rested his cheek on his palm.

“He’ll just have whatever he had ordered with a side of your number.”

The entire room – which was honestly just you and the drivers – fell silent. As cringe and embarrassing it was for Lando to say that, he knew it was for the greater good. The dinner would be soon over, everyone would go back to their hotels and immediately go to sleep, due to the busy day waiting for them. So who knows if and when Franco would’ve actually talked to you.

Not knowing what to reply for a few seconds, you then processed Lando’s words and chuckled.

“I’ll see what I can do, we have a very limited stock.” Your eyes went back to looking at Franco, who was blushing. “Can you confirm to me that Lando got your order right, Franco?”

“Y–yeah, that’s what I’d like.” Franco wanted nothing more than to disappear six feet underground right now. “If that’s okay… I would understand if you can’t accommodate that.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, don’t worry. I’ll get back to you soon.”

When you left the drivers to their antics to go relay the orders to the kitchen, you couldn’t help the giddy smile that appeared on your face. It wasn’t everyday that a cute driver was interested in you. Hell! It wasn’t everyday that someone was interested in you, period. You thought about quickly texting Lewis to ask him for his opinion, but decided otherwise when you remembered him telling you about the ‘promising Argentinian who definitely deserved a full-time seat in the future’. You tried to find a way to give Franco your number, which could let you avoid doing so in front of all the drivers. You figured they had already teased him about it if Lando was as involved as he seemed to be, and kept thinking about a solution while you waited for the desserts to be ready.

Eventually, you had found the perfect idea. So when you brought the desserts to the drivers, you put your plan in motion. As you put Franco’s plate in front of him, you managed your best customer service voice along with an apologetic tone:

“I’m truly sorry, but your added request is actually impossible to fulfill at the moment.” You did your best not to laugh at your poor acting, and almost stopped pretending when you saw Franco’s dejected expression. “But, I found another solution to accommodate your needs.”

Confused, Franco tilted his head at you. You then gave him a piece of paper that was folded in two, and he wondered if your number was actually written on it or if it was all an act to reject him nicely. He truly thought you could have been interested too, but maybe the other drivers’ involvement along with him hitting on you at your workplace had been a complete ick. However, when you gave him one last glance before telling everyone to enjoy their food, he could swear you had winked at him. This was a good sign then, right?

As you left the drivers one more time, Franco debated unfolding the paper to read what was written on it. But when he saw that everyone was staring at him, expecting him to read out loud the content of the paper, he actually put it in his pocket. This led to the drivers all sighing of disappointment before they chose to focus on their food.

The rest of the dinner went well. When everyone was done eating, they simply chatted about the upcoming grand prix before it was time to pay and leave the restaurant. The drivers called you back for the bill, which you brought a few minutes later. Not thinking twice, you set it down in front of Lewis.

“I’m actually the one paying,” Valtteri pointed out.

“That’s so nice of you,” you replied. “I honestly think that the oldest should pay, but that’s just my opinion.”

“You wanna bankrupt me or what?” Lewis asked you.

“As if it would do harm to your bank account”, you retorted. “I’m pretty sure the world champion titles paid really well.”

“I can confirm”, Max shouted from the other end of the table.

“We’re settled, don’t worry. It’s my goodbye gift to them”, Valtteri assured you before you gave him the card terminal so that he could pay.

You thanked him and gave him his receipt before putting the terminal back in your pocket. You were about to start cleaning the table and bid the drivers good night when they asked you to take pictures for them. As an amateur photographer, you couldn’t refuse the request and even offered to use the digital camera you always had on you. They gladly accepted and you found yourself taking a dozen pictures of the drivers. You told Lewis that you would send the digitals later tonight, and he thanked you in advance.

It was now time for the drivers to actually leave and get ready for a good night's sleep before their last grand prix of the season. Telling them goodbye one by one and wishing them luck for the race, each driver sent you one last smile before thanking you once again for your wonderful service. The last two left were Franco and Lewis. You felt happy for Franco to be able to hang out so easily with his idol as you could relate to that surreal experience. They approached you while Lewis had his arm around Franco’s shoulders, and a smile was present on both their faces.

“We had a great night”, Lewis told you. “Right, Franco?” The young driver eagerly nodded and Lewis chuckled.

“Glad to know I did my job well. I’ll see you guys soon, yeah? Maybe for next year’s dinner?” You suggested.

“Why not tomorrow?” Lewis countered.

“You wanna have dinner here tomorrow as well?” You asked, confused as to why he hadn’t notified you sooner.

“I meant tomorrow at the track”, Lewis clarified. “And the day after that, and on Sunday for the race.”

“I didn’t buy tickets for this year. I’ll see well enough on my TV, don’t worry.”

“I have tickets for you though. Paddock passes and all”, he explained. “I sent them to you by email earlier during dinner. You’ll come say hi to us, yeah?”

“Oh! Well, yes! Oh my God, thank you so much!” You were absolutely ecstatic to be able to attend the grand prix. Usually, you would watch it from home, especially when you were working that day and didn't have any days off left to use.

“Everything has been arranged with your employer by the way; so you only need to show up every day, tour our garages, and look pretty to watch us race. Sounds good?”

“Sounds absolutely perfect, thank you Lewis.” You were beaming with happiness. “That means I’ll see you tomorrow as well Franco, will I?”

“Yeah of course,” he nodded. “You’ll have to come to me yourself though, I don’t have a way of contacting you.”

“Yet”, you teased with a smile. “Well, not like I don’t appreciate your company, but I need to close and go back home so I’ll have to ask you to leave guys.”

“Sorry,” Lewis and Franco both apologised before they finally left the restaurant.

You waved at them and closed the door as you got ready to finish cleaning up everything. On the other side of the door, the two drivers were now alone as they started making their way outside.

“You’re still not checking her note?” Lewis wondered after a few minutes of silence.

“I don’t know… I’m a bit nervous to read it,” Franco admitted.

“And I’m actually a bit curious to know what it says.”

Knowing that you trusted the Brit, Franco deemed it fine to open your note in front of him as he imagined that you hadn’t written anything indecent. However, when he finally revealed its content, Franco’s eyes widened with surprise and Lewis got even more interested in what it said.

“Ask the seven times world champion”, Lewis started reading out loud over Franco's shoulder. “He should give you my number if he thinks you deserve it (I certainly think you do)”.

While Lewis was laughing at your words, Franco was looking at him expectantly. If he wasn’t stressed enough about asking you out, he was now even more as he realised he had to go through Lewis – again.

“So… hmm…” Franco hesitated for a few seconds. “Is it actually okay if I ask you for her number? I swear I won’t do anything wrong!”

“Don’t worry kid, I trust you on that. Give me a top ten in free practice tomorrow and you got yourself a deal.”

“Okay!” Franco agreed, sudden determination in his voice. “I’ll do my best!”

“I don’t doubt it”, Lewis replied with a proud smile on his face. “Have a good night, Franco. See you tomorrow,” he added as they would be going different ways to their respective hotels.

“Thanks, you too!”

Excited for the next day, Franco had harboured a huge grin while going back to his hotel room. He was confident in his skills. And despite having to drive an old version of his car, half taped-up, he knew he was able to achieve good times tomorrow. He had a pretty good motivation to do so.

…..

“P7 Lewis!” Franco shouted as he walked towards his idol after the first free practice, phone in hand, and a smile on his face.

“Nice job kid,” Lewis congratulated. “Give me your phone then.” Franco immediately obeyed and Lewis finally put your number in the Argentinian’s contacts. “There you go,” he told him while giving back the phone.

“Thanks! I’ll see you later, bye!” Franco waved while he went back to the direction of his garage, already drafting up a text to send you.

He wasted no time in sending you the message he had spent all night thinking of. He hoped you wouldn’t take too much time to reply as he didn’t know if he could handle the wait. Luckily, his wish had been granted one way or another: as soon as he arrived in front of his garage, you were there. Looking down at your phone, you were quickly typing until your thumb was hovering over the send button. When you sensed someone watching you, you looked up and your eyes met Franco’s. So as you were exchanging eye contact with him, you finally decided on sending your text before putting your phone back into your pocket and walking towards Franco.

However, it hadn’t been Franco that you had texted. The Argentinian had only sent you a short message telling you that he would wait for you at the Williams hospitality, to which you hadn’t thought it necessary to reply as you had already been there. No, the person you had texted was none other than Lewis as you felt like he deserved a thank you for going along with your plan.

Thanks for being a great wingman, I’ll buy you a drink<3

You wouldn’t see it immediately as Franco had just offered you to have lunch with him – which you obviously accepted, but Lewis had answered you shortly after:

Save me a seat at the wedding and we’ll be even

(also lewis makes for a great baby name if you have a boy)

..........

I hope y'all liked this as much as i liked writing it🫶🏻 don't hesitate to comment or reblog if you appreciate my work, it always means a lot to me!!

Side note: I've been extremely unwell since the season ended😭 despite 2024 being my 1st season, I've grown attached to f1 sooo quickly that i missed it every time there was only a two weeks break and now we're acc gonna starve for 3 months🧍🏻‍♀️ and the fact that dts is being released in march is insane bc wdym we can't even have that during the off season

Anywayyys see you next time, take care of yourselves, and happy holidays🤍

[sk8termikey]

CHAPTER 30 OF 21 QUESTIONS

Better interface on wattpad and updated. till chap 41

“Heyy!” A voice shouted while entering the house. “How's it going?”

“Gimme a sec Matt wait,” Lily said as she turned to face Alex.

“Matt?” Alex repeated, first confused then happy to see her friends spending time together.

“Yeah Matt,” Lily stressed the name they were saying for the third time.

“Which is me,” Matt himself called out to the girls.

Alex went to stand behind Lily who was on the couch and waved at Matt when she was in frame.

“Hey Matt, you’re good?”

“Yeah, pretty good. What about you? How was work?”

“It was nice,” Alex replied as she started hugging Lily while talking. “Human beings were not as annoying as usual, I was surprised.”

“I get you, it's like a reward when working directly with customers who are well-educated.”

Alex agreed before she and Matt started comparing their job experiences. Having forgotten, Lily was reminded that Matt once had another job with Nick and Chris before YouTube, as they had worked at a supermarket.

“Wait, lemme get comfy then I come back to y'all two if you don't mind me intruding in your time”.

Both Lily and Matt quickly confirmed that it was fine for them – they had already spent almost an hour talking so it wasn't a problem to have Alex with them now.

The blonde came back a dozen minutes later, after having changed from her work attire.

“So, how's the LA life?” Alex asked Matt while Lily was trying to switch their facetime from her phone to her laptop now that there were more of them to fit in frame. “How are your clones?”

“All good, we're back to Boston soon so it'll be a nice and deserved break. We'll make an announcement for everyone in the next few days so keep that quiet for now, thanks.”

“No problem,” Lily reassured as neither she or Alex would ever disclose information on the triplets.

“And yeah, Nick and Chris are good too. I mean, the groupchat is never quiet for long.”

“True”, Alex agreed. “Are they here or are you alone?”

“Well I'm in my room right now but I can go get them so we can talk all together,” Matt suggested as he started standing up from his bed. “It could be nice.”

“Bro, was that the lights you turned off?” Alex gasped as she was realising that Matt wasn’t even using sunlight in his room. “This is bad for you, you should open your curtains.”

“Yeah”, Lily said as she was on the same wavelength. “You have to do photosynthesis from time to time.”

“Why are you – whoever suggested that – treating my brother like a plant?” Nick asked as Matt entered the living-room. He walked towards the phone where the voice could be heard and let out a smile as the people on the screen. “Lily, Alex, hi!”

“Hi Nick”, the two girls replied in sync.

“If I’d known you were with Matt, we would’ve come to bother him sooner”, Nick said as he was implying that he was with Chris.

“I’ve only been there recently,” Alex explained. “But they apparently started talking wayyy before I came home.”

Due to the smirk Alex had on her face, it was obvious that she wanted to tease her friends for often being on call. Chris heard her sentence from the couch and he motioned for his two brothers to join him. 

“Is that so?” The youngest triplet snickered as he looked up at Matt.

“Don’t make me regret leaving my room”, Matt sighed. “I’m only doing so because I’ve been requested.”

“Matthew!” Alex called, as she faked being offended. “I know you’d rather keep Lily to yourself, but don’t act like it’s the worst thing in the world.”

Matt was about to retort something to the blonde; but when he saw that it was making Lily laugh, decided otherwise and simply sat down next to Chris. Like Lily had done not long ago, Nick was connecting his laptop to Matt’s phone so that it would be more practical to fit the triplets in frame.

After both groups were successfully seeing everyone on their respective screens, the conversation easily flowed into giving each other news about what they were up to. As Matt had already told Alex and Lily about going to Boston for Christmas, Nick and Chris were therefore happily talking about the plans they had made with their family. It was obvious that the triplets were excited to be home and the girls couldn’t contain their smiles at the sight on the other side of the screen.

“We should try and maybe hang out while we’re in Boston,” Nick suggested. “We’ll have the whole month so it shouldn’t be that hard to find time.”

“About that,” Alex started. “We won’t be here…”

“Really? Why?” Chris wondered.

“We’re visiting Lily’s family for Christmas and we plan on staying for like three weeks I guess,” she explained.

“Oh...” Matt was the first to acknowledge the news. He was looking at Lily with a frown on his face as if he was only talking to her. “Okay, and where are you going? Is it truly that far from umm– us?”

“Montréal”, Lily replied as she was also keeping her eyes on Matt through the screen. “It’s actually closer but it’s a whole different country so…”

“Oh…” Matt said once again.

Truth be told, Matt would have been happy to be able to see his friend as they had last seen each other a month ago. He wasn’t expecting himself to feel conflicted at the news but he remembered how he and his brothers had briefly talked about visiting the girls once they’d be back on the East Coast. Now, those plans were over before even being started. Nick and Chris exchanged a glance at each other behind Matt as they wondered how Matt was truly feeling.

“Don’t look so down y’all”, Alex chimed in as she was mostly addressing Lily and Matt who seemed to have become tense. “We’re on the same continent still and we’ll keep calling each other. We’re perfectly surviving right now, even with a three-hour difference.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Nick smiled at Alex’s comment and tried to slightly shift the subject. “Any particular reason that it’s Montréal?”

“Ooh, this is a nice story. Care to tell, Lily?” Alex nudged her best friend in the side to get her to talk about something she cared about.

“Okay, so the thing is since Alex and I got our own place we made a deal with our families: because we both wanted to spend Christmas together but also with our families, we decided that each year we would switch at whose house we would spend it. And given that last year was with Alex’s, this year we’re going to visit mine!” Lily kept ranting about her and Alex’s holiday system with a smile on her face. “I haven’t seen them in so long, I’m so excited!”

“What’s long?” Chris asked, not thinking that it would be that much.

“Last January”, Lily answered. “For my mum’s birthday, so I also haven’t seen them in ages. It’s hard when the family is scattered like that, but we don’t do that bad.”

“So you lived in Canada before the US or?” Nick was trying to get everything clear.

“I don’t think she did,��� Matt replied as he was remembering that Lily and Alex had met in Spring Hill in middle school.

“Correct”, Lily confirmed. “It’s my parents who went to live there after I started living with Alex. One of the reasons why we have this ‘Christmas arrangement’ – they have their own lives, but we all know we have fixed moments when we all see each other.”

“Same for me,” Alex said. “My family is closer to us so it’s easier to see them more often, but at least it helps us instead of being all like ‘oh when are you free? I have an availability in two business months!’”

The triplets laughed at Alex’s poor imitation of busy people who rarely have time for others even though they do their best to hang out. They then asked Alex about her family now that they knew the basics about Lily’s.

“Wel, my parents live in Tennessee, not so far from Nashville, and my brother–”

“YOU HAVE A BROTHER??” The triplets all exclaimed in sync.

“Yeah, like you three have a brother too.” Alex was confused as to why her friends seemed shocked until she slightly faced Lily. “I never told them?”

“Wait wait wait”, Chris interrupted. “Why do I feel like we knew nothing about y’all until today?”

“Tell us more”, Nick inquired.

“We don’t talk that much if I’m being honest like– we have different interests and we live a bit far away, but whenever we call or see each other, I know it’s always like we weren’t apart for so long.”

It was obvious due to Alex’s soft tone that she valued her relationship with her brother, although they didn’t seem like the closest ever. Alex had looked up to her brother a lot in her younger years, so she had unknowingly taken his example when graduating high school and moving out of her parents’ house. Matt questioned Alex more about her brother as he could see that she enjoyed talking about him.

“He’s only a couple of years older than me so it’s nice that we don’t have a huge age gap”, the blonde explained. “We bickered a lot when living together but it got better since we both got our own place. Though I remember him moving back to my parents’ house during Covid so that he wouldn’t be alone and it was so much fun.”

“Oh my god yes!” Lily jumped in. “I have this memory of him always being in our facetimes and helping us do homework that was due during quarantine, I loved him for that. He’s my brother as well at this point, I’ve legally adopted him as such in my head.”

“Y’all dynamic sounds nice”, Chris commented. “You got a best friend and a brother all in one.”

“Yeah, it’s great.” Alex tried to put the thought of her brother liking her best friend at the back of her head as she knew she would end up laughing because of that. She knew that Lily had never noticed and she would never tell her unless her brother stopped liking her. “I don’t know if I could stand being an only child, but I’m glad I got Lily to stop being one.”

“That’s sweet”, Matt said as he was thinking of his brothers and how he would never be able to live without them.

“Damn, we all got sappy now.” Nick was being dramatic as he wasn’t always the biggest fan of explicitly conveying love to people, although he was expressing it inside.

“No but for real,” Chris agreed. “It’s nice but we need to get back on track.”

For the next hour or so, the triplets and the two girls kept talking about everything they could think of until it was time for Alex and Lily to have dinner. They were all often forgetting that they lived in different timezones and therefore didn’t have the same schedules. They soon ended the call, with the promise that the next time they’d be on one again, Alex and Lily would give them a tour of Montréal.

Although they had all enjoyed facetiming as a group, it had been easy to notice – although the changes of attitude had been minor when it happened – that one person on each side of the screen was not being their usual self. It was something that could certainly be fixed, but there was a need to discuss it with others that might have noticed it as well according to a blonde girl.

co written w @littlegrapejuice <3

[sk8termikey]

CHAPTER 29 OF 21 QUESTIONS

better interface on wattled updated till chap 41

west coast VS east coast

@Alex @Lily

Have you watched today’s video?

Alex

Coincidence bc we’ve barely started it

It sounds chaotic

You do not look happy at all

Chris

Oh my god y’all have to do live reactions

First time we can have you watching our vids

Lily

Oooh sounds fun yeah

Should we just text what we think as it happens?

Replying to:You do not look happy at all

I was not😐

I regretted all my life choices while filming this

Therefore i need to complain

Alex

It can’t be that bad matthew

It was

Chris

Go watch it now

I wanna know what you think

Nick

And yes lily, just text your thoughts that’ll be easier

Lily

Ok ok!

While waiting for the first reactions of Alex and Lily, Matt thought back to the video he had filmed with Chris and Nick that they had entitled DISGUSTING FOOD ROULETTE *matt almost throws up*. The middle triplet shuddered at the memory before unlocking his phone as he saw that one of his friends had texted.

west coast VS east coast

Lily

I’m already traumatised

I fucking hate raisins

Shit’s disgusting for no reason

Alex

Nick on the floor i can’t😭

Y’all haven’t even started eating

Nick

Believe me it gets worse

We all end up on the ground at one point tbh

Nick

I was having war flashbacks but the war hadn’t begun yet…

Alex

Never beating the triplet mindhive allegations

2 coconut water + raisins is insane

Lily

Double risk fr

Chris buying individual items cracks me up i can’t💀

Alex

STOP W THE COCONUT WATER

No but even us were shocked to have all bought it

Lily

I can’t even imagine the reactions of the cashiers when seeing the combos of what you bought-

Nick

Let’s say that mine seemed concerned

Alex

Coconut water: 1

Nick: 0😞

Coconut water truly won during this video

Lily

“You have to eat the portion that’s delivered” I’M LAUGHING

Alex

Rip nick

Bro is on the floor already dying and has to eat smth again

Stay strong bro

Nick

I wasn’t strong enough for this

You think i was???

Alex

“Oh no i feel so bad”

“Matt doesn’t deserve this”

Y’all are fucking laughing and praying on his downfall, such liars😭

I was out there on my death and those mfs act like that

I def had the worst stuff

Lily

Coconut water: 2

Nick & matt: 0

Alex

I wanna say i’m sorry for y’all but you can only blame yourselves

Lily

PTDR LES DOMINO I CAN’T

Sorry for no trusting you matt

It really is that bad

At least you changed your minds

But i expect more faith in me next time

Lily

Ofc we won’t disappoint<3

Chris

Replying to: PTDR LES DOMINO I CAN’T

PTDR??

Alex

It’s lmao in french

EVERYONE GETTING COCONUT WATER

Y’all jinxed yourselves istg

Lily

I still can’t believe each of you bought one

We were extremely surprised too dw

It was funny at first but then we all regretted it

Alex

Nick slaying w the lemon juice

Go off king👑

Nick

Thanks queen💅🏻

Chris

😭😭

Alex

I will fucking throw up

Lily

The raw egg is traumatising me

Oh god

Can’t watch that

Alex

Ik matt is on da floor and we should feel bad for him

But lily is fr just admiring the view

Lily

MAIS

BRO STFU

Replying to: MAIS

Another random french word?

Chris

Lily you gotta stop

We only know 3 words in french

Lily

Sorry😞

Alex

Tbh it means we can say whatever we want ab y’all and you won’t understand

Lily

We??

Acting as if YOU know french

Bro bffr

Chris

LMAO THE CALL OUT

And we can google translate yk??

Alex

Yeah but irl

And technically i can understand some stuff after so many years of hearing her speak french

Doesn’t mean i can speak it

Lily

I’d never do that tho👀

Chris

Sure🤨

Nick

Let’s hope not

I mean-

You do leave comments in french under our posts

Lily

No but hear me out

Alex help me out there

You started this

Alex

Stop bullying my girl, thank you

Anyways-

Chris

Wow sm help you gave her…

Alex

✨the end✨

Goodnight matthew

This was very entertaining

Nothing like a good ol’ wednesday vid

Lily

We get why you needed to complain

Feel free to come to us whenever

Thank you for your support

Chris

We all suffered tho

And it’s not like we fed you ketchup

Nick

We could have

If one of you had bought ketchup i would’ve stopped filming

Alex

Sometimes i forget you and ketchup are sworn enemies

The fact that lily loves it tho😭

Chris

Ketchup theory

Lily

Chris sweetie you mean the olive theory?

Chris

Maybe

Then olive theory (ketchup version) ig

CO WRITTEN W @littlegrapejuice <3

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 28 of 21 questions

better interface on wattpad

Seeing as Nick, Matt and Chris were supposed to post their newest podcast today, they had quickly recorded one almost as soon as they had arrived back in Los Angeles. They had used up all the ones they had pre-recorded before going on tour, and so it felt fitting that today’s podcast had been about them summarising the Versus Tour they had ended two weeks ago.

The triplets had been on tour for a month and had gone to fourteen different cities across the United States. They had gone on explaining how eye opening it had been for them, even on a personal level as they had felt like it had deeply impacted them. They’d focused on the idea that they had never been expecting to achieve so much and that nothing had prepared them for meeting so many people at once, which had been a massive accomplishment for Matt as they had gone on stage in front of seven hundred to two thousand people depending on the venue.

Going on tour had also been a way for Nick, Matt and Chris to assert their individuality as the whole concept had been based on the fans’ dynamic with them. Indeed, their fandom was divided into ‘Nick girls’, ‘Matt girls’ and ‘Chris girls’, which helped the triplets feel like individuals in a group. It had truly been an experience that was shaping them for the years to come as they had been able to meet their fans for the second time this year, in a playful and fun atmosphere.

They’d eventually finished the podcast by mentioning how glad they had been to have had their friend Tril touring with them for the last shows and they’d talked about the activities they all did together off camera. It had then led the triplets to talk about friendship, and especially making new friends either in person or online. This had unknowingly been a special conversation for Matt as he had thought about the friend he had finally met by chance. Nick and Chris had picked up on Matt’s discreet change of attitude regarding the topic as the oldest triplet then talked about randomly meeting a “mutual” in real life when it wasn’t planned, which was how Matt had met Lily after several months of talking to her. Although they had met under the circumstances of an ‘artist-fan’ relationship, it had eventually felt natural when they both switched to the ‘Matt and Lily’ dynamic they’d been having when texting.

After reminiscing about this, Matt saw that he had received a text from his shared groupchat with his brothers and friends from the East Coast.

east coast VS west coast

Alex

THE NEW POD I CAN’T

The cake story got me dying fr

Lily

Not even the story in itself tbh, mostly how it was told

Chris

Glad to know we’re entertaining

Alex

Please never doubt yourself

Also when nick got aggressive to the mother matt talked ab

‘Yeah and she can choke’ cracked me up

Lily

@Nick never change please

Nick

You know me

Do you always watch our videos together?

Lily

Oh hello matt

Yes we do, most of the time

Alex

I rarely watch the pod with her tho bc it’s her day off while i work

But this was ab the tour so how could she not wait for me

That’s cool, I’m glad you liked it

Chris

Yeah, sometimes idk if our fans enjoy the pod as much as the other videos so it’s nice to know y’all do

Lily

Ayo

How could they not??

I love the pod sm😭 it brings such comfort

Alex

I second that!!

Nick

Thanks guys, means a lot to us

Lily

Always<3

Also fun fact

When i first called matt, I thought that he would fit well in a podcast

Who was gonna tell me-

??

In what way?

Lily

Well, you have a nice and calm voice so it’s perfect for a pod

I don’t wanna be the victim of loud jumpscares while i’m trying to relax

Alex

LMAO CHRIS THIS IS FOR YOU

Chris

Damn the favouritism is real

Nick

Fair enough, you’re being way too loud sometimes

Matt is often too quiet though so it’s a balance ig

Lily

Matt only seems quiet bc of how loud y’all are used to be so

Thank you lily

Finally someone on my side

Lily

Always bro

Alex

And he got bro zoned

Rip soldier

Chris

Brb nick and i are preparing a funeral

You’ll be missed matty b

Nick

*insert sad and emotional violins*

Lily

STOP

That’s insane

Y’all act like I never call you bro every 5sec

Alex

Of summer?👀

Lily

Nice one babe

She didn’t get a bro

I feel betrayed

Lily

Matt no

Hear me out😔

Alex

I can pull up receipts of me being called bro

Will that make you feel better poor matthew

Chris

Please do

Nick

He’s sulking right now

Frowning as we speak

No I'm not???

We’re not even in the same room💀

Nate

Am I missing a bully matt conversation?

Lily

Naaate

Nate

Lilyyy

Alex

Aleeex

Sorry

Wanted to feel included

I don’t want this to be a bully matt conversation

Let’s stop it here or change the subject

Nick

We’re having fun though

Chris

Agreed

Lily

Back to da pod bc I needed to add smth then forgot then remembered

Yeah?

(thanks for the support)

Lily

If y’all ever end up doing this crafts live nick mentioned at the beginning, please consider us

(no problem babe)

Alex

War is over!!

He upgraded from bro to babe

But fr tho it would be so fun to see you do crafts and arts even without us

We’ll send an application if we hear more about it

Nick

It was a bit of a random thought tbf but yeah we’ll think of you two if we ever go through with it!

And sorry to cut the convo short but we have to film our next video so we’ll talk to you later :))

Lily

Oooh nice!

Alex

Do we get a spoiler?

Chris

It’ll be out in 2 days bro

I think you’re able to wait

Alex

Damn christopher

Disappointed but not surprised😔

You’ll have to wait a bit to get special treatment from us

Nate

Yeah you're not on my level yet

Lily

Never been so jealous of a guy

It's nate tho so I'm fine w that

Alex

Correct

He deserves special treatment from everyone

Nate

That's sweet, thanks

Chris

Once again, favouritism💀

“What are we actually filming?” Matt asked as he joined Nick in the living-room.

“The Fortnite vid, you remember the plan?” The blonde replied.

Matt nodded, before he and his brothers got ready to film the introduction to the video. They would all play together, and everytime one of them would make a kill in the game, they would swap places and try to achieve a Victory Royale. They then actually began playing and recorded Matt choosing the design of the character they would use.

Everything had been going great during their first rotations, the triplets mostly celebrating the way they would successfully transition between them. That was until Chris was the first one to be killed, ruining their chances to win.

“NOOOOOO!!” Nick and Matt exclaimed at the same time.

“We were doing so good!” The oldest triplet was devastated as he had been hoping that they would get it on their first try. Like earlier, Nick was once again the first to go as he was landing on the map. “AAARGH YOU FUCKING BITCH!” He yelled as someone was attacking him even before he had finished landing.

Nick was now on the run to try and find his attacker, with the support of Matt and Chris behind him. Following his success, Nick then left the chair and gave the controller to Chris who took his place. Each time one of the triplets was the one playing, the focus on their face was obvious as they were all taking their mission very seriously. Matt’s turn then came again, but he eventually got killed which made him hit the desk as he was mad at himself and at the player who had killed him.

“Sorry guys,” Matt said as he calmed down.

“No problem bro,” Chris reassured him. “It was only our second attempt so we’re good.”

Unfortunately, it seems that Chris had jinxed them as they were now on their fifth attempt, and still no Victory Royale on sight. None of them were ever mad at the others for being killed as they had all been laughing every chance they got when swapping places. For the next hour or so, they eventually did eight different tries – all unsuccessful, which Nick was deciding to later cut in small segments.

“No way in hell will I show how shit we are right now”, the blonde said as the camera was cut.

“Not really my fault though”, Chris replied. “I’m not the one dying the most.”

“Shut up Chris, we’ll see how you do now.” Matt was becoming annoyed as he knew he was getting killed a bit too often for his liking.

“Yeah, yeah.” Chris rolled his eyes. “We’ll see how you do, getting killed again.”

And that he did, as Matt got indeed killed during their ninth attempt. Another couple attempts followed, with Nick in between two asking his brothers to pose for their thumbnail.

“I feel like Alex gonna enjoy that shit”, Chris said with a laugh as it took them a good minute to all pose.

“For real”, Matt agreed. “She’s definitely bullying us for putting that in the video.”

“Wait”, Nick called. “Should I leave mentions of her in?”

“I don’t think we should,” Chris answered after thinking about it for a couple of seconds. “Maybe later if her or Lily ever end up in one of our videos, well actually in it you know.”

Nick nodded at Chris’s explanation, and therefore decided that he would cut the moments in which they would mention their friends – who had technically never been exposed to the public, apart from their names having been called out during the baking video they had filmed. The oldest triplet also knew that at one point, Matt would eventually mention Lily as Fortnite was one of their common points and Alex had now quickly been brought up.

For the next couple of attempts, it was noticeable that Nick was getting better, which led to Chris encouraging him more and more as they kept going. Matt was trying his best to stay focused and not get killed again, which proved to be somewhat difficult as his brothers were saying random stuff behind him:

“Drinkie drink”, Chris started. “Take a sip of drinkie, little drinkie.”

Matt was doing his best not to laugh at his brothers’ antics, but he couldn’t help the smile on his face when Nick began talking about getting drunk. Playing with Lily is way more peaceful… Matt thought as another smile took place on his face, although it still looked like it was due to Chris and Nick.

Nothing much had now been going on, apart from Nick twerking after a kill and Matt getting mad again as he was still the one getting killed the most out of them, which happened again during their twelfth attempt.

“WHAT!” Matt angrily exclaimed.

“Are you gonna die every time?” Nick asked, almost unbothered but still done with how Matt kept losing. “I wonder how Lily can stand playing with you if you always get killed.”

“I–” Matt was now at a loss for words. Although Nick had only wanted to tease him and get on Matt’s nerves, the middle triplet took it seriously. “You can ask her, I’m an excellent player!”

“With her, maybe, but not with us right now”. Chris raised an eyebrow at Matt who was almost starting to sulk. “And we need you right now, so think about Lily later.”

“I wasn’t even the one to talk about her first!” Matt retorted, currently feeling bullied by his brothers and definitely planning on complaining to Lily.

After their sixteenth attempt, Matt now had the perfect opportunity to somewhat get back at Nick.

“Oh my God, we’re awful.” Nick dramatically put his hands on his head. 

“You’re awful”, Matt immediately replied in the most monotone way.

“You just died,” Nick quickly retorted. “You’re just negative right now because you’d rather play with someone else.”

“Actually, yes.” Matt decided to appear in front of the camera as he was getting fed up. Facing it, he started talking to the future viewers. “Y’all should know that I have a friend ten times better than Nick here, so please excuse me for missing the times when I actually won.”

“That was insane”, Chris said as his voice sounded a bit muffled due to him being away from the camera but the microphone had still picked up his comment. “You’re down bad bro.”

“Ok Nick, cut that shit.” Matt was absolutely not ready to have people – also known as their lovely and peaceful fans, absolutely not invasive at all for thirteen year olds – prying into his private friendships.

When they eventually went back to playing, it led to a tense moment with Chris trying to kill two players at the same time, while also being out in the open. Matt and Nick were stressing behind, the latter prepared to switch places as soon as Chris would succeed – which he did.

“Who’s the fucking best?” He asked as Matt offered him a high five. “I’m the fucking best!” Chris then left the frame of the camera before coming back with a proud grin and repeating his last sentence several times.

It then seems that the triplets were on a roll as Nick and Matt successfully took out a player each, before it was Chris’s turn again. We can do it, Matt thought as he was carefully watching his younger brother focused on the game. When Chris killed a guy that had just landed, Nick quickly took the controller as Chris gave him the headphones. Still as careful as before, Nick was making his way on the map while his brothers tried to give him advice:

“Turn to the right a little”, Matt suggested.

“Shut up”, Nick bluntly replied as he needed to do it by himself.

Still way more peaceful to play with her, Matt repeated in his mind as he thought about how Lily was always sweet and kindly accepting Matt’s advice when they played together.

Nick had however been right to act like that as soon enough, he killed the player he was hunting before giving up the seat for Matt to take. At that moment, the three brothers realised that they were the closest ever to a Victory Royale. For the next few minutes, they were now harbouring nervous yet excited smiles as they were watching Matt’s every move on the computer screen.

“YES!” Nick and Chris both cheered when Matt killed the last player left, therefore granting them the long awaited win.

Congratulating their brother, the oldest and youngest pulled Matt into a group hug before Nick decided that he needed to document their success with a picture – eventually posted on their weekly Instagram dump.

“Guys”, Nick began. “I wanna thank my mum, I wanna thank ‘OG’ Fortnite coming back, I wanna thank my freshman year self… oh my gosh!” He then happily sighed.

All of them now had proud smiles on as they were glad to have achieved what they did.

“I’m so proud of us”, Nick softly said as he had his arms around his two brothers while they were reviewing their stats.

“I’m gonna go to bed”, Matt announced as they were finishing the outro for the video.

“Will you, though?” Chris asked with a smirk. “You should share your accomplishments with someone first, don’t you think?

“Shut up Chris”, Matt retorted. “I don’t wanna spoil her the video so I won’t mention it.”

“Crazy how Chris didn’t say any names but you directly thought of someone specific”, Nick teased before turning the camera off – he would cut out those last sentences later so he didn’t care about it still recording.

“Oh my God, leave me alone.” Matt was only half annoyed as he knew his brothers were right, deep down, so he just patted them on the back before leaving. I do hope she’ll be proud though…

~~~

A couple of days later, the video of the triplets playing Fortnite had been released; and on the same evening, Matt received unexpected texts that made him weirdly smile when he saw the author as he then thought of a reply.

Lily

Glad to know i’m a good player in your eyes, a compliment coming from the guy who made the last kill

I also miss our time on fortnite together

We should plan another gaming sesh soon :)

That’d be my pleasure

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 27 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad (more to come either here or on wattpad its kinda exam season (I really should be studying))

west coast VS east coast (gc)

Imma need to know what y’all are feeding chris

Chris🪄

What did I do??

Alexxx🫶🏻

LMAOO

Ik what this is ab

Chris🪄

Say it bro

Your tiktok chris

This one

You’re so

Chris🪄

So??

Alexxx🫶🏻

That’s it christopher

That’s her sentence

Chris🪄

And how do we know what’s coming after?

You don’t

Alexxx🫶🏻

You don’t

Figure it out

Ik the others understand

Matt🍂

The switch up is insane tho

Alexxx🫶🏻

Wdym??

??

Matt🍂

2 days ago i’m the one being complimented and now it’s chris

Which brother are you after

Tbh I’m after nick

If only I could😔

But you look like him so I have to settle for the copies

Nick✨

I’m flattered but yeah sorry you have to go for the look alike

Can’t have the real deal

Such a shame

Alexxx🫶🏻

Back to what matthew said

I’ve never seen lily complimenting you🤨

I can see that only christopher deserves public comments lmao

Matt🍂

That was in a private convo

Chris🪄

Glad to know i’m more worthy

It’s less embarrassing to publicly admit that i’m the better looking

Calm your horses tho

I see y’all the same

Nick✨

Don’t worry, we know

Wha

It’s the first time we had this convo so how would you

Nick✨

I have literal proof

You’re very funny in our comments lily

Especially under matt’s

Damn

Forgot ab those

Alexxx🫶🏻

She never lied tho

Correct

And y’all should see me under my fav singers’ posts also

Nate🤏🏻

Which comments?

Think I missed a chap

Nate hi<3

Nate🤏🏻

Hi lily!

Nick✨

Lemme find them

I thank matt for noticing, it was hilarious to read some of them on old posts

Chris🪄

We never understood what you said on the last one btw

Alexxx🫶🏻

She called him handsome in french

That’s the truth so

Nick✨

And those from the group acc

Chris🪄

It reminds me of what nate comments sometimes

Thanks, I take that as a compliment

Nate🤏🏻

And I take that as a compliment

Nate my bestie now fr

Alexxx🫶🏻

👀👀

After you ofc

Chris🪄

Matt bro where did you go

Are y’all not together?

Alexxx🫶🏻

Ye like you’re in the same house right?

Nick✨

Yes, but each in our own room

Alexxx🫶🏻

Makes sense

While Alex, Chris, Nick and Nate kept talking on their groupchat about how thousands of miles were separating them since the triplets went back to Los Angeles, Lily was thinking about Matt. He had disappeared from the conversation as quick as he had appeared and she couldn’t help but worry. Therefore, she decided to switch to their private texts and send him a message.

Matt🍂

Hey, everything good?

We miss you in the gc

All good don’t worry!

I was just organising some stuff so I left my phone for a while

Ok ok

Thought the convo was annoying you

Sorry if my comments are weird

Stop worrying about things like that lily

Nick is right, it was funny when I first saw it on my latest post

And you decided to explore every other one😭

Technically nick did

I had just sent them the one you wrote ab switching teams and they ran with it

Glad I make THE sturniolo triplets laugh

 We don’t need much tbh

Still

I truly hope it’s no problem tho

It’s not, get that idea out of your mind

And like alex said, it’s all true so I acc appreciate it

Cool cool cool

Also enjoy your concert tomorrow

Hope y’all have fun

Thank you :)

I’ll text you later

Yepp, ok :))

Although Matt was nothing but reassuring towards her, Lily was an overthinker at her core. She knew that she shouldn’t analyse their texts when they looked absolutely normal, but Lily couldn’t help but feel insecure. She decided that she’d see how it goes the next time Matt posts and she comments, so that she could be sure that her being a bit bold on his account was definitely not a problem. It was definitely not a problem as Matt did appreciate the compliments and found it funny how Lily seemed to dramatise them – she didn’t, she meant every single word and would keep thinking that about him.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 26 of 21 Questions

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Lily and Alex were finishing getting ready when their doorbell rang. They were supposed to spend the day with Jade and Lucas as they would finally tell their friends everything that had happened with the Sturniolo triplets since the girls first went to a show. After exchanging hellos, the four friends went inside Lucas’s car as he would drive everyone to an Italian restaurant they liked to go to. Once there and sitting in their usual booth with drinks, it was time for Alex and Lily to tell their story.

From the first meeting in Atlanta to the last in Fort Lauderdale, a lot had happened in between. While Jade was still shocked that Alex went on stage and managed to make her favourite triplet win the Orlando show, Lucas was praising Matt’s courage and brain for eventually leading to the actual friendship that was now happening with Lily. The two listeners were searching for every single detail in the story and kept asking questions, mostly regarding Matt and Lily obviously. When the discussion then came to the little time the triplets had spent in Spring Hill, the mood also shifted. Lily was clearly missing Matt a lot although she wished not to – she blamed it on attachment issues with a nervous laugh – and admitted her doubts about their relationship. The girl was afraid that Matt would eventually regret what he did and end up ghosting her, as it had been his initial thought months ago. Lily’s friends assured her that it wouldn’t happen and Alex started listing the proof that Matt valued Lily as much as she did him.

“Bro literally made this whole scenario up because he was afraid that you wouldn't want to meet him if you knew the truth about his identity,” Alex sternly reminded as she started counting on her fingers between each sentence. “He got you to meet his family and friends at the same time as him. He put us in the same fucking hotel where he was staying and even offered to pay for the room. He accepted to come spend two days in a stranger’s house – and bro drove us there for a while. Do I keep going with the vlog and how he was always looking at you to make sure you’re ok?”

“We get it, thanks.” Lily was now looking away in embarrassment as she found her pizza very interesting right now. She knew that she shouldn’t discard Matt’s efforts that he had made from the beginning but the ‘what ifs’ in her head didn’t want to leave. “I think we covered everything now though.”

“I wanna come back on something,” Lucas chimed in as a detail caught his attention. “May I?” When the girls nodded, he couldn’t help the smirk on his face as he looked at Lily. “You, Lily, let an almost complete stranger drive your precious car when it took me more than a year to get that privilege?”

“Bro stop”, Lily mumbled in reply. She hated him for pointing that out as she remembered Alex doing the same when it happened. “He’s a designated driver just like me, I had to trust him. And also, I was fucking exhausted so it was nice to just be in a car and chill.”

“I don’t blame you to be honest,” Jade chimed in. “Half of us have their licence so you and Lucas don’t really have much choice when it comes to driving – I swear Alex and I will get it one day. And I watched a couple of their videos, you must have had a great view from the passenger seat.”

As Jade winked at Lily before innocently taking a slice of pizza, Alex and Lucas snickered. Lily then laughed with them as she admitted that she wasn’t one to turn a blind eye when the occasion of having a handsome guy driving next to you arose. The atmosphere then went back to a more light-hearted one and the rest of the lunch was spent filled with smiles.

~~~

Four days had passed since Lily last saw Matt. Such a pathetic state I was in, the girl cringed at herself. Based on a brief exchange by text, Lily knew that Matt hadn’t changed his mind regarding their friendship and thanks to her friends two days ago, she had managed to bury those doubts deep in the back of her head. Reading back their quick conversation, Lily hesitated before starting to write a message.

Matt🍂

Hey there, landed safely in bos

Hope you’re doing well and not missing us too much :)

Ttyl

Glad to know!

And ofc ye we are devastated😔

You’ll survive, we’re not that far away

True true

For now i’ll have to survive the interrogation ab our crazy meeting so

Same here i think

We’ll have to complain more after it happens

We def will!

Seen

This was on Thursday evening. They had spoken a second time on Friday as Matt had replied to a funny Instagram story that Lily had posted about her cat Bernard. Getting herself out of daydreaming, she eventually finished typing her message – after deleting and rewriting it three times – and sent it.

Matt🍂

Hey Matt, how’s it going?

Lily hey

Gimme 5min and I’m all yours

She was surprised at how quick he had replied and couldn’t help but smile at the thought that maybe he was about to text her as well. Only two minutes had passed before Lily was surprise once again as her phone was showing her that she was getting an incoming from Matt🍂. Tapping on the green phone icon, Lily brought her phone to her ear.

“Hello Matthew, pleasant surprise.”

“Hey Lily”, Matt replied with a weird exhale. “Sorry, I just got home.”

“No problem, do your thing bro.”

“Just need to change quickly so I’m putting you on speaker but I’m still here. Catch me up on your life meanwhile”

“Don’t worry, take your time.” Lily could hear Matt rummaging through his clothes and almost laughed at the way he was probably making a mess. “And I’m all good to be honest, had the wonderful experience of being questioned like a suspected murderer but it went well.”

“Sounds wonderful”, Matt sarcastically answered. “Hope you’ve only said good things about me, because I did for you.”

“Of course!” Lily scoffed, feigned to be offended. “Who do you take me for? I’ve put you on a pedestal, but Alex was the one to call out your creepy plan.”

“Damn her.” Matt shook his head with a smile, although Lily couldn’t see him. “Can’t say she’s wrong though but it worked out well so…”

“That it did”, the girl agreed. “Tell me about your weekend, how’s your family? And Nate?”

“Everyone’s good, it’s nice to get some rest and be home.” Matt’s grateful tone made Lily smile as she knew from the triplets’ videos how much he loved being in Boston.

“When are you back in LA?” Lily asked. Although an innocent question, they both knew it was a way to ask when they’d be even further away from each other.

“Somewhere during the week,” Matt thought for a bit. “Gonna have to ask Nick for the exact time though but we’ll definitely be back there before the weekend.”

“Any plans already made? Except for all the videos y’all have to make.”

“To be honest, yes,” Matt sighed. He was happy to get back into a routine but he knew the next weeks were about to be busy. “We’ll start filming again soon, especially the podcasts. But the first thing on the agenda is just a concert with Madi.”

“Oh that’s nice, who are y’all seeing?”

“Travis Scott, you like him?”

“I can’t really say because I haven’t listened to him properly like–” Lily scrolled through her Spotify to see if she knew some of his songs. “I only listen to one song from Chris’s Playlist: NO BYSTANDERS. Haven’t checked anything else to be honest.”

“That’s a good one”, Matt approved. “Might send you a live clip if you want.”

“Please do”, Lily gladly accepted the offer. “Do you often go to concerts? I remember talking about mine but I can’t recall if you did the same.”

“That’s because we don’t go very often,” Matt chuckled as he reassured the girl that her memory wasn’t faulty. “Apart from Tril or Skies, this is one of the very few we’re doing without knowing the artists beforehand.”

“You saw Skies? That’s so cool!”

“You didn’t know?” Matt sounded confused.

“Was I supposed to?” Lily felt confused too. “Oh my god, have I forgotten? I’m sorry, I swear I pay attention to what you say the rest of the time!”

“No, no it’s not you. Have you been on Instagram or TikTok?”

“Hmm not since yesterday I think”, Lily replied as she went to check the first of the two applications before letting out a gasp. “You went on the fucking stage?!”

“Yeah”, Matt said with a small laugh at Lily’s shock. “Thought you knew and that’s where you were going with the conversation.”

“I had no idea bro. You and Chris look so happy damn, I’m truly glad for y’all.”

Replaying some videos, Lily was truly enjoying watching her two friends enjoying this experience. The smiles on Chris’s and Matt’s faces were enough to make one appear on her face as well. Lily was just silently looking at more videos, which led Matt to wonder about her not talking anymore.

“You good?” Matt asked after a couple of minutes of not hearing anything. “You’re unusually quiet.”

“Sorry,” Lily apologised by instinct. “I’m just so happy for you, it seems to have been great.”

“It was”, Matt confirmed. “Pros of Chris befriending him, we’re seeing him again in LA when we’re back.”

“Sounds amazing! Only the two of you again or?”

“Nick will come this time”, Matt replied as who else was going to be here. “Madison and her boyfriend too, plus a couple of mutual friends with Skies I think as well.”

“Madison?” Lily repeated as she didn’t know why Matt was using her full name. “Madi, you mean?”

“Madison Beer,” Matt clarified.

To say Lily was shocked was an understatement. She remembered that the triplets had filmed a podcast with the singer Madison Beer, but she hadn’t thought about them actually hanging out together after their collaboration.

“I am so jealous right now”, Lily admitted. “Y’all are so famous actually.”

“More like we’re friends with famous people though,” Matt denied. He and his brothers didn’t like to think of themselves as celebrities, more as lucky people who eventually managed to be around actual celebrities.

“You’re on the right path though”, Lily countered as she believed that the triplets could achieve so much more than they already had and would be even more successful as time would pass. “I entered your life early enough not to be a gold digger.”

“Please don’t joke about that, I’d feel terrible.” Matt didn’t want to be too dramatic so he let out a small laugh along with Lily's, but he really hoped deep down that this situation would never happen to his friend.

“Sorry, but for now it’s not happening so no worries.” Although he couldn’t see her, Lily was smiling at Matt being concerned about her. “I’ll stay in the dark and be the mysterious five-star baker that appeared once in a vlog.”

“That’s perfect.”

A comfortable silence then took place. Matt and Lily simply basked in the peaceful quiet between them before the girl found a new subject of discussion:

“By the way”, she started. “Have y’all seen the comments on the vlog we did together? I swear they’ve been cracking me and Alex up for the entire weekend.”

This is something Matt hadn’t expected to talk with Lily as he was now hoping that she hadn’t read anything that she didn’t like. However, given that Lily was introducing the matter with a positive tone, Matt felt glad even though he could probably guess that it was the comments he hadn’t liked very much when reading them.

“Can you believe people are shipping me and Chris? For literally thirty seconds!”

While Lily was chuckling at the ridiculous thought of her being with the youngest triplet, Matt had no choice but to lightly laugh with her, although a bitter feeling rose in him.

“That’s insane yeah…”

Although Matt thought he was hiding his annoyance, Lily immediately picked up on it and was confused about it. Was she imagining it? Were the triplets mad that people had commented about that? Lily knew that they were sometimes cases of Matt and Chris randomly being shipped with people – it had unfortunately happened with Madison Beer when they released their podcast with her – so she was now scared that this was going to be a problem for her friendship with the triplets.

“Is Chris mad?” Lily quietly asked, afraid of the answer she would get. “I’m sorry, I should have toned down my attitude but I just felt comfortable with y’all. I swear I didn’t want to create any issue–”

“Lily stop”, Matt quickly interrupted as he was surprised at Lily’s thought process. “No one’s mad about anything, don’t worry.”

“You’re sure?” She couldn’t help but want to confirm.

“Yes, I am. Chris and Nick actually found those comments hilarious, I’m just silly grumpy me so no worries.”

“M’kay, I’ll trust you on this one and let it slide.”

Although Lily knew that something more might be going on, she didn’t pry for more information and Matt was glad that he didn’t have to explain his stupid jealousy. Lily wasn’t one to force people to tell her everything and if Matt had anything to say to her, she knew that he would. Communication was a key element of their friendship, but small matters like that fortunately didn’t need full transparency.

After this small discussion, Matt and Lily kept talking about their plans to come as Lily was trying to get information on future video topics that the triplets would film. Matt just told her that videos regarding Halloween were going to be posted during the week but this was all Lily could have for now as Matt didn’t want to spoil her. They then hung up when Alex called Lily for dinner and promised each other to call again soon, even if their respective lives would get busy. 

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 25 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad

Now on the plane, the triplets were finally on their way back home to Boston. They were excited to spend the next week with their family as it would be their last time together until Christmas. Per usual as when they would leave people after hanging out, they had to debrief the past couple of days as there was a lot to unpack: Matt realising that his online friend Lily was a fan of him and his brothers, inviting her to their last show as to properly meet her, before spending time with her and her friends at her house. None of them could have expected this to happen when Matt told them about his friend, but they were absolutely not regretting those times spent together.

“So,” Chris started. “That was eventful.”

“Yeah, a lot to deal with but it was worth it.” Nick was glad to have experienced this as Lily was, in his opinion, very nice and fun to be with. “How are you dealing with that Matt?”

Matt had been surprisingly quiet since they had left Lily and Alex at the airport, which made his brothers worried. It wasn’t a shock that the middle triplet wasn’t talking much, but it was to a point that it’s like he wasn’t paying attention to anything else. Matt seemed to be distracted by something – or someone – and it was making him feel weird.

“She was crying”, Matt eventually replied. “But she didn’t want me to notice like– she wasn’t actually when I last saw her but I’m pretty sure she did after we left each other…”

Nick and Chris stayed silent at the revelation, not knowing what to say. They had noticed that Lily seemed to really be in tune with her emotions and to easily get attached to people based on what Alex had told them as well as the fact that Lily had been very friendly from the beginning. They felt bad for their friend as they hadn’t expected her to react like this from being separated from them – from Matt mostly.

“How do you feel about leaving her though?” Nick asked.

“I don’t know”, Matt honestly answered. “I have mixed feelings about it because I really enjoyed the past couple of days with Lily so of course I wish we could’ve spent more time together, but I feel like I shouldn’t get too dependent.”

“I get what you mean. Although you’ve been talking for a while, you both tried to get used to a friendship in real life and it’s gonna be hard to come back so quickly to long distance.”

Matt felt like Nick was reading his thoughts as he knew exactly what to say. He was glad to have him as although Matt had always been deemed the best listener by his brothers, Nick’s advice was something that was never useless. Sometimes it could be a hard truth you don’t want to hear, but it would mostly be what you needed to hear.

“We’re in the same country at least”, Chris chimed in. He wanted nothing more than to reassure his brother who was always there for him, even if it meant feeding some delusions right now. “Could've been an international fan who flew from like Europe to see us. And y’all have phones so it’s easy to keep in touch, even with the rest of their gang we’ll keep talking so we should be good. You’re not losing your girl Matt.”

“Thanks Chris,” Matt sincerely smiled at his brother’s words and tried to ignore the last sentence. “I’m honestly feeling fine about all that but I just hope that Lily isn’t dwelling on it too much, I don’t think I’m worth that much.”

“Don’t say that bro, she values you so that’s why she reacted like that.”

“Chris is right,” Nick agreed. “You both experience things differently so both of your reactions are valid. Don't feel like you have to match her simply because she's more expressive.”

“Don't know what I'd do without you two for real.” Matt truly appreciated the support given by Nick and Chris.

“We could say the same,” Chris replied with a smile as he patted Matt on his shoulder.

“Yeah, without me you'd both have to walk everywhere with shit in your underwear, I know.” Matt snickered as Chris had almost been asking for it.

“Walked right into that one Chris,” Nick sighed.

Matt felt glad to have his brothers’ opinion on the matter as he was always in need to hear their thoughts on something, due to slight insecurities. With Nick and Chris, Matt kept sharing his views on the days they’d spent with Alex and Lily – it was something they always did after leaving people as they needed to know everyone’s point of the view. Right now, they had nothing negative to say about the girls nor about their friends as the triplets had had such a great time that they were missing it already. They had been welcomed so nicely and wonderfully treated that they were almost thinking they hadn’t deserved it. They then hoped that one day, they would be able to return the favour – a day that might not be this far from now.

~~~

Nick, Matt, and Chris had now safely landed in Boston. They were warmly welcomed by their parents, Mary Lou and Jimmy, who drove them back home. The triplets were glad to spend time with their family and friends, as they had invited Nate to spend the weekend with them when they’d tell him what he had missed since they last saw him.

The sun was setting as Nick, Matt, and Chris flopped down on the couch while Mary Lou told them to rest while she’d cook dinner. Justin, who had waited for his family at the house, asked the triplets about their weekend in Spring Hill before Mary Lou scolded them as she wanted to know as well – the conversation would therefore wait until it was time to eat and everyone would be together. For now, Nick decided that he would check how their last video – the vlog they’d filmed and posted yesterday – was doing. Since he had posted it, Nick hadn’t had time to look at it to see if everything was fine. While the blonde was thus checking the settings of the video, Matt and Chris scrolled through the comments. They shared a couple of funny ones out loud until one of them made Matt stop talking. He kept scrolling down and was surprised to see that others like that kept appearing. Having seen the same ones, Chris was the one to point them out.

“This is hilarious, people are shipping me and Lily because of literally two little minutes.”

“Wha–” Nick almost gasped as Chris showed him his phone.

Scrolling through the comments himself, Nick snickered at some of them. They were along the lines of “Lily calling Chris babe is so cute”, “if they don’t get together i swear–” and simply people wondering if they were dating. The mix of clueless people who had no idea what was going on or just fans thinking they looked good together fortunately seemed to shadow the negative comments as none of the triplets were seeing anything hurtful towards Alex or Lily.

While Nick and Chris were being thankful for the love and appreciation given by their fans on the video – everyone looked happy about this vlog introducing random friends in the triplets’ life, Matt was weirdly not sharing the same opinion. He was obviously happy that no one was insulting the girls or anything like that, but the comments about Chris and Lily were making him feel uneasy. He thought it weird that he was dwelling on such a trivial matter as they were innocent comments. It was true that Chris and Lily had looked very close at one point during the video, but people didn’t know that this was Lily’s usual attitude with all her friends. And although Matt knew that fact about his friend, he was almost feeling jealous of that. Lily was his friend first. He was the reason why his brothers met her and why they eventually filmed with her. Why was he even thinking like that? He had no reason to be this bitter about such a minor thing and tried to put that stupid thought in the back of his mind as he joined in his brothers’ discussion. This is so dumb, I have no reason to feel this petty. I’ll get over it. No need to focus on that.

Unbeknownst to Matt, his father – ever the observant one from whom the son got this personality trait – had seen him preoccupied for a short moment and wondered whether to talk to him about it. Jimmy really cared a lot about Matt as he had always felt like Matt was the triplet the most similar to him. He thought about the pros and cons, before deciding that he could wait for his son to come to him and would only reach out if he felt that Matt wasn’t doing good.

~~~

“So”, Mary Lou began as she was serving food to her family. “How was it? Tell us everything!”

“Well, we had a very good time”. Nick had decided to speak for Matt and Chris as he knew they had agreed on their thoughts earlier. “Their house was really welcoming and we also met two of their friends so that was nice.”

“I’m glad to hear that '', Mary Lou replied with a smile. She was happy that her sons were having new people in their life, people her ‘mother instinct’ was approving of. “We watched your vlog from yesterday by the way, you were at their workplace right?”

“Yes!” Chris happily answered. “The cake was sooo good like chocolate and orange, that shit was delicious.”

“Oh, I have a recipe from Lily for you.” Nick pulled out his phone to send it to his mum.

While Chris kept talking about the cake, Nick and Mary Lou were discussing the recipe as well as the ingredients needed to see if they could bake soon enough. Jimmy and Justin then asked questions about Spring Hill while Matt was simply listening to the conversations currently going on. He gave his input a couple of times, but being an observer was enough for him for now. As he then let his mind wander to Lily and how she was doing – he was almost completely forgetting about his delirious thoughts from earlier, it was as if the song There She Goes by The La’s was playing in his head. It was a song that had played on the radio in the background of Matt and Lily’s conversation during their journey from Fort Lauderdale to Spring Hill, and had brought a relaxing mood while the two friends had gone back to asking each other questions. There she goes again, racing through my brain as Lily had hummed to the melody of the sweet sentence. Matt internally laughed at himself for this thought process and then proceeded to fully get back into the dinner discussions with a smile, which his dad appreciated that his son looked to be doing better. Jimmy was glad that Matt had made a friend that seemed dear to him, and he could only hope along with Mary Lou’s excitement about this new addition in Matt’s life that this friendship would be long lasting.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 24 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad

The atmosphere wasn’t as light-hearted as the previous day as everyone was dreading what was to come: parting ways for an unknown period of time. Like yesterday, Lily had woken up a bit earlier than the others as she wanted to cook one last breakfast for the triplets. She had decided to make brownies with smiley faces she’d drawn on it with white chocolate chips in order to raise her friends’ mood. It seemed to work as Nick, the first to join her in the kitchen, let out a chuckle at the sight of such a cute breakfast. Lily internally celebrated her success and offered an early treat to the oldest triplet, the same way she’d done for Matt with the pancakes. The blonde quickly accepted it and immediately complimented the girl for how soft the brownies were and how they melted in the mouth. He asked her if it was fine to get the recipe as he knew his mum might like them as much as he did.

“Well, certainly good sir!” Lily smiled as she took out her cooking notebook so that Nick could take a picture of the recipe. “Keep me updated if she ever makes it, I’d love to know what she thinks.”

“Of course”, Nick nodded after giving Lily her notebook back.

Soon enough, everyone was awake and they were all eating together. Lily had made a ton of brownies as she wanted her friends to have enough for the ride to the airport and even for the plane journey if they wanted to. Although the idea was sweet, they were all suddenly reminded of the goodbyes they’d have to say to each other later today. To not miss a moment between the five of them, the group had decided to head early to Tampa – where the closest airport flying to Boston was – so that they’d be able to have lunch together. They all preferred to eat there rather than stay in the girls’ house as it would lead to less pressure when it’d be time for the triplets to go.

~~~

When they arrived in Tampa after an hour of driving, the weather was nice enough that the five friends could have lunch outside. It was around one in the afternoon so they still had two hours before Nick, Matt and Chris were supposed to go through security. Having all been there before, they chose a café that they knew was nicely placed in the city, not too far from the airport but in a nice neighbourhood. Sensing that lunch was close to being spent in silence due to them all dreading the separation, Alex and Nick telepathically took the matter in their hands as they kept talking to lighten up the atmosphere. Like Lily’s strategy earlier in the morning, it worked as everyone’s mind was forgetting – for the time of lunch – that everything was temporary and fleeting, as all good things come to an end.

~~~

This was it, the moment that had absolutely not been awaited. Although Nick, Matt and Chris were happy to go home to their family and friends, they had spent such a great couple of days with the girls and having no idea when they’d see them again left a bittersweet feeling of uncertainty in the air. The plane’s departure was nearing and it was definitely time for the triplets to leave Alex and Lily. Silently agreeing, Chris and Nick were the first to say goodbye to the two girls with a hug and a promise of meeting again before they told Matt that they’d go check in their suitcase so he could take his time before joining them. Understanding what they wanted to achieve, Alex then quickly bid Matt farewell and told Lily that she’d wait for her outside.

Matt and Lily were now alone, standing face to face in the airport. The scene was worthy of a rom-com as they were simply looking at each other without speaking. Lily eventually decided to break the silence as she knew that staying with Matt for too long would soon lead to her crying. Lily was often a very emotional person but she didn’t want Matt to see this part of her yet.

“So, hmm… this is goodbye…”

“Yeah,” Matt awkwardly replied as he was fidgeting with the straps of his backpack. “They all said it already but this is only ‘see you soon’, not a definite goodbye.”

“True”, Lily agreed. “If this was an actual ‘adieu’ I don’t know if I’d even be capable of being there.”

“One day maybe,” Matt admitted. “But it’s not happening today, this is only temporary.”

“Who knows how long temporary can be? Even though this one was so short…”

“It’s not like we’ll cut ties,” Matt reassured. He didn’t know whether to put a hand on Lily’s shoulder so his hand was now awkwardly by his side. “We’ll keep texting and even call. We’ll play Fortnite again and you can tell me all about those Pokemon of yours that I’ll probably never catch. I’ll tell you about life on the West Coast and you’ll tell me about your customers. It’ll be the same as before, but with the bonus of now also being friends in real life.”

While he had been rambling, Matt didn’t notice how Lily was now looking at the ground. One look at him and she’d immediately sob – her eyes were already watering and it was becoming hard to breathe – so she just settled on stepping over the imaginary line that was between them and hugged Matt. Surprised at the girl’s action but hugging her back nonetheless, Matt was about to ask Lily if she was fine when he sensed her tightening her arms around him. He knew she was crying, or close to do so, and decided against saying anything – their actions would speak for the both of them. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes: Lily not moving an inch while Matt was occasionally rubbing her back with one of his hands as a sign of comfort. Unaware of the looks they had been getting – people thought they were a cute couple and felt sad for them that they were leaving each other, Matt and Lily eventually separated. Lily was the first to actually step back because she knew she couldn’t bear to stay too close to Matt. As she saw the time on the huge clock of the airport, she sighed and put her hands in her pockets. It was their final moment and they couldn’t delay it anymore.

“Goodbye Matt, until we see each other again.” Lily was smiling, but Matt could tell it was fake as it wasn’t as soft and pure as her usual one.

“Goodbye Lily, it’s only a matter of time until it happens.” Matt wasn’t even able to fake a smile like the girl facing him, but his eyes said enough that nothing more was needed.

Hesitantly turning back at the same time, Matt and Lily each went towards opposite directions. Not daring to look back, they kept walking until they weren’t even in the same room anymore – which wouldn’t happen for quite some time.

“It’s stupid, isn’t it?” Lily whispered as she was now standing next to Alex. “Crying for a guy like that.”

“It’s not, I assure you.” Alex took her best friend in her arms and this was the breaking point for Lily for she started sobbing on Alex’s shoulder.

“I do feel stupid though…” Lily mumbled. Stupid for you.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

21 Questions | Matt Sturniolo & What If... (Chris's Version) | Collection of One-Shots <MASTERLIST>

Hey y'all, my best friend and I have been writing a fic for matt and one shots for chris if you wanna check it out!!

Here are the links to both the fic and OS on wattpad as this is where we mainly post - we're trying to get more reads by reposting here as well ^^

MATT FIC

CHRIS OS

Disclaimer:

Please understand that this is a fanfiction and therefore not an accurate depiction of life.

We don't know the triplets and are simply writing this for fun, in no way are we trying to say that this is how they actually behave

Also, English is not our native language so please don't hold any spelling/grammar mistake against us🫶🏻

Anyways imma use this post as a masterlist, which will redirect y'all to @sk8termikey acc bc she is the one putting every chap out so shout out to her bc I'm a lazy bitch and i barely know how to use tumblr :))

Prologue

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

(the crossed chaps are on wattpad, coming soon here)

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 23 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad

At half past five in the afternoon on the East Coast, the Sturniolo triplets – Nick to be honest – successfully posted their weekly Wednesday video. They had entitled it Baking class for chris’s victory *it's actually edible* and the views as well as the likes quickly appeared on Nick’s screen. He had made sure that Alex and Lily were always hidden by something or someone when they were recording and the girls thanked him again for being understanding.

Now that the main events of the days were over, the group of friends decided to head back to the house. Lily asked them what they all wanted to eat for dinner tonight as she was planning on cooking and needed to know whether they had to stop to buy ingredients or not. Luckily, the triplets chose lasagna – after asking Lily three times if she didn’t mind – and the designated cook knew that they had everything back home.

“Would y’all wanna meet our friends before leaving?” Lily suggested as she stopped at a red light. “I mean, Nick already saw Lucas but we could all hang out together tonight seeing as we met your best friends.”

“That sounds really nice Lily,” Matt agreed as his brothers did the same.

Although Alex had denied that Lily and Lucas were dating, Matt was still curious to witness their dynamic. He wondered if Lily would act no differently than if she were only with her friends and not with the triplets, and hoped that the girls’ friends would like him, Chris and Nick.

While Lily finished driving them back to her house, Alex had texted their groupchat to offer Lily’s idea to Jade and Lucas. They immediately replied positively, excited to meet their friends’ new friends. The two coworkers knew the basics regarding Lily and Matt’s relationship, but were impatient to eventually hear the full story once they’d have Alex and Lily to themselves.

~~~

Everyone was getting to know each other as Jade and Lucas had recently arrived at the girls’ house and were finally able to meet the famous triplets. Not having seen either of the girls since they’d been back, Jade tightly hugged Alex and Lily for a few minutes before going to introduce herself to Nick, Matt and Chris. Lucas also hugged his friends as they welcomed him into the house, and couldn’t help but feel a stare on him as he had his arm around Lily’s shoulders after their hug. So that’s Matt I guess, Lucas thought as he sent a smile to the middle triplet before leaving Lily to introduce himself to the two brothers he hadn’t met yet. The guys all exchanged handshakes, contrary to Jade who had hugged them due to her very outgoing nature. She knew not to get shy as she trusted her best friends for not having brought creepy weirdos in their house.

Once the introductions were done, they all settled in the living-room while Lily announced that she would start preparing dinner. Jade immediately offered to help as she wanted nothing more than to catch up with her friend.

“Soooo”, the youngest girl of the two began. “I need everything!”

“Babe, I can’t tell you much more right now.”

“Whyyyy?” Jade pleaded as she dragged out the vowel.

“Honestly, I thought we’d all have a drink over the weekend, with you and Lucas so that Alex and I can tell y’all both about last week.” Lily explained with a frown as her idea had felt more practical to her.

“Makes sense, no worries! I understand,” Jade smiled at her friend in comprehension. “Can you at least tell me if he treats you well?”

“He as in who? Matt?” Lily asked while heating the oven. “Of course he does, they all do. Wouldn’t be under our roof if they were monsters, would they?”

“True”, Jade admitted with a chuckle. “It’s gonna be hard having to wait for the whole story when the drama is so pretty.”

“Pretty?” Lily repeated with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, like– you have gorgeous triplets on your couch right now, you can’t tell me the gossip ain’t attractive.”

Jade was making a point that Lily didn’t know how to react to. Of course she had noticed that the triplets were handsome. Hell, she’d even go for Nick if she weren’t a girl. But it was something that Lily hadn’t wanted to dwell too much on. Yes, they were absolutely her type; no, she didn’t care about that.

“I don’t really view them like that you know,” Lily thought about how to word it. “I’m not blind obviously, but I guess their appearance is background knowledge for me. I care more for their personality and them being pretty is a bonus? Like you and the whole gang, I’d be dumb as hell not to notice that my best friends are drop dead gorgeous, but I like y’all for what’s inside of you guys.”

“Damn girl, I’ll end up crying if you keep going.” Jade fake wiped a tear to Lily’s words. “That’s so true and I love you, oh my god. Those guys don’t know how lucky they are to be around you, they’ll need to realise it soon.”

“Don’t bother them too much babe,” Lily teased. “I feel like the luckiest one out of us for now.”

Turning back to face the living-room, Lily’s eyes were met with the sight of two of her closest friends laughing with her three new friends. She quickly exchanged eye contact with Lucas, who threw his arm around Alex’s shoulders to hide it from the triplets and gave a thumbs up along with a grin to Lily in order to signify that he was having fun and approved of Nick, Matt and Chris.

~~~

After dinner – everyone had quickly agreed that Lily was an excellent cook, they decided to play board games. It was an activity that Lily and her three best friends were used to doing when hanging out together at one of their houses, so it felt like a good idea to include the triplets in their tradition. 

“I feel like this could be a fun game since we don’t really know each other that well”, Lucas suggested while holding Codenames in his hand. “Even with the girls here it’s always chaos.”

“Ooh I love that one!” Alex exclaimed as she was on board with that.

“How do we split though?” Nick wondered as he pointed out that they were an odd number.

“We can definitely mix, it’ll add some fun into it.” Lily offered. “I don’t mind with whom I end up so y’all choose or we can even draw.”

“You’re the glue friend bro, of course you don’t mind.” Alex chuckled as she knew her best friend would be able to enjoy the game no matter what.

In the end, they decided to make one team of four with Lily, Lucas, Matt and Jade while the second team was of three with Alex, Chris and Nick. The formers would be team blue while the latters were the red team. They chose to often switch roles so that everyone could have their turn and it would be funny to see which word associations they could all think of.

The first round consisted of Lucas making Lily guess while Chris would make Nick guess, thus allowing everyone to relax as they thought that people who knew each other well was a good strategy to break the ice. It was a success as both teams were able to quickly guess the words associated with their team colour.

“Seems like the triplet mindhive isn’t working too well today”, Matt snickered as Nick had just chosen the ‘assassin’ word and led his team to losing the first round.

“Damn! We were doing so well,” Chris lamented. “Alex, save my honour please.”

“Will do, boss!”

As Lucas high-fived Lily for this victory before standing up, it was now Matt’s turn to make the girl guess words for the second round.

“Oh my god it’s so annoying”, Alex complained. “I have associations that I know Lily would immediately get, that’s insane.”

“Try me,” Nick said with confidence.

And she succeeded. Alex was surprisingly making a good team with Nick, which made sense as she had been watching the triplets’ videos for almost a year and was therefore able to grasp what was going on in their brains. However, it was currently more complicated on the other team as Lily was struggling to guess Matt’s words. She would guess one actual word of their team colour and the second one she’d try to guess always ended up being a neutral word, if not a word of Alex and Nick’s team colour.

“I am so sorry Matt”, Lily apologised with a frown. “I swear I’m usually better at this…”

“It’s okay, don’t worry Lily.” Matt smiled at his teammate in reassurance. Although he was mostly trying to associate words in a way that Lily could guess, he was also frustrated at himself for not doing as good as Lucas. “I’ll do better, for the team.” For you, he internally added as he wanted to experience a victory with Lily.

Lucas patted Matt on the back as a sign of support. He didn’t want to make Matt feel bad by suggesting words he knew could make sense together to Lily as he believed that they had to get to that level of closeness by themselves. He was rooting for Matt and knew he could eventually succeed. But for now, it wasn’t enough as Lily pointed at a word that wasn’t for her team, therefore making Alex yell of happiness for having won the second round.

“Tie break now!” the blonde said as she switched places with Chris.

“Bro I think I know how your brain works now, I’ll make you guess.” Chris felt confident for this third and last round as he motioned for Alex to sit in Nick’s place.

To counter this possible threatening duo, Lily decided that she wouldn’t be the one to guess anymore and made Lucas take her place as Jade took Matt’s place so that she could finally play. Lily trusted her two friends to win this round and went to sit next to Matt.

“Hey”, she softly said as she looked at him. “Sorry for losing.”

“Hey,” he replied. “No worries, I guess I need to get to know you better. I’m not as good as Lucas.”

“Nonsense bro, you’ll be on the same level in no time. I know it, we just need to get used to each other not being behind a screen.”

Matt agreed with a nod and the pair smiled at each other before turning their attention to the new round that was starting. Chris had been right for his confidence as he had just made Alex guess three words that wouldn’t have made much sense together for anyone else but actually did for the girl, which led to Chris fist-bumping her. However, Jade and Lucas weren’t to be underestimated as Jade managed to get Lucas to also guess three words, although one of them hadn’t even been one she’d hoped him to get with the two others. Then, when Alex eventually pointed at a neutral word, Chris loudly sighed. The good thing that could come out from this was that it meant that their team only had one word left. Therefore, if Lucas and Jade didn’t win now, Chris could easily make Alex guess their last word. Suspense was at its highest as Jade tried to imagine how to link her last two words together. She knew it would be a bit far-stretched but she decided that it was all or nothing.

“Them”, the girl said as she pointed at Matt and Lily with her head.

“Hey!” Chris protested. “Is that even allowed?”

Curious as to how this would play out, Alex chose to defend her rivals.

“Well, we can accept it. I trust us bro, Lucas barely knows Matt so it’s an easy victory.”

But as she looked at the words left and exchanged a glance with Jade across the table, Alex knew that Lucas would be able to guess the two words related to Matt and Lily. It wasn’t even a question of knowing Matt but of simply seeing what was obvious regarding the two friends. At this point, Alex didn’t even care about winning, she just wanted to see how her friend would react.

“Online”, Lucas confidently said to which Jade confirmed by putting a blue card on the word. He skimmed through the last words left and tried to think of what could remind him of the pair next to him. Finally, his eyes set on a word and he snickered. “Cute?”

“LET’S GO!” Jade shouted as she smashed her last blue card on the word and high-fived Lucas.

“Noooooo!” Alex dramatically gasped as she knew it would end like that.

Glancing at Jade, Alex let out a laugh as if to say ‘well done’ for the word association before looking at her best friend whose expression was a mix of joy regarding their victory and confusion regarding the last word chosen.

“I get ‘online’ because Matt and I met like that but why even ‘cute’? Bit dumb.”

“Because y’all are”, Lucas chuckled as he ruffled Lily’s hair. He tried to be careful with his words as to not make things awkward. “You becoming friends online and then unknowingly meeting sounds like a book trope.”

“For real, it was fate that you ended up together!” Jade exclaimed as she was glad that Lucas got what she meant. “Well, like– together as friends obviously.”

As Jade winked at Lily, the oldest of the two looked away in embarrassment. Yes she could admit that it was meant to be to have met Matt like they did as Alex had said the same before, but Jade’s semi allusions felt too much for Lily who frowned a bit. Although unnoticed by most, Lucas saw the change in Lily’s expression and side-hugged her to show that they didn’t mean to tease her that much. She looked up at him as Lucas had been standing next to her chair and smiled in acknowledgement of his comfort. Matt had carefully watched the exchange, which confirmed to him why Nick had been fooled by their interactions.

The middle triplet didn’t mind how his and Lily’s relationship was seen by the others and even deemed it nice that Jade wasn’t against this friendship. They’re the cute ones though, Matt thought as he glanced again at Lily and Lucas. He hoped that he could one day be as comfortable with Lily around others as he only wished to be closer to her. His current thought process was simply filled with spending time with Lily and getting to know her even more. It could have seemed obsessive but it was Matt’s goal. His mind was strictly focused on that feeling you get when you meet someone new and want to know everything about them.

What makes her laugh? What makes her want to wake up in the mornings? What makes her smile the way she always does? What makes her, her? Matt knew some of those things obviously, but he couldn’t help but feel like he had only grazed the surface of what was going on in Lily’s brain. He had to go below and explore the depths of her thoughts. He had to reach into the obscure of her heart and know what was hiding behind its walls. He had to know everything about her, and he had to do the same in return: open himself to share the mysteries of his life with her and exchange their truest secrets about each other. He could only hope that she felt the same.

~~~

After playing two other board games – Clue and Trivial Pursuit, the seven friends called it a day, or a night given the late hour, and it was time to finish the eventful hangout. Clue had eventually ended in Nick’s victory while Trivial Pursuit was over after the pink team had won. It consisted of Alex and Jade, who had crushed the two other teams: the yellow team with Nick and Lily as well as the green team with Chris, Matt and Lucas. It felt a bit ironic to have Matt and Lucas team up as the former had been weirdly weary of the latter, but it was quickly obvious that Lucas was a nice guy and was enjoyable to be around. Chris grew fond of him and they got along well during the game.

As Jade and Lucas were now getting ready to leave the house, the girl gasped at something she was just remembering.

“Wait, I absolutely need to keep contact with y’all! We need to exchange Instagram.”

“Babe, they have millions of followers.” Lily chuckled. “I’m sure you can find them easily.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jade nodded. “But it’s useless if they don’t know I’m the one following them.”

“Correct,” Chris agreed. “Give your user then, you too bro.” He added as he looked at Lucas. “We need to hang out again if y’all are ever close to LA or if we come back.”

“You plan on coming back here Christopher?” Alex teased. “So nice of you to not forget us.”

“Never bro, you know me.”

As Chris then hit ‘follow’ on both Jade’s and Lucas’s Instagram, he sent their profiles to his brothers so that they could do the same. Thanking the girls for welcoming them, Lucas and Jade were now leaving after saying goodbye to everyone along with a promise to catch up more with Alex and Lily  on their next day off. Closing the door, Lily turned back to her guests and saw that Chris was looking at her expectedly. She raised an eyebrow at his attitude as she was not understanding his message.

“Your user”, Chris explained as if it was obvious. “Getting your friends’ and not yours would be weird.”

“Ooooh, yep. Forgot that we only stopped at phone numbers.” She replied as she unlocked her phone to show her account to the triplets.

They all followed her on her private account before Nick and Chris also added her photography account as Matt was the only one to already have it. Then, they asked Alex for her username as well and soon enough, the five friends were all following each other back on Instagram, with their actual main accounts. Nick complimented Lily on her pictures on her public account and reminded everyone with a laugh that they wouldn’t be here if not for them.

“I definitely post more on that one than the other”, she pointed out. “I guess I mostly use the ‘story’ feature on my private account to rant about life.”

“True, she barely actually posts on there but you bet she’s always active.” Alex snickered as she knew that her best friend often posted on her ‘close friends story’ about whatever was going on in her life, even if insignificant.

“I hope you don’t mind that the group account won’t follow you, but I don’t want people to find you too quickly after today’s video.” Nick warned. “Although it’s without a doubt that they’ll stalk us for more information.”

“Damn,” Alex sighed. “I hadn’t thought about that. I honestly don’t mind making my account private so at least they can’t see what we look like.”

“Good thinking,” Nick approved. “And sorry for the eventual bother.”

“Nah, don’t be.” Alex reassured him while waving it off. “Y’all are superstars, can’t complain about it. We know what we’re getting into.”

Lily nodded in agreement and they all closed the matter before going to bed as it was past midnight. The triplets were leaving the next day and although they had only briefly talked about it, no one wanted to think about the moment when they’d have to say goodbye to each other. They would still have time in the morning as the triplets’ plane was in the afternoon and Lily would drive them to the airport, but the tension was unknowingly building as no one knew when they’d next meet.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 22 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad

Not long after Lily had finished preparing the pancakes, with the company of Matt, everyone started waking up. Nick had been the first – intrigued by the smell that was coming from the adjacent room to him, then Alex and Chris had awakened around the same time. Lily had been thoroughly thanked for the breakfast she had made and her pancakes were as loved by the triplets as they were by Alex.

“Y’all don’t know how lucky I am to live with her for real”, Alex claimed while eating her third pancakes. “I have the best friend ever.”

“It is really good, thank you so much for those bro.” Chris was clearly enjoying the food as he stole a pancake from the plate right as Nick was about to take it.

“Waking up to this everyday is the dream life,” Nick wondered. “I don’t wanna take advantage of your kindness Lily but I’d love for you to cook for us more before we leave.”

“It’s no problem,” Lily assured. “I really like cooking, especially for friends and family so making people happy is what makes me happy.”

They all smiled at that and couldn’t believe it. The world didn’t deserve Lily, but this girl sure deserved everything good that could happen to her.

“I wish I could promise you one of her best recipes but y’all might have to beg her for it.” Alex teased the triplets as she knew she could eat Lily’s food whenever she wanted. “Her cakes are sooo good!”

“Flattery doesn’t get you anywhere babe, you know that.”

“Wait, but like–” Matt started. “If Lily cooks most of the stuff, what do you and your other friends do, Alex?”

“Good question Matthew. I actually do most of the drinks with Jade while Lucas takes care of the bookstore part. It’s not unusual that we shift roles but this is what we all mainly do there.”

“Sounds like a good atmosphere between y’all four,” Chris said. “Kinda want to check out your place now.”

“We can actually”, Lily offered. “Closed it for the day because I was thinking of bringing you there if you’d wanted.”

“Really?” Nick asked. “Like, just for us?”

“Yeah, of course!” Lily widely smiled. “We can bake something, you can see the books we have and just chill there so we’re not locked in the house for the day.”

“That’d be very nice, thank you Lily.” Matt exchanged a glance with the girl as he appreciated that she was going to share this big part of her life with them.

As they all agreed to the idea, everyone went to get dressed – as they were all still in their pyjamas to have breakfast – before Lily drove them to her and Alex’s workplace.

~~~

“It looks so cute from outside already!” Nick exclaimed as they arrived in front of the café.

“Thanks,” Alex replied. “My parents were the ones who did most of it back then but Lucas and I sometimes remodel based on the seasons and stuff.”

Lily unlocked the door before motioning for everyone to enter and made sure that the ‘CLOSED’ sign was visible, so that people wouldn’t wonder why the lights were on without any customers. As a café that was open six days a week, Lily had thought – with her coworkers’ agreement – that changing their day off once wouldn’t be a problem.

While Alex was giving the triplets a tour of the place, Lily was setting everything up. The three guests were all amazed at the café and the fact that they would eventually eat something similar to the pictures hung on the walls. Everything seemed delicious to them and they couldn’t keep their stomachs from being impatient – they’d had breakfast an hour ago but as still growing young adults, of course they would be hungry at the sight of so many choices of pastries on the menu.

“Hey”, Lily called to the triplets who were still wandering around. “If y’all want, the café’s laptop is connected to Spotify so play whatever you want.”

Nick, Chris and Matt all hummed in agreement before the latter decided to go check out what the girls liked. As he scrolled through the playlists, Matt let out a snicker which grabbed Lily’s attention as she was near him.

“What’s so funny about the music I like?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Matt replied with a smile. “It’s just so…organised.”

“Okay, I can admit that I like having my stuff in categories given the amount of playlists that I have. I guess the ones I listen to the most are the ones not in files so pick one of them, that means you don’t have to discover everything that’s in my mind.”

“Noted”, Matt acknowledged while trying to choose a playlist based on their names. “Wow, you’re our biggest fan then.”

“Hmm?” Lily asked before understanding what he was referring to. “Oh yeah, you guys’ playlists are very nice.”

“For real, she plays them a lot in here.” Alex added as she had been half-listening to the conversation. “They’re all good as background music, mostly Matt’s I’d say.”

“That’s true, it sets a good vibe in the mornings especially.” Lily confirmed. “Put that if you want something you already know.”

“No no, it’s fine. I’ll put the all-time faves playlist so I know which songs define you.”

“Damn”, another voice joined the discussion. “That is a very long playlist. No way y’all adore all those songs.”

“Well if you must know Nicolas,” Alex started. “This is actually Lily’s account and yes, she does love those fifteen hours – have done for a while already. I’m not surprised if when we’re seventy and retired, she still plays these songs.”

“Hey!” Lily called as she felt like she was bullied. “Stop judging me and put something on.”

“Will do, don’t worry.” Matt answered as he shuffled the playlist. “Let’s actually judge the songs before we judge you.”

Everyone laughed at that, including Lily, and the café began to be filled with the melody of Over and Out by 5 Seconds of Summer. Although the song was far from being a calm and relaxing one, the music wasn’t that loud so it allowed the group of friends to still be able to freely talk while having background noise.

“Okay so now that we have that, where do we start?” Chris asked as he was leaning on the counter.

“We’re supposed to bake something for you so you’re the one to tell us,” Lily replied as she walked towards the fridge. “What do you want in your victory cake?”

At that, Chris let out a big smile as he was happy that Lily was still on board with the joke he had made the week before. He thought for a second before deciding.

“Because it’s in my honour, I guess it has to have orange in it.” He looked at everyone as he was hesitating. “What goes well with that? It’s not everyday that we actually bake from scratch and have to invent a recipe.”

“That’s true,” Matt agreed. “We have always cooked stuff that was pre-made I guess like– we just have to assemble most of the time.”

“Wait, it’s actually innovative for us.” Nick pointed out. “I kinda want to vlog that chaos.”

“Excuse me?” Alex looked offended at that. “There will be no chaos when you’re literally gonna be baking with two superstars. We take no responsibility for the fact that y’all three don’t know shit.”

“So it’s a yes to vlog it then?” Nick wished to confirm. “And I promise we’ll do our best!”

The two girls nodded and Lily just put in the condition that their faces wouldn’t appear, only their backs at most. Alex felt the same as she wasn’t very keen on being publicly seen on the internet. She had always been very outgoing and extroverted but something about being in a video with the triplets felt scary.

“No worries, we won’t be filming like we’d do in our kitchen for example.” Matt assured as he gave a smile to Lily. “It’ll just be small moments of our failures.”

“Yep. We’ll be careful, you can trust us!” Chris added with confidence.

The two girls felt more comfortable and as they began putting out the ingredients necessary for the cake – they had eventually chosen chocolate to go with orange, they heard Nick introducing the video.

“Hey everyone! So for today’s vlog which is literally being filmed the same day as it’ll be posted, if we don’t have anything else to film, we’ll be baking a cake in honour of Chris’s victory.”

“As if the trophy wasn’t enough…” Matt muttered but still loud enough for everyone and the camera to hear.

They all laughed at that and Alex could especially be heard as she had the habit of loudly laughing like Chris would do, thus showing that she was someone always receptive to jokes and joy.

“Okay so if y’all hear other voices, we’re with some friends that are better than us at baking–”

“Not really hard to achieve”, Chris interrupted Nick as he went next to the blonde to be in frame.

“Correct”, Nick continued. “So yeah we’re not gonna introduce them formally because they’re shy but they’re professionals so the result is bound to be much more awesome than all we ever did in our cooking videos.”

“Stay tuned for the best cake!” Matt chimed in before Nick paused the camera so that they could actually start baking.

“Damn Matthew, you’re boosting our egos here.” Lily joked. “It’s also pressure, but we’ll manage I guess.”

“Of course!” Alex exclaimed. “No one bakes better than my best friend.”

And thus the beginning of an afternoon full of banter – and batter – started with Lily instructing the triplets of what they should be doing while Alex would sometimes film them.

~~~

“Brooo, what are you doing?” Alex panicked behind the camera as she was recording Chris.

“Whisking?”

“Lily, come help him please!” The girl begged her best friend.

The brunette went to see what was happening and let out an over-dramatic gasp.

“Damn babe, you’re gonna hurt yourself if you keep doing that.” Lily warned as she put her hand on Chris’s wrist to stop his movement. “Here, let me show you how to do it.”

From where she was filming, Alex tilted the camera a bit to the side so that Lily would be hidden by Chris and only her arms around him could be seen. As Chris then wondered what was wrong with him, Lily helped him restart the right movement so that he wouldn’t end up with a cramp after thirty seconds. Chris thanked her and then tried to do it by himself while Lily stayed by his side for a few more minutes in order to make sure that he kept doing what she showed him.

From the other side of the kitchen, Matt had finished preparing the plate in which they would eventually put the cake in. He couldn’t help but observe his younger brother and his friend as they seemed to get along well. Matt was only able to feel grateful that everyone was enjoying the day and he softly smiled at the scene in front of him.

Lily then left Chris in the hands of Alex who had stopped filming to babysit him and joined Matt who was next to the oven. While she checked and confirmed that he had done a good job, she was quietly singing along to Take Her to the Moon by Waterparks that was currently being played. Unbeknownst to her, Matt was trying to understand the lyrics and he couldn’t avoid the familiarity felt with some as the girl was saying it.

“I wanna live inside your mind, next to your favourite songs”. Lily briefly paused as she was focusing on the temperature at which she was heating the oven before singing the next lyrics. “I wanna lose my mood inside a late night phone call with you.”

Damn, Matt thought. He was suddenly starting to overthink everything that was happening. Why was he even relating to the chorus? Did he only feel that because Lily was the one singing it? Let’s not dwell on it… But he would, at one point, dwell on it. Matt was simply delaying what was meant to happen but for now, he tried to simply enjoy the time he was spending with people he cherished.

When Lily finally noticed a gaze on her, she looked up and smiled at Matt who seemed deep in thought. This put him out of his daydream and Matt smiled back before she motioned for him to come join the other three as they were nearing the end of the recipe. With Alex’s help, Lily told the triplets what were the next steps and they did as the girls were instructing. They eventually finished everything and it was now time to put the cake in the oven before waiting for it to cook.

~~~

“Okay guys!” Nick exclaimed at the camera as he was filming the oven. “We’re now gonna see how’s the cake looking and if it’s edible.”

“Nick oh my god!” Alex punched his shoulder which made the camera falter for a second. “Of course it’s edible. Lily’s the best cook ever and not even your lack of skills could change that.”

Lily laughed at her best friend’s enthusiasm before taking the cake out of the oven – Nick taking care of staying behind her so her face couldn’t be seen. She put it on the counter for everyone to admire it.

“It looks so fluffy, I can’t wait to eat it.” Chris was becoming impatient as he wanted nothing more than to taste his victory.

“You don’t want to decorate or anything?” Lily asked him. “Like frosting, I don’t know.”

Looking at each other, the triplets were remembering their previous experiences with frosting during their ‘DEAF, BLIND AND MUTE’ videos before suddenly laughing at the memories.

“I don’t think we’re the best ones at that,” Nick admitted as he faced the camera. “Our viewers would certainly agree.”

“Y’all weren’t that bad”, Alex tried to reason. “You’re all perfectly seeing what you’re doing and we’re still under Lily’s instructions so what could go wrong?”

Everything, the triplets all thought in sync. They eventually agreed when Lily suggested some simple design they could do together. Per Chris’s request, they settled on orange frosting and the triplets actually had lots of fun when they had to mix the food colouring into it. Lily had gladly filmed their reactions as Alex was whisking and the frosting went from light cream to bright orange thus making the triplets have huge smiles on their faces – similar to a child going to an amusement park for the first or getting the toy they wanted on Christmas Day, which was really sweet to witness.

When they then applied the frosting on the cake with the girls’ help, the triplets were amazed at the result. The cake was round and large enough to feed the five friends, covered in bright orange frosting with rose details at the top. Lily wasn’t the best when it came to actual cake design and decorating them – Jade was more the professional at that as she had very still hands, but it turned out that her instructions were enough for Matt to calmly and beautifully adorn the cake. The middle brother was skilled at being a good listener and remembering well what was said to him so he had been the best choice out of them to perfect the cake.

Getting Nick, Matt and Chris in frame, Lily stepped back so she could record the triplets and the cake together while Alex was loudly applauding them.

“Y’all did great! We’re really proud of you guys!”

“Thanks, you were there to help us so it’s mostly you two.” Nick reminded as he and his brothers had simply followed the girls’ orders.

“Nonsense!” Lily exclaimed behind the camera. “Let us give you all three the credit, your fans need to know how talented you became in the kitchen.”

“You’re real housewives now,” Alex joked. “Bake that for your family when you come back home and they’ll be impressed.”

“Send us the recipe though because I remembered nothing,” Chris admitted. “I feel like we’d be capable of baking that for our parents.”

“Yay, of course babe!” Lily was glad that they enjoyed baking enough to try and redo it on their own time. “We’ll be waiting for pictures of your success in your weekly dump.”

“You’ll get early proof of the Sturniolo bakers before everyone,” Nick assured. “Gotta make sure our teachers approve before posting shit.”

“We definitely will, don’t worry!” Lily assured as she knew that they could achieve it if they were all giving it their everything, without being blindfolded or other handicap like that.

After Nick took multiple pictures of the cake, they all finally got to taste it. Chris was designated as the crash tester, to which he was glad as he was the first one to eat the delicious cake. Everyone was delighted when Chris voiced his opinion and confirmed that the cake was as good inside than outside. Alex and Lily were overjoyed at that as they were really happy that the triplets were able to eat something they’d been the ones to make. While eating, they all shared embarrassing cooking stories: Lily told them about her first chocolate mousse that had deflated for God knows why or how and Alex explained the time when she tried to bake a red velvet cake for her brother but accidentally mixed green dye in it so the cake came out Christmas coloured, although it was the middle of summer. The girls knew about Chris, Matt and Nick’s failures as most of them were on camera, but the triplets decided to share a secret with them: they had at least four videos of them baking that they never posted due to how chaotic it ended up being and how disgusting the food was. However, they also announced to the girls that they were planning to film a new edition of their ‘DEAF, BLIND AND MUTE’ videos once they’d be back in LA, thus making Lily and Alex excited for this spoiler regarding their YouTube channel.

As they were then done with eating and cleaning everything up, they decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at the café while Nick would quickly edit the vlog they’d filmed earlier. Lily offered to help as she knew how to get around editing, but Nick assured that he would be fine due to the little clips they had, therefore removing the need to cut too many things. The triplets knew that the video wouldn’t be very long, but the fans would understand as tour had ended only a few days ago and they needed to get back into their routine after this important event.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 21 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad (I had to put the song that made me wanna create this fanfic)

“Hello hello!” Lily called as she arrived in the living room after the deep conversation regarding her love life had finished not long ago. “Bathroom’s free so first come first serve. Towels are on the rack and you can put your clothes in the laundry basket if you want.”

The triplets all thanked her before Nick decided that he’d go first after taking the suitcase upstairs to have his pyjamas ready, seeing as Lily was in hers. The girl plopped down on the couch next to Matt as Alex finally sat down too, next to Chris.

“What’d I miss?”

“We talked about how wonderful you are and that you’re the best person ever!” Alex joked.

“Damn, nothing I didn’t know then”, Lily teased back. “As long as you don’t force the guys to say shit like that.”

The four friends laughed at that, before Chris assured that they didn’t have to be pressured into admitting something that they could see for themselves, which actually made Lily feel so loved. She looked at Matt for confirmation, and he carefully nodded at his brother’s statement.

“Y’all are so nice to me”, Lily said as she wiped a fake tear. “I’ll need to invite you here more often.”

“Please do because y’all have a nice house,” Chris complimented. “Shit’s feels real cosy and homely.”

“That’s so sweet bro, we take that very seriously. Thanks.” Lily was truly appreciative to hear that her guests felt comfortable in the house as it was something that was important to her and Alex: making people feel welcome.

They kept talking about random subjects, from the triplets’ tour to the girls’ childhood, while the people on the couch kept changing for the next hour or so as each one of them would eventually go take a shower. This was the final shift of seats as Alex went to have hers and Lily was left with Nick, Matt and Chris – Bernard was travelling around the house and would occasionally come back to be petted by the group. As she saw the time that had come by, Lily suggested that they order food as the triplets might be hungry. They gladly accepted and Lily unlocked her phone to check for delivery options.

“Usually I’d actually cook for y’all but I’m kinda exhausted right now so tomorrow night if you’re still here. I can offer you pizzas for tonight?”

“We’ll never refuse pizzas”, Nick agreed with the proposal. “And we’ll definitely be here tomorrow night if you’re not tired of us yet.”

“I could never!”The girl faked to be offended. “Here, look at the menu and add your choices to the cart.”

Lily passed her phone to the triplets so that they could decide what they wanted before they gave it back to her. She then chose for her and Alex before confirming the order that would arrive soon enough. While they waited, Lily asked the triplets what they wanted to drink.

“I’m mostly asking Nick and Matt though, I’m certain Chris wants a pepsi. Would I be right?”

“Absolutely, you know me so well wow!” Chris sarcastically laughed before thanking the girl.

Nick and Matt joined Lily in the kitchen to see the other choices for themselves. They felt lucky that the girls had similar taste to them as Nick was able to get a Saint Pellegrino while Matt also got a Pepsi as he saw that the fridge had quite a lot in it.

“Y’all will have to thank Alex for that”, Lily said as she handed the youngest triplets their drinks. “Girly has been addicted to soda since high school, though not as bad as Chris luckily.”

“Thank you for pointing that out!” Nick exclaimed. “He really needs to notice how bad his drinking habits are.”

“Wait, as a good host I should actually give him water then”, Lily seriously offered.

“Being a good host means listening to your guests’ needs though?” Chris tried to reason as he wasn’t giving up his can.

“Your brain might want all that sugar but I swear your body truly needs water bro. This is the only Pepsi you’ll get tonight so cherish it because you’ll be water hydrated for the rest of the night.”

“I’m for real considering hiring you as his life coach right now”, Matt half-joked. “He needs that kind of attitude around him that isn’t coming from Nick or me.”

“Sure,” Lily replied. “How much is the job?”

“You’re leaving me, what?” Alex dramatically questioned as she kept appearing at the most out-of- context moments in conversations. “How am I gonna live without you by my side? Nooooo!”

“I’d never babe, don’t worry.” Lily reassured as everyone laughed at Alex’s fake offence. “Sorry guys, I can’t leave the love of my life alone.”

“We’ll manage, it’s okay.” Matt sat down at the table while opening his own can. “At least we have your number if we actually need your skills one day.”

“We don’t though?” Chris raised an eyebrow at his brother. “You are the only one in contact with Lily bro.”

“Correct,” Nick realised. “I’ll need a way to contact both of you right now.”

“I’ll send Lily’s number to you and give her yours,” Matt offered. “Alex too obviously, we’ll all need yours.”

“Yayy!” The blonde girl agreed. “We soooo must have a group chat because I know it’s the best way for us to keep in touch.”

“Also correct, that’s a necessity.” Nick was completely on board as he felt excited about talking more with the two girls even after he and his brothers would go back to Los Angeles.

Right as the pizzas arrived, phones were being exchanged so that everyone could get all the numbers they were missing. Soon enough, they all had each other’s numbers and they could directly transition to eating dinner. It was a much needed moment as the triplets got to know the girls better, especially in an environment they were familiar with.

After they had finished eating, Alex only had one idea in her mind which she decided to share:

“What do y’all think about watching a movie? Best way to end the day and it doesn’t require any energy.”

Although Lily felt tired, she agreed as she saw that Nick, Matt and Chris were down for it. The girls offered them to look at their DVDs since it would be quicker to choose than using a streaming platform. The triplets couldn’t help but notice the amount of Disney movies they had and one in particular caught Nick’s eye as he took it out to admire it.

“You have Edward Scissorhands?!”

“Yep”, Alex replied with a smile. “One of our favourites!”

To this, Nick immediately decided that they needed to watch it without any care as to what his brothers would say – they would never turn down Nick’s favourite movie and even less if the girls loved it too. The group therefore settled on the couch as Lily put on the movie. She threw multiple blankets on the couch in case anyone needed one during the evening and apologised when she actually hit Matt with two of them at the same time, to which he playfully threw one of the small pillows at her when she went to sit down.

As the movie started, the excitement could be seen on Nick’s face. He was always over the moon when he’d watch it and being able to have this in common with his new friends was a bonus. Although Lily loved Edward Scissorhands, the tiredness was catching up to her. She hated the fact that she was close to falling asleep in front of this masterpiece, especially when it had only been half an hour since the movie had begun. It didn’t help that the couch was extremely comfortable and the blankets were keeping her warm.

Soon enough, Lily was actually asleep. Because of the dim lights in the room, it wasn’t noticeable by the others that her eyes had closed and they only realised when the movie eventually ended. As Alex saw that Lily wasn’t moving when they turned on the lights and decided to all go to sleep, she nudged her side to notify her of the end of the movie. Alex had hesitated to let her sleep on the couch but when she remembered that the triplets were here, she thought it would be more practical to have Lily sleep upstairs. Therefore, Lily was gently woken up and she apologised for having fallen asleep. They all reassured her that they didn’t mind, especially Matt who knew that driving was pretty tiresome sometimes. Before they went upstairs, Lily asked about the sleeping arrangements as the triplets would split between Alex’s room and the couch. They quickly chose that Matt and Chris would be together in Alex’s room – as they were used to that back home because of Chris never sleeping in his own room – while Nick would be alone on the couch, thus giving him the space he deserved. Therefore, while Alex accompanied Matt and Chris upstairs, Lily prepared the couch for Nick. As she still looked tired, Nick offered to help Lily but she refused as he was the guest here.

“Thank you for that.”

“No problem, have a good night and make yourself at home. Come get me or Alex if you need anything.”

“That’s kind thanks but I’ll let you both rest, don't worry.” Nick waved at Lily as she was leaving him downstairs. “Sleep well too!”

The pair smiled at each other before Lily went upstairs to join Alex. She arrived at the same time as the blonde bid Matt and Chris goodnight so she did the same as they had left the door open to wish her a good night too. Lily then went to her room and found Alex already on her bed as she couldn’t wait for a sleepover with her best friend, although it would be all sleep and no chit-chatting.

“I still cannot believe we have the Sturniolo triplets in our house bro.”

“No but same,” Lily agreed. “Although it feels less like that, you know? We’re actually becoming friends with them.”

“You and Matt already were I guess but yeah, I’m just scared we’re gonna wake up tomorrow and they’re not here.”

“Don’t worry babe”, Lily assured as she slid under the covers. “They can’t get rid of us now.”

Alex snickered at that before hugging Lily and wishing her a good night, to which Lily said the same back to her, before both girls drifted off to sleep.

~~~

I guess I did have a nap before sleeping, Lily thought as she was already awake at nine o’clock in the morning. Turning to the side, she saw that her best friend was still sound asleep and would be for a while. No point in staying in bed in case I wake her up. Lily then decided to head downstairs after a quick journey to the bathroom to do her morning routine. However, as she arrived in the living-room, the girl almost let out a gasp as she saw someone on her couch. Oh my fucking– fuck, she internally swore as she had almost forgotten that Nick was sleeping there. Damn, where do I go now? She wondered as she eyed the kitchen that was the only room available at the moment. Lily knew that the triplets might not wake up soon enough so she decided that she had time to prepare a nice breakfast for everyone, given that she hadn’t cooked for them yesterday evening. What’s something everyone could enjoy? And something I also make easily enough? Lily hesitated as she tried to quietly rummage through the cupboards and the fridge to look amongst the ingredients she had. She quickly chose to make pancakes as it was a basic recipe for her and everyone would be able to customise it to their liking. 

~~~

Half an hour later, Lily was almost done with the batter as she had prepared enough to feed a family of ten. She was confident in her cooking skills and hoped that the triplets would like her food as much as Alex did. Focused on heating the pancakes, Lily hadn’t noticed someone quietly slipping in the kitchen until they talked to her.

“Hey”, a soft voice called. “What are you doing up this early?”

“Oh my–” Lily did a 180° so fast that Matt thought she would end up dizzy. “Shit, you scared me.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to…”

“No worries bro. I was too deep in thought, my spatial awareness is at its lowest right now.” Lily turned back to keep an eye on the food before continuing. “You slept well?”

“I did, thanks. You?”

“Yep, everything’s good.”

“What are you making?” Matt wondered as he walked to stand next to the girl. “Smells great.”

“Pancakes”, Lily replied while flipping them. “Please tell me y’all like that. I can always make you something else if needed.”

“That’s perfect, don’t worry.” Matt leaned back on the counter with a smile to reassure Lily. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to though. I’ve always loved cooking for Alex and this is a recipe I mastered long ago so I’m just showing off to be honest.”

“I’ll be the judge of this so-called mastering then.”

“Wanna try one now?” Lily offered as she was finishing the first pancakes out of many more that would come. “No one would know you got an early tasting.”

“How can I refuse when you’re offering?” Matt rhetorically asked as he gladly accepted the fork Lily gave him.

While he was chewing, Lily turned off the heat as she turned sideways to observe Matt’s reaction. He looked neutral so she had no idea how to interpret him. However, as he quickly took another bite, Lily relaxed with a sigh before switching her gaze from his face to his attire. She couldn’t help but notice that he was wearing the usual pyjamas he would wear in videos: a basic short-sleeved white t-shirt that allowed his tattoos to be visible with blue plaid sweatpants, in which he does look good even when he just woke up.

“This is so freaking good!” Matt whisper-yelled of excitement, bursting Lily’s bubble of daydream. His eyes almost twinkled as he held a smile on his face. “You can be proud of yourself Lily, you truly mastered pancakes.”

“Thanks Matt, that means a lot.” Lily had always known she was a good cook – not deserving of a Michelin star though she was above average for certain recipes – but hearing those compliments from Matt made her feel special. “Will Chris and Nick like that, you think?”

“Of course, no way they’re not eating that.” As he finished his pancake, Matt thought for a bit. “I might actually tell them you’re the worst cook ever just so I can have more.”

“You will have enough for yourself I hope, but I’ll be happy to make some for you anytime again.”

“That’ll be my pleasure.”

As they smiled at each other, Lily and Matt were almost forgetting that anytime might not be for a while as those moments together were only temporary. Soon enough, Matt would go back to Boston with his brothers then to Los Angeles, thus leaving Lily with Alex in Spring Hill. Soon enough, thousands of miles would separate them along with a three hours difference, although they would still be in the same country. But for now, the present was more important and as they both put the near happening reality in the back of their minds, the two friends simply enjoyed the time they currently had together.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 20 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad (PLOT IS PLOTTING lil road trip ig)

It was the next morning around ten o’clock when the Sturniolos, Nate, Alex and Lily met once again in the hotel lobby. However, unlike yesterday, this meeting was to say goodbye. Mary Lou tightly hugged the girls, making them promise to visit Boston one day as she would be glad to welcome them before Jimmy and Justin both shook the girls’ hands. Nate wasn’t expecting it but Lily and Alex pulled him for a quick hug as they told him that they’d meet again, in reference to what they promised each other the previous evening.

“Take care of our boys, will ya?” Mary Lou gently asked as she took one of Lily’s and Alex’s hands in hers. “Thanks for welcoming them but don’t hesitate to throw them on the streets if they’re too problematic.”

“Of course, I will”. Alex assured with a laugh. “Lily would never but I’ll stand up to them if needed.”

“We know how to act as guests Mum,” Chris complained. “You were the one educating us so that’s one you if we don’t.”

“Don’t disrespect your mother Christopher”, Alex dramatically gasped as she had the habit of calling people by their full names – which the triplets hadn’t seemed bothered by.

Mary Lou chuckled at that and smiled at the girls before she hugged her youngest sons goodbye. They had planned to stay for a couple of days at most in Spring Hill before flying back to Boston for a well-deserved family time. After everyone had said goodbye, it was now time to leave Fort Lauderdale. Lily guided the triplets to her car, which to their surprise was big enough to fit the five of them.

“It’s no minivan of yours but we’re used to driving people around so we needed something large enough,” Alex said when she noticed the looks Lily’s car was getting from Nick, Matt and Chris.

Ever the gentleman, Chris helped put most of the suitcases in the trunk – Alex and Lily each had their own while the triplets had decided to go with a common one as well as a small backpack each so that they wouldn’t invade the girls’ personal space too much once they’d be in their house. It was now time to decide the seating chart, which actually ended up being obvious. Indeed, the car being Lily’s meant that she was the one driving and Matt didn’t even have to voice an opinion that his brothers were pushing him to go in the passenger seat – next to Lily. She welcomed him with a smile as he entered the car while Nick, Chris and Alex each took a seat behind the two.

“Spring Hill, here we come back!” Alex exclaimed when Lily started the car.

~~~

Lily had been driving for almost three hours when Chris asked for a break as he needed to pee, due to the two cans of Pepsi he had drunk since they left. Lily gladly accepted as she pointed out that she would need to get some gas. A couple of minutes later, the group made a stop and everyone went out to stretch their legs. They were all used to long car rides but it always felt good to breathe the fresh air as it was warm inside the car.

“I’m gonna buy some food,” Nick declared. “Anyone want anything?”

Lily and Alex both asked for sandwiches while Chris and Matt told their brother to get crisps and candies. Since they wouldn't know in advance what was in stock, Alex and Chris both decided to go with Nick so that they could help choose for Lily and Matt respectively – which was also a good way to make them spend time together for a bit. Now that everyone had left – well almost as Matt was still with her, Lily took the time to go get her tank filled with gas. When she was done with it, she was surprised to see Matt approach her with something in his hand. As she noticed that it was his wallet and that he was taking out his card, Lily quickly walked to stop him.

“What. Are. You. Doing?” The girl stressed every word as she was holding Matt’s wrist.

“I.” He eyed down her hand on him before looking back at her. “Was gonna pay, ain’t that look obvious?”

“Well, what’s not obvious to me is why?”

“You’re literally driving me and my brothers to your house where we’re gonna be spending the next days, I just wanna thank you.”

“No need”, Lily assured as she forced her friend to put his wallet further away from the card terminal.

“It’s not like we’re not loaded if I can say like– well, it’s my personal card and not our common one but I won’t see the difference.”

“Wow, that feels very patronising”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean, I–” Matt suddenly started panicking before he saw the small smile on Lily’s face.

“I’m messing with ya babe, no worries. But if you wanna know, I’m working full-time with my best friend in a fucking café, we have our own house and we take care of a cat. I’m definitely not poor either.”

Satisfied with Matt’s reaction – he was currently at a loss for words and actually very impressed with how the girl’s life was, Lily took that as her cue to calmly pay for her gas for her car. If Alex had heard her, she knew the blonde would qualify that as a ‘girlboss’ moment and she was proud of herself. Lily knew that Matt obviously didn’t mean any harm with what he’d said but it felt nice to show him that although not famous or anything like that, she had her life together and was comfortably living even at her young age.

After Matt got out of his state of surprise, he followed Lily to the parking lot while she was driving the car back there. To somehow apologise for his words, Matt even went to open the door for her which she thanked him for with her usual soft smile that was loved by so many people. He closed the door behind her and as he saw that the rest of their group was paying for their stuff, Matt decided that he wanted to keep the conversation going before the others would be back:

“I still wanna thank you though”, he paused before thinking of an idea. “What if I drive from now on ‘till we get to yours?”

“Hmm”, the girl hesitated as the only person who had ever driven her car was her friend Lucas, but she decided to trust Matt. “Deal, I guess. You know how to drive a manual? I remember you having an automatic in your videos.”

“I do yeah,” Matt quickly replied as he didn’t want Lily to have time to change her mind. “That’s it then, I drive and you rest. We still make a pretty good team, right?”

“Yeah, yeah we do.”

The pair were smiling at each other and reminiscing of the last time they had said those words – a precious memory of their first call while they had played Fortnite popped up into both their minds before Nick, Chris and Alex were coming back to the car with food and drinks. Having not been there for Lily and Matt’s conversation, the three absentees exchanged a confused glance when Lily dropped her car keys into Matt’s hand before he went to sit in the driver’s seat. Alex was especially shocked as she knew that her best friend valued her car a lot and was very strict with who could drive it, so she couldn’t help but voice her opinion:

“You’re the chosen one Matthew, she’s letting you drive her baby so be careful or she’ll actually be the one to throw you on the streets.”

A promise or a threat, Matt tried not to think much of which one it was as he dared look at Lily who was innocently smiling at him as if to confirm that Alex was telling the truth. Nevertheless, Matt had been the designated driver for him and his brothers for years so he knew not to get insecure regarding his driving skills. As he started the car, everyone relaxed and they were back on the road.

~~~

“Can you believe they bought all that shit and barely touched it?” A feminine voice scoffed with a laugh.

“No but for real,” someone agreed. “The audacity of them falling asleep on us is crazy.”

An hour after they had left the gas station, Nick, Chris and Alex had fallen asleep with several bags of half-eaten food on their laps, therefore leading to Matt and Lily being the only ones awake at the front of the car. As they still had around an hour and a half left until they would arrive in Spring Hill, Lily got an idea that would help her and Matt pass the time.

“What do you say we come back to our game of 21 Questions? I don’t think we ever finished that shit.”

“True”, Matt replied. “And I can actually be completely honest this time.”

“That’s the bare minimum now, yeah.” Lily hummed as she tried to think of a question. “Well, I guess I can forget all the basic questions about favourite colour, job and birthday.”

“Let me answer them though”, Matt offered. “It only feels right that we do this by the book.”

“Okay, go ahead then and you’ll ask the next thing.”

“So, blue obviously; then I’m a YouTuber so technically I hadn’t completely lied; and the first of August, gotta admit I had no choice on this one.”

“I mean– I’m glad you at least didn’t lie on the rest, which makes sense for the stuff you did lie about.” Lily was understanding of Matt’s situation.

A silence briefly took place before Matt found a question to ask:

“I know you love photography, but is there any other hobby or passion of yours I don’t know about?”

“Hmm, let me think…” Lily thought for a couple of seconds before replying. “I’ve been meaning to get into knitting for the winter like, I started embroidering in the past few months and I really enjoy it but knitting would be awesome to learn. Kind of a crafts girly if you didn’t know.”

“That sounds really cool, I truly admire people who do stuff like that. It seems wonderful to be able to create anything with just your hands, like those who know how to use them for the benefit of their imagination amaze me. I wish I could do the same with mine.”

Smiling at Matt’s rant, Lily unconsciously shifted her eyes down towards his hands when he mentioned them. She couldn’t help but then observe him as a whole as he was facing the road in front of them, thus showing his side profile to the girl next to him. Truth be told, Lily was quite literally admiring Matt as she noticed how composed – and handsome – he looked while driving. Lily was still observing – admiring – Matt when he briefly met her eyes as she hadn’t said anything for the last couple of minutes. Realising what she had been doing, Lily tore her eyes away from Matt and slightly coughed as she hoped that he hadn’t noticed her staring for too long – he kind of had, but decided against saying anything about it as he didn’t want to ruin their peaceful moment.

“Yeah, yeah I totally agree.” Lily eventually regained her composure. “It’s like Alex and painting, I’ve always loved seeing her creativity and imagination lead to what she can produce. But anyway, what are yours? Your hobbies.”

“I’d say mostly reading and writing like journaling I mean,” Matt truthfully answered. “It took me a while to get back into both of those and I hope it’ll become a more important part of my life when we’re home and starting our routine again.”

“That is creativity too,” Lily pointed out. “It might not be as explicit and physical as what others do, but your hands being able to convey what’s in your mind by writing is not something to think lightly of so you can be proud of yourself for doing that.”

Hearing Lily’s words made Matt feel so seen and he could hear how genuine she was. They were both someone they had each needed for a long time, without knowing it. The need for someone to understand their thoughts, no matter what they were, with the capacity to word emotions. Lily’s way of speaking felt really meaningful to Matt and he was surprised by how in sync they were with each other. Their minds were resonating in such a way that it was heartwarming to witness a bond like that between two people.

~~~~~~~~

Finally entering Spring Hill, Lily started guiding Matt to her house. They had enjoyed continuing their game of 21 Questions but had put it to a halt when they saw that Nick was waking up in the backseat. Not that they minded someone else being awake, but this little exchange of questions had been for them only so they smoothly changed the subject to include the oldest triplet in a conversation. As Lily announced the last turn of the day, she also asked Nick to wake Chris and Alex next to him. How were they able to sleep so deeply until the very last moment of the car ride was crazy to Lily and Matt, probably a driver thing.

“Oh my god, I had missed this sight!” Alex exclaimed as she barely needed two seconds before being back to her usual energetic self. “Can’t wait to see my child!”

“Your wha–” Chris asked, dumbfounded.

“My child, my baby?” Alex clarified before sighing. “Our cat, Christopher. I mean our cat.”

“Oh, yeah…” He nodded as they were leaving the car.

“May I remind you that he’s not there though?” Lily wanted to make sure that her best friend remembered that they hadn’t left their poor cat alone for an entire week. “I texted Lucas to tell him we were back and that I’d get him tomorrow morning.”

“Nooo”, Alex dramatically gasped. “Can’t we go get him tonight? I missed him so much…”

“You don’t think I did too?” Lily could have been believed to be tired of Alex’s antics, but she honestly felt the same as her. “If you want, try and ask Lucas to change to tonight but then you’ll have to convince me to drive to his house and it has a price.”

“Deal!”

The triplets had carefully watched the exchange and were amused by the girls’ dynamic. It reminded them of themselves as behind the banter, it was clear that they dearly loved each other and had a special bond – even clearer when they remember that the girls had been living together for a while already and were therefore like an old married couple.

As Chris once again helped carry the suitcases to the house, Lily was opening the door and Alex hadn’t hesitated one second before pulling out her phone to call Lucas – it would be quicker than a text. Nick and Matt followed behind while carrying everyone’s backpacks so that they wouldn’t have to make another journey between the car and the house. After Lily had instructed the triplets to just put the luggage near the door, Alex came back inside with the result of her call.

“He said yes! He honestly doesn’t mind when we come because our baby is an angel but if we want, we can get him today.”

Lily sighed as she already knew that Lucas would agree – he certainly was excited to see one of the girls again. However, as Lily turned to Alex with a raised eyebrow, the blonde understood that she still had to convince her best friend.

“Hmm, I have no idea how to convince you right now but I can offer you a voucher?”

“A voucher?” Lily repeated, unsure of how this would work. “For what?”

“Anything! You’ll get a favour, no matter how crazy it is and I have no choice but to accept it.”

Lily had to admit that it was enticing. Alex was someone who valued her time and the people she would use it for so this was something that Lily could keep in mind for a day when she would need Alex.

“You know,” Nick joined in as he and his brothers had been half-listening. “If Chris or Matt offered this to me, I’d never refuse because who knows what you could need one day.”

“True, true.” Lily nodded, deep in thought. “Alex, thank Nick because he made me agree on this. You can never back down because I have witnesses.”

“YES!” Alex exclaimed as she was delighted to have succeeded in her mission.

“Calm down babe, you can be excited when I’m actually back. I’ll text Lucas to let him know I’ll be there soon so I don’t know, show the guys the house while I’m out.”

“Yes sarge!” Alex saluted before a look of confusion appeared on her face. “Wait, you don’t want me to keep you company?”

“I’ll be ok, don’t worry. Keep the guys company, I’ll be back soon.”

As Lily was reopening the front door and leaving the house, she heard the footsteps of someone following.

“I’ll come with”, Nick declared. “Could be nice to meet this friend of yours and I need some time with my new best friend.”

“I’m still her number one though!” Alex called out right before Lily closed the door with a laugh.

“You didn’t have to, but thanks.” Lily said as they walked back to her car. “Appreciate it..”

“No problem,” Nick assured. “I just hope my two idiot brothers won’t be too chaotic with Alex.”

“Matt will be there to keep an eye on them, I’m sure.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Matt can actually be the most unhinged of us sometimes.”

“Damn”, Lily replied with a hint of surprise in her voice. “Bro still has stuff hidden from me. I guess I knew he had it somewhere in him but he always seemed like someone who was very composed and down to earth, both on camera and when we’d talk together.”

“If you had an idea then that’s good though, means he’s slowly letting his real self out with you. But yeah, most of the time he’s the most reasonable of us so makes sense you got to see his mature side when you only knew him without us.”

Lily smiled at Nick’s explanation. She was glad that she was now able to discover more of Matt, from other people’s point of views. Lily was also grateful that she was still getting along well with Nick, as they had when meeting the previous week. They kept talking about their families and friends before Lily announced that they had arrived at Lucas’s house, who was waiting for them at the door.

“Hey you,” the tall man called out as Lily quickly walked to greet him. “How was the holiday?”

“Hi babe, oh my god it was sooo good! I missed you and Jade so much, and my pookie, where is he?” Lily was rambling before she saw Nick arriving at her side. “Lucas, here is Nick – Matt’s brother. Nick, this is Lucas – one of my best friends!”

The two nodded at each other with a smile before Lucas invited them inside. Nick couldn’t help but notice that they were very close, especially as Lucas guided Lily with his hand on her lower back. It wasn’t his business, but he could actually see them together as their bond was very obvious and they would be a cute couple.

“Y’all want anything to drink?” Lucas offered as he looked back at Nick.

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Same, we won’t stay long anyways.” Lily stated. “I have guests as you see and I intend on taking care of them for as long as they’ll be here.”

“Damn, lucky guys.” Lucas let a laugh out. “I’m so close to come spend the night with you just to get special treatment too.”

“Another time, I promise.” Lily smiled at her friend. “I’ll keep you a warm space in my bed.”

At this exchange, Nick couldn’t help but feel certain that something was happening between the two friends – or at least had happened. He knew it still wasn’t his business, but his curious and nosy side made him want to know more about it. However, his thoughts were interrupted as a cat decided to come sniff him.

“Oh my god, my baby…” Lily whispered as she didn’t want to scare her beloved cat who seemed to be trying to decipher the new person. “Nick, he likes you.”

Slowly squatting down to be closer to the cat, Nick reached out to pet him. His action confirmed Lily’s assumption as the cat – who was honestly very quick to adapt to new people and especially those that he judged were already liked by his owner – leaned into Nick’s hand, thus making the blonde smile softly at the scene.

“What is even his name?” Nick wondered as he had only heard nicknames from Lily and Alex.

“Oh, it’s Bernard.” Lucas stifled a laugh as he had never understood why the poor cat had been called such. “Feel free to judge all you want, I’ve been doing so since I met the gang.”

“Bernard?” Nick repeated with a doubting tone. “Matt’s definitely gonna like that.”

“Really? Why?” Lily had no idea what Nick meant until it clicked in her head. “Oh, oh… oh my god Matthew Bernard! How could I have forgotten?”

At her own obliviousness, Lily started laughing and was soon joined by her two friends.

“Can’t believe your poor cat shares his middle name, that’s crazy coincidence for real.”

“I can’t wait to tell Chris and Matt”, Nick said as he was still petting the cat. “The look on their face is gonna be priceless.”

“And I don’t wanna be a mood ruiner but…” Lucas started. “Y’all gotta have to come back there to tell them that.”

“Damn”, Lily feigned to be offended. “Evicting the love of your life like that? I’m heartbroken!”

“Yeah, yeah you are. “Lucas smiled down at Lily while patting her head twice. “I love ya but you were the one to say you had guests and didn’t want to make them wait long.”

“Yep, I know… I was just glad to see you but yeah, we’ll be taking our leave.”

Nick stood up and dusted his pants as Lucas went to get Bernard’s cage so that Lily could bring him back safely to the house. Once Bernard was in his cage, it was time for Nick and Lily to drive back to the girl’s house, not before hugging her friend goodbye and promising him a sleepover in the near future. Lucas and Nick exchanged nods with smiles as goodbye while Lily was waving at the former until she got in the car and put Bernard on the back seat.

When they arrived back at the house, Nick took the cage to bring it inside to which Lily thanked him for his help. As soon as the two entered, Alex ran to them as she wanted nothing more than to hug her precious cat who was happy to quickly be free from his cage.

“I missed you so much my sweet boy…” Alex cooed at Bernard while he affectionately returned her love. The girl then looked up at her best friend before informing her: “I’ve prepared my room for the guys and gave them a house tour. We were about to start the showers but if one of y’all wanna go – I know you like yours early.”

“Thanks, that’ll be great.” Lily smiled at the offer. “Nick, I’m letting you free. Thank you for coming with me, it was really nice.”

“You’re welcome, I enjoyed the journey.”

As Lily then went upstairs, the blonde duo joined Matt and Chris who were on the couch. When Alex notified them that she was getting beddings for the couch, Nick took that as his cue to tell his brothers about the events back at Lucas’s house.

“Y’all have to hear this guys. The cat’s name, did Alex tell you what it is?”

As Chris and Matt shaked their heads, Nick started laughing before he could even get a word out.

“It’s Bernard!”

“Like–” Chris scoffed at the news. “Like Matty B here?”

Nick nodded, which made Chris fall back of laughter on the couch while Matt was shocked and looked like that one Pikachu meme. He couldn't help but ask for an explanation as to what else had happened when his brother was there with Lily.

“Nothing much to be honest”, Nick clarified. “We were just talking and I randomly thought of asking the cat’s name. Lily hadn’t even realised you and the poor cat had the same name, gonna have to question her about the why. But yeah, her friend Lucas – more than that if you ask me – was chill and he seems like a cool guy.”

“I’m invested now”, Chris leaned forward as to listen more carefully to Nick while starting to pet the cat who had come at his feet. “She’s dating that guy?”

“I can’t be sure, don’t twist my words.” Nick warned as he raised his hands in defence. “They just looked very close and were kinda touchy, though I feel like it’s also Lily’s main way of showing affection. But yeah, I could imagine them together although I barely saw them interacting.”

“Bro has faith if they are actually together,” Chris commented. “Don’t know how I’d feel about leaving my girlfriend with three random guys in her house.”

“One of them’s gay though,” Nick added with a raised eyebrow. “But yeah, he gotta have trust if they’re indeed dating.”

“Who’s dating who?” Alex asked as she had only heard Nick when coming back downstairs.

Although he had been the only one silent during the conversation, Matt was the first one to whip his head towards Alex as if he had been caught doing drugs by his mum.

“Lily and your friend Lucas”, Chris said with no tact as he didn’t notice his brothers widening their eyes at him, shocked that he was being so honest.

“They’re not though?” Alex denied. “Who told you shit like that?”

While Chris turned to Nick who shrugged before explaining his theory to Alex, Matt – unnoticed by the others next to him – sighed of relief, for a currently unknown reason. After Nick finished explaining why he thought that Lily and Lucas were together, Alex bursted out laughing.

“That’s the craziest thing I’ve heard, oh my god.” The girl was breathless as she gripped on the back of the couch to prevent herself from falling. “Shit, wait I need to calm down…”

“You good bro?” Chris asked as he didn’t know whether to worry for the girl or not.

“I am, I am… Don’t you worry Christopher,” Alex reassured as she stood back up. “Wow Nicolas, you amaze me. I understand your point of view though: Lily is usually a huge introvert but when she opens up and gets close to people, you start seeing how she shows her love and that’s by treating everyone as one would treat their partner like– she ‘s really into flirting with her friends, using pet names and being all physical with hugs or holding hands. And Lucas is someone who will always match your energy so he and Lily are such a perfect besties match – though I am her true number one best friend obviously!”

“That makes… so much sense now,” Nick nodded at the explanation. “I guess I was fooled but I had arguments that you technically backed up so my only issue was that I haven’t known Lily for long so–”

“No, of course and that’s completely normal. But y’all see very soon that she already warmed up to the three of you so expect that attitude from her.”

“Yeah, I had noticed that.” Matt was finally saying his first words since the conversation had started. “When we first met in Atlanta, she was very outgoing and that felt nice. She was the same when we’d text too.”

“And that’s really a positive thing because even without meeting you or having only met y’all once, she felt comfortable enough to treat you like close friends.”

Having Alex’s opinion on Lily felt really eye opening to the triplets as they were glad to be able to understand their host and new friend better.

“What if she actually dates someone though?” Chris decided to ask the one million dollar question.

“No one knows,” Alex truthfully answered. “Not even her to be honest. For now, she hasn’t really cared because it’s not in her plans to date but it’s nagging her sometimes.”

Alex knew that Lily could be very open with her feelings so it wasn’t a problem to tell Nick, Matt and Chris about that. They were carefully listening to the ‘what ifs’ that Alex had in mind as she kept going.

“She likes to think that it wouldn’t be an issue but her future partner will probably be uncomfortable if she acts the same with them as she does with her friends. Maybe they won’t have an issue with me or Jade and Lucas because we’re her closest friends but…”

“But jealousy might come easily for that person”, Matt finished as he completely understood Alex’s point. “Some people could have a hard time getting treated like that, it’s understandable.”

“Yeah, I know but the thing is that Lily was just put on Earth to show and convey love, no matter to whom. And I’m so on board with her mindset like– she believes that platonic love is as important as romantic love, if not more. But it’s sad that most human beings think the opposite.”

“I think, as triplets,” Nick added. “We’re the same as her. We don’t have lots of experience in the romantic field but we know we’ll always value our family and friends more. It’s a bond so strong that even if we love our partners the most we can, they’ll probably always come second to each other or compared to our parents and our closest friends.”

Chris and Matt nodded in agreement as they felt the same as Nick, which Alex deeply appreciated. She felt grateful that her and Lily’s new circle of friends was on the same wavelength as them, therefore predicting that this new friend group would be a durable one. 

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 19 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad

Now that Matt and Lily had finally met, they were able to make things right regarding their unusual friendship that had been mixed with the celebrity-fan relationship they were starting to have. Luckily, it was still at a point that their friendship would come first although they had met under the wrong circumstances. After their discussion, Matt eventually took Lily back to her best friend that had been chilling with Matt’s family. He had offered Lily to meet again the next day so that she could be introduced to his friends before all spending the day outside visiting the city they were in. Lily had gladly accepted, now excited to have Matt be an actual part of her life and not only through a screen.

~~~

Lily, Alex, Matt and his family were all ready to say a temporary goodbye as they would all go to their hotel. To Lily’s surprise, the room Matt had booked for her and Alex was actually in the same hotel as he was in.

“Why did you even do that?” Lily asked, dumbfounded by the situation. “What if I hated you and never wanted to see you again?”

“Ain’t that a bit dramatic?” Matt retorted. “I had the right to be hopeful!”

“True, true. I guess you’re lucky to be nice and likeable.”

“Oh, so you do like me?”

“Obviously stupid”, Lily laughed. She knew Matt only meant to tease her but she wanted him to know that it was the truth. “Even as Matthew Sturniolo – which I now know that Matt is short for – I fucking drove hundred of miles for you so now it’s a bonus that you’re also my friend in the same body.”

Behind them were Alex as well Matt’s brothers and parents who were all watching the scene happening in front of them. Everyone was glad for Matt and Lily to have been able to meet as they both looked very happy with each other. Although it was a bit far-stretched at the moment, it was easy to notice that something special – more than a simple online-to-real friendship – was hiding between the two and was going to develop into something wonderful.

Leaving Lily and Alex in front of their hotel room, the Sturniolos bid them goodbye before planning to meet the next morning in the lobby so that all the young adults could hang out together and get to know each other. Mary Lou took an extra time to hug the two girls as she had been very happy to meet them for they were both respectful and kind, which Mary Lou had greatly appreciated.

Now alone in their room, Alex and Lily took a minute before processing what had happened today. They looked at each other before bursting out laughing and hugging.

“I still can’t believe it!” Alex exclaimed. “You were friends with Matt motherfucking Sturniolo and now we’re gonna hang out with him, his brothers and their friends?”

“YES! It feels crazy but like– in a good way. It’s exhilarating and I’m just so impatient for tomorrow now.”

“I agree, I’m really excited to meet Madi! She always seemed so sweet.”

“For real,” Lily agreed with her best friend. “I’m so so glad for today bro you can’t imagine: meeting Matt was something I had thought about, but like in a fantasy kinda way I guess? It felt so far away from reach but in the end, it did happen.”

“Yeah,” Alex sighed at that. “It’s surreal but it was fate honestly. Y’all had to find each other at one point.”

Nodding, Lily couldn’t stop smiling and neither could the blonde. They decided that they needed to rest after today’s adventures and started getting ready for the night so that they could be full of energy for the next day. Like the other shows, their routine consisted in having a shower, ordering food to their room and looking at the amazing pictures Lily had taken during the show.

Before going to sleep, Lily saw that she had just received a text that made her even more excited for tomorrow.

Matt🍂

Thank you for today, I’m really glad that we met and I hope you still don’t think it was a mistake

Goodnight Lily :)

Thank YOU fr like ofc it wasn’t a mistake, I’ll never have any regret ab today<3

Goodnight Matthew

And with a grateful smile on her face, Lily turned off her phone before drifting to Morpheus’s world.

~~~

The next morning, Matt and his family were waiting for the girls in the lobby as planned. They were to be joined by Nate, Madi and Tril while Jimmy, Mary Lou and Justin would go do their own thing to let the young adults enjoy their day in peace – Matt, Nick and Chris would eventually come back to Boston for a bit so they would have family time later.

“Oh I’m just recalling but was Lily the reason why you were on your phone a lot back then?” Mary Lou asked her son. “I remember seeing you being happier than usual when you were home last time.”

Damn, Matt thought. He thought she would have waited more before calling him out his previous changes of attitude.

“Honestly, I had wanted to confront Matt for a while but I never expected the situation to turn out like this”. Nick added as he and his mum were on the same page.

“Ok ok, I get it.” Matt sighed as he was starting to get teased by his family for being a tad obvious. “She'll be here soon so please don't embarrass me too much or you'll be the reason why I'm friendless.”

“Don’t worry Matty,” his dad tried to reassure him. “We’ll keep teasing you when you’re back home.”

At that, most of the family laughed before they calmed down as Matt told everyone that Lily had texted him to say she and Alex would be arriving. Matt barely had time to reply to her when he saw the two girls leaving the lift, thus creating a smile on Matt’s face as Lily waved at him – she was waving at all of them but let’s let Matt believe it was solely for him.

“Heyy”, Lily called as she gave a smile to everyone. “Sorry for the wait.”

“No worries darling”, Mary Lou – as the kindest woman ever – answered before going to hug Lily and Alex. “We’ll leave you all to your day out, enjoy!”

“Thanks, you too!”

Mary Lou then took her husband and first son to the hotel’s restaurant so that they could have breakfast while the teenagers started walking towards the exit.

“Ok so Nate is gonna be here in a minute,” Matt informed as he had left his friend in their common room because he had woken up later than him. “And we’ll meet Madi and Tril on the way.”

“On the way where?” Alex asked. “Y’all didn’t say what you wanted to do yesterday.”

“We were thinking of going to eat and maybe just visit the city?” Nick suggested.

“Fine by me!” Lily agreed. “I’d love to see the beach later if that’s ok with you guys.”

“Absolutely.” Chris was on board with the agenda. “I’m not really confident to actually swim but we definitely need to go to the beach.”

They all agreed and decided to go to a restaurant that Nick had noticed the day before. Nate joined them as they were about to call him so now they only had to notify Madi and Tril of their destination.

After having lunch, they all agreed to walk to the beach and spend the afternoon there with snacks and drinks as there were multiple beaches to explore. Everyone was getting along well, especially Madi and Alex, thus making the blonde grateful that she was making new friends. Lily was still hitting it off with Nick, with whom she was exchanging about photography, while Matt, Chris and Tril were lazily trailing behind the two duos. At the Las Olas Beach, they decided to stop and rest there as there weren’t many people. The curiosity was at its highest when Nate asked the question everyone was thinking of:

“Sooo,” he began to catch everyone’s attention. “Do we get the full story of how y’all started talking or?”

Lily and Matt exchanged a quick glance – although their friends would say that it ended up longer than expected – before Lily scratched her throat as she chose to be the one explaining.

“It’s simpler than ever honestly. I was just texting people with Alex because we had seen videos of that so it sounded fun at the moment and after a couple of failures, this dude here matched my energy.” She explained before pointing at Matt to emphasise her words. “And here we are seven – I think? – months later.”

“I don’t have anything to add”, Matt said as he saw that his friends were expecting more. “If I’m being honest, sorry Lily, I had thought about ghosting her at the time because we had come back recently from tour and then we had Madi’s birthday in Hawaii.”

“Damn, I’m hurt”. Lily pretended to be offended. “Fair enough I guess, I could be overwhelming sometimes. But I’m glad you didn’t haha.”

“Yeah, same…” Matt almost whispered as he softly smiled at the girl next to him.

Feeling like a moment was creating itself between the two newly friends, Alex faked a cough and they all changed the subject before things would get awkward. It was easy to notice that Matt and Lily would still need other chances alone so that they could completely get rid of the first meeting’s anxiety.

After an hour of talking and getting to know each other, Nick suggested that they walk to the next beach while the sun would set. Lily immediately agreed and she got her camera ready like Nick in order to take pictures of the sea adorned with waves of red and orange. A dozen minutes later, the group found themselves at Sebastian Street Beach further north from where they had been. Nick and Lily made everyone stop at a spot which they judged had the best view to capture the sunset. When the two photographers seemed satisfied, they notified their friends and decided it would be time to go back to the hotel to have dinner with the rest of the Sturniolos.

Once back at the hotel, they ended up being two people short as Madi had announced that she would get ready with her mum to go back to Los Angeles while Tril told them that he would also need to get ready to depart the next day. Therefore, the whole Sturniolo family as well as Nate, Lily and Alex would eat together. Mary Lou was delighted to spend more time with the girls as she had really clicked with her son’s friend. During the dinner, the three women were mostly talking together, joined once in a while by Matt who would check that his mum wasn’t bothering his guests. When everyone had finished, Jimmy and Mary Lou decided to pay for their sons and the girls – which they reluctantly agreed as they knew refusing would be pointless. While all walking back to their rooms, the triplets said goodnight to the rest of their family as they and Nate stayed a bit more with the girls. They were all talking in front of the girls’ room when they learnt of what would happen the next day.

“I should’ve told y’all earlier when Madi and Tril mentioned it but we’re also leaving tomorrow,” Lily frowned at her words.

“Daaamn,” Nick dramatically sighed. “We barely met and we have to be separated so soon.”

“Yeah, I guess goodbyes are harder now…” Lily almost wanted to cry and she tried to avoid Matt’s gaze in order to prevent that from happening.

“It’s not like we’re each on one side of the world, right?” The middle triplet rationalised, although he wasn’t feeling good about the news.

“True true, only thousands of miles between us.” Lily bitterly laughed.

“If it makes everyone feel better,” Chris joined in to lighten the mood. “We’ll be in Boston for like a week and a half so at least we stay in the same timezone for a while.”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot we’re on the same coast as your hometown.” Lily pointed out. “Can’t believe y’all have to go past us to go back home.”

What was – in Lily’s opinion – an innocent sentence, was unknowingly making the gears turn in someone’s head. Sensing the boys’ silent question, Alex chose to answer it in a way that she hoped would impact them.

“We live in Spring Hill, Florida. Not so far from here if I may say so y’all should visit one day, or even come back with us.”

“Only because you’re not the one driving bro,” Lily sighed with a smile.

“We could yeah,” Matt said at the same time Lily talked.

Holy shit, Alex thought. He actually took the bait! See, Alex had hoped to get a reaction from at least one of the boys in front of her and while she was internally celebrating, everyone else turned to Matt.

“The fuck you mean?” Chris was shocked at Matt’s boldness. “Sorry, strong words there but what?”

“No but–” Matt was now nervous about everyone awaiting his thoughts on the matter. “That was a joke like– Alex joked and I did the same so case closed, right?”

Searching for help, Matt looked at Alex who had a smirk on her face. She raised an eyebrow as if to get her point across.

“Did I, though?” Alex was clearly challenging Matt and enjoying his reactions. “I meant what I said, but did you?”

An awkward silence began as no one knew how to interrupt the moment. Chris and Nate exchanged a look of confusion while Nick silently asked Lily to do something regarding her friend.

“I–” The brunette stuttered as she only had a split second to decide whether to back up Alex or not. “Yeah y’all could come with us, like it’s on your way and that means we can spend a bit more time together before final goodbyes?”

Alex felt very satisfied that Lily was on board with her chaotic plan. Now, only the triplets’ reply was to be heard.

“Why not though,” Nick eventually agreed due to the hopeful expressions on the girls’ faces. “We’re not going to be fucking awkward about it so Imma say the words. I’m having a good time with y’all, which is obviously reciprocated, and we’d all be happy to spend a few more days together. So I'm down!”

At that, Alex and Lily’s joy was very explicit as they turned to briefly exchange smiles. One down, three to go, the blonde thought.

“Thank you Nicolas for this wonderful answer! Chris, Matt, Nate, what do y’all say?”

As the two other triplets eventually shrugged and nodded at the proposal – it wouldn’t hurt to get to know each other more and they weren’t about to deny everything Nick had said, the last person to be asked was surprised.

“I’m invited too?” Nate wondered as he hadn’t expected it.

“Yeah, of course you are.” Lily wanted to hug him as she didn’t think he wouldn’t expect to be included, which made her start feeling sad. “Do you wanna come with us?”

Although Lily’s smile was very convincing, Nate frowned as he realised that he couldn’t actually be part of this.

“Family matters during this week…” the younger boy admitted as Chris patted him on the shoulder for comfort. “This is why I had planned to see the guys from this weekend and after. Y’all will have to enjoy for me.”

“We absolutely will!” Alex assured as she was disappointed that Nate couldn’t be there. “It was so nice to meet you though, we’ll see each other again right?”

“Well, we’re on the same coast so small world I guess. But yeah, in any case I’ll see you two tomorrow for goodbyes before we part.”

The girls nodded at that and as the atmosphere was now unfortunately not as light-hearted as before, Nick suggested to all go to their respective rooms and that they would meet again the next morning to decide how things would happen – the triplets now only had to notify their parents that they would join them in Boston later in the week, which they knew wouldn’t be a problem.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 18 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad + updated till chap 27

FLORIDA VERSUS TOUR SHOW (meeting)(plot is plotting)

Matt🍂

[2 attachments]

Hey, here are the tickets

I hope you'll have a great time tomorrow :)

Thank you so much<3

I'll never forget this fr

I'll repay you one day

And thank your cousin also

You can repay me by not hating me when you discover the truth…

Unsent

No worries

And yeah, I'll tell her it did end up useful for someone else

I'll try to take good pics for her!

That's very nice of you, can't wait to see them if they're as good as those you take of the world

“Damn you're so adorable Lily”, Alex said as she was reading the texts above her friend's shoulder.

“Well, it's thanks to a fellow fan that we can see the triplets again, so anything for her now!”

“No but for real, that was so sweet of Matt's cousin to give them out”. Alex side hugged Lily to show appreciation. “I really can't wait to meet them again”.

“Yeah same”, Lily agreed.

Thinking back to how everything happened so quickly, Lily was glad to have been able to trust her online friend. She knew she had every right to be weary of this, but she also wanted it to be true – which she believed to be. She didn't know how she could ever repay the favour to Matt, but she was set on finding something for him one day. Maybe this is a good situation to write that letter for him, he deserved it already but now even more… Lily thought as she smiled at her idea. Although they had never talked about it, Lily suddenly wished to meet Matt. She felt like their friendship was getting to a point where they could actually enjoy each other's presence in real life – they had called a few more times since they played Fortnite together a couple months ago but had never facetimed. None of them knew what the other looked like, but them being friends was solely based on their personalities and common ground so it didn't matter much. However, Lily's wish for an eventual meeting would happen sooner than she'd ever expect thanks to someone who wasn't as impatient – and it could even be said it had already happened though none of them was aware of it.

A day later and the two best friends found themselves in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Completely off plan – they had indeed wanted to go back to Spring Hill today but fate had it otherwise, Alex and Lily were now on the Southeast Coast. The weather was lovely as the girls parked near the venue. They hadn’t gone to their hotel yet but Matt – Alex had learnt from Lily – had apparently been kind enough to book a room for them not far from where the venue was, “an apology for this last minute plan” Lily had said. Obviously, Lily had refused to let him pay so Matt had only put his card for a refundable deposit and Lily would pay for the room when she and Alex would leave the city. As it was Sunday, the girls had decided that they would stay until Tuesday at most – they had been gone for a week and although Lucas and Jade didn’t mind being alone at the café, Lily and Alex felt bad that they were leaving them for so long. They were also missing their cat a lot, but would never tell their friend that their fake child counted more.

This was now it, the final show of the Versus Tour where Alex and Lily would be once again part of the wonderful atmosphere that were the Sturniolo Triplets’ shows. They had arrived later than they did for the other shows as they didn’t have the small talk nor the group pictures included in their tickets. This didn’t bother the girls though as they were simply ecstatic at the idea of seeing Nick, Matt and Chris for the fourth time. They saw that not many people were left outside as most of them were already inside the venue for the extras that were happening before the show. When they approached the queue, Lily unlocked her phone to get the tickets ready to be scanned. This was the moment of truth: had Matt scammed her or not? Damn, I hope not because I like the kid… Lily thought as it was their turn to enter the venue. When the security guard scanned the tickets, he let out a confused face – though unnoticed by the girls with how quick he composed himself – until he confirmed the names on his list and knew that what he was seeing was not a mistake. 

      Indeed, the tickets that Matt – Laura actually – had custom made for Lily were not meant to exist because they had never sold any GA tickets with only the backstage pass as an extra. The security guard eventually let the girls enter and as he signalled to someone else to take his place to scan the next people, he quickly went inside through another door where he knew that he could find who he was looking for. Fortunately, he was able to find her rapidly enough. He called Laura who was overseeing that the group pictures were going well and told her about the two girls he had checked in a couple of minutes ago. Thanking the man before he went back outside, Laura waited until everyone had gotten their pictures taken – luckily it was almost the end – and as she walked the triplets to the stage where they would soon be on for their show, she notified them about the girls who had arrived. Hearing this, Matt let out a sigh of relief he never knew he was holding and his two brothers patted him on the back to comfort him. She’s here, Matt thought. I’m actually gonna meet her, damn… The stress started getting to him and he knew he wouldn’t be able to relax until he saw that she was here with his own eyes. When they arrived on the side of the stage, the triplets found a small space behind the curtains where they could look at the crowd without being noticed.

“Do we even know who we’re looking for?” Chris asked as he had no idea which team colour the girls were supporting today.

“Well, she’s Matt’s girl so probably blue.” Nick replied as he tried to recognize the girl with whom he had gotten along a few days prior.

“Not my girlfriend…” Matt mumbled. “And she doesn’t even know that she’s here for me so I actually can’t say who she’s rooting for today.”

“I mean– I think I had told her to come in orange last time we saw her but I guess we can each look for our team colours when we’re on stage”, Chris suggested. “We might see better with the lights above us.”

“Good idea, let’s not be too obvious though.” Nick warned. It was now time for them to go on stage and start the show so he gave the final instructions. “We’re mainly searching in the last rows because she had General Admission; a brunette with possibly animals painted on her face accompanied with a blonde girl who’s most certainly in orange as she supported Chris in my memories. And remember, BE. DIS–CREET.”

Matt and Chris nodded as they understood their task. They would never jeopardise their last show but it wouldn’t hurt to confirm that their guests were here as they were literally in front of the crowd where said guests were. Hugging each other, the triplets were now ready to go on stage for the last time of their tour. It had been such a wonderful experience for them and they had found a way to make this last show even more special thanks to the partners they had chosen. Indeed, as their family and friends were present, the triplets had invited three of them to share the stage with them and it was now time to get them on as they were being introduced after the popular vote had happened – Matt won again, what a surprise!

The three teammates were therefore the triplets’ brother Justin, their best friend Nathan – or Nate – and their friend Tril who had travelled with them for a couple of shows to sing at the end. Nick then announced that the three would each pull from a box a friendship bracelet based on one of the teams in order to decide who they were going to partner with. After they all took out a bracelet, Nick made them reveal at the same time and the result was Nathan on team blue with Matt, Tril on team orange with Chris and finally Justin on team purple with Nick.

As usual, the first game was the painting competition which Nate had won, thus granting a second point to Matt’s team blue sharks. The next game was called Saved by the Bell where the teams would answer trivia questions. From the age required to enter the Hunger Games – twelve years old – to the number of moons Mars had – two, the three teams had to answer several chaotic other questions such as the temperature at which water freezes – 0°C or 32°F for y’all weird Americans – or the number of elements in the Periodic Table – a hundred and eighteen. They were now playing the third game which was called We’re Playing Basketball and thanks to Tril, Chris’s team orange deers was now in the lead before the fourth and last game that was Jenga Showdown started. Matt and Nate were closely behind and the Jenga game that Matt had lost a handful would be decisive. Indeed, the loser would have five points removed from his score, which is why it was essential for Matt to not lose again.

Back to our two girls in the crowd, they had been enjoying every minute of this last show. Per Chris’s request, Lily had showed up with an orange tank top and deers drawn on her face by Alex, who was also wearing orange. Although Alex would be over the moon if Chris won this show and therefore the whole tour, Lily was actually awaiting his defeat as she was really curious regarding the tiebreaker that would decide the winner between Chris and Matt as Nick announced that he had a great one planned already. Only time would tell and it wouldn’t be too much waiting as the game finally began. The tension was slowly building in the venue along the Jenga tower. After what was unusually long compared to other shows, the tower eventually collapsed when it was Nate’s turn, thus making Matt’s team lose five out of his nine points. Matt’s loss thus meant Chris’s victory of not only the show but of the entire tour, which sent the crowd in a frenzy as everyone was screaming – one part was actually cheering on the youngest brother while the other was just screaming for fun as one does during a concert whenever the artist on stage does something as simple as breathing.

Now that the show was ending, each team received their medals and as the lights were on, Matt took that as an opportunity to check the crowd for a certain face. He tried to make his brain work its hardest ever and searched for a smiling brunette of whom he had a faint memory. As he stilled for a second, Matt thought he had seen her and when he tried to keep looking at the back of the venue for this particular person, he was nudged by his friend Nate who made him notice that he would end up seeming weird on stage. Nate and the two other teammates did know why Matt had spent a couple of times during the show simply watching the crowd – they had been notified along with the triplets’ parents about Matt’s chaotic plan – and so their role had been to prevent each of the triplets to creepingly stare at the fans too much. Finally, the coronation ceremony happened and Chris received the Versus Tour trophy before everyone left the stage for Tril’s last mini concert.

Unbeknownst to them, Alex and Lily were being observed by three similar-looking people who were watching the fans until they recognised those they were searching for. The show had been over for a little while and so the two girls were currently waiting in the queue leading to backstage as the tickets they had been given by Matt allowed them to meet the triplets after the show. Although they had been trusting Matt, they were still relieved to get the confirmation that they indeed had access backstage when they had first entered the venue a few hours earlier – though it was Laura who had notified the staff beforehand that those two specific girls had a “special treatment” due the ticket combo that wasn't supposed to exist.

As the girls were simply talking about the fact that Chris had won the show and therefore the tour – which Alex was over the moon about, her being a Chris girl, they didn't notice someone from security coming towards them. Exchanging a glance of uncertainty, Lily and Alex were surprised that the bodyguard was asking them to follow him somewhere else in the venue. Questions raised in the girls’ minds but they complied and went with the man. They didn’t understand at first and were just confused that they were being dragged out from the queue.

“What the fuck is happening?” Alex whispered to Lily as they were still walking in the corridors of the venue.

“I DON'T KNOW!” Lily whisper-yelled to Alex. “It's scaring me, like have we been scammed?”

“I hope not bro, they’ll probably give us an explanation.”

Lily agreed and a couple of minutes later, the two girls found themselves in a huge room with several couches and drinks on a table. They got told to stay here until someone would come back for them later. They both were so stressed and although they had snacks as well as beverages to pass the time, Lily and Alex were shitting themselves.

~~~

Half an hour later and the girls were still alone in the room. While they had been wondering about what was going to happen to them – their assumptions were being killed or abducted, the actual backstage was close to being over. Due to confusion still being present, Alex had suggested the first good idea of the evening and told Lily to text Matt.

“Damn, we should've thought about that earlier. I hope bro has a good explanation!”

Matt🍂

Hey Matt, please can you tell me what's going on bc Alex and I have been waiting for so long. We don't know what's happening and it's kinda scary so if you could text me back and explain wtf your cousin was supposed to do at the show, that would be nice

Lily was hoping that although Matt wasn't the one initially going to the show, he could still give her an explanation as to what was going to happen to them. However, as soon as Lily hit ‘send’ on her text, she and Alex heard a notification sound in the same room. This clearly raised more confusion in the girls’ minds. They thought it was a coincidence but were still suspicious of the fact that someone's phone received a message right as Lily had sent hers. As if it couldn’t get worse, the door suddenly opened and three people casually walked in.

“Honestly, it's such a Matt thing to forget his phone on the other side of the venue.” The voice of a man could be heard. “Don't think we needed to immediately bring it to him though.”

“You have to understand him sweetie,” a woman replied to him. “He's really nervous about today even though we spent a while reassuring him before the show. And he might need it to text his friend. I don't know, it might be useful.”

A second man agreed with the woman while Alex and Lily were watching the scene with widened eyes. They couldn't believe what they were seeing: the triplets’ parents, Mary Lou and Jimmy, as well as their brother Justin were currently standing in front of them. As the woman noticed the girls, she stopped talking and nudged her husband then her oldest son to make them notice.

“Hi there!” Mary Lou said with the nicest tone. “You must be my son's friends, right?”

“Wha–” Lily was the first to reply as she had no idea what was going on.

Seeing their confusion, Justin quickly understood that the timing had been completely off.

“Mum, I think we might be early…”

“Oh god!” Mary Lou exclaimed in surprise. “He told us he would notify you before we arrived.”

“I'm sorry, but…” Alex took Lily's place in wanting to know the truth as the brunette was now lost. “Who was supposed to notify us of what?”

“OH MY GOD! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?” The voice of a young man yelled as he ran into the room and started rambling. “Dad came to get me. Damn, I leave you guys for an hour and you can't wait ten more minutes. Fuck, sorry I shouldn't curse at you and I know I said that thing about my phone but I was about to come get it and now–”

Matt stopped talking as he turned to face the two confused girls still sitting on the couch. His dad, Jimmy, had left his wife and first son to try finding Matt before the situation would get more chaotic than it already was. He had stumbled upon Matt, Nick and Chris who were coming back from backstage as the show was definitely over, which led to the middle triplet running to the room his dad was coming from as he started panicking as soon as Jimmy had explained what was happening a few corridors away.

“Hey,” Matt said to the girls with a soft voice to not frighten them. His gaze was mostly on Lily before he spotted his phone and unlocked it. “Oh, you texted. Sorry for the confusion, I swear I can explain everything.”

What the actual– the fuck he means? Lily wondered. I texted? Like– I'm so fucking lost… She tore her eyes away from Matt as she saw Chris, Nick and Jimmy entering the room then going to stand next to Matt who was trying to calm down.

“Ok so… I know you must both be very sceptical about everything but please listen to me.” Matt almost pleaded as he was scared of how Alex and Lily would react. “Hmm, well… Hi, I'm Matt.”

As he said his last sentence with a small wave, the girls were still not understanding.

“Yeah, we know that”. Lily replied with a nervous laugh. “That's why we came to see y'all I guess.”

“No yeah, sorry. I mean like– Matt, your Matt?” He sounded almost unsure as he saw that Lily was still not completely getting it. He then had an idea and went to his conversation with Lily to show her what he meant. “Wait a second…”

Matt quickly typed a message and sent it to Lily, which made her phone's screen light up.

Matt🍂

Hey, please don't hate me

Both Lily and Alex looked down to read the message, the latter almost having a light bulb appearing above her head.

“Oh fuck I should've known! I knew it!” Alex semi-shouted.

It's true that the blonde had had suspicions a couple of times when Lily had told her that she was texting a guy named Matt who liked Pokemon, Fortnite and had several brothers. They were probably a thousand guys on Earth like that but at that time, it had been the only Matt she could think about.

“Oh…” Lily finally knew what he meant. “Oh… I was absolutely not expecting that.”

“Yeah…” Matt was still afraid of what would happen next. “If that's ok, I just want to properly do introductions?”

Lily nodded as she and Matt were still holding eye contact for the past several minutes. When the girls both stood up and approached the Sturniolo family, Matt got even more nervous and Nick took that as his cue to take charge of the situation.

“Hey, Nicolas here but call me Nick! So we have Matt obviously and Chris who you both know, I mean we all met but let's reset everything. Then it should've been later but improv I guess so I want you guys to meet our mum Mary Lou, our dad Jimmy and our brother Justin.”

“Hi, I'm Alex.” The blonde said as she could feel her best friend was in a sort of shocked state. “This is Lily, my best friend and Matt's friend then?”

Everyone nodded and as an awkward silence was almost forming, Mary Lou let her bubbly personality shine to brighten the mood.

“Okay boys, why don't we just relax and enjoy the snack while getting to know those lovely ladies? Matt darling, go talk with your brothers as I take your nice friend with me. You guys will have all the time in the world later on.”

Mary Lou walked towards Lily and gently grabbed her arm to then go sit on another couch in the room, further away from everyone else. The rest of them scattered in the room as Chris decided to join Alex – they had gotten along well the few times they had seen each other – while the other brothers stood with their dad and chose to pour themselves some drinks.

While Alex was talking with Chris and reminiscing about their victory together, Lily found herself in a conversation with Mary Lou whom she thought was the sweetest woman ever. After Matt, well Nick in all honesty, had introduced her to his mum – a bold move from him to have her meet him AND his whole family at the same time, Mary Lou immediately shooed her son away as she wanted to properly get to know his new friend. This is why Matt was currently with his brothers Justin and Nick. The two oldest were discussing what they could do the next day around the city, which Matt was half listening to as he was stressed regarding what his mum and friend – friend? Acquaintance? More than that? Less? Yeah, friend is good – were talking about. However, as he dared to glance in their direction, Matt found Lily's eyes already on him. She quickly diverted her gaze back to Mary Lou but as she still felt observed, Lily looked back to Matt. They then shared a soft smile across the room and as if it was magic, both were suddenly feeling at ease and fell back to their respective conversation. They'd only had a two second interaction as the Matt and Lily they both knew, but it was like they were turning back into their usual selves when they would text each other.

“You do know you guys are kinda obvious, right?” Justin asked his younger brother.

“Wha– what do you mean?” Matt was confused, although he somehow already knew what this was about.

“Matt come on”, Nick sighed as he dragged out his brother's name's vowel. “I'm pretty sure you didn't listen to what we've been saying because you're only thinking about her.”

“And looking at her like a lost puppy”, Justin added. “She should be the one panicking, yet here you are.”

“I don't look at Lily like a lost puppy…” Matt mumbled. “Just making sure Mum isn't overwhelming her. Can't believe she gets to talk to her before me, she's my friend!”

“A friend who probably made her live the most stressful experience ever,” Nick retorted. “I think today was confusing for everyone so let her breathe for a minute and you can go talk to her after.”

Matt and Justin agreed with the blonde, then tried to trust their mum to make Lily feel better.

Speaking of the devil, the girl was actually enjoying her conversation with Mary Lou, who was telling her about Boston life.

“It sounds great, I hope to go there one day.”

“Maybe if my son keeps you in his life – which I would be glad about, you'll have the opportunity to travel there”. Mary Lou said as she put on her kindest smile.

“Yeah, I hope he does too.” Lily replied with some awkwardness in her voice. “It's still weird to me that he was the one I was texting this whole time, but I really want us to become friends in person now. Not that I want to take advantage of him simply because I know who he actually is of course, please don't think bad of me! But, I–”

“No worries my dear, if Matt trusted you enough to reveal himself to you, then I trust you as well”. The woman reassured the girl sitting next to her. “He's a good boy, so please take care of him.”

“I– yeah I will, I'll do my best to make this friendship work”.

The two exchanged a smile and kept talking about their respective lives: Mary Lou telling Lily about her and Jimmy while Lily told Mary Lou about the café she was working at with Alex.

They had been talking for a good dozen of minutes until Matt – who had been motivated by his brothers – finally decided to join them.

“Hi”, he waved again at Lily – seems like it was his current go-to move when feeling nervous. “Mum, I'm gonna steal her from you – if that's ok with you Lily obviously – because we need to talk now.”

Mary Lou kindly agreed and nudged Lily to stand up. As the girl was expecting the conversation to start now, she was actually surprised when Matt asked her to follow him outside. They both left the room under everyone’s curious stare and Matt took her elsewhere in the venue in order to be far enough for anyone who could walk by. When he found what seemed like a good spot, Matt looked back at Lily to silently ask her if it was ok. As she nodded, he opened the door and they were now on a balcony that was overlooking the parking lot behind the venue.

“Sorry, it looks kinda sketchy but I'll feel better with some fresh air.”

“No yeah, I get it.” Lily agreed with Matt. “I think I needed it too.”

“So…” Matt started as he was fidgeting while leaning on the railing.

“Yep…” Lily whispered as she was doing the same awkward movements.

None of them felt like holding eye contact as they were both extremely nervous. Knowing that he was responsible for all of this, Matt eventually started talking:

“Ok first, I have to apologise for everything. I put you in a very uncomfortable situation and it was a shit move.”

“It's okay… Well it was not completely ok but I understand where you come from so I can forgive you.” Lily smiled at Matt as she was feeling less awkward now that they were actually talking about it. “Never forgive you for not liking sushi though.”

“Damn,” Matt let out a laugh at that. “Can't believe you still hold that against me.”

“Yep, always I guess…” Lily chuckled too and let a now semi-comfortable silence start until she interrupted it with the most important question. “How long have you known?”

“Hmm?”

“Since when have you known it was me like– I was me?”

“Oh, well… when you posted those pictures,” Matt explained. “I was ninety-nine percent sure of you coming to our shows and the last percent was when I texted you.”

“Ok ok,” Lily nodded. “And your first reflex was to make me come to another one?”

“It seems weird but yeah actually,” Matt confirmed as he was actually surprised of himself being so honest. “I was a bit in denial at first because it felt crazy that the person I'm texting is literally a fan – although you are my friend first and foremost – but when I talked about it to Nick and Chris, the first thing that popped into my brain when we agreed that you were Lily was that I needed to meet you again, but properly this time.”

“I'm glad you thought that because I wanted us to eventually meet and I'm happy it's you.”

“Yeah?” Matt asked as he felt relieved that Lily wasn't hating him.

“Yeah, it's just sooner than expected but in a good way. I'm grateful for our friendship Matt.”

“I'm grateful for that too Lily.” Matt had a soft smile on his face. “You wanna meet my other friends/come see everyone else now?”

“Hmm,” Lily hesitated. “Can we stay here a bit longer? Just the two of us…?”

“Yeah, okay.” He agreed. “We can do that, fine by me.”

Basking in the silence, the two newly acquainted friends were enjoying this moment of peace. It would be the first one of many, but for now, it felt like a necessity to take their time as they were now slowly starting to navigate their friendship.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad