CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE !
[ real life ]

❝ PLAYING CUPID ❞

📂﹖﹕𓂃𐩐💻

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ

"i feel like you guys should, i don't know... talk about what's been going on?"

aurora sighs. "it's just weird though, i don't know."

it's wednesday into the next week and her and kingston are currently on their way to lunch. ever since they've become friends, they realized their classes before lunch are just around the corner from each other. their classes are also pretty far from the lunch room so they've started taking their time to walk together and talk about whatever. kingston also sits with the group at lunch now.

"i mean okay yeah, kissing, cuddling, almost kissing again is pretty weird for people who hate each other but," he pauses for a second, glancing over at her as they turn a hallway corner. "it's even weirder that you guys are arguing like normal and acting like nothing happened."

aurora frowns. she's been keeping kingston up to date about all that's been going on between her and matt because he's the only one who actually knows and she needs to talk about it or she might lose her mind. "i don't know. i think it'd probably be even weirder if we were acknowledging everything," aurora sighs, glancing back at him now. "like we've acknowledged that we've kissed literally twice. one, with the text you sent and two, when matt was convincing me to share my bed."

he goes silent for a moment before stopping in his place, aurora doing so as well. "look, i hate talking about my feelings and shit like that but," he pauses, tilting his head at her slightly. "i still have to do it because communication is like a key part of relationships. if me or mak ignored how we felt all the time, shit wouldn't work, you know?" he tells her, mentioning his girlfriend as an example.

"yeah but," aurora shakes her head. "matt and i aren't in a relationship."

"okay," he just sighs before speaking again. "you're not in a relationship but you've got everything that comes with one. you've got the kissing, cuddling, banter, jealousy issues, and all that shit," he tells her, her just frowning as he talks. "you've gotta talk, bro."

auroras frowning even deeper as they start walking again. "he probably won't want to talk."

"hm, i think he would," kingston shrugs, expecting her to respond and turning his head with a raise of his eyebrows when she doesn't. "i'm starting to think you're the one who doesn't wanna talk."

"i uh... i don't know. i just-" she cuts herself off with a sigh when she realizes how stupid she already sounds.

kingston furrows his eyebrows before suddenly exclaiming, "oh my god," he turns to her again, them pausing from where they were walking for the second time. "you're scared he's gonna say something you don't wanna hear."

"what?" aurora shakes her head repeatedly. "no."

"ha!" kingston is laughing now. "you're scared he's gonna say it didn't mean anything!"

"what! no!" aurora instantly denies. "no."

"yeah sure," kingston chuckles before giving her a serious glance, as serious as he can get which isn't really that much actually. "you should talk to him after school."

"i would but," (she wouldn't because she's deeply afraid of talking about anything with matt) "i've gotta babysit my baby cousin tonight." the second part is honest.

"babysitting, huh?" kingston raises his eyebrows.

"yup."

"hey matt."

matt glances to the side from where he was grabbing his backpack from his locker and sighs. "what's up, kingston?"

"can we chat for a sec?"

"uh... yeah?" matt furrows his eyebrows just slightly. "why?"

matt doesn't really have a problem with kingston anymore since his only real problem with the guy from the start was that he thought... you know. they've been getting along as kingston hangs out with the group now but they haven't really talked one-on-one so matt's a little confused.

"i think you should lock things down with aurora," kingston says nonchalantly.

"oh," matt just sighs, already growing unamused. "this again."

matt's also learned that kingston is weirdly enthusiastic about him and auroras... thing. him, nick, and chris have been relentless about it since matt and aurora.. cuddled or whatever. kingston knows they've kissed though so he's pretty much the ring leader of the whole thing.

matt almost wishes kingston really was into aurora (that's a complete and utter lie).

"yes, this again!" kingston exclaims. "bro, what are you doing."

"i mean i'm trying to get the shit from my lock-"

"no, with aurora," kingston rolls his eyes. "you're over here barking and growling at me telling me she's yours and doing literally nothing to actually make her yours, bro."

matt pauses. "did you just say i was barking and growling?"

"that's besides the point," kingston shakes his head, leaning back on the locker behind him as matt finally gets all his shit in his backpack. "you need to just talk to her and be like 'yo, i want you and you want me so let's not see anyone else,' you know?"

matt shakes his head as he zips his backpack and pulls it out of his locker. "i don't want her."

kingston sighs. he is so done with these peoples whack logic. they're obviously in love.

"you hate her, you don't like her, and now you don't want her," kingston states, earning an easy nod from matt that makes him want to bang his head into the locker behind him. "but she's yours?"

matt throws his backpack over his shoulder, closes his locker, and turns to kingston. "yeah."

"what!" kingston exclaims, genuinely sick of this. "that makes no sense."

"huh," matt says. "makes sense to me."

"okay," kingston shakes his head repeatedly to himself. "okay."

"okay great," matt speaks again, pressing his lips together and beginning to walk past kingston and the conversation when he says something else.

"don't start crying and acting like you're in love with the girl when i give her number to my friend then."

matt freezes, taking a step back to the place he was in before and turning to him. "what?"

"she's not yours until you make her yours, bro," kingston shrugs, watching as matt's face scrunches up. "and i've gotta friend who's into her so..."

see, that parts not a complete lie. kingstons like 99% sure that his friend ross would've asked for auroras number at the party she went to if he didn't tell everyone matt was her boyfriend.

is ross a good guy? yes. is he gonna give him auroras number? no.

does he want to make matt squirm until he finally gets his shit together with aurora? yes.

"are you trying to make me mad again?" matt narrows his eyes at him, thinking back to when he looked like a fool because kingston pretended to like aurora.

"no. ross is a great guy," kingston says honestly. "he'd treat her right and wouldn't back down just because you glare at him a couple times."

matt's jaw is beginning to tick so kingston, being himself, leans forward and gives him a pat on the shoulder. "just because you won't admit you want her doesn't mean someone else won't," he tells him. "lock. that. down. bro."

matt is glaring at him now so he clears his throat and takes a step back. "also, completely unrelated," (lie) "we're going to auroras tonight."

"who's we?" matt asks dryly.

"me, you, your brothers," he grins. "so come pick me up sometime after school."

"what? no," matt says obviously.

kingston just turns around and begins to walk away though. "see ya later!" he calls out.

he can practically feel matt's death stare on him as he walks away but he still grins anyway. he is so good at playing cupid.

💌

this is shorter than usual but it's ok bc i updated thrice yesterday 🥱🥱

"how are u writing so much??" mtn dew. doing the dew is so powerful.

no dew = no writing

dew = updates

also.. next chapter 🤭

<3
jaden