( a )

AFTERNOON RAYS SLID THROUGH WHITE BLINDS, its light stretching all the way to the queen sized bed. the light touched two figures, warming them up. cars honked and thumps can be heard from outside the bedroom.

the elements of the world accumulated — if they were people who work, they'd be scared knowing it's already half past noon and they're late for work. except, it's matt and arielle. high school graduates who have nothing to do therefore all they do is oversleep together.

"fucking wake up already, holy shit!" chris yelled from outside of the bedroom, banging his fists against the door. 

though an oversleeper, arielle doesn't sleep through loud sounds. she's the only child — which means if there's ever that much sound in her house. . . it couldn't mean anything good. her eyes twitched before they fluttered open, and she squinted to adjust to the afternoon light.

"i have a vlog camera so just know that when i come in there, there'll be a fucking camera shoved in your faces!" arielle could hear chris yell again.

she rolled her eyes and shook matt's sleeping figure.

he was under the duvets, the material reaching until up his chin. matt laid with his back facing arielle. she could see the way his hair had grown so long, it cascaded past his nape and reached the collar of his black tee. arielle wasn't sure why but her frail pointer reached to touch his hair. gently, as if he was a fragile glass in an antique shop. the light from the window made his hair appear almost blonde. the sound of his snores were somewhat comforting that listening to it made the rest of the world go quiet for a while.

arielle took a deep breath before retrieving her hand. instead, she shook him awake.

"matty wake up," she called out, "wake up before nick comes here and annoys us even more than chris does."

a groan rolled past matt's lips. the aggressive shaking caused him to peel his eyes open. annoyed that the night went past so quick. the brunette spotted his phone being charged on his nightstand thus he smiled softly. arielle must've charged it last night when he wasn't looking. there was a glass of water sitting on the mahogany desk too. again, the doing of arielle. everytime she sleeps over she'd put a glass of water beside matt because she knows how he'd get thirsty in the morning. she'd put a large glass too, knowing that he'd drink half before she'd go, "pass me the glass."

they knew each other's perks down to their daily routine. like it's engraved at the back of their minds. arielle knows to charge matt's phone because he'll forget, and matt knows that arielle can't get her day started without taking a shower.

the teenage boy shifted his side, facing arielle now. he could see arielle in all her glory — drool beside full lips and unruly brown hair on head. her doe eyes were all puffy too. if he wasn’t feeling groggy, he would’ve mustered up the energy to laugh. she was a mess, opposite of the sleeping beauty that it made him feel warm to see her in such state.

matt leaned forward to press a kiss on her shoulder — his way of greeting her a good morning. they were both the type to not speak as soon as they woke up.

the silence prolonged. it took arielle a few minutes to realize matt had fallen back asleep. eyelids shut, lips slightly pouted. arielle reached around the bed and grunted when she realized her phone was all the way across the room. if she could get a picture of matt sleeping that way, she could’ve sent it to nick to post for friday photo dump. the girl mentally cussed herself for being too lazy to get up and get her phone. she ended up merely staring at matt, holding in giggles. he surely is less annoying when he’s asleep, huh? and quite adorable. arielle herself didn’t realize she was smiling until there was an urge to give him a quick peck on the lips.

the urge continued to knock on her heart. knock, knock and knock — alas, her face inched closer towards a peaceful looking matt. she could feel his warm breath get hotter the closer she closed their gap. his heartbeat contrasted hers. a midnight ballad meanwhile hers was as strong as morning tides. she was about to close the gap with a kiss —

she tore herself away. arielle couldn‘t do it. not when he was fast asleep. not even if it’s just a peck. it was incredibly wrong to do that to her best friend. horrible feelings gathered at the pit of her stomach. guilt, self loathe — you name it.

the door busted open, pulling arielle out of her train of thoughts. she turned around to see nick standing in front of the door, one hand holding his waist.

“wake the fuck up bitches!” he yelled, earning a middle finger from arielle.

at that very moment, arielle wanted to absolutely wreck nick with her fists.

“shut the fuck up nick,” a groggy matt replied.

arielle turned back around to see matt  running his fingers through his hair. eyes still barely opened and voice husky.

“you fucking promised us to drive us to eat pancakes my guy.”

“it’s too fucking early for this shit nick,” matt grunted, but he sat up anyway.

after a few moments of waking up to reality, and getting over their sleepiness, matt finally spoke up.

“go take your shower ari, i’ll get ready too.”

thus arielle excitedly got into the shower, adjusting the temperature to her preferred one. having had slept over at the sturniolos’ for ages, she knew how every appliance in the house worked. matt didn’t need to keep the door open when arielle came, neither did arielle have to. steam filled in the tiled bathroom. the brunette shut the shower curtains closed, humming a harry styles song as she showered.

the door creaked open, in came matt with only his pants on. matt wasn’t one to care too much about skincare, but he did appreciate cleansing his face and wearing sunscreen. one time arielle showed him an article on the importance of sunscreen and it scared matt shitless. occasionally, arielle would put a face mask on him for fun.

matthew brushed his teeth, his tired face looking back at him in the mirror. he enjoyed arielle’s soft humming.

“still tired?” arielle asked from the shower.

“mhm,” was all that he muttered. it made arielle chuckle.

the shower turned off, only leftover water dripping from the head. arielle was quick to put on a robe — she certainly didn’t want nick barging in to complain again. carefully, she got off the shower, the shower curtain making a sound when she yanked them open. she could see matt struggling to shave his stubble, groaning every once in a while.

“come, i’ll do it for you.”

the gap between them closed, the razor from matt’s hand taken by arielle. matt could feel the steam from the shower, and the smell of coconut scrub. arielle loved coconut bath and hair products so much that she bought two sets. one for her house and one for matt’s. matt told her that she was extra but arielle could tell matt secretly uses them sometimes.

softly, she shaved his stubble. ensuring she got every corner. the scene was so domestic one might say they’re a happily married for couple. both arielle and matt would argue that it’s just a childhood best friends thing.

“want me to put sunscreen on for you afterwards?”

“yes please.”

༊*·˚ ༉‧₊˚✧

BIRDS SANG THEIR MORNING BALLAD, joggers ran with their headphones on. the gray digital alarm hanging on the wall showcased 8 in the morning.

arielle fluttered her eyes open to see a figure laying beside her. tufts of black locks laid on forehead, jawline so perfect it seemed like the greek gods sculptured it. cooper’s what you call a gorgeous boy. he’s not just handsome — he’s beautiful. his eyelashes are envied by girls ( including arielle ) and he’s super nice. cooper grew up with only female figures in her life so he’s the definition of a gentleman. he plays hockey and has the perfect gpa.

cooper’s perfect.

too perfect.

arielle blinked her eyes. was she hallucinating or did cooper not snore even once? he had no drool dripping from his lips that it put arielle to shame. she frowned and wiped the saliva off her cheek with her sleeves.

she had been dating cooper for almost three months and she still hadn’t adjusted herself to how perfect cooper was. he knew about politics and entertainment. he’d read every column in the newspapers but also watches e! news. he barely cussed and always says his “please” and “thank you.” there’s not an ounce of flaw you can find on cooper. that made arielle both scared and in awe.

arielle sat up. she didn’t stop to admire her boyfriend whatsoever. not because she hated him, didn’t like him and what - not. arielle did like cooper, a lot. he was charming and understood her humor. did it matter that she didn’t stop to admire him?she simply had no urge to. instead, the girl digged under her pillow and grabbed her phone to shoot karina a quick text.

“my boyfriend doesn’t snore when he sleeps, can you believe it?” she sent the text.

“lucky you!” karina replied.

“just not used to this. matt always snores. send help my baby’s truly perfect <333”

“cooper’s not matt, fucking idiot. cooper’s even bettttterrrr.”

arielle laughed at the reply and tossed her phone away.

forty - five minutes later, cooper woke up. he wasn’t one to struggle getting up. he was one of the weirdos who’d open their eyes and immediately sit up. arielle stared at him — dumb founded and partially amazed.

“g’morning,” he greeted her, inching towards her to plant a kiss on her forehead, “how was sleep?”

arielle nodded, “so good,” she smiled before reciprocating his kiss by pecking his cheek.

a total fucking lie. sleep was absolutely horrible. cooper held her throughout the whole night. she was sweating. arielle’s into all that cute shit but cuddling the entire night’s a no - go. how do other couples do it? arielle genuinely couldn’t understand. personal space, anyone? no? weird. absolutely weird. how do people—

“babe?” cooper asked, waving his hand in front of arielle’s face.

she snapped out of her thoughts, “yes?”

“you’re so cute when you daydream,” he booped her nose, “i said i have hockey practise today. you wanna come with me?”

arielle turned red at the compliment.

“it’s alright. i’ll wait for you here.”

cooper nodded in understatement. arielle didn’t like sports and he was okay with that. the raven went to the bathroom to get ready, leaving arielle on the bed. a sigh of relief from arielle. she wasn’t sure why but she’s always so on the edge with cooper. she liked him, a lot, but somethimg about his perfection made arielle feel as though she had to be socially acceptable around him 24/7. there was comfort between them, yes — but not as much as with. . . matt. she realized she was being unfair though, so she shook away her thoughts. of course it wouldn’t be the same with matt. she knew matt since they were four, and she only knew cooper since sixteen.

as cooper got ready, arielle laid on the bed, watching tiktoks. she didn’t watch him or anything — leaving him to do his own thing. they talked throughout the entire time though. cooper’s talkative, even in the morning. he asked her all sorts of things. what she liked to do, the products she wore, a miscellaneous of things arielle had never been asked about. miscellaneous routine things. she never knew one day someone would ask her about what type of moisturizer she wears and how many times per day.

once cooper was done, she kissed him goodbye and watched him leave the house. another sigh of relief from her. she laid down on the bed, dialling matt’s number.

“hello?” the familiar voice greeted her.

“hi matty.”

the conversation continued, bringing in the sense of familiarity arielle desperately needed. she asked him how it’s like in los angeles, laughed about the idiotic things nick did.

“you slept over at cooper’s for the first time today?”

“yeah, i did. don’t you dare say something dirty about it.”

“naughty naughty!” she could hear chris laughing along too.

“it was nothing like what your perverted ass is thinking about right now. we only cuddled and kissed a bit.”

“whatever. how was it though?”

momentary pause. arielle’s breath was hitched.

“it was fine.”

“why the pause?”

her breath hitched again before she could continue speaking.

“i guess,” she licked her lower lip, “it didn’t feel like how it is with you.”

matt, on the other side of the phone didn’t know what to say. he slumped deeper into the sofa, pausing to think of what to say next.

“you can’t expect it to be the same, ari. we’ve been friends for so long. knowing you, you were probably too nervous, hm? let loose and just be yourself. he won’t judge. cooper’s not like that.”

arielle nodded at the advice, finding relief in his words. she couldn’t expect the same comfort from a relationship that’s so much shorter from the span of time she and matt has been friends. she understood that now.

“thanks matt. miss you, come home soon.”

arielle decided to just give the relationship a chance.

༊*·˚ ༉‧₊˚✧

lovemail from rin !

HELLO FRIENDS!! how’s the new chappy :))) good?? painful?? soft?? lmk

also i published the prologue to this book! it’s called closer to you. the book has an actual plot to it so go check that out!! mwah love u guys sm