꩜ maybe you can help
real life...

IT WASNT LONG UNTIL JULES GOT A text from chris asking her to help him pack for la sometime this week. he was sure he could do it on his own, but it was just a lot more fun to pack with his friends. plus, she was an extra set of eyes for when he wasn't too sure about something. the whole thing was weird to her because normally matt would reach out before chris did, but it hasn't happened yet. maybe she should check in on him when she gets there?

erin was also, as always, invited whenever jules was. though, there was never a spoken invitation. she just showed up alongside her friend anytime jules chose to come over. none of the boys ever seemed to mind, so it just became a regular thing.

after the fifteen minute ride, jules pulled into the sturniolos' driveway, listening to her mac miller playlist while her and erin sang their hearts out to "ladders". it was routine for erin and jules to listen to mac in the car when it was just the two of them. after all, he was one of the reasons they became friends in the first place.

they both got out of the car, after the song was over, walking up to the front door. they didn't need to knock or even unlock it, chris knew they were coming so he'd make sure they were able to enter the house when they got there.

when jules opened the front door, she was greeted by an unfazed trevor at her feet, she bent down to pet him as she saw someone, in her peripheral, walk up to her. "perfect timing! i just got everything out of the dryer," chris said, excited to finally hang out with jules and erin again.

"you mean i just got it out of the dryer?" jules was shocked when she heard the sound of matt's voice. she watched as he almost completely ignored the fact that she was there, and walk past the group to his own room. did he ignore her on purpose? or did he really not notice that she was there? it wasn't like him to just walk past jules without acknowledging her. something was wrong and whatever it was, she hated it.

"fuck off!" chris yelled to matt, who was already gone. then turning back to jules to say, "he's in some kind of mood today. don't mind him."

"why? what happened?" jules sounded concerned, realizing that she should be trying to help him through all of this. but then something clicked in her head. why hadn't jules heard about this already? why didn't matt call jules for help?

"we don't really know? he's just been in his room all day, and apparently doing laundry." the image that formed in jules's mind hurt her heart. she hated seeing matt upset and she would tryeverything in her power to get him through it. but he wasn't quite cooperating at the moment, so it wasn't the easiest.

"anyways..." chris said suddenly, breaking jules from all her matt thoughts. "my suitcase is in the living room and the baskets of clothes are too."

"'kay, let's pack." jules said, a somewhat forced smile across her face, pushing every thought she had of matt into the back of her mind. she did not want to think about it for the rest of the night. she really just wanted to have a good time with chris and erin, but that wasn't really possible if every minuscule thing matt has done in the past week was playing in its own little slideshow in the front of her mind.

the trio gathered in the living room. chris's suitcase open on the ground infront of the couch that jules and erin were now sitting on.

chris proceeded to empty the basket of clothes onto the floor, picking out tops and bottoms that he would like to wear and their possible outfit ideas. once he had a jules and erin approved outfit he would roll it up and stuff it into one side of the case until it all fit. it only took about fifteen minutes of this process for them to be done.

"thank you guys. i know i did all the work—" he started to joke around, but he was cut off by jules.

"shut up!" she rolled her eyes. the words were meant to come out a lot more sarcastic than they actually did, and she hoped that chris knew what she meant.

"i'm literally kidding, seriously though, thank you." he put a quick smile on his face before he grabbed ahold of the packed suitcase and pulled it into his room.

it was right before nick made his way out of his own room, a few different colored button ups in his hand and a pair of jean shorts in the other. "jules! which shirt goes better?" he held the light purple, yellow, and white shirts against the blue denim.

"nick, they're jeans, they all go." she meant to sound confused on what he was technically asking, but, again, the words came out weird.

"i like the purple." erin said, knowing he just wanted an answer, making nick smile at her.

"thank you, erin. at least someone understood the assignment." he playfully rolled his eyes, glancing over at jules after he said it.

"nick, how do you expect me to pick when it's literally a plain shirt and denim?!" she started to really defend herself, not thinking about how he was seriously just joking.

"im kidding, jules oh my gosh." he started laughing at how serious she was taking him. going over to her and giving her a decent hug—well, as best as he could give with the clothes still in his hands. she seemed like she needed it anyway, and he wasn't exactly wrong.

he couldn't lie and say that her behavior wasn't starting to concern him. she was on edge the entire time since she got here, and it was completely unlike her. sure she acted like this sometimes in public, but not in their home. and in both, she always is giving him back the same energy, but it seemed like she was waiting for something to strike if she was starting to have too much fun. he decided to leave it alone, walking back into his room because he knew matt could deal with it a lot better than he could.

"jules? is everything okay?" erin decided to ask when it was just the two of them.

"yeah, why wouldn't it be?" jules responded, not too sure of her answer. it didn't help at all that she used her default response either, and erin knew better than to believe it.

"no, there's definitely something, you only say that when you're not okay." she scooted closer to jules, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"you got me," she said with a nervous laugh. her chest filled with a deep breath before she tried to explain, "i guess it's just that—" hesitation struck her not knowing exactly how to answer the question. before she could really say anything, chris was walking back out of his room. he immediately noticed the moment going on between the girls.

"woah. what happened?" the genuine worry in his voice made jules feel far more comfortable than she already was. he also made his way over to sit down, crisscrossed at jules's feet.

"i don't know. i just feel... off today?" it was the answer she was trying to give erin, and it basically summed everything up for her. she didn't know exactly why she felt so off. she was having fun before with chris and erin putting outfits together and such, but the second they stopped, she felt weird again. there was a sudden silence while the two tried to figure out something to say, so jules spoke up instead, "i'm sorry i'm ruining the moment, let's do something else."

"does it have anything to do with matt's attitude today?" chris laughed, trying to make a joke. but it was only then when she realized that was actually mainly her problem. matt was upset and she didn't know why. he didn't tell her.

"so no one knows why he's acting like that?" she wanted reassurance that he wasn't just purposefully shutting her out. if he hadn't told his bothers either, it would make her feel a little bit better about it.

"no, did you want to check on him? maybe you can help, i don't know." chris sounded unsure of his own words, not knowing if that's exactly what matt wanted.

"i could try, it would make me feel a bit better, i think." chris moved over as she got up, looking at him and erin, an awkward look on her face before she walked off to matt's room.

jules knocked on the door, expecting some kind of answer, but there was nothing of the sorts. she wondered where he could be if he wasn't here in his room. she would have noticed him leaving his room before. maybe she did? she couldn't quite recall.

she decided to knock on it one more time, after adding, "matt, it's jules." when there was, again, no answer, she wanted to show her understanding on his side as well. "i know you probably don't want to talk to me right now, and i don't know why. i just want to help. please?"

the lock on the door suddenly clicked and the door cracked open, revealing matt's tired face and a dark room behind him. it wasn't anything unusual for him to be chilling out it the dark, but for him to look this tired at this time of day was. and so was his very unexpected response.

"i don't need your help."

꩜
nat's notes !

lowkey don't like how dramatic i made this chapter... it wasn't supposed to turn out like this but after writing 1.6k words i didn't feel like redoing it 😭