⟡ ݁₊ . 💒. 𝓛ET 𝓣HE 𝓛IGHT 𝓘N. . . ୨ৎ .ᐟ
( 004. ) ━━ ❛ all-time low. ❜

sorry girl, i hope you understand
i don't wanna fall in love, no
💌
𝓓ON'T 𝓦ANNA 𝓕ALL 𝓘N 𝓛OVE, kyle.

𝓣HE 𝓜OMENT she walks into matt's backyard, his hand pressed firmly against the small of her back to guide her, viola feels the urge to spin around and run away. her heart thumps violently against her chest as she sweeps her gaze over the well-kept garden.

there are a lot more people here than she expected.

was it naive of her to presume that only matt, his brothers, and his parents would be here? probably, but how was she supposed to know that matt's entire family tree would be present at this godforsaken barbecue? matt did tell her that it would be a big thing, but she didn't think he meant quite this big.

it only makes things all the more nervewracking for her, but viola forces a bright smile as she walks past an elderly couple who she can only assume are matt's grandparents. they smile back, a genuine one compared to a few false ones she's already received today. people here either don't know who she is, or they don't seem to be impressed by her attendance. viola chews her bottom lip anxiously, wondering if they've heard about all the drama with julian.

it comes as a surprise when matt lowers his hand from her back, and it's pointed absence only makes viola feel even more uncomfortable as they now stand before his parents. she knows edward and georgina sturniolo — sort of. despite them being neighbors since the girl was seven, viola has never really interacted with them beyond a few polite hellos every once in a while. they both look at her expectantly, each with a drink in hand, looking far more relaxed than she would've expected them to be. the sturniolos are known in somerville as being significantly more wealthy (snobby) than everybody else, which is definitely helping in making viola feel inferior as matt's choice of girlfriend.

"matt, there you are!" georgina exclaims, extending her arms outwards to hug her son. matt steps forward — somewhat awkwardly, viola notices — and wraps his arms around her loosely to hug her back. "for a while, i thought you weren't going to show up."

viola picks up on the way his jaw clenches for a split second, before his face breaks out into a smile that's definitely fake. he forces a laugh, shaking his head.

"no, mom," he replies. "i was just picking up viola."

he hesitates before saying her name, as if he was going to say nebraska instead but caught himself at the last second. subconsciously, viola smiles at this, before a clear of edward's throat brings her attention to him.

"it's nice to properly meet you after all these years, viola," matt's father says, and she nods.

"you have no idea how happy i was when i found out that our matt has finally settled down with a nice girl like you," georgina cuts in, smiling brightly. "hopefully you can keep him from going wild at all those parties he always seems to be at," she adds, which causes viola to pause.

she keeps on smiling, though she has no idea what matt's mom is talking about. meanwhile, matt shuffles on his feet sheepishly, cheeks a tad flustered with what appears to embarrassment. it's honestly jarring to see him act like this, since all viola has ever known matt sturniolo to be is confident, and annoyingly so.

despite how irritating his ego can be, viola's not sure she likes seeing matt embarrassed like this. she can't help but find it strange how uncomfortable he's acting around his own parents. it seems like they're purposely trying to portray him in a negative light to her, which is just weird in her opinion.

"i'll keep him out of trouble," viola jokes, as an attempt of easing the tense atmosphere. matt nods, joining in with a stroke of awkward laughter as he wraps an arm around her shoulder and leans against her.

"viola and i actually have some pretty cool plans," he then says, looking to her for confirmation. she smiles and nods, despite not having a clue what he's talking about.

"oh?" georgina muses, briefly glancing at her husband before turning back to the pair. "what's that?"

"we're going to hawaii," matt explains, and viola has to try her very hardest to keep her expression neutral.

hawaii? what's that all about?

"i found this sick volunteer program where we'd be helping marine life. it's for two weeks, and starts a few days after my birthday," he continues, with viola nodding along as if she has any idea what he's currently describing. the main thing she's wondering about is whether this is actually true, and matt's just going by himself... or with someone else. not that viola cares. it'll be nice to have matt out of her hair for two weeks.

"i'm sure you can think of a better word to describe this opportunity than sick, matt," edward says, a tad dismissively. though after receiving a pointed look from georgina, he smiles and adds, "but it's a great thing to do. i'm proud of you."

his last sentence seems to do something to matt, making viola question how often he gets told that by either of his parents. she would've never expected to ever feel empathetic towards matt, but here she is, doing exactly that.

"how'd you find this program, viola?" georgina asks. "on the internet?"

taken aback, viola awkwardly clears her throat. she doesn't dare look at matt, partly because she's scared it will reveal how little she knows about this plan, but mostly because she doesn't want to see his reaction to his mom thinking this hawaii thing was her idea.

"um, like matt said, he found the program," she clarifies, causing both of his parents' eyes to widen. "but it looks really cool, so i'm excited about it." she stands there for another moment, before wrapping an arm around matt's waist and turning to look at him. she doesn't give herself time to register the look on his face before she asks, "can we go get a drink? i'm feeling a little thirsty."

matt smiles, nodding. "catch you later," he says to his parents, and they walk off, back into matt's house. he leads her into the kitchen, wordlessly dropping his arm from around her and goes to get her a glass of water.

"i'm not actually thirsty, matt," viola tells him, and he raises his eyebrows at her suspiciously. "i just kinda wanted that conversation to be over, like, immediately."

matt sighs, looking relieved. "me fucking too," he says, his voice sounding more sincere than she's ever heard. he takes a deep breath before making eye contact with her. "and thank you for covering for me out there. it means a lot, nebraska."

"well, that's what we're doing this for, isn't it?" she answers with a shrug of her shoulders. "and besides, i wasn't doing it for you necessarily. i was just doing something nice for a friendly person in need."

"right," matt hums, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously. "since when do you think of me as a friendly person?" he questions, saying the last two words with finger quotes.

viola averts her gaze, the stare of his blue eyes becoming too intense for her to look at all of a sudden. "since you did me this favor," she says. "you're actually not as vile as i thought you were."

"gee, thanks, nebraska," matt chuckles, shaking his head in dismay. he picks up the glass of water he originally filled up for her and takes a sip from it. viola watches him as he does so, her smile faltering as she remembers what she still has to ask him about.

the deb ball.

"matt, by the way—"

"here they are!" chris interrupts her with his shout to nick as both of matt's brothers walk into the room. "i thought you guys were hiding from us," he says then, his attention now on matt and viola.

"matt's definitely embarrassed of us," nick agrees, walking over and sitting down on a barstool next to where viola is leaning on the kitchen island with her elbows. "long time no see, vi," he greets. viola smiles at him.

"damn, i've missed chem with you," chris says then, before gazing off into the distance as if he's remembering the class. "it was always funny when we got paired together."

"mainly because you didn't know how the sink worked," viola grins, and chris laughs. meanwhile, matt just furrows his eyebrows.

"how do you not know how to use the sink?" he questions.

"i was too busy having fun with your girl here," chris answers casually. "i'm so glad you pulled your head out of your ass and stopped pretending to find her annoying. shit was getting embarrassing."

viola's eyebrows shoot to the top of her forehead, meanwhile matt just grimaces. he closes his eyes, pinching his temples as nick and chris just laugh and start reciting memories of matt supposedly kicking their soccer ball over the fence — into her backyard — on purpose and then getting nervous about having to get it back.

"that's literally not true," matt huffs, crossing his arms. nick laughs, mirroring his pose and dramatically huffing. it causes both viola and chris to burst out into a fit of giggles, which only makes matt even more annoyed.

"can you guys fuck off?" he says frustratedly. "nebraska was trying to ask me something before you losers barged in."

"oh, my bad!" chris exclaims, looking apologetic. "we'll go."

"yeah," nick agrees. "chris has been promising to make me a hot dog for like, two hours, and it still hasn't happened."

"ah fuck, i forgot about that," chris says sheepishly. nick shakes his head and laughs.

"no, it's fine, really!" viola pleads, really not wanting them to go. if they go, she has to tell matt about the whole deb ball mess, and that's something she really doesn't want to do right now.

"nah, it's all good," chris argues. "we'll go."

nick gets up then, following chris out of the room. viola sighs deeply as she watches them go, wanting nothing more than to follow them out and never have to face this conversation.

"so, what did you wanna say before?" matt asks her, and viola's head snaps upwards in his direction. as they make eye contact, she falters, which causes him to knit his eyebrows in confusion. for a moment, she decides to just let it go and make up an excuse at the deb ball for why matt's not there. though, by the way matt's looking at her curiously, viola doubts she's going to find a way out of this conversation.

she shuffles awkwardly on her feet, looking everywhere but him. her eyes drift over the kitchen cabinets, the floor, and even through the window outside before she finally begins speaking. "did you know i was supposed to be a debutante?"

matt's eyes widen for a moment, and he shakes his head. "i can't picture you in one of those fancy dresses."

viola laughs stiffly, nodding in agreement. "yeah, me neither," she says. "but yeah, i dropped out after julian dumped me, since he was supposed to escort me and all."

his lips turn downwards into a frown at this. "oh," he mumbles. "i'm sorry, nebraska."

viola pulls a disgusted face, waving her arms at him dismissively. "don't be sorry, you fucking loser," she chuckles with a roll of her eyes. "i don't really care about all of that dumbass shit, to be honest."

matt looks both insulted and amused at the same time, his expression alone telling viola how sick and tired he is of her antics. it almost makes her smile, were she not about to ask him if he could be the one to replace julian in her original plans for the summer.

"sooo, i managed to get out of it," she starts, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "well, until my mom found out i'm dating you."

matt proceeds to laugh at her mockingly. "damn, that's a massive L," he says between chuckles. he continues laughing while viola continues to stare at him, until he randomly stops and looks at her solemnly. "no."

"yeah..."

he sighs exasperatedly, running a hand through his hair. "viola, i'm not going to that shit."

"matt, please," viola begs, and wow, she genuinely can't believe she's begging matt sturniolo for something right now. this is definitely an all-time low for her.

matt crosses his arms and shakes his head profusely. "even you said it was dumb, nebraska. i'm not going to that shit and being all lovey dovey like you were supposed to do with julian," he says.

viola chews on her bottom lip anxiously. while she didn't expect matt to be ecstatic about going to the ball with her, she didn't expect him to just outright refuse. it's humiliating and honestly a little rude, though she's not sure why she anticipated any other outcome than this. matt's always been the worst — she knows this.

"c'mon, it won't be that bad," she attempts, although she knows it will be for him. the deb ball won't even be interesting for her, let alone matt. speaking of, he just laughs bitterly once again.

"there is literally nothing that could ever make me go to a deb ball—" he argues, but is cut off when georgina walks into the room. matt's mom lights up at the sight of the two of them together, since she obviously has no idea that they're currently arguing.

"viola, are you still taking part in the debutante ball?" she questions. "i would love to see my matt escort you."

"um, yeah but—" viola starts to protest. while she does need a date, she's not going to force matt into it just because his mom is around. in the time they've been away from her though, she's forgotten how persistent the woman can be, because georgina immediately raises a dismissive hand to silence her.

"matt can be your new escort, right?" she asks her son, who grudgingly nods. despite his agreement, viola can see the annoyance in his eyes, the tightness of his jaw. georgina smiles, before clapping her hands together excitedly.

"this is so exciting," she exclaims, turning all of her attention to viola, and ignoring matt completely. viola finds it a little odd, but tries her best to look joyful as the mother of her fake boyfriend says to her, "i've never been able to convince matt or chris to take part in one of these balls. nick, well, he can't really do this kind of stuff, but i've always wanted to see my kids escort someone at a deb ball."

"that's... nice," viola answers, but her heart's not in it. all she actually wants to do is apologize for matt for getting him into this situation, no matter how rude he was earlier by saying no. part of her is relieved though, because at least now she has a date to the ball.

"are you looking forward to it, matt?" georgina questions then. "you've never really had a girlfriend to take to one of these things, so this is exciting, right?"

"yeah," matt replies. his words are so obviously not true. "so. excited."

mattybdoesntrap started following picklerickirl !

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violaharlow_

matthew.sturniolo christophersturniolo

liked by honeysmith, kirby444, nicolassturniolo and 2,104 others

violaharlow_ discovered today that chris sturniolo makes a mean hot dog

comments ↓

christophersturniolo IKTRRRRRRR
liked by violaharlow_

user ur so pretty shut up

user since when is viola friends with the sturniolos lol
↳ user they've been neigbors since they were kids ?

nicolassturniolo Caught Matt snuggling with his REAL lover on the last slide
↳ violaharlow_ feeling #betrayed
↳ matthew.sturniolo Woahh let's slow down for a min

honeysmith that's my best friend !!!!!
↳ violaharlow_ i'm in love with you 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩
↳ matthew.sturniolo Pause...
↳ honeysmith if she has to share u with trev then u can share her with ME
↳ matthew.sturniolo Yes ma'am 🫡🫡

user wait i'm trying to spell gorjus
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dani.anderson stunner!
↳ violaharlow_ 💗💗💗💗

picklerickirl

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picklerickirl me when me when me when

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user AH PARDON IM CRYING

sweetlikehoneyy giiiirl what have u done now
↳ picklerickirl BRO
↳ picklerickirl 😔

sweetlikehoneyy text me
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nicklovesdilfs Are you ever okay like genuinely
↳ picklerickirl no i embrace the chaos ❤️
↳ nicklovesdilfs Nurse she's out again...

user the shy wolf pic is killing me

brotherinchris.t Do I even want to know?
↳ picklerickirl no!
↳ brotherinchris.t Ok!

user viola's so chaotic it kills me

user even alphas make mistakes sometimes...
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danyella1 i've missed u at rehearsals bae
↳ picklerickirl i'm sorry queen i'll come back just for u i promise
↳ danyella1 WHAAAA

user girl ur so funny pls don't die
↳ picklerickirl might have to atp

mattybdoesntrap ???
↳ picklerickirl NO
↳ picklerickirl u weren't supposed to see this
↳ mattybdoesntrap Then why'd you post a minute after accepting my follow request?
↳ picklerickirl SHUT UP OMFG

💌 ⋆✴︎˚。⋆ ━━ ava speaks !

warning chris and nick are literally never in this fic oops i couldn't be bothered to write them and they're completely irrelevant to the story soooo

also since the triplets aren't famous just think of "user" comments as ppl from their high school who i can't be bothered to name ok thx !