007. ━━━ ❛ DANGEROUS ❜
real life, imessage. . .

          "I RAISED YOU BETTER than this, maisie."

maisie is seriously resisting the urge to roll her eyes as she sits at the end of her dining room table, her elbows rested over the surface and her chin propped up against her hand. she's busy drilling holes with her eyes into her acrylic nails clicking against the table as she mumbles, "literally all he did was give me a ride home."

"you were out all goddamn night because you knew we weren't supposed to be home!" her father raises his voice as he stands a few feet from her. she presses her lips together and raises her head to face him, eyes mindlessly drifting to the sunlight beaming from the open window as he continues to scold her, "you were taught better than to associate with those boys and you know it."

she takes in a sharp inhale through her nose before meeting his eyes, a frown etched across her features due to his cold eyes. "oh, did i disappoint you?" she asks sarcastically, only causing his eyebrows to scrunch together frustratedly as she could not care less. "again?" she adds after a beat of silence, looking back to the table in front of her once his face screws up. "this must be a new record."

she can hear her fathers scoff as he takes a step forward and places his hand on the table to get her to look up at him. she does so, but not without a sigh. "you think this is fucking funny, maisie?" he dryly laughs. "those type of people are the exact type to cost you your future. i've warned you of this ever since we moved here. i can't believe the nerve you have."

maisie openly rolls her eyes this time, just because of the absurd mention of her 'future.' ever since she was a child, she's had this intense pressure from her parents to go into the medical field. her father is a known surgeon and her mother is a travel nurse, so for as long as she can remember, she's had medical terms and vocabulary words to know later on shoved down her throat. too much gore in movies has always freaked her out a little, so she's never had a desire to be surrounded by such for all of her lifetime, but her fate was chosen for her the second she came out of the womb.

her parents have enrolled her in medical classes ever since she reached the age required and her nightmare was set in stone when her father first boasted about aiding her with getting into a college with the best medical program. he practically took care of her applications for her and now this is her last summer to enjoy before being forced to do something she has no particular interest in for the rest of her life.

she's stuck in this huge, achingly empty house under her own parents strict restrictions despite them never fucking being here, and they have the nerve to be surprised when she seeks a thrill in people they've forbidden her from simply giving the time of day to she was a child? yeah, that's fucking crazy.

abruptly, she takes in a deep breath and suddenly stands from her seat. her dad immediately shoots her a warning look and she exhales, "they're just people." even though she's not just defending matt specifically, it's still kind of hard for her to believe that she's technically putting up a fight for him and his brothers right now. "it's not that serious." she's sure steam is about to leave her fathers ears, so she turns around and leaves the conversation before it's finished just to enrage him.

"maisie abrams, get your ass back in here right-" the sound of him calling after her fades away once she reaches the grand staircase, her eyes rolled into the back of her head at his dramatics. if he truly cared enough, he would chase after her to continue reprimanding her, but since she knows that deep down, he truly does not, she makes it to her room without having to face him any more.

she knew her mother would snitch on her to her father, but it still makes her furious at the both of them. she wishes they would just let her be. she's only got a few months left here until she's eventually shipped to new york to attend some prestige medical school anyway.

her parents just think that money can grant any wish that comes to mind, but they don't even care enough to know her actual dreams. success is all that's important to them, and they clearly don't think she can achieve such greatness without shoving her down the same road they took.

she lets out a sigh as she closes her bedroom door behind her, absentmindedly following the sunlight reflecting throughout her bedroom to the balcony doors. she opens the doors and takes a step outside, instantly relishing in the warmth of the summer breeze against her skin.

she mindlessly gazes at the view beyond the railing and shrugs off the weight of her fathers earlier words. she would be lying if she said her chest didn't feel a little extra uneasy at the harshness of his warning, just because of the creepy man from last night unable to leave her head due to his somehow association with matt. now, it's almost as if there's an underlying message with his disapproval towards the family across from them. she's always known matt to be a pain in her ass, but dangerous? she's not fully sure she can come to terms with that.

whatever it is, in no world will she ever be scared of him.

she clicks her tongue at the way the sun has heated up the metal railing her hands are rested on, ready to take a step back and head for the couch against the wall, when her eyes curiously glance over the sturniolo residence. they seem to have a mind of their own with the way they instantly dart to matt's window, widening at the way it's currently open.

she narrows her eyes slightly when she notices that there is clearly a reason it's open, judging by the smoke glimmering in broad daylight. and he has the nerve to say he's not a druggie, she thinks. it's friendly fire from her, sure, but the point still stands.

she intends to not stare at his window like a weirdo, but then she sees a figure approaching it and her eyes are fully glued to the spot once matt appears. not just matt, shirtless matt. exposed matt. her eyes are practically bulging out of their poor sockets at the sight of him coming to rest his hands along the edge of the windowsill, a joint—of fucking course—lit in his mouth. she feels as if she's watching that scene in twilight where edwards chest sparkles in the sunlight with the way that she becomes immensely enchanted with all of his tattoos on display. immediately, her eyes are jumping all over the oh-so-unfortunately ethereal view of him reaching his hand up to grab the joint and blow the smoke gathered in his mouth out of the window.

her body is managing to take in every single detail for her remembrance later on—the single necklace he always wears dangling between his collarbones, the concentration on his face paired with the slight scrunch of his eyebrows, and the bruises. there's only a few, but there's bruises along his torso.

on instinct, her eyebrows draw together in confusion, the same uneasy feeling from earlier spreading throughout her chest again. the corners of her lips sink downwards, her heart beating a little extra fast as she analyzes the purplish colors mostly on his sides. those certainly weren't there when she last had a look at his body uncovered. she may have been drunk, but she could never forget such a concerning sight. her stomach is in knots as the word dangerous comes to mind again.

what could matt have possibly done to attain such bruises?

she thinks back to the man last night who was clearly older than the both of them and familiar with matt, unable to help the worry now plaguing her head. she's never seen such a side of matt before, and she wonders how twisted it must be to have so many shades of purple clustering his skin. she's never been close enough to him to see this side and now that she is, she fears that she's too far in to let seeing such a thing go. how many times before has he looked like this underneath his clothes without her knowing?

her inner monologue is interrupted by the feel of a vibration against her skin. she frowns and reaches to grab her phone rested behind the waistband of her shorts. once the screen unlocks upon seeing her face, she is met with a notification from sunny.

sunny ⭐️👩‍❤️‍👩
sooo
tn?
now

she presses her lips together once she reads the message, her mind suddenly swarming with new questions at the reminder of her best friends existence. sunny surely doesn't know about anything out of the usual with the band, and it causes her to wonder if chris is involved with the same things matt must be. she wonders how much of the band is involved. she wonders if the band even knows, or if this is just a triplets thing, and oh my god, is nick involved as well? are they all living some form of double lives she's unaware of or is she a crazy person, seeing one thing and running with an insane idea?

she pries her eyes from her phone to take a glance at matt again, when her heart stops for a split second in her chest due to his eyes already being on her. she slowly lowers her phone and gulps, wondering how to make it seem as she's not criminally aware of the bruises adorning his skin. she deems it's too late for that though, because matt's face is unreadable as he suddenly turns around and disappears from her view.

she sucks in a sharp breath, not knowing what to think as she raises her phone back up and manages some form of an excuse.

my parents will kill me
delivered

she shoves her phone back into the same place it was against her skin, her eyes curiously making it back to the window just in time to see some girl suddenly approach it. her eyebrows scrunch together deeply at the sight of the girl seemingly unaware of maisie's far away presence, an easy smile on her face as she shuts the window.

maisie's lips drop into a thin line on her face, stepping away from the railing and taking a seat on the couch instead as gears turn in her head. matt really sent her to shut the window just because of maisie? there was just a girl in his room that entire time?

her jaw subconsciously ticks at the thought of him doing it just to make her mad. it'd seem like a long shot if it wasn't matt. he's always finding ways to get underneath her skin—even when she's just found out that he's clearly nothing good, judging by his bruises.

as if on cue, her phone vibrates again and she sighs, pulling it out rather quickly this time.

when she reads over sunny's new messages, she thinks of the stupid girl and matt's stupid tattoos. she's always been a thrill seeker, and despite the things she's experienced recently screaming danger, she can't help the interest she has when it's clearly revolving all around matt. he's always been a mystery to her—an annoying mystery, no doubt—but a mystery nonetheless, and she's never gotten close enough to figure him out. now that the opportunity is right in front of her and the answers only seem more confusing than she'd ever thought possible, how could she turn such a thing down?

what's new?
ur so coming

yeah i'm coming

YEAH U ARE

can you pick me up early so we can get ready tg

duh
r u gonna escape through your balcony like last time u had to sneak out or...

possibly
laughed at by sunny ⭐️👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

💌

i'm so happydays1d rn

followed my ex after a year of no contact (SHE REQUESTED TO FOLLOW ME FIRST LIKE MONTHS AGO AND THEN TOOK IT BACK OK.) and she followed me RIGHT back exes to lovers has always been my fav for a reason

<3
jaden