CHAPTER FOURTY-FOUR !
[ real life ]

❝ A SPARK ❞

📂﹖﹕𓂃𐩐💻

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ

aurora opens the front door and does not find who she expected.

her eyes jump back and fourth between kingston and ross, eyebrows furrowed as she tries to ignore the way she's slightly disappointed she didn't find a pleading matt on the other side. "hey?..." she says questioningly, eyes lingering on ross for a moment as she can tell by his expression that he'd rather be anywhere but here.

"hey, aurora," kingston responds back, sending her. a grin before coughing loudly and placing a hand on ross' back to push him forwards. "ross is here to apologize."

"oh?" she raises her eyebrows, glancing over to ross who blinks repeatedly and seemingly holds in a sigh. "for what?"

"well, he told me how he tried to kiss you last night and i was like 'woah, what? her and matt have their thing going on.' and he was like 'yeah i know but.' and i was like 'woah there's no but, you've gotta back out of matt and rory's thing.' and then he agreed so i was like 'you need to apologize.' and he was like 'no.' and i was like 'yes.' so now we're here," kingston explains to her, simplifying the conversation to his own perception of it.

"oh." auroras face falls at the subject of it.

"yeah so," kingston slowly turns to ross. "go ahead, ross."

ross let's out the longest sigh aurora has ever heard before finally looking to aurora. "i'm sorry for trying to kiss you and convince you to give me a chance over matt. it was a dickish move," he says seriously, actually sounding apologetic once the words actually come out.

so, aurora shrugs like it's no big deal. "it's fine."

it's really not fine though because the whole ross thing is what started everything but whatever, matt actually kissed someone else so he can go cry about it like aurora has.

"really?" he raises his eyebrows at her, probably a little surprised because of how she ran into him last night and instantly ran away. she was actually running away from matt so.. haha. ha.

"yeah," she manages a small smile. "it's cool, i don't care." she has really got to stop with this whole lying about caring thing.

"okay great, now that that's out of the way," kingston suddenly speaks up, clapping his hands together. "mak and i drunkenly adopted a pug last night."

complete and utter silence.

"what."

aurora looks to ross for confirmation, receiving a solemn disappointed nod from him.

she instantly shakes her head. "no, you did not."

"we did!" comes an exclaim from behind ross and kingston. kingston instantly grins and steps back to reveal makayla standing with a proud grin on her face and yeah... a pug.

kingston gently grabs the tiny pug from his girlfriends hands and turns to aurora with the most proud grin. "this is harold."

aurora blinks. "you named it harold?"

"it?" kingston repeats with a gasp, reaching his arms out and beginning to push harold into ross' chest. "hold my pug," he says dramatically, ross rolling his eyes but still grabbing the dog from his hold anyway.

aurora rolls her eyes and asks, "okay.. did you come here to show me harold and go or are you coming in?"

"oh," kingston blinks. "yeah, we're coming in."

"alright," aurora sighs. "boomers out right now though."

makaylas eyebrows furrow. "who's boomer?"

"my dog," aurora answers.

"god, mak, catch up," kingston rolls his eyes jokingly for someone who's never even met said dog before. makayla scoffs playfully as kingston turns back to ross. "woah, why haven't you handed me my dog back yet?"

"because you haven't asked for him back, you fucking idiot," ross sighs, handing harold back to his rightful owner. kingston just grins and pets the top of harold's head as ross turns to aurora. "have you got twizzlers?"

aurora is taken aback for a second before she recovers and thinks on it for a second. eventually, she gives him a smile. "i do actually.," she answers. "you like the artificial rubber now?" she questions, tilting her head at him slightly, quoting how he described the candy at the lacrosse game.

the corner of his lip twitches up in amusement. "i do."

kingston, unbeknownst to the whole menaing or whatever the fuck, turns to ross with a scrunched up face. "bro, what? you fucking hate twizzlers."

ross sighs deeply and turns to him. "shut up, kingston," he tells him, him scoffing in response as ross turns back to aurora who raises her eyebrows. "they've grown on me now."

"mhm," she just hums.

kingstons gaze grows suspicious as he looks back and fourth between ross and aurora. odd, he thinks before suddenly taking a step forward. "hey, where's matt at by the way? i know he's probably here," he speaks up, walking past aurora to actually get inside now.

auroras face falls and she takes in a breath before turning and following him where he walks inside. ross and makayla share a look before following along inside the house and closing the door behind him.

"uh.. he's not here," aurora answers, walking up to kingston who pauses his movements and turns to her. makayla and ross stay further back as they're not involved in the conversation.

"oh," he responds. he goes silent for a moment before suddenly narrowing his eyes at her. "wait, bro.. you guys are still good, right?"

haha!

"um..." aurora says, glancing back at the pair behind them before looking back to kingston. "i'll tell you about it later."

kingstons face instantly drops. "oh fuck," he groans, immediately looking to ross behind them. "bruh the fuck have you done, ross?"

"what!" he gapes at him, throwing his arms out as he doesn't know what he's talking about.

kingston just sighs, shaking his head disappointedly before looking back to aurora in front of him. "is it like.. unforgivable?" he asks hesitantly.

silence.

"well fuck." he says, her lack of an answer being an answer itself. he begins to rub at his temples like this genuinely affects him terribly and looks back to ross behind them again. "ross, i am literally-"

"okay!" aurora cuts him off with a clap of her hands, ready to let go of the subject. "venus and raven are here and so is eli so... let's just make our way to the living room please!"

"okay," kingston gives in with a sigh, turning and beginning to head that way. aurora follows behind him.

"wait who?" ross questions with a furrow of his eyebrows.

makayla turns to him with a blink before sighing and walking off to follow behind kingston and aurora.

ross sighs, ultimately following them as well.

"yooo," elijah is the first one to notice the group as they turn around the corner. "kingston, my guy," he grins, trailing off for a moment when he notices the dog. "...and a pug?"

kingston smiles unashamedly and holds the dog up. "this is harold," he tells him proudly. he pauses for a moment before gasping when boomer comes up to him. "oh shit, is this boomer?"

"yup," aurora answers, grinning momentarily at her dog.

kingston instantly hands harold to makayla beside him and crouches down to pet the dog. venus and raven finally notice makaylas presence at this time and call her over, "mak, babe, get over here. lemme see your dog," venus says.

makayla chuckles and walks over, sitting in between elijah and venus once they make room. aurora watches silently as they pet the dog when raven suddenly looks up at ross. "who's this?"

"oh," aurora says, pausing for a long moment before answering since they were just talking about him before he got here. "this is.. uh... ross."

"oh!" ravens eyebrows shoot up.

venus stops petting the pug and slowly looks up to find ross. after analyzing him for a moment, she gives aurora a suspicious side eye. aurora just rolls her eyes. it's not like she planned this, hello?

"ah, the famous ross," elijah speaks up loudly and unashamedly. "nice to meet you, bud."

"famous?" ross repeats the word in a questioning tone.

"yeah, i mean, we were just talking about how y-"

"okay!" aurora cuts him off immediately. "i'm gonna go grab some twizzlers," she announces to the group before quickly turning on her heel and heading for the kitchen.

ross blinks, unsure of what to do since he's left in a room with three people he just met. eventually he just follows aurora to the kitchen because yknow, he does want twizzlers. venus and elijah share a look as ross heads in that direction.

when he walks in, aurora is looking through her pantry. "so i guess i'm famous now?" he questions to announce his presence.

aurora instantly jumps and turns around to see who it is. she sighs of relief when she finds ross, him just chuckling at her paranoia. "bro, what the fuck? you scared the shit out of me," she sighs, catching her breath for a moment before focusing on what he said. "not famous though, they were just asking about the night before and you popped up in the story."

"ah," he says, walking behind the counter and beginning to tap his fingers along the surface of it as aurora goes back to searching for twizzlers. "i am really sorry though. seriously. i should've just respected your relationship and dropped it."

auroras lips twist to the side for a moment before she looks over to him and gives a tight-lipped smile. "it's fine."

ross just shakes his head. "it's not though," he disagrees, aurora pausing and turning to him fully with crossed arms. "you ran into me afterwards while you were literally running away from matt. i know you guys fighting was probably because of me and i'm sorry for any shit i caused."

"thanks," aurora responds. "seriously though, it's fine."

it's fine, it's fine, it's fine.

ross' eyebrows scrunch together for a moment before he pushes, "it's not fine though. it's pretty obvious i fucked up something with you and matt. it's okay to be mad."

auroras eyes narrow as she's beginning to grow frustrated now. "why are you acting like you know every thing that happened? you know literally half of what happened last night at most and you don't know me at all. will you just leave it alone? god, i said it was fine."

he falls silent, just staring at her for a moment before speaking again. "you're really easy to read, aurora," he says, catching her off guard. "i just can't figure out why you won't let yourself be upset with me."

aurora rubs at her temples for a moment before finally sighing. she closes the cabinet she was searching through and leans against the counter behind her. "because ross, it's not just your fault. it's mine too."

"what?" ross' eyebrows are extremely furrowed now. "how is it your fault? you literally pushed me away and stayed loyal to matt."

aurora shakes her head. "i should've pushed you off faster. i don't know why i didn't," she says. "now this whole thing is fucked because of what he saw and what he didn't see."

ross stays quiet for a moment before walking to lean against the counter she's stood in front of as well. "i'm confused. was the fight about more than just us almost kissing?" he asks hesitantly.

aurora bites at her nails, thinking on how to respond to him before ultimately shaking her head. "you're not the right person to talk to about this, ross."

"why?"

"because you're involved in it, you idiot," she rolls her eyes, making him chuckle quietly.

"i actually feel like that's more the reason to talk to me about it because i'd understand the situation more, yknow?" he tries.

"yeah.. no."

ross sighs. "cmon, i can be a great therapist, rory."

aurora just shakes her head. "maybe after i talk to matt again i'll talk to you about it," she tells him, trailing off for a moment and resisting the urge to bite her nails again. "i don't really want to talk to him right now but i know i'm gonna have to so.."

"hm," he just hums, falling silent for a moment before continuing to speak. "well, it can't be that bad if you're not planning out how to avoid him for the rest of your life, right?"

aurora presses her lips together. "it's pretty bad."

"how bad?" he questions.

aurora sighs, glancing over at him instead of the floor in front of her that she's been staring at. "i told him i'm done with him so yeah, i'd say pretty bad."

"no shit?" ross' eyebrows instantly shoot up. she nods and he just clicks his tongue, shaking his head. "his loss."

auroras lip twinges upwards but ultimately, she sighs. of course she sighs. "really feeling like it's my loss though," she tells him honestly.

ross grows quiet, thinking on it for a moment before shrugging. "well, if it was your loss, he'd be the one telling you he was done with you, right?"

aurora falls silent, trying to come up with a disagreement and failing. "yeah, i guess so."

ross grins at her momentarily before looking in front of them and nonchalantly speaking up, "well, i know that you and matt had something and i really helped with fucking it up which i am very sorry for but.." he pauses for a second, looking back over to her. "if you're ever ready to give anyone else a shot, i'm still here, yknow."

aurora is silent for a long few seconds to process what he's said before she ultimately takes in a breath and gives him a small smile. "yeah, i know."

"cool," he breathes.

"cool," she repeats.

there's a moment of silence shared between them where they just stare at each other and as soon as aurora realizes that oh fuck—there is a spark, she clears her throat and turns around. "now where the fuck are my twizzlers?"

💌

yeah and we ALL know where there is going

also this was lowkey rlly short but uh... aurora and matt interaction next chapter.... fun.. i guess....

<3
jaden