CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO !
[ real life ]

❝ JUST YOU. ❞

📂﹖﹕𓂃𐩐💻

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ

"why the fuck are you crying? it's literally bad girls club."

the baby sat on the couch continues to cry loudly and aurora sighs. she turns to the tv as two of the girls on screen begin to fight. she looks back at the baby and frowns. "come on, this is the reunion. this is the best part."

the baby cries even louder.

"okay goddamn," aurora rolls her eyes. "i'll put on some cocomelon then."

she's currently at her aunts house watching her baby cousin and she's only been here for 15 minutes yet she's excruciatingly annoyed. the only plus about this is that her aunt is ridiculously rich which means it's a pretty nice house that has a pool and a hot tub. needless to say, aurora has her swimsuit on underneath for when this dumbass baby falls asleep.

aurora sighs and reaches past the baby girl to grab the remote, pausing when she suddenly stretches her arms out for her. "oh okay," she says, glancing at the baby that's crying just a tad quieter as she stares at her. "you just want attention." she picks the baby up and rests her against her left side with one of her arms, the tiny child clinging against her side immediately as her crying comes to a halt.

"can we please watch bad girls club now?" aurora looks down at the baby, her making a humming noise in response that has aurora sighing of relief. "oh thank fuck," she whispers, pausing for a moment when she realizes she's talking to a baby that's just learning how to speak. "don't repeat that."

she's about to sit down on the couch with the baby when her phone begins to vibrate with a call. she sighs and reaches for it in her back pocket with her free hand. "hello?" she answers without even looking at who's calling.

"where are you?"

"kingston?" she furrows her eyebrows. "i'm babysitting, like i told you earlier."

"no you're not," he disagrees.

"i literally have a baby in my arms right now."

"okay well i'm at your house and eli's the only one here," he says through the phone, auroras eyebrows raising. "i mean, nicks obviously not complaining bu-" his words get cut off and he goes silent for a couple seconds before speaking again. "nick has just punched me in the shoulder."

"what? why are you at my house? who are you with at my house?" she questions, growing a tad frustrated and moving to set the baby back down but stopping once her face scrunches up like she's going to cry. she slowly brings the baby back to her side and she quickly clings to it again.

"i'm with the triplets because we- well, i wanna see the baby. they're just kinda there."

"i'm at my aunts," she sighs.

"okay," he responds, pausing for a second before speaking again. "send me the location."

"no."

"yes."

"well, don't you look rough."

kingston is the first person to speak after auroras opened the front door, hair lazily resting over her face as if it's been tugged on and a baby in her hands that has tears in her eyes.

"this stupid fucking baby won't stop crying when i put her down," she's immediately complaining. "watch this," she says, pulling the baby off of where she clings to her side and watching as she immediately starts crying.

they all glance at the crying baby as aurora sighs loudly and puts her back on her side so she'll shut up.

matt is the first to glance back at aurora. "call me crazy but," the sarcastic tone to his voice has her already done. "aren't you supposed to not cuss in front of babies?"

"we've been watching bad girls club so..."

"there's no way you've been watching that with a literal baby."

"well i have, thank you very much, bernard," she narrows her eyes at him, him rolling his from the use of his middle name. she looks away from him and down at the baby, grinning in her direction for the first time they've seen. "she loves it actually."

matt starts to open his mouth but nick beats him to it, actually stepping inside the house. "wait omg," he says, looking at the baby then at aurora. "what's her name?"

"oh, it's lindsey," she answers as kingston, chris, and matt come inside as well. kingston shuts the door behind them.

"wait i wanna hold it," chris tells her, her nodding in response before pausing.

"it, chris?" matt raises his eyebrows at him.

"wait no fuck i-" chris realizes what he's said and then cuts himself off when he realizes he's cussing. "shit, sorry i- wait no i-"

"okay," aurora interrupts him with a sigh. "how about you stop talking and take this baby from me instead?"

"okay!" chris instantly agrees, kinda excited to hang out with the baby.

when the baby starts crying when aurora moves her from her side but instantly stops once chris has ahold of her, she sighs of relief. "oh thank god," she exclaims, turning to the rest of the group and grinning all of a sudden. "now that you guys are here, you can watch the baby while i swim!"

"wait what?" kingstons face falls.

"my aunt has a hot tub and i was gonna wait until lindsey was asleep to go check it out but now that you guys are here, i don't have to!" she's extremely cheery all of a sudden.

"no." nick frowns.

"yes." aurora grins.

"what the fuck? there's no way we're stuck watching a baby while you're in a literal hot tub," matt says, face scrunched up as he feels like he's been tricked.

"yes way because that's what you're doing!" she grins at him, reaching forward and patting his shoulder. matt's eyes follow the touch, then back up to her face, narrowing his eyes at her sarcastic enthusiasm.

"wait no take the baby back i-"

"bye guys!" aurora exclaims with a grin before turning around and heading for the kitchen where the back door is.

when auroras only had peace and quiet sitting in the hot tub with her hair in a ponytail for five minutes and the back door opens, she sighs. when chris and matt come out in swim trunks that she's 100% sure they scavenged from her uncles closet, she frowns.

"what the fuck?" she says as they walk over to the hot tub, chris with a grin and matt just with a relaxed face.

"kingston and nick got stuck with the baby, fucking losers," chris tells her, already rushing to come up to the small steps of the hot tub. "we're getting in this bad boy."

aurora just sighs. "i hate you both."

for the next fifteen minutes, chris pretty much carries conversation between the three as matt and aurora don't seem all that interested in whatever he's talking about.

of course, matt had to sit directly across from her in the hot tub which is driving her fucking crazy.

something about the heat of the water, matt being across from her, the lack of acknowledgment of what's been going on with them, and thoughts of her conversation with kingston earlier is driving her off the edge.

she knows she's not imagining the tension either because she keeps catching matt glancing over at her despite her lack of talking. the two have both been relatively quiet as chris talks about whatever.

chris' phone vibrates and when he opens it, he sighs. he glances at matt, then aurora, who are both looking at each other like he's not the one who's been actively trying to engage in conversation with the both of them for the past several minutes. he looks back down at his phone and types out a response before suddenly clearing his throat to snap them out of their literal fucking trance. "okay, i'm gonna go back inside now."

"what?" aurora instantly frowns, all of a sudden finding chris' presence and talkativeness necessary because she's not sure what the fuck is going on between her and matt and she is not ready to be left alone with him.

"yeah," chris is already standing up and beginning to climb out which makes auroras frown deepen even more. she glances over at matt who's watching his brother begin to leave. when he feels her eyes on him, he glances back at her, eyes lingering for a few unnecessary seconds before going back to his brothers retreating figure. "see ya."

aurora and matt are both silent as they watch chris walk to the back door, open it, and walk inside. when the door shuts behind him, the silence is almost deafening.

just as aurora glances over at matt, he glances at her as well and all of a sudden, auroras skin is burning.

she suddenly stands up from where she was sitting and matt watches her as she does so very quickly. "what are you doing?"

"getting in the pool," she answers very, very quickly.

"i thought you told chris not to splash you because you didn't want to get your hair wet?" he raises his eyebrows as she climbs out of the tub in a rush.

"changed my mind," she responds very quickly again. "i need to cool off."

"huh," matt hums, watching her silently as she approaches the pool before suddenly standing up as well. aurora hears the sound of the water dropping off of him and instantly turns back around. "me too."

"what? no," aurora shakes her head as he climbs out of the hot tub.

"yeah," he says as he gets on the ground, beginning to walk over to where she is in front of the pool. "i'm gonna get in too."

"why?" she frowns.

"because i wanna cool off too," he shrugs at her, raising his eyebrows at her once again. "is there a problem with that?"

"no," she immediately answers, taking a step back and turning around to face the pool instead of him. "do whatever you want."

"okay," he responds, easily taking a step ahead of the hesitant girl and actually approaching the pool steps. he gets in slowly because of how cold it is, especially since he just got out of a hot tub and because it's early fall.

once matt's fully in and away from the steps, aurora walks over and repeats the same process he took of getting in.

it's absolutely fucking freezing but somehow, she feels more relaxed than she was with matt right across from her in the steaming hot water.

a silence spreads between them in the long area of the pool, matt exploring off into the deep end as aurora settles for still getting used to the water on the shallow side.

it's all fine at first until the silence stretches out and it begins to dig at her. when auroras fully gotten used to the water and matt's still off in his own world and nothings been said between the two, she begins to grow frustrated.

she grows frustrated with the silence. not just the silence shared between them right now but the silence about everything that's happened between them and the silence neither of the two refuse to break. it begins to make her more and more frustrated the longer it goes on.

kingstons words from earlier about just needing to talk is beginning to make her skin crawl and as she watches matt swim around towards the middle of the pool, she feels like she's genuinely losing her mind.

she takes in a breath before suddenly deciding on approaching him. she sinks shoulder length into the water and swims over to where matt's currently in the middle. he notices her coming his direction but doesn't really think much on it, assuming she's going to pass by him. he's taken by surprise when she suddenly stops right in front of him.

just as he raises his eyebrows at her, she opens her mouth. "i'm confused on what you want, matt."

"what?" his eyebrows are instantly furrowed, having no idea what she's talking about.

"what do you want from me?" she asks him, a frustrated tone in her voice as she thinks back to the kiss, the piggyback rides, the cuddling, and the almost kiss. none of it has actually been addressed and she is losing her fucking mind.

"what?" he repeats again. "what are you even talking about?"

so, she goes right for it. "i'm talking about how you kissed me at ravens house and then ignored me for almost an entire week." his jaw drops slightly from the sudden topic because he didn't expect to ever even address it. he wants to say something but he's cut off as aurora continues, "and then when i was sober, we talked and you acted like it never even happened."

matt accepts the subject now, realizing that this is actually going to be talked about.

he begins to grow a tad bit frustrated as he processes her words because this is all being brought up out of nowhere and she's making it seem like he's the most bipolar person to exist. "what the fuck was i supposed to do?" he questions, her eyebrows raising just slightly as she instantly notes his tone. "you're saying all this shit like you weren't the one who ran away from me in the first place."

"because you're confusing!" she exclaims in response. "you've been telling me to my face since forever that you don't care about me and all of a sudden you're telling me you do? how am i supposed to fucking react?"

"i was just trying to be fucking honest," his voice grows more and more annoyed. "what do you want me to say? i'm sorry for admitting i care?"

"no. i just want you to just be honest in the first place!" she exclaims, wanting to throw her arms out from the amount of frustration she's feeling but not being able to since they're in a pool.

"fine," matt suddenly scoffs, shrugging at the girl. "i'll be fucking honest then."

"i hate you so much it's driving me fucking crazy, aurora," he starts an extremely annoyed rant, his first words already making auroras lips part from the bluntness. "i'm just constantly thinking about how much i hate you but then all these other thoughts get mixed in with it and it's the most confusing shit i've ever experienced. one minute i'll be thinking about how to get on your nerves and then when i actually have the opportunity to do something, i just don't. i have all these insults in the back of my mind ready to shoot at you but then you're tilting your head a certain way or laughing at something and i just suddenly don't want to say anything anymore. i'm talking to someone random but then i see you in the corner of my eye talking to a guy and i'm suddenly angry. we're yelling at each other over some petty bullshit but your face scrunches up from how angry you are and i find myself wanting to grin from your facial expression. you're glaring at me but for some reason but i don't even care, i'm just thinking about how in that moment, you're looking only at me. you're giving some rude remark but i can't even focus on what you're saying because all of a sudden i have an urge to kiss you," he finishes his last sentence out of breath, beginning to run a hand through his hair anxiously because holy shit, he just exposed his entire fucking thought process.

she expected a lot of things to come out of his mouth but what actually did has auroras jaw dropping. she falls into an extreme silence as she stares at him in complete shock, every single word she had prepared on her tongue for what she expected to be a rant full of cruel insults dying right then and there.

he glances over her shocked expression, heart beating the fastest he's sure it's ever gone as he stares at her. he's not even completely sure what just came out of his mouth, but he knows it was honest and that's all he wants to be right now.

so, he sticks with that and speaks again as she's obviously not going to. "so no, i don't know what i want but i know that i hate you to the point where you're all that i'm ever thinking about." he hesitantly comes closer to her. "i've been fighting with myself internally for so long and i knew that as soon as i saw you sitting by the pool that night at ravens house, i didn't wanna fight it anymore. so yeah, i'm sorry for avoiding you after i finally acted on my thoughts but i'm not sorry for kissing you. i'm not sorry for it and when we woke up in bed at your house last weekend, i would've easily done it again if raven didn't walk in."

for the second time, aurora stays silent. she's completely speechless, the words leaving his mouth shooting straight to her heart as her stomach fills with things she's never felt before because what the actual fuck?

he closes his eyes for a second, seriously debating his entire life's existence because of how extremely exposed and vulnerable he feels right now. he knows he'll probably never as open with her as he's being right now so he opens his eyes and his mouth. "hating you is all i've ever known since middle school but the feelings i've been getting from it are new. what i want," he pauses for a second as he mentions the question she first asked him. "is to keep experiencing it."

aurora stares at him with wide eyes and parted lips. she's never felt the way she does right now and has no clue how on earth she could follow up with something near as shocking as everything he's just revealed. she doesn't have an idea where to start so she settles for a grin, a real grin just for him, and the words, "i want to keep experiencing it too. the way i feel right now, in this moment with you, is something i don't want to stop feeling."

she watches the way his shoulders relax from her words and listens to the sound of the small sigh that leaves his lips. he stares at the girl, internally taking a picture of the grin she's giving him right now because he doesn't think he's ever been given a smile as bright as the one she's giving him now, not since elementary school.

he comes even closer to her and stares down at her. "are you gonna run away if i kiss you again?" he asks, a quiet softness to his tone that aurora wants to lock away in her head forever.

"no," she instantly answers in a whisper, staring up at him almost in awe. "are you gonna avoid me again?"

"fuck no."

"okay," she says, not hiding the smile that's still on her face. "can you just kiss me the-"

she's cut off when all of a sudden, his hands are on both sides of her cheeks and his lips are on hers.

unlike last time, she doesn't hesitate for a second to return the kiss. she leans in closer to him as for the second time, an entire fucking zoo breaks out in her stomach. this kiss is not like the one she experienced before with him, this one is full of something completely different. there's a passion to this one neither of two were able to express before. with everything between them up in the air hanging around them and the knowledge of how they feel being mutual, neither of the two hold back. aurora can tell as his lips move against hers like a perfectly fitting puzzle piece that this is a memory she'll be reliving over and over again for the rest of her life. she's never felt like this before.

matt, all of a sudden, breaks away from her. he blinks repeatedly and her heart drops. she gets this terrifying feeling that he might be the one running away instead of herself this time as he stares at her.

"i... uh.." he tries to say something, something he needs to say but it's not coming out.

"what?" aurora furrows her eyebrows, moving her hands to his wrists as his hands are still on her cheeks.

"i don't want anyone else to get to have this with you," he manages to say, it coming out quieter than he originally planned.

"what do you mean?"

he sighs, closing his eyes shut for a second before once again, taking the risk of being vulnerable with her. "i really want to be the only one who gets to have you like this, rory..." he pauses for a second before speaking slightly quieter again, "can it just be me?"

aurora goes silent for a second, glancing between both of his eyes as she has to focus on them one at a time. after a moment, of course, she says, "okay."

"okay?" he repeats.

"yeah," she confirms, giving him a small smile. "just you."

he instantly sighs. "oh thank fuck," he says before leaning in to break the distance between them again.

aurora again, welcomes the kiss immediately. her hands fall from his wrists as she focuses on the task that is keeping up with him. his hands leave her cheeks and instead trail to her hips, rising her body in the water just slightly. when he does so, aurora takes the hint and wraps her legs around his waist in the water. his hands trail up to the middle of her torso as her arms come to latch around his shoulders, her now being a few inches further up then him and he has to raise his head to continue kissing her.

in this moment, it's just them. neither of the two care that someone from inside could walk out and see them, they don't care about the ending of their friendship, and they don't care about their hatred for one another. they simply crave the feeling they have right now and yearn to make it last for as long as possible, and that's enough.

💌

how are we feeling 😂😂

woah this was a long chapter

also i swear they won't lose their banter or anything after this, remember they still think they hate each other (fuckung losers). trust me we still have a long way to go!!! 🥱🥱

also i HATE writing details of kissing scenes sm bc it makes me feel icky so if u feel like this one was too descriptive or anything, please lmk so i can edit it! i just wanted to get the belly + jeremiah kiss vibes across

<3
jaden