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SHE NEEDS HIM

chapter six, LAYLA, THIS IS STACY

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   "OH, HELLO THERE!" Anastasia jumped in fright as Chris and Nick Sturniolo appeared in her room out of thin air.

"Hi!" Chris smiled, running and jumping onto the girl's bed, waiting for her to finish applying her mascara.

Stacy stared at them sceptically, unsure why it was just the two of them in her house today without their other brother.

"We wanted to give you a warning before you came outside to the car," Nick smiled nervously, catching her attention.

"Why? Is Matt crying over how annoying you two are? It's nothing I haven't seen before," Stacy shrugged with a smile.

Chris scoffed, crossing his arms like a stubborn child. He and Nicolas were unaware that their triplet brother had cried over them being annoying before.

"No, Lucy's in the car," Chris commented.

Anastasia furrowed her eyebrows, that name was rather unfamiliar to the girl. Nick laughed loudly at his brother.

"It's Layla, Chris."

"Same thing," Christopher shrugged, shaking his head to adjust his hair.

Stacy glanced between the two, shrugging her shoulders while shoving her phone into the pocket of the pink denim jeans she was wearing.

"Harry's House came out last night, nobody can fuck with my mood," she gave the boys a thumbs up, leading them out of the house.

"I want aux!" Anastasia shouted, sprinting to open the front passenger door only to be met with the scornful face of a blue-eyed girl.

Stacy pursed her lips and spun back around, slamming the car door with force. She widened her eyes staring at both boys.

"Yo, she stole your seat. What the fuck?"

Chris nodded with a fake grin because the girl inside the car was staring directly at the interaction happening outside her window.

"Nothing can fuck with your mood, remember?" Nick was quick to jump in, shoving Chris and Stacy into the back seats of the car.

Anastasia rolled her eyes, muttering the five words: "at least I thought so."

"Morning, Matthew," Stacy grinned, poking her head around the driver's seat to give the boy a kiss on the cheek, something she did every time he picked her up since he got his license.

"Hi," Matt flashed her a smile, though it was painfully evident to Anastasia, Nick and Chris that it was a very fake smile.

Stacy shrugged off his odd mood and sat back in the middle seat, spitting curse words under her breath because she had to sit in the middle.

"I'm going to play some music, Matty," the brunette in front batted her eyelashes, plugging her phone into the aux cord and opening the Spotify app.

The moment Katy Perry started blasting through the minivan speakers Anastasia knew this ten-minute drive was about to feel like a lifetime.

But nope. Thank God for Chris.

The boy to her right nudged her softly, handing her an AirPod. Stacy opened her mouth in excitement, mouthing a thank you to the boy. Nick already had his Beats headphones over his ears and was unhappily staring out of the window.

The sweet melody of Music for a Sushi Restaurant began to flow through Anastasia's right ear. She began to focus on that tune and cancel out the overplayed lyrics of Roar.

Chris was never one to willingly listen to Harry Styles but after Stacy had FaceTimed him last night (he was the only one who picked up) bawling her eyes out to the album, Christopher just knew it would be worth the hype.

"How's Estella?" Stacy randomly whispered to the boy, having heard him talking about the familiar face a few days ago.

"Oh, um, Esty's good, yeah," Chris smiled, grateful his best friend approved of his crush.

Anastasia nodded, a soft smile playing on her lips. She personally thought Estella was the cutest, prettiest person to exist and was so happy for Chris.

"We're here," Matt cleared his throat from the driver's seat, taking the keys out of the ignition system and turning to face the three in the back.

"Matty! You didn't tell me we were rock climbing," the girl in the passenger seat pouted.

"Yeah, Matty," Stacy repeated, frowning sarcastically at the boy, just to send him over the edge.

Matthew rolled his eyes, getting out of the car and waiting for everyone to get out too, but the blue-eyed girl stayed in her seat.

"Who's she waiting for? A fucking butler?" Nick joked, watching the girl look around.

Matt sighed, walking around to open the door for his new so-called lady friend.

"Thank you," she smiled, patting Matthew's shoulder.

Anastasia snorted loudly and immediately covered her mouth, looking around the parking lot as soon as the other girl glared at her.

"Stacy, this is Layla. Layla, this is Stacy," Matt awkwardly introduced the pair.

"Stacy, hi! I've heard so much about you," Layla grinned widely, spooking the other brunette girl.

"It's Anastasia and I've heard jackshit about you!" Stacy cooed in a baby voice, just as Layla had done to her.

Matt mentally facepalmed, knowing this was exactly how his best friend would act.

Nick and Chris secretly fist-bumped from behind Stacy but acted like they didn't when Matt stared at them with wide eyes.

"Who's ready to rock climb, bitches?" Stacy cheered, turning to high five Nick and Chris.

"Oh yeah!" Chris nodded, smacking his hand with hers.

The five teenagers trailed into the building, making their way to the front desk where they would get a safety briefing and their harnesses.

As soon as they were allowed into the large climbing room, Stacy and Nicolas sprinted to the doubles-race wall, clipping themselves in and counting down before climbing the wall.

Anastasia made it to the top ten seconds before Nick (according to her calculations), though Nick disagreed and thought he lost by a millisecond.

"Holy shit, Chris, they're playing Dom!" Stacy shouted from across the room, catching the eyes of young children and judgemental adults. "Oh my, gosh, I am so sorry!" She yelled regretfully.

Chris laughed at her from the top of his rock wall and slowly came back down, acting as if he were flying.

Layla was struggling while trying to unclip her harness from the rope which made Stacy chuckle as she walked by.

"Need any help?" Anastasia asked, not wanting to be entirely a bitch.

"Not from you," Layla scoffed, waving Matt over who was anxiously watching the interaction.

Matthew jogged over, wondering what the problem was this time.

"She's stuck," Anastasia puffed out her cheeks, holding in a laugh.

Matt smirked a little at how amused Stacy was getting when Layla was mad, he found it both funny and adorable at how jealous she seemed.

"Here, let me help you," Matt smiled sweetly, unclasping the hook.

Anastasia walked away with an unreadable expression, looking for a different wall to try out when she spotted a rather familiar face in the worker uniform.

"Joshy J?" She laughed in surprise, walking up to the brunette who looked bored out of his mind.

"Anastasia, what the shit?" Josh turned around in surprise.

Stacy chuckled, giving the boy a friendly hug. She engaged in a conversation with him about his singing career and his twin sister, Cordelia.

"How've you been, dude?" Joshua asked her, a smile on his face.

"Not too bad, you?" Stacy replied, genuinely interested in how her old friend was.

Stacy spent another fifteen minutes chatting to the boy before he was called over by a young child who needed to be checked if he was clipped into the wall rope correctly.

"You won't believe who I just saw!" Anastasia laughed, walking over to Nick who was panting from racing Chris up the doubles wall. "Josh Jackson!"

"No way!" Nick and Chris yelled in surprise, looking around for the boy.

Stacy chuckled at their unison reactions.

"I think his shift ended so he's probably gone," she added, not wanting the two to waste their time looking for their friend after he'd already left.

The three continued joking around and climbing walls until their two-hour time limit was up. They returned the harnesses and walked back outside to the car.

Chris and Stacy speed-walked to the car so they could get the seats they wanted this time. Matt unlocked the minivan from far away, knowing the pair would playfight for the passenger seat.

Midway through their playful wrestling, Layla stood behind them and rudely coughed to announce her presence.

"Um, I'm sitting there..." she awkwardly spoke to the pair, pointing at the passenger seat.

"Says who?" Anastasia sassed.

Matt raised his hand from behind Layla. Stacy sarcastically smiled, nodding her head and walking around the other side of the car to get into the back.

On her way around the car, she passed Matt who was waiting to speak to her behind the trunk.

"Ana," he began softly, knowing she could snap at any moment.

"No, it's okay. I know where I stand now," Stacy fake smiled, brushing past him and taking her seat in the middle once again.

The drive to drop Layla home was dead silent, there was no music or speaking the whole ride.

Stacy noticed Matt drumming his fingers on the car wheel as he stopped at a stop sign, allowing a family to cross. She could tell his anxiety was kicking in though she wasn't sure why.

"See ya," Chris deadpanned, squeezing between the front seats to try and sit where Layla had previously been sitting, AKA his designated seat.

"Bye, Matty!" Layla spoke in a high-pitched voice, waving as she stood on the grass outside her home.

"Oh, yeah, totally forgot we were invisible," Stacy nodded with furrowed eyebrows, watching as Nick laughed loudly.

Layla rolled her eyes, waving once again before walking into her house after Matthew drove off. After they drove for three seconds, Stacy, Chris and Nick all burst out laughing.

Matt sighed at their childishness but continued to focus on the road ahead of him.

"Seriously, Matt, who the fuck was she?" Stacy asked out of breath as the giggles came to a halt.

"A friend," he replied, looking over her shoulder at Nick and Chris who stared at him amusedly.

Anastasia, who wasn't buying his excuse, tried to look him in the eyes and hoped he would tell her who she was and why she was even there.

"Matt," Stacy began, holding the boy's chin between her fingers and making him look her in the eyes. "We have the same friends," she added with a smirk, knowing this was hopefully how she would get the truth out of him.

"No we don't," Matt folded his arm, moving his face away from her hand.

"Name one person you're friends with and I'm not," Anastasia started but then quickly added, seeing Matt knowingly stare at her. "That isn't Layla."

Matthew huffed in defeat, trying to think of one friend that he and Stacy didn't share but immediately realised he had just proved the girl right.

"Exactly. Now, who is she?" She curiously asked.

"A friend! Can I not have one singular female friend that you're not friends with too? God, Anastasia, leave me alone," he grumbled, storming into the house.

Stacy stood in her spot frozen and confused. She didn't mean for him to snap at her, she thought it was a harmless question but apparently, she pushed it a little too much.

"Come on, Stace, you can ignore him as much as you like," Nick grinned, grabbing her hand and dragging her behind him into his bedroom.

Chris stayed out on the front porch as Estella Cameron was on her way to pick the boy up.

Nicolas and Anastasia mucked around for a while, the list went from, filming TikToks to coloring in to finally laying beside each other and watching Grease.

"I'm out of my head, hopelessly devoted to you!" The pair sang their hearts out, watching as Sandy walked around the front yard looking out into the distance.

A knock at the door broke them out of their singing tune, Nick yelled for the person to come in and of course, it was Matt who seemed to be grumpy or bored, the two couldn't tell because it had already gotten so dark.

"Can you guys be quiet? I'm live on Instagram and don't want to get copyrighted," he asked, showing the two that he really was live streaming.

"Shit, what time is it?" Stacy worriedly asked, knowing she told her siblings she'd be back by seven at the latest.

"Seven-thirty. I already took the twins to McDonald's and they're in my room with me," Matt told her, watching as the worry on her face changed into gratitude.

Stacy smiled at the boy, repeatedly thanking him as he just smiled and closed the bedroom door, leaving the two to finish their movie.

It was around nine o'clock at night when Chris knocked on the kitchen door, Nick and Anastasia opened it for him and he cruised inside.

"How was your date?" Stacy teased him.

"It was not a date," he spoke through gritted teeth, though the blush on his face said otherwise. "It was good though."

The trio talked for three hours, though it only felt like half an hour. Finally, it was midnight and the Patons had to get going, none of the three wanted to leave but they had to clean up the house because their mother was coming back from Spain at two pm the same day. 

( 💟 ) MAL SPEAKS,

i'm actually on a roll,
what the fuck?

once again maha was so 
unhelpful when i asked 
if i should update but hey,
i included a character from
her book and one from
jaden's! how exciting!!!

i hope you enjoyed this 
chapter because idk
how speedy i'm going

to be with updates this
week as i have many exams
due and to study for :/

have an incredible day
or night, idk timezones LMAO

mwah, mal <3