ᥫ᭡. CHAPTER TWO!
❛ FALLON TONIGHT ❜ ━━ ( email, imsg, irl )

✦ EMAIL

INVITATION: JIMMY WANTS YOU!

from: [email protected]

to: [email protected]

subject: Invitation: JIMMY WANTS YOU!

────────

Dear Maeve,

Congratulations on the success of 'Feather'! Our team is very much interested in your work, which is why we would like to cordially invite you onto Fallon Tonight this evening. We are aware that this is short notice, therefore we would like to offer our transportation services free of charge.

Please let us know.

Regards,

Jimmy Fallon & Team

✦ IMESSAGE

MAEVE'S BIGGEST FANS!!!
mae bae 😊 ; maeve
d money 🤑 ; dante
mal pal 😋 ; malaika

mae bae 😊
guys
GUYS
omfg
guys
no i'm actually

mal pal 😋
???

d money 🤑
raises eyebrows

mae bae 😊
guys i just
i'm
what

mal pal 😋
is english an option?
laughed at by d money 🤑

mae bae 😍
i just
i just got invited to go on the tonight show
with JIMMY FALLON

d money 🤑
WHAT

mal pal 😋
WHAT

d money 🤑
YOU'RE JOKING

mae bae 😊
I'M NOT
THEY KNOW FEATHER
THEY WANNA TALK TO ME ABOUT FEATHER????

d money 🤑
bitch everyone knows feather
it's literally billboard #1?

mal pal 😋
GIIIIIRL
I AM SO PROUD OF YOU??? ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

mae bae 😊
EEEEK
NO I'M
?!?!??!?!!?!!!?!?!!?!??!

d money 🤑
BROOO
WHEN IS IT

mae bae 😊
BRO.
TN????

mal pal 😋
WHAAAT
NO WAY

d money 🤑
TONIGHT is fucking insane

mae bae 😊
I KNOW???
LIKE??????
BUT I THINK I'M GONNA DO IT???????

d money 🤑
maeve adelaide thatcher.
fym you THINK
you ARE.
i will drag u there if i have to

mal pal 😋
not to agree w dante but... YES

d money 🤑
???? i'm your bf

mal pal 😋
yeah but ur kinda dumb
no offence

d money 🤑
??????
hello???

mae bae 😊
guys i'm going on jimmy fallon...

mal pal 😋
MAEVEEEEE

mae bae 😊
MALLLLL
bro guys i think i'm gonna

d money 🤑
die?

mae bae 😊
yes

matt hate club!
a-SNORE-ia 😴 ; astoria
clyde💔🕊️ ; chris
matt. 😕 ; matt
bird lover ; nick
kals 🫶 ; kalia
floor 🤣🤣 ; skye
lulu 🌞 ; luna

lulu 🌞
guyssssss
i'm bored

clyde💔🕊️
no one cares

lulu 🌞
bro kys

a-SNORE-ia 😴
real
kys chris

clyde💔🕊️
????????

clyde💔🕊️changed a-SNORE-ia 😴's name to rory 😇⭐️💌

rory 😇⭐️💌
awwwwwwwww 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

lulu 🌞
EW????

floor 🤣🤣
why are u literally gay omg

clyde💔🕊️
what

rory 😇⭐️💌
LMFAOOOO

floor 🤣🤣
no like who taught him those emojis

bird lover
me duh 😊
i'm the token gay around here remember

lulu 🌞
girl...

kals 🫶
bitch...

floor 🤣🤣
now...

rory 😇⭐️💌
bro summoned the entire lgbtq community

matt. 😕
hi

floor 🤣🤣
speaking of! 😍

clyde💔🕊️
LMFAOOOO

lulu 🌞
matt how do u feel abt the gay allegations 🧐

matt. 😕
feeling very hated rn 😔
gc name seems appropriate

rory 😇⭐️💌
when is it not???

kals 🫶
he's def crying rn

bird lover
just went into his room can confirm 😇✅

matt. 😕
???? liar

clyde💔🕊️
like nicks lazy ass would get up from the couch

bird lover
kys

kals 🫶
replied to lulu 🌞: why are you bored gf

lulu 🌞
omg i was finally acknowledged 😭😭😭😭😭
but actually i don't like u rn so go away

kals 🫶
HELLO?

matt. 😕
LMAOOOO
(finally not most hated)

rory 😇⭐️💌
i still hate u the most matt dw 🫶🏼

matt. 😕
😐

rory 😇⭐️💌
❤️

bird lover
can we let luna speak likeeee

clyde💔🕊️
right stfu rory and matt tf

rory 😇⭐️💌
bro ik u aren't talking rn...

matt. 😕
trouble in paradise 😂

clyde💔🕊️
at least we have a paradise 😂

matt. 😕
oh

lulu 🌞
CLOCKED HIM !
anyway i'm bored bc kali's sick and i have no one to hang out with

floor 🤣🤣
she says to a gc of 5 other people

lulu
BRO
SHUT UP
i miss my gf okay 😕 leave me alone
you acted just like this when nick got his wisdom teeth out
loved by bird lover

floor 🤣🤣
alr.

kals 🫶
just watch tv or smth lulu

rory 😇⭐️💌
omg yes jimmy fallons abt to start

clyde💔🕊️
omg
are we watching that AGAIN

rory 😇⭐️💌
duh?
matt nick get downstairs NOW. ☺️

bird lover
bro what
i didn't even know you were here

rory 😇⭐️💌
i live here wdym 🤨

kals 🫶
you should charge her for rent guys

clyde💔🕊️
LMFAOOOOO
true!

rory 😇⭐️💌
blocked
okay nooooooowwwww get down here guys 😆😆😆😆

matt. 😕
bruhhhhhhhhh

lulu 🌞
wait i'm lowk curious now
might watch as well

kals 🫶
REALLLL i swear i only watch fallon when people i know are on

floor 🤣🤣
real
waiiiit
whos on tn?

rory 😇⭐️💌
i have no idea
i didn't check
i'm so excited i wanna be surprised

bird lover
mkay wait i'm coming
do you have snacks

clyde💔🕊️
no

rory 😇⭐️💌
bro shut the fuck up
we have popcorn nick
chris doesn't wanna share bc he's a fatty 🤣

clyde💔🕊️
um ????

kals 🫶
BYEEEEE

floor 🤣🤣
not the bodyshaming- 😖
laughed at by lulu 🌞

clyde💔🕊️
bro shut up

rory 😇⭐️💌
matt 😜
i see u lurking
come downstairs

matt. 😕
bruh fallon sucks
it's always celebrities answering boring ass questions

rory 😇⭐️💌
suit yourself

kals 🫶
matt's being boring who's surprised
laughed at by rory 😇⭐️💌, disliked by matt. 😕

lulu 🌞
okay i js switched to the channel 😎

floor 🤣🤣
saaaaaame

rory 😇⭐️💌
omg i've put everyone on i feel so influential 😛😛😛

bird lover
ugh so real queen 😊

rory 😇⭐️💌
thanks nick 😊

floor 🤣🤣
why are they texting while being in the same room

clyde💔🕊️
they're freaks

rory 😇⭐️💌
bye we're over

clyde💔🕊️
no wait i was jk

lulu 🌞
BRO
pathetic ass

kals 🫶
OH MY GOD ?

floor 🤣🤣
HOLY SHIT

lulu 🌞
OMFG
WHAT
WHAT
WHAT

clyde💔🕊️
BROOOOOO

bird lover
HOLY FUCK
JESUS
HELLLLOOO

matt. 😕
are any of you actually watching?

lulu 🌞
shut up matt

rory 😇⭐️💌
MATT BRO
UR GONNA WANNA SEE THIS

matt. 😕
huh

clyde💔🕊️
I SWEAR

floor 🤣🤣
BRO LISTEN TO HER
I MEAN IT

matt. 😕
okay wait i'm coming downstairs

kals 🫶
i'm giggling SOOOOOOO loud
loved by rory 😇⭐️💌

✦ REAL LIFE

matt walks into the living room, his gaze falling onto his brothers, as well as astoria, all sitting on the couch together. rory turns around and immediately starts grinning at him, which only causes him to wonder what's got her in such a good mood.

it's only when his gaze shifts over to the tv, and he understands why.

none other than maeve is on the screen, her brown eyes glimmering while she talks to jimmy animatedly, but matt can't hear a word. all he can focus on is her face — too pretty for her own good — and remember the single conversation they've had.

it comes back into his mind often, that short moment at his high school graduation where he was having the worst panic attack he'd had in months, until she showed up. she didn't even have to say anything, her mere presence calming him down immediately. nobody has ever been able to do that before.

it's safe to say that maeve has been on his mind a lot since then. her lips, her hair, her eyes, all running through matt's mind as he recalls that day over and over and over again. it drives him absolutely wild that he never got to thank her for what she did for him. it's half a year later now though, and she probably doesn't even remember him, let alone helping him with a panic attack. she's definitely got a lot more going on, with her music career taking off and everything, so it would be awkward to randomly hit her up and thank her for something she would likely deem as irrelevant. or worse, he'd be left on read and seem like some crazy fan, and then matt would never be able to show his face in public ever again.

"are you going to actually watch the show, or are you gonna keep standing there gawking like a fucking freak?" nick speaks up, snapping matt out of his trance. he flips off his brother and walks over to sit down next to rory on the couch. she grins at him yet again, her head nuzzled into chris' side while her boyfriend's focus remains on the tv. he looks just as shocked to see maeve up there as matt feels, meanwhile rory just looks proud. she's close to maeve than the rest of them, having met the girl at harper cameron's stupid party shortly before they graduated.

even though she's best friends with dante, since they went to the same high school before the boy transferred to somerville high, maeve never ended up becoming a part of their friend group. that's likely because she has her own friends and they graduated anyway, so everyone would be going away to college soon enough. luna and kali are in new york, skye's in chicago, and soon enough rory will be going to visit her family in brazil as part of her gap year. it wouldn't have worked anyway.

that doesn't stop matt from being disappointed about the fact, though.

"i can't believe maeve's on fallon," chris says. "i'm friends with a real celebrity."

"i know, right?" rory agrees. "i'm like, amazed right now."

jimmy then laughs loudly at something maeve has said, and she smiles brightly at him. it's the same smile she gave matt when they were sitting on the curb together at graduation: comforting and familiar. it feels a bit like a punch to the gut.

"not as amazed as matt, clearly," nick pipes up, gesturing to matt. chris and rory both laugh, and matt blinks, having not realized that he was practically ogling the tv. again. he sighs, silently cursing himself for being so obvious, but he really can't help it. it's maeve's fault for being so pretty, honestly.

"i'm not amazed," matt says defensively, but even he can tell how unconvincing his words are. the other three just look at him knowingly, rory going as far as to narrow her eyes at him suspiciously.

"it's been literal months and you're still obsessed your fucking celebrity crush," nick answers.

"what's even worse is that she wouldn't be a celebrity crush if matt just texted her," chris adds. "he's literally met her before."

matt rolls his eyes, ready to respond with yet another lame excuse about not texting her and then to lie about liking maeve, but rory shushes them all and points at the tv excitedly.

"shut the fuck up!" she hisses, and when chris opens his mouth to protest, she immediately uses her hand to cover it. "maeve's talking about a new song."

and indeed she is, as jimmy proceeds to lean back in his seat and ask: "so, have you been working on any new music since the release of feather? or was it just a one time thing?"

maeve shakes her head profusely, pressing her lips together. "no, definitely not a one time thing," she replies. "i'm starting to write an album, but i'm honestly getting a bit confused about my inspiration."

jimmy furrows his eyebrows, clearly confused. maeve blushes a deep shade of pink, and matt watches as she evidently contemplates her next words. she lets out a short huff of air, before sitting up straight in her seat and clasping her hands together.

"well, originally i was looking to write a breakup, sort of healing type album," she explains, her voice now an octave higher, likely due to nervousness.

"makes sense, considering feather'" jimmy smiles, and matt can instantly tell how it eases her nerves by the way her body relaxes. he's experienced that feeling many times due to his anxiety.

"yeah, exactly," maeve agrees, looking out to the crowd. "but now... well, i sat down to write a new song the other day and it ended up being something completely different than what i planned."

"so it wasn't a breakup song?" jimmy urges, his smile growing as does his curiosty. maeve's blush deepens as she breaks eye contact with him and briefly glances at the camera. it almost startles matt, the way she seems to stare directly at him through the screen in that moment. it's a tad jarring, but she quickly looks away again, turning back to jimmy.

"well... no..."

jimmy grins, rubbing his hands together as the crowd starts cheering.

"so it was about someone else?" he questions, and maeve's face gives it all away. matt's suddenly overwhelmed with disappointment, much to his dismay, and tears his gaze away from the tv. he instead looks to his brothers and rory, whose eyes have all widened. the three of them exchanged looks that look surprised, confused, and excited all at once, and matt feels like he's missing out on some crucial information.

"jimmy!" maeve exclaims, and as matt looks back to the tv, he swears her smile lights up the whole room. "it's my first time on a talk show and you're choosing to expose me like this?"

jimmy laughs at this, raising his hands defensively. "it's not my fault your song is such a hit, maeve," he tells her. "the people want to know what — or should i say who — you're writing about!"

she laughs awkwardly, putting her face in her hands. "now i have to tell the story. this is so embarrassing!" she exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air dramatically. "oh my god..."

jimmy puts a hand on hers comfortingly. "i'm sure anyone would be flattered if you wrote a song about them. right, guys?" he asks the audience, who all cheer and scream in confirmation. maeve giggles, like she's not used to all the flattery and compliments. matt doesn't understand that — surely she's aware of how beautiful she is.

matt shakes his head at his own thoughts. he really needs to get over himself.

"thank you," maeve smiles, looking at everybody in the crowd. "i wish that would help me, but in this case, well... the guy has no idea who i am."

rory sits up straighter in her seat all of a sudden, placing a hand on chris' knee to lean on as she glances intensely at the tv. matt's barely listening anymore, so he's curious as to what's got her so interested all of a sudden. even though it's maeve on fallon tonight, he still stands by his opinion that these kinds of shows are boring as fuck.

matt zones out the next piece of dialogue exchanged between maeve and jimmy fallon, half asleep and lost in his thoughts, until rory suddenly grabs onto his arm. he jolts, turning his head to look at her, finding the girl staring at him, her eyes wide with shock and her lips curved upwards.

"why the fuck are you smiling at me like that," matt says flatly, honestly a little terrified at how excited rory currently looks. and over a talk show, of all things.

she sighs, her smile shifting into a frown at his words. "did you not listen to a word maeve just said?" she asks.

"he was too busy drooling over her," nick chimes in, and matt glares at him.

"shut the fuck up, nick."

"shut the fuck up, both of you!" rory exclaims frustratedly. "maeve literally just confessed that she wrote a song about you!"

matt's eyes widen as he freezes in his seat, a little stunned by what he's just heard. after about five seconds of processing the information, he bursts out into laughter. this causes rory to frown and look at chris, who shrugs in response.

"i'm sorry, what?" matt says between laughs, still baffled that rory would think such a ridiculous thing.

"she just said that—" rory starts, before turning to her boyfriend with a suspicious look on her face. "wait... did you tell him?"

chris furrows his eyebrows. "i thought you did," he replies nervously. rory sighs, annoyed.

"we agreed that you would tell him!" she says exasperatedly.

"what?" chris blurts. "no, you said you would!"

nick chuckles, grabbing a handful of popcorn. "you guys are so fucking stupid," he says, popping a piece into his mouth.

"shut the fuck up, nick!" the couple yell at him in unison, and rory runs her fingers through her hair. "oh my god," she sighs. "we've been complaining about matt being a pussy this entire time when you never even told him!"

chris crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at her. "i wasn't supposed to tell him. you were," he defends.

matt looks at them, curiosity getting the best of him. "what exactly were you supposed to tell me?" he asks, causing all of their heads to snap in his direction. nick just laughs again, eating his popcorn as he spectates the situation.

rory lets out a large, almost nervous sigh, before making direct eye contact with matt. "so... do you remember harper's party?" she asks, not having to refer to a specific date since it's the only party hosted by chris' crazy ex that any of them have ever been to.

"yes..." matt answers skeptically, wondering where exactly this is going.

"and you kissed some girl there, but it was in a dark room so you don't know who it was?" she continues, and matt knits his eyebrows.

"she kissed me," he corrects her, and chris just rolls his eyes.

"doesn't fucking matter, bro," he chuckles, and matt has no idea what's supposed to be so funny.

"anyway," rory interjects, evidently eager to continue her story. "so, um, well... it turns out that, well, yeah, that girl was maeve."

matt pauses. immediately, he's tempted to laugh and tell her to stop messing with him, but the look in her eyes tells him that she's being serious. pining over her for four months with the knowledge that he'd never have a shot with her was comfortable, and even a little amusing at times. but now, knowing that she did in fact remember him, that they've kissed... it's a whole different feeling.

"that's cool. um, i hope it's not like, a diss song like feather, you know? like, hopefully it's a nice song," he rambles nervously, his brain running at a million miles per hour. it's with every piece of his might that matt forces himself to shut up. nick continues to laugh, chris now joining in.

rory, meanwhile, rolls her eyes at both of them. her focus remains on matt, expression still serious as she tells him: "you should text her."

"what!" matt says. "no!"

rory huffs, shoulders sagging with exhaustion. "why not?" she asks.

"because!" matt says, standing up from the couch and walking away.

"you don't even have a reason!" rory calls, getting up as well and following him into the kitchen.

"fuck you!" matt answers, not turning to look at her. as a response, rory runs around him and corners him against the kitchen island. she points a bossy finger at him, causing matt to raise his eyebrows at her confusedly.

"don't miss out on an opportunity to finally start something with her because you're too scared or some other bullshit reason, okay?" she tells him, and he nods. rory shakes her head. "do you promise?"

"fine! yes!" matt answers, refusing to actually say the words 'i promise', because he knows he never will.

✦ IMESSAGE

matt hate club!
rory 😇⭐️💌 ; astoria
clyde💔🕊️ ; chris
matt. 😕 ; matt
bird lover ; nick
kals 🫶 ; kalia
floor 🤣🤣 ; skye
lulu 🌞 ; luna

bird lover
rory ONLY js told matt that he kissed maeve and now he's broken btw

💿

pussy!matt

jk

lol

yes ik sabrina carpenter has blue eyes but maeve has brown eyes so just use ur imagination for me thank YEW !

─ ava ✦