EPILOGUE !
[ real life ]

❝ BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE IMAGINED ❞

 📂﹖﹕𓂃𐩐💻

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ

"eli, i need you to shut the fuck up."

"i said one thing?"

"and that's enough."

elijah rolls his eyes and continues grabbing his shit out of the backseat of his car. aurora stands with her arms crossed over her chest, freezing as she waits with her suitcase already on the ground next to her.

it's so fucking cold that she can see her breath in the air when she breathes out and elijah sure is taking his time with grabbing his shit. he refused to bring a suitcase because it 'looks stupid' so he has like three bags to grab.

eventually, he manages to grab everything and closes the trunk, turning around to meet aurora's impatient face. he blows out a breath. "it's four in the fucking morning, aurora. save your death glares for a suitable time."

aurora sighs as she deeply resists a roll of her eyes. "whatever," she mumbles, finally being able to turn and make her way into the house they've been stood outside of.

it is way too fucking early to be awake, nonetheless outside in the winter air.

see, ever since last may when they literally graduated high school, they've fallen into this schedule of switching between boston and la. the triplets have to go to la a lot because of youtube and who would elijah and aurora be if they didn't tag along? it got hectic having to stay with the triplets all the time, so about six months in, elijah and aurora got an apartment in la as well as the one they have in boston. she can thank youtube money for that. recently, she's discovered the love for making videos on her personal channel and making fans of her own.

the constant switching though, is a little inconvenient sometimes because there will be moments when the triplets want to stay in la longer, or elijah wants to stay in boston longer, and this causes their most prominent issue recently: the small time periods in which they do not see each other. elijah's had to stay home in boston to do a lot of exams and testing for college recently and it's prevented them from going to la with the triplets, which is where they've been for the last two weeks. they have plans to spend the holidays there because they've had a lot of holiday content planned out that is easier to do in la.

that leaves them currently: the triplets across the world in la and aurora and elijah stood outside of the boys' family home in boston. ever since they moved out, they haven't considered their blood their family except for when it comes to each other, so marylou has been kind enough to always have them come to hers for the holidays. aurora always saw her as more of a mother than her own, so she never has a single complaint. she loves the holidays at the sturniolos, she just misses her usually grumpy boyfriend that's never not been there with her.

she opens the front door and is immediately engulfed with an overwhelming sense of comfort when she steps into the warm lighting of the place. it smells of cinnamon and cookies, leading aurora to believe marylou's started on the christmas cookies. she smiles to herself as she decides to go ahead and make her way to matt's room. even though he is not here, she finds it the most comfortable to stay in his room, so she plans to put her bags up and then find marylou.

once she's arrived in matt's familiar dark room, she sets her bags near the end of the bed and allows herself to take a seat. call her crazy, but she can still slightly smell the scent of his cologne left behind in his sheets.

the entire room screams of matt since she is, of course, in his bedroom, but it brings her a sense of nostalgia being here without him and left alone with the memories the house contains. it leaves her to think about all the time she wasted being mad at the wrong person. she thinks of the days she would storm into matt's room with the mission in mind to find something to yell at him over, when in reality, she now knows she just wanted excuses to talk to him.

with the time she's had to look over their journey together, she realizes that she never truly hated him, because even with such miscommunication between them, she could never despise him enough to try and forget his existence. ignoring him was a task she had tried in elementary school, and maybe even again in high school a few times, but when matt started growing rude to her out of spite, she realized that hatred provided her with reasoning to still have him in her life. ignoring him was never something she ever felt like she was doing right anyway. no matter what, she'd still look for him in school assemblies and wish he was there when she didn't have anyone she felt comfortable enough to talk about her step father to. that's why she realizes now that seeing bickering and name-calling as easier to do than just simply ignoring someone, was her body trying to get her brain to catch up to her heart. her heart has always lied with matt, she just wishes she could've gotten herself to see that sooner.

matt likes to say that even though the rooting of the entire falling out of their friendship was fabricated, he wouldn't change a thing. he tells her that since they spent so much time doing things horribly wrong, it makes it so much easier to do things right this time around. she tries to remind herself that that is what he would say as she is alone in his bedroom with sheets that smell of him and a decorated house missing what makes the place scream of home.

she lets out a sigh, the noise filling the silent room as she scoots up to the top of the bed. she sits back against the pillows and brings up the blankets to her waist, smiling slightly when his scent is vaguely stronger. she glances around the darkness of her boyfriends bedroom, eyes landing on the picture frame on his bedside table.

it's a framed selfie of aurora puckering her lips at the camera, as if she is attempting to kiss the person on the other side of the phone. she had given it to him as a gag gift for his last birthday, but he had taken matters seriously and insisted that he would have to keep it with him next to his bed. she thought it was cute, and to this day it makes her cheeks flush, so she has no real complaint.

she finds herself letting out a yawn as she cozies up in his bed. she's trying to remind herself that it's christmas eve, but the more matt's bed smells of him, the easier it is to sleep, and who could really be mad at someone on christmas eve? aurora's gaslighting herself into thinking it's okay to fall asleep in matt's bed as she very much falls asleep in the process.

her eyes have only been closed for what feels to be a couple minutes when the light of the door opening causes her to roll over. she assumes elijah is coming to see what is taking her so long and will leave once he sees her trying to sleep. she scoots further towards the wall and buries her head deeper into the pillow she rests against as the door audibly closes.

it's when she feels the bed shift with a newfound weight next to her that she opens her eyes. taking in a deep breath as she blinks at the dark wall, she mutters, "i will literally beat your ass, el—"

"c'mon rory," soft hands reach out for her waist and all at once, her eyes widen as her body registers her favorite touch. matt pulls her against him, the smile almost audible in his voice when he says, "that's no way to greet your boyfriend."

"matt," her shock is evident in her voice as she quickly spins around to face him, her hands automatically reaching to wrap around the sides of his torso. a raspy chuckle leaves his lips at her reaction, leading her to believe he must be facing jetlag. after relishing in the solace of his embrace, her eyes flicker over the familiar features of his face. "what the fuck are you doing here?" she quickly exclaims.

"it's my house?" he responds dubiously, giving her a teasing look as she attempts her best eye roll even though the smile on her face is one radiant enough matt is sure there is sun beams ricocheting from it. "you're trying to nap in my bed, you know," he tells her with an undeniable grin. "on christmas eve," he even adds for emphasis.

"shut up," she responds with amused laughter, raising one of her hands to toy with the string of his hoodie as his hands on her hips travel up underneath her shirt to instead re-familiarize himself with the warmth of her skin on her lower back. "i thought you were gonna be stuck in la," she points out.

"pfft," matt blows a breath from his lips, only tilting his head at her. "and miss out on all your craziness for christmas?" he raises his eyebrows. "never."

aurora shakes her head in disbelief. "i can't believe you."

he smirks at her. "i can't believe you believed me," he teases her, "thought you were smarter than that, 'rora."

"oh fuck off," she rolls her eyes amusedly as she huffs. "i would've been perfectly content with sleeping this christmas eve away," she tells him lightheartedly.

"yeah, you realize you completely fucked yourself over with choosing to do that immediately, right?" he asks her as his fingers tap along her skin. "literally everyone is in the living room," he informs her, causing her jaw to drop.

"wait, everyone?" she repeats with a deep furrow of her brows, looking to matt for further clarification.

"i mean, marylou is having a field day teaching kingston how to decorate cookies correctly right now," he explains to her knowingly, a smug look on his face when her jaw drops further. "see," he emphasizes, "totally missing out."

"oh my god," she gasps as she sits up all of a sudden, causing matt to raise his eyebrows as he hastily lets go of his hold on her. he stays laid back as she pulls the comforter from her waist and starts to scoot to the edge. "did chris bring amelie?" she halts her movements for a moment to spin around and glance back at matt.

"yup," he confirms, his lips resting in a small amused smile as he watches her squeal and stand up from the bed. "it's funny because you can tell she's secretly shitting herself anytime she has to talk to dad," he tells her as he begins to sit up, scooting to the edge of the bed as she comes to stand in front of him.

"yeah?" aurora grins at the thought, momentarily taking a glance over her boyfriend and stepping forward to run a hand through his hair once she notices the growing length. "oh my god," she laughs. "it's about time for a haircut, baby."

matt only rolls his eyes, unable to fight the smile that grows across his lips at the fondness in her voice as he reaches his arms out to wrap around her lower back. he pulls her close to him, his chin coming to rest against her stomach as he looks up at her. "rory," he mumbles as one of her hands in his hair slides to the backside of his neck. "i missed you," he tells her genuinely, his voice just soft enough to fill the silence of his dark bedroom.

"i missed your hair," she responds sarcastically, running her hand through it as matt blinks at her. "and your face," she adds to a growing lack of amusement from him, making her giggle before she gives in and breathily sighs. "and you, i guess," she adds lightly, a lovesick smile adorning her lips alongside the words.

he grins, raising his head from her stomach as he straightens where he sits. the hand aurora had in his hair meets her other on the back of his neck as matt raises a hand from her back to instead cup her cheek. "i was thinking about this the entire flight," he whispers after bringing his lips merely inches from hers. he registers the sight of her smile before breaking the distance between them, his thumb resting along the sharpness of her jawline.

matt's lips move against hers in a way that makes her feel this is the place she was destined to be. he kisses her in a way that makes everything suddenly make sense. all of her days, she could spend here, transfixed in this spell his love casts upon her. his skin is warm on her fingertips, and her back is on fire due to his roaming hands underneath the safety of her shirt. it feels like the beat drop of her favorite song—the sound of their hurried breathing and pounding hearts once they break apart for air. she relishes in the fact that this is something only she gets to experience—being so close to him.

for matt, it's like coming up for air. every time his lips are on hers, he knows he is doing something right; he can feel it in his chest. he feels her against him and he just knows. he sees her and he just knows. it's aurora. it's as simple as that, as simple as breathing. it's always worked that way.

once matt removes his hand from her face and both trail across the bare of her lower back, she pulls away from him and has to take in a sharp breath. matt's hair hangs over his eyes as he watches her inch her face slightly back from his. "you know," she sighs. "we should probably go."

matt pauses for a moment, seeming to consider it before licking his lips and leaning forward once again. "fuck that," he mutters against her lips, using his hands on her back to travel to the back of her legs. he pulls her onto his lap as aurora smiles smugly at his unwillingness to stop, adjusting her legs around him as he then sighs contently, looking up at her when his hands return to her bare torso underneath her shirt. "they can wait."

aurora chuckles at his eagerness, leading him to go in to reconnect their lips. she hesitates though, pulling back for just a second to ask, "hey," she stops him first. "do you ever regret wasting so much of our time in high school?" she questions him curiously, unable to help herself as his answer is more important to her than the one she came up with herself.

she can tell he is taken off guard by her question, because he furrows his eyebrows momentarily before shrugging. "of course not," he answers without a doubt, pulling her into him once again once he smirks, "your bitchy side has always been my favorite, rory."

aurora's instant response is to roll her eyes, leaning back for a second to move her hair behind her neck as matt keeps her firm in place under his touch. she then leans forward once again, stifling a laugh. "alright, that's enough nonsense from you," she says teasingly, causing matt to lightheartedly scoff before she shuts up whatever response he begins to gather by planting her hands on his face and finally reconnecting their lips.

"you know, you can say it now."

aurora resists rolling her eyes as they slide from the tv in front of her to kingston sat next to her on the couch. "say what?" she questions.

"that i basically saved your life," he continues nonchalantly, only blinking when aurora instantly sits up to look at him like he's crazy. "you were lost without me, bro," he tells her without a care, saying it like it's fact.

"that's pushing it." she narrows her eyes at him before managing a tight-lipped smile. "but sure, king," she says lightly. "whatever you say."

"that day we met was the best day of your life, don't lie," he responds teasingly, grinning at her when she can't help the amused smile that forms on her lips. "it's kind of still hard to believe you and matt are actually together. as soon as i met you, it was like a waiting game for you to take a look around and realize everyone already figured it out for you guys," he tells her with a laugh, nostalgia floating in the air around them.

she can't help her smile as she thinks back on it. "yeah," she hums, allowing her eyes to wander around the room at the sight of her friends spread out all over the triplets childhood home. venus, raven, elijah, and nick are sat at the dining room table with the triplets father. sugar cookie dough is sprawled all over the table, sprinkles of flour preventing the substance from sticking as they use cut-outs to make shapes of the dough for cooking. marylou is icing a cookie with makayla and amerie watching twinkled eyed behind her. chris and matt stand hushed together next to the cooling rack, chris watching amelie's focused state with an amused glint in his eyes. when aurora looks to matt, his eyes are on hers despite the chaos of the room. she looks away with flushed cheeks. "hard to think i ever convinced myself i could hate him."

"yeah," he replies, his voice lingering in the air for a moment before he asks, "so is it all you expected?"

"what?" she asks, confused.

"love," he says obviously, emphasizing the word.

aurora sucks in a breath as she thinks of her answer. "considering i once thought my best shot at it was cameron lockeheart..." she starts, turning to look at him and exhale, "it's much better than i could have imagined."

"cameron lockeheart?" he only gives her a strange look, causing her to blink repeatedly at him. "the fucks cameron?" he asks questionably, never having heard of this guy before in his life.

in the midst of it all, she had forgotten he wasn't even around for that entire portion of her life. "wow," she says after a second, blinking repeatedly yet again. "i forget we only met in the middle of senior year. you weren't even there when shit actually started. damn."

kingston scoffs, somehow taking offense to his own absence in the past. "fuck no i wasn't," he first agrees with her, then going on to add, "if i was, i would've hired a hitman on becca's ass back in the fifth grade." aurora instantly chuckles at the girls mention as kingston looks over to her. "can't believe it took you a year to fill me in on the elementary school lore, by the way."

"okay, well—"

"are you guys going to come ice cookies or what?"

the sound of matt's voice coming from the kitchen interrupts aurora and kingston's conversation, causing aurora to push her lips together as kingston chuckles. "there's your usual inpatient matt," he says, waving his hand to send her on her way as she playfully rolls her eyes.

the two both stand from the couch, aurora's eyes instantly finding matt's as she sends him a teasing look on her way over to him. "couldn't wait another minute?" she asks him with a batting of her eyelashes once she stops in front of him.

"no," he responds without missing a beat, chris taking his exit as matt reaches forward to the cooling rack. he grabs a cookie and hands it to aurora. "here," he offers it out to her. "it's a heart."

a smile appears on her lips as she graciously takes it from his hand. she looks at it for a moment before looking back up to him, unable to help herself when she tilts her head playfully, "are you hitting on me?"

"hitting on my girlfriend?" he questions, an upturn taking over the side of his lips as he takes a step forward. "yes, yes i am." as aurora grins back at him, he reaches past her to grab some tubs of icing. "now ice your cookie," he tells her, picking up her hand still holding the cookie and placing the icing on top of it. she watches their connected hands and offers a firm nod, her grin not faltering.

"did you already ice one?" she asks him as he removes his hand from hers, turning around to face the counter and set her cookie and icing down.

"yeah," he answers, then stepping forward and pointing to a messy cookie sitting on a plate of already iced ones.

her eyebrows raise at the sight of quite possibly the worst santa clause cookie she has ever seen, and turns around to him. "it's a good thing you're famous," she jokes as she pats his shoulder. "you could never be a baker."

matt scoffs before gathering a response. "really?" he questions. when she only nods her head, he smiles smugly. "you were my inspiration."

aurora's face quickly drops, as dramatic as ever as she immediately turns around and scoops up her cookie and icing. she spins around and heads to the other side of the counter, matt's amused eyes following her every step. "what are you doing?" he asks as she comes to stand next to chris doing his best to ice a cookie.

"you can't see my cookie," she tells him pointedly, looking up just in time to see him roll his eyes as his hands rest along the surface of the counter. she smiles as she looks down to her cookie, picking up some icing with determination.

she's fully focused icing her cookie when she feels chris lean over her shoulder from next to her. "uh," she hears him come to a full stop at the sight of her cookie. "rory?" he tries.

"it's for matt," is all she offers as an explanation.

"oh," chris responds, blinking first before turning and going on with icing his cookie. "makes sense then."

when aurora is done with her cookie, she first takes a step back to admire her work before picking it up and approaching the same inpatient boy stood at the other side of the counter. he stands with his arms crossed as she steps in front of him with the cookie behind her back. "really, rory?" he raises his eyebrows at her dramatics. "just let me see your cookie."

"oh, i will," she tells him seriously before bringing it out from behind her back. she cups it in her hands and presents it out to him. "it's for you."

"wow," he sucks in a breath at the sight of 'DUMB FUCK' written in bright red frosting with green polka dots around the words. knowing he looks like a stupid fool, a grin spreads across his face as he takes it from her hands. "it's perfect," he sarcastically jokes, the look on her face making it fully worth it.

aurora opens her mouth to respond, but surprisingly, marylou beats her to it. "what is it?" the woman's curiosity causes matt and aurora's eyes to widen comically. "i want to see!"

"oh! uh—"

"yeah, rory," chris speaks up with a wide grin, clearly enjoying this all too much. "you have to show marylou."

"you're dead, chris."

 📂﹖﹕𓂃𐩐💻

ⁱⁿˢᵗᵃᵍʳᵃᵐ

rorysorenson

matthew.sturniolo, nicolassturniolo, amelie, christophersturniolo

elijah_sorens, veerosaro

ravenmarisso

kingston_j79, mak7ayla1

liked by matthew.sturniolo and 348,623 others

rorysorenson home is where the heart is 🎄

user THE PHOTOBOOTH PIC NO IM SICK

user they're all spending the holidays together 😭😭😭😭😭😭 the fact that i'm not apart of this friend group will never sit right with me

user her life is literally the dream

christophersturniolo should've posted your cookie
↳ rorysorenson would say the same to you if urs wasn't so blindingly ugly
↳ christophersturniolo wow.

user is no one gonna ask who this amelie girl is
↳ user guess we'll have to find out in the spin off the author is not sure when will come out yet💝😇

user just remembered her and matt had THE enemies to lovers i literally fell to my knees in walmart over them once

kingston_j79 WHO LET HER BEHIND THE WHEEL? (me)
↳ rorysorenson they say license revoked i hear license ✅ yes
↳ matthew.sturniolo we've talked about this rory
↳ rorysorenson I ONLY HAVE 1 MONTH REVOKED LEFT LET ME LIVE

user MOTHER

user i feel like we don't talk about how lucky of a guy matt is enough
↳ veerosaro agreed
↳ ravenmarisso agreed
↳ matthew.sturniolo it's called being self aware guys

matthew.sturniolo i'm the photographer guys
↳ rorysorenson so am i the art 😘
↳ matthew.sturniolo you're always the art
↳ user RAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH
↳ user destroyed.

user I'M COMPLETELY OBLITERATED

user i'm so glad we're normal about matt and rory

user roman empire or roman 😭 empire 😭

nicolassturniolo life was so good when u never tagged matt
↳ elijah_sorens when i could move freely without fear of walking in on something i shouldn't 😭🙏
↳ rorysorenson u guys have no room to speak to me and matt ever actually

💌

MERRY CHRISTYAAAAASSSSSSS

i actually dk if i'll ever write a spin off i just wanted to give chris a happy ending

<3
jaden