CHAPTER FOURTY-ONE !
[ real life ]

❝ DONE. ❞

tw for mentions of alcohol / underage drinking

📂﹖﹕𓂃𐩐💻

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ

holy fucking shit, this ross kid is getting on matt's last nerve.

'rory, rory, rory-' shut the fuck up.

"you've gotta be lying," aurora shakes her head, literally turning in her seat in the passenger side to look back at ross.

"no i'm being serious. like i've never heard a big time rush song before," he shrugs from the middle seat in the back, nick and chris both shaking their heads from both sides of him.

kingston and makayla in the very back aren't even paying attention to the conversation as they're both extremely high right now and giggling over a google image search of pugs.

god, everyone on planet earth has heard at least one big time rush song before. he's been sitting here the entire car ride trying to playfully argue with aurora which almost makes matt laugh because hello? that's his thing.

he did it on the way to pick up bathing suits, did it inside the house, and is continuously doing it now on the way to the party.

this kid just wishes he were him so extremely badly.

he can tell he does too because matt has made an obvious point to only keep one of his hands on the steering wheel, the other one meeting auroras in the middle. he can tell she's thrown off by his sudden need to show off affection in front of everyone else but she hasn't said anything or sent him any discreet looks, just sighed and began to toy with the few rings on his fingers. matt's not really focused on her though, he's more focused on how he keeps looking through the rear-view mirror and catching ross staring at their connected hands.

the only problem here though, the one that's completely blind to matt's eyes, is that he's not doing it because he wants to hold hands with aurora. he's doing it so ross will see them holding hands.

"alright buddy," matt speaks up, glancing at ross in the back from the rear view mirror. "everyone has heard a big time rush song before."

"exactly," aurora instantly agrees, grinning at matt momentarily before turning back to ross. "ross, you are such a fucking idiot."

matt's nose scrunches up. this is weird. him agreeing with aurora on a subject as she attacks someone else for disagreeing on it is weird. they're supposed to be the ones arguing but they aren't and it's leaving a weird feeling in his stomach.

so, when they come to a stop light and matt has to turn, he pulls his hand from auroras and brings it to the steering wheel. he glances over at aurora as he does so and she doesn't even notice. she's still not focused on him, she's focused on ross as she turns in her seat to argue with him.

matt does not like this. he does not like this one fucking bit.

ross begins to yell with a laugh about how he seriously hasn't listened to big time rush before when matt suddenly cuts him off, "alright, can you guys shut the fuck up so i can focus on driving?" he says grumpily, making the car go silent.

no one says anything until aurora ultimately speaks up and turns forward in her seat, "yeah, sorry."

and what the fuck? why isn't she yelling at him and calling him a dick? why is she just saying sorry and listening to him? why isn't she arguing with him?

matt's beginning to lose his mind because what the fuck?

he's completely and utterly overthinking as he drives and it's all ross' fault. the kid has officially gotten under his skin.

they've only been at this big ass house party for a mere five minutes when matt instantly follows kingston once he separates from his girlfriend to grab a drink.

"kingston."

kingston instantly recognizes matt's voice and slowly turns around. "hey, matt!..."

"why'd you invite this fucking ross guy?" he's straight to the point, kingston blinking a few times in surprise.

"woah," he says, taken aback from matt's weird face. "i didn't invite him he just like.. invited himself."

matt pauses for a moment at kingstons slurred words before sighing and running a hand through his hair. "are you even seeing this shit?"

"shit?" kingston repeats, his eyes widening as he takes a glance around. "where?"

matt rolls his eyes at the fact that he's so high he thinks he's talking about actual shit. he doesn't say anything though, he just grabs onto his shoulders and turns his body to the direction of what he's talking about. "look," matt says, pointing to aurora talking to ross a bit of a distance away.

"what." kingston just says, blinking.

matt sighs exasperatedly and turns him back around. "she's arguing with him," he points out in an exclaim to a dumbfounded kingston.

woah... kingston might just be tripping but matt looks kinda panicked. he's too confused to figure it out though.

kingston blinks again. "sorry but isn't that uh.. i don't know... a good thing?"

"no!" matt responds immediately, kingston instantly being taken aback from the quick response. "it's not a good thing, you fucking idiot."

"oh.. why?"

"because kingston," matt crosses his arms, ridiculously annoyed that he's too high to get it. "she's supposed to be arguing with me."

"why though?" he questions, matt immediately groaning. "weren't you guys like holding hands and shit on the way here?"

"yeah, while she was arguing with him!" he tells him pointedly.

kingston just sighs before taking a step back and this time being the one to grab his shoulders. "alright, bro," he says, turning him to the direction of aurora and ross. "go find something to argue about with her and then i'm sure you can like.. smooch it out or whatever the fuck you guys do." he finishes it off by shoving him in that direction.

matt instantly turns to glare back at kingston but he just shrugs and begins venturing back into the huge kitchen to find a drink.

he sighs, setting his eyes back in front of him and looking at aurora rolling her eyes amusedly at something ross says. okay yeah, he's gotta take his rightful place back because what the fuck.

he runs a hand through his hair and begins to make his way over there.

when he's just a few distance away though, he can hear what they're saying. his ears perk up on one specific thing aurora says.

"—you dumb fuck!"

and he's suddenly changing directions and turning around.

dumb fuck? matt never thought he'd get so fucking angry at hearing aurora call someone else a literal insulting nickname but here he is. she told him he was her favorite person to call it. him.

he is literally losing his fucking mind, oh my god.

aurora has always driven him crazy but this, this is a different type of crazy. he just wishes there was a word to describe how insane she makes him feel.

he should turn back around and make some dramatic scene like pulling aurora away or telling ross to go fuck himself but he doesn't. he just walks all the way to the end of the room and stands to lean against the doorway. he has never felt such a mix of emotions like this before.

what the fuck is this girl doing to him?

the same girl he's sworn to hate after the relentless insults that started in middle school now has him fretting like a psycho because she called someone else an insulting name.

he just needs to cool down for a second and then grab aurora, make her mad so he can see her face scrunch up, kiss her, and just set things straight.

he just needs a moment to himself.

"hey, matt."

he sighs.

he turns his head to find some random ginger girl now standing across from him. his eyebrows instantly scrunch together because she looks familiar but he can't put his finger on it.

"hey..." he trails off, realizing he doesn't know her name but she knows his.

"oh my god, you don't remember me," she laughs quietly for a second before giving him a small smile. "it's becca."

becca? his face scrunches up. literally who the fuck has he ever talked to that has the name of-

oh. becca monroe, a girl he thinks he used to talk to in elementary school.

"ohh," he says out loud now, glancing over her for a second. "you look a lot different."

"yeah," she agrees, beginning to grin at him just as he realizes that he shouldn't of looked her up and down because she definitely just got the wrong impression. "do you wanna catch up a bit?"

matt's no dumbass, he can tell the girl is obviously into him and is probably expecting to make out if he says yes.

so, he easily says, "sorry uh.. i'm just more into brunettes."

the girls face falls and she walks away with a sigh, not bothering to say anything else.

matt watches the girl walk away and doesn't attempt to apologize for coming off harsh. he just glances around, eyes going back to where ross and aurora were earlier.

it's empty now, vacant of the two. he instantly stands up a little straighter and begins to glance around the room completely. he can't find them so he turns around and looks around.

he's about to give up and starts turning back around when he bumps into someone. "shit, sorry," he instantly says, stepping back and looking up to find- "oh, rory."

"watch where you're going, you fucking idiot," she rolls her eyes amusedly, matt's heart almost skipping a beat because he, for once, actually feels relieved to hear her call him an idiot. "the groups all waiting to check out the hot tub. you're coming, right?"

"yeah, yeah. of course," he responds.

"alright," aurora says, beginning to walk away. matt kinda just stands there, blinking. she turns back around and notices him still blankly standing in place and rolls her eyes. she comes back to him, grabs ahold of his shirt and begins to walk away again, this time successfully pulling him with her. "come on then, dumb fuck."

—and there it is. he grins, placing an arm over her shoulder and walking with her completely now. "shut the fuck up."

"YOU TOLD ELIJAH I HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM?"

aurora sits up further from where she's sat on the seat of the hot tub, matt's arm that's currently around her shoulder moving with her. "i didn't tell him, you told the entire internet from a youtube video, you idiot!"

nick huffs, crossing his arms from where he sits across from the girl. "he wasn't supposed to watch the video," he tells her like it's a valid point, chris laughing from next to him.

"you're so fucking stupid," chris chuckles, earning a punch from nick. "OW. i'm just being honest!"

nick rolls his eyes as ross who sits on the side next to matt and aurora and nick and chris, looks from makayla and kingston who are across from him and over to aurora instead. "who's elijah again?"

matt uses his hand to cover his mouth so he can quietly laugh without being noticed. this guys got no chance.

"my brother," aurora answers simply.

"ohhh," he just says in response.

silly guy.

"so.." ross speaks up again and matt is already sighing internally. "you're into rory's brother," this guy is really testing matt's patience as he glances over at nick.

nick sighs. "yeah."

ross nods and turns his head to kingston and makayla. "and kingston and mak have been dating forever now," he says, kingston just chuckling and nodding his head.

and when ross turns his head to matt and aurora, matt already knows what he's doing and wants to punch him in the face so badly. he already asked matt if they were dating and his response of flipping him off just wasn't enough so here he is, about to ask both matt and aurora.

"what about you guys?" he ultimately asks, looking at aurora more than matt.

silence.

and fuck, what is matt supposed to say?

he can't say yes because well.. they aren't but he can't say no because then ross will have a complete fucking field day.

he doesn't look over to aurora to see her face, he instead begins to dreadfully open his mouth. see, that's his first mistake because if he looked over, he'd see that aurora opens her mouth at the same time as him.

"something like that."

"no, we're not dating."

oh.

matt's eyes widen at auroras words and quickly snaps his head over to her to see her awkwardly pressing her lips together.

matt is already regretting his answer because fuck, he didn't know he was allowed to say, 'something like that,' and if he knew he was, he would've been the one to say it.

but no, he said they aren't dating.

the air around them is now awkward and tense, everyone else in the tub just glancing around the area busily. makayla quietly clears her throat and ross breathes out a, "damn."

if matt wasn't busy overthinking his answer, his eyes would be rolled into the back of his head right now.

silence fills the area again, all that's heard is the sound of the jets in the hot tub and talking from inside the house where the party's still going on.

"uh.." ross speaks up, "i'm gonna grab a drink so..."

silence, for the third time.

but then, when ross begins to get out of the tub, aurora pushes matt's arm that's still around her shoulders off of her. matt turns to her just as she says, "i'm gonna need one too."

ross glances at her and it's so obvious he's holding back a grin as he just nods his head and steps out of the hot tub.

aurora stands up and matt sighs, "rory..."

aurora blinks and turns back to him with a nonchalant expression. "it's fine, matt," she tells him. "i literally don't care."

matt refrains from saying anything else even though he thought they had both decidedly stopped with the whole lying about not caring thing.

he turns his head and watches as aurora and ross into the house once she's out of the hot tub.

"god, do they not have pink whitney?" aurora groans as she looks through the bottles on the kitchen counter.

"rory," ross deadpans. "we're at a high school party we literally crashed. are you seriously being picky about the alcohol choices right now?"

"yes?" she responds obviously. "they're supposed to be rich so they should have everything."

ross just sighs, watching as she continues to helplessly look through the assortment of drinks on the counter. it goes on for longer than he expects so he speaks up, "once you're done... looking for pink whitney.. can we talk for a second before we go back to the hot tub?"

aurora glances up at him in surprise. "yeah, sure," she says, looking down at the alcohol once more before stepping away from the counter with a sigh, "they don't have any anyways."

"ah," he says. "are you not drinking anything then?"

"no, i guess not," she shrugs, walking over to him. "can you see if there's any soda in the fridge?" she asks him since he's standing right in front of it.

"yeah." he turns around and opens it, glancing over the drinks inside before telling her, "there's sprite, fanta, mountain dew, dr. pep-"

"mountain dew," she cuts him off.

"alright," he chuckles, grabbing a can of the sofa and closing the fridge door. "here," he says, handing it to the girl once he's turned back around.

"thanks," she thanks him, the two beginning to walk in silence awkwardly. "so uh... what'd you wanna talk about?" she speaks up after a moment, desperate to break the weird quietness.

it's not like talking to him is boring, she just likes talking to matt more, even though she's unfairly annoyed with him right now. she knows that she has no reason to be annoyed with him though, that's why she wanted to get a drink, so she wouldn't be bitch to him because of the annoyance.

ross has been around her the entire night too so she hasn't even had the chance to talk to matt as much.

ross turns the corner in a living room they're now in, walking towards an empty spot next to a wall so they can hear each other better. aurora follows him mindlessly, watching him as he turns to her and awkwardly twists his lips to the side. she's unsure of what to say so she waits for him to talk.

"look, rory.." he starts, aurora perking up because of his tone. "i'm really into you. i think you're really cool."

"oh," she says shortly. um...

"and i know you think you've got this thing going on with matt but," he speaks again and auroras crossing her arms. think? "by the way he was out there, i think it's... i don't know.. it seems one-sided."

"what?" auroras eyebrows raise. "no, that wasn't even anythi-"

"rory," he cuts her off by using her nickname and her own nickname from his mouth is starting to make her mad. "i'm just telling you that if you ever want to try something with someone else, i'm here and it wouldn't be one-sided."

aurora huffs, taking a step back from him to where she's leant against the wall. her arms are still crossed as her left hand holds onto her unopened sofa can. "look, ross, you seem like a nice guy but..." she trails off with a sigh. "i don't want to try something with someone else. i'm with matt."

"he said you're not dating though," he brings up pointedly.

"because we're not," aurora shrugs although the words leave a bitter taste in her mouth.

"come on," he narrows his eyes at her slightly. "you obviously want to date him, right?"

auroras face scrunches up, staying silent and not opening her mouth.

ross takes her silence as an answer and takes a step closer to her. "you should be with a guy who isn't afraid to make you his girlfriend."

aurora stays silent, glancing over his face as he's now closer to her than before.

"if i was him," he starts to speak again, his voice now lower than before as he's growing quieter from their close distance. "i would've made you my girlfriend ages ago."

from how close he is, she can really see the details of his face she couldn't before. the guy is very, very attractive and she'd be a fool not to think so. his voice is smooth and he's definitely got a way with words.

but...

"you're not him though," she ultimately sighs.

ross' face falters for a second and aurora uncrosses her arms, about to raise them and shove him away from her gently. he gains his composure and recovers though, so he speaks up one more time.

"why be loyal to a guy who acts like you're his but doesn't have enough courage to just make it official already?"

aurora falters.

it is official, they've had that conversation before. it is official, it's just not labeled. ross has no clue about their relationship.

"come on," he whispers during her silence. "give me a chance."

his voice is so soft though, she thinks as he begins to lean in.

when matt noticed aurora and ross taking so long to get drinks and decided to follow after them, this is what he was hoping not to find.

matt had just turned the corner of the kitchen, looking through the next living rooms crowd when he found ross and aurora.

they stand there, auroras back pressed to the wall with ross practically towering over her. he's whispering something to her and aurora isn't even trying to get away from him. she's staring up at him with her lips parted.

he's getting a cold sense of deja vu as he looks at the pair with a pit in his stomach. this was him and aurora—what? just a week ago in LA?

he watches as ross leans in to break the distance between them and thinks of how she told him it was just him. she basically promised him.

right before their lips meet, matt turns around. he's not sticking around to watch this shit. he begins to storm away, feeling as nauseous as ever. was this seriously because he said they weren't dating? he would easily ask her out if she could go one single fucking day without saying she hates him.

and god, he hates her. he fucking hates her. why is he hurt right now when he should be fuming?

she lied to him and told him it was just him, lied to his face. this should be a firm reminder of why he hates her. the same girl that left him behind at the end of fifth grade has now completely lied to him.

in the middle of him angrily walking away, he accidentally bumps into someone.

he's about to ignore it and quickly walk past them when he looks down to see the same ginger from earlier — becca.

"oh," she says, looking up at him as well. "my bad," she awkwardly says.

she begins to walk away when matt turns around and grabs her wrist.

he's about to make a mistake, he knows it, but he couldn't fucking care less.

"wait."

right before their lips meet, aurora mentally slaps herself. snap out of it, you idiot.

"okay no, sorry!" she suddenly exclaims, quickly raising her hands that still hold onto the soda can and shoving him away from her. "i'm just into matt, like really, really into matt and it just wouldn't be smart so uh.." she trails off, realizing she's kind of word vomiting.

ross sighs and takes a couple steps back from the girl, running a hand through his hair. "yeah alright, sorry."

she just nods her head, quickly using the now empty space between them to leave the fucking room.

god, is she a mess.

she lets out a long sigh, stopping in place to open her soda and finally take a drink, before beginning to make her way back to the hot tub.

when she makes it back outside though, she immediately notices matt's absence. "hey," she calls out, walking to the edge of the hot tub. "where's matt?"

"uh, he went looking for you," chris tells her.

"oh," she says, getting a weird feeling.

"yeah," chris responds, looking around for a second before furrowing his eyebrows. "where's ross?"

"ugh," aurora just groans, the group in the hot tub all sharing a confused look as she doesn't say anything else, just turns around and begins walking back to the house.

she makes it back in the house, now on a journey of finding matt.

a few minutes of looking for him and—where the fuck is this guy? goddamn, this house is too big for aurora to decipher through.

she's in the third living room on the first floor, the one right by the door, and she's just about to give up. she's about to just call it quits and wait for the rest of the group to come get her when it's time to go.

she begins walking to one of the couches so she can take the empty seat. as she does so, she glances over all the random people scattered around the room. there's so many people in this one area and—

she finds matt.

she finally fucking finds matt. she can recognize him easily. only half of his body sat on a couch is in her current vision so she sighs and begins weaving through people to get to the side of the room he's on.

when she finally makes it to his side of the room, just a couple feet away from him, he's fully visible.

he's fully visible and she's immediately wishing she hadn't found him.

because here he sits in all his glory, unashamedly making out with a random girl on the couch.

auroras jaw drops, a familiar pain spreading in her chest at the sight. she subconsciously grips onto the soda can in her hand tighter and tighter.

she doesn't even realize she says, "what the fuck?" until the pair in front of her breaks apart to find her standing there.

it's immediately ten times worse because this isn't any random girl, this is becca monroe. it's immediately worse because when aurora realizes it, her eyes instantly snap over to matt and he shows absolutely zero remorse in his expression.

she immediately turns around, her jaw clenched so tightly she's sure it might fucking break. as she begins speedily walking away, she hears matt sigh and say something to becca. she doesn't even focus on that though because all of a sudden there's a lump in her throat and she does not need this right now.

on her way through the house, she throws her soda into a random fucking trash can and races right through the front door. she closes it behind her as quickly as possible and as she rushes down the porch steps, she hears the door open behind her. there's tons of people outside and there's tons of people inside but she still knows who it is.

"aurora," she hears matt call out from behind her but she doesn't even care, she continues walking away from him.

"aurora, stop," he calls out again.

"fuck off, matt," she calls back this time, hating that her voice is shaky right now because seriously? her emotions need to stay at fucking bay.

"stop!" he yells now, aurora taking in a sharp breath as she continues walking. "can you stop for one fucking second? oh my god."

and just like that, anger fuels through aurora because there's no way he's angry right now. she stops abruptly and stomps right up to him, his eyes widening for just a second in surprise. "fuck you, matt," she instantly spits out, "you were the one that started this whole 'just us' bullshit and what? you're kissing another girl? you're kissing becca fucking monroe?"

matt's jaw clenches. this is making his blood boil. the fact that she's the one storming away, the fact that he's chasing after her when it should be the other way around, the fact that she's acting upset. "like you weren't kissing ross right before you found me," he scoffs.

"what? kissing ross?" auroras face twists up. "i didnt fucking kiss ross."

matt's hard exterior doesn't falter, he just shrugs. "i know you did."

aurora scoffs before raising her voice, "you don't know shit because i never fucking did that!"

"so what?" he says, taking a step closer to her as his voice is practically sizzling with anger. "you were just against a wall with him towering above you for no fucking reason then?"

"oh my god," aurora groans. of course he saw one fucking second of it. "i seriously didn't even-"

"you guys were literally fucking leaning in," he instantly cuts her off, not even giving her the time of day.

"well, we didn't kiss, matt!" she yells. "maybe if you actually trusted me you would know i wouldn't do that shit."

"the fuck does this have to do with trust?" his face immediately scrunches up with anger. "if you had any respect for me, you wouldn't be that close to him in the first place!"

"well, if you had any respect for me, you wouldn't be kissing becca fucking monroe!" she throws right back at him.

matt stays silent now as he's taken aback, not saying anything else as his jaw stays clenched.

"why'd you do it? huh?" aurora questions. "you thought i was gonna kiss ross so you wanted to do the same just to spite me? just to hurt me?"

he just shakes his head with a tight jaw, refusing to believe her. "you kissed him."

"no i didn't, matt," her voice is beginning to grow weaker now as she's tired of this. she just found him literally exchanging saliva with becca monroe and she's the one to blame for it. "i cant believe i thought we made progress because if we did, you would actually trust me and not go make out with becca."

"well i don't," he shrugs. "i don't believe you."

aurora stays silent for moment before scoffing in genuine disbelief. "nothings changed. genuinely nothings changed," she shrugs. "you are the same asshole you've always been and you kissing her just to hurt me is the same shit we've been doing purposefully for years now. i can't believe i thought things had grown different between us."

matt closes his eyes and takes in a short, aggregated breath before opening them again. "okay, aurora. you-"

"this," she cuts him off with a harsh voice, taking a step forward as she now points a finger at his chest. his blank eyes glance down to it before looking back to her face. "this is an exact reminder of why i started hating you in the first place."

her eyes are cold, they don't hold anything soft for him like they've grown to for the past weeks and his hard exterior begins to crumble. the words shoot straight to his heart but— she did kiss ross. she had to of.

his face begins to fall and he begins to realize that if he's wrong, he might've fucked up. "okay. just fucking calm down for a seco-"

"no," she cuts him off with a shake of her head. "for the second time, you are not the person i thought you were."

matt's face flickers with hurt, her words referencing back to whatever he did to make her start hating him in the first place. he still doesn't know what he did that time but he knows what he did this time and— fuck, he did fuck up.

she begins to turn around to walk away from him and matt stops her by grabbing her wrist. "aurora, just stop, okay? i-"

aurora instantly pulls her wrist out of his grip and turns to face him once more. "i'm done," she shrugs coldly. "i'm done with this and i'm done with you."

matt's face falls completely now. her face is a blank one and it's like she's piercing right through him, an exact replica of the way things always were between them before they started everything. he stands there in shock, his heart beginning to hurt because he's messed up and he's not ready for things to go back to that yet.

aurora begins to turn away but even though his face has already sunk completely, she needs to get a few last couple words in. to really twist the knife, to really hurt him.

so, she turns back around and breathes, "and honestly, i think i hate you more right now than i ever have before so good fucking job, matt."

matt's sure his heart has shattered completely now, his tough exterior he began the argument with long faded away now. there's nothing he can do, there's nothing he can say. he just stands there in regret of his heat of the moment actions and watches as the girl he had finally gotten to call his, walks away from him with his damaged heart in hand. he did this.

he watches as she walks away in a rush and watches as she accidentally bumps into someone along the way. the world sure is trying to get a laugh out of the situation because of course, she bumps into ross. matt can see his eyebrows furrow at the wreck of a girl as she stumbles into him but she doesn't say anything, she just quickly returns to running away from matt.

matt takes in a sharp breath and instantly walks up to ross. ross turns to see him and is immediately taken aback as matt quickly doesn't waste any time to ask, "did you and aurora kiss?"

"woah, what?" his eyebrows raises from the sudden question.

"did you kiss?" he repeats.

"um.. no?"

matt scoffs, a part of him still wanting to believe that everything that's just happened isn't completely his fault. "be honest."

ross narrows his eyes at him. "i am," he tells him annoyedly. "she literally rejected me because she's so into you. congrats, i guess"

and fuck.

as matt is left at the party in his own pile of regret, aurora makes her way home in a random uber.

as soon as she gets home, she closes the front door behind it and lets out the biggest, most heart wrenching sigh. she slides against the door until she's on the floor and thinks back to the last time she allowed matt sturniolo to hurt her this badly.

💌

matt and auroras first kiss was exactly 20 chapters ago ❤️

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ love u guys!!!!!! hope u enjoyed this chapter 😊😊😊😊

also if u guys are reading this rn it means my new chris fic again again again is out so... once you've recovered... go check that out 🥺🥺

<3
jaden