{irl. social media}

take a bite - beabadoobee

The friend group finally makes it to the parking lot, arriving at a dim, black car. It was basically a fish bowl, having absolutely no tint at all.

There was a small dent in the rear of the car from the day AJ got her license. The first thing she did was grab a sweet treat with Monica, but as she was backing out of Dairy Queen, she backed into a brand new Jeep. Needless to say, her insurance company hates her. The dent kinda grew on her, as she smiles each time she sees it because it reminds her of a fond memory.

"This is...your car?" Chris asks very hesitantly, obviously deep in thought, as the expression on his face gave away the fact that he was confused. He uncrosses his arms and puts his hands in his pockets, humbled.

"Yeah, you know, the car that daddy's money bought me?" AJ answers, putting air quotations around chosen words, referencing their conversation days earlier.

Chris remains silent. He was so sure that he knew the type of girl she was, but he had been proven wrong. Maybe there was more to AJ than Chris assumed. Matt, Nick, and Nate remain standing with a shocked expression on their faces, letting AJ assume Chris told them about their argument days earlier. Chris did not expect her to own anything of the sort. Don't get him wrong, it was a reliable, nice car. But he expected something more new and...less dented.

Chris had been wrong about AJ, and he knew it.

"Didn't see that coming, did you?" Monica breaks the silence and tension in the air, receiving a death glare from Chris. AJ gently shoves Monica in an attempt to shush her in the moment.
"What! A haters gotta hate. Let me live" Matt laughs at her antics, shaking his head.

The crew piled into AJs old 1994 Toyota. AJ in the drivers seat, Monica playing passenger princess, while Nate, Nick, and Chris sat in the backseat. Matt found his spot on the floorboard by his brother's feet, a spot that was definitely illegal if they were to get pulled over, but sometimes you have to live life on the edge.

"Whenever you get a moment, you should probably use some more of your daddy's money and get gas" Monica remarks, side eyeing Chris in the backseat. He throws up his hands as he rolls his eyes in simple annoyance. "Okay, i'm done now. Don't let it happen again, jackass" She laughs. Chris does not return the laughter.

On the ride into lower downtown, Chris, Nick, Matt, and Nate seemed unfazed at the beautiful scenery in front of them. There was a bridge with blue lights illuminating onto the ocean below, with fairy lights wrapped around the trees. A water fountain puddled onto the concrete below, while neon closed signs from businesses on the big buildings flicker on and off. AJ and Monica take in every inch, amazed at the sight.

The group decides on a simple fast food drive thru - Raising Canes - and eat together in the car. Somehow, AJ and Monica were able to convince the boys to walk in lower downtown with them. It took thorough persuasion, but eventually parked parallel in front of a park.

"I think Monica and I are gonna take a walk this way" Matt speaks up, pointing to the North where maintained greenery and landscape lays "We will call an Uber home, don't wait up"

"Just you two? Do you-" Nick starts, before getting cut off by Chris hitting him in the back of the head. Monica looks at AJ with a small, sneaky smile. AJ lets out a quiet laugh and throws her a thumbs up, while winking. Before continuing down the sidewalk, Matt and Monica both have rose colored cheeks.

It was cute to watch them awkwardly have crushes on each other.

"On that note, Nick and I are going to find some ice cream. Try not to kill each other tonight, okay? See you tomorrow" Nate announces, walking away before giving Chris or AJ a chance to respond. They slowly fade in the distance as AJ lets out a huff of air.

Being downtown alone with Chris at night...Sure. She was confident that she was living out her worst nightmare.

With a groan, AJ begins to walk on the concrete path that leads to the benches near the water that overlooks the bridge and ocean. The footsteps behind her indicate that Chris was following, and each step ticked AJ more and more off.

"Why are you following me?" She groans, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes at him "Don't you have someone else to be an asshole to at this time of night?"

"Just you" He sarcastically smiles before dropping into a blank and unamused expression "I'm not going to let you walk alone at night. Especially in downtown."

"I can hold my own" AJ testifies as she continues her walk

Chris rolls his eyes and follows behind her, evaluating their surroundings. There seemed to be nobody on the streets around them besides one jogger walking his dog, only in the coming and going.

The area was surprisingly beautiful, he had never given it the time of day to actually notice it rather than just riding past. The air smelt of salt from the ocean, and the wind was cold. The only noise was from Chris and AJ, and the waves crashing against one another.

"This view is nice" Chris jokes, referring to AJ in front of him. She furrows her eyebrows at him and scrunched her nose before throwing her hand up in disgust.

"Shut up, Chris. I want to genuinely fight you. I cannot wait until I can rock your shit on the ice" AJ shakes her head in annoyance, glaring back at the boy following her

"Just say you want to fuck me and move on" He sarcastically laughs. AJ gasps and turns around to shove him. She groans in forced disgust and marches forward

"You know I can't stand you right?" She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms

"Don't worry, you're a ray of fucking sunshine" He replies with sarcasm in his voice. After she doesn't respond, Chris jogs up slightly to walk side by side next to AJ, who looks at him and looks away in annoyance

At the end of the concrete path, there was a red two seater bench. AJ takes a seat, and Chris ends up right next to her. The bench was pointed towards the ocean, facing the smell of salt and allowing the chilly breeze to go wherever it wishes. Maybe it was the atmosphere, but something felt different about sitting here alone with Chris.

"Why do you hate Wes so much?" AJ suddenly asks, turning her head to look at Chris. He watches her for a brief moment, his eyes flickering from her lips to her eyes.

"The dude is a tool. We both know that" Chris answers genuinely

"I mean...when did you start hating him so much? What happened?" She questions

Chris looks away to the bridge before returning his focus back to her. Chris knew how effortlessly pretty AJ was, especially right now. The wind blows through her brown hair, creating beautiful and messy knots. Her brown eyes were on him and him alone, and they looked as if they were sparkling. Of course he would never admit it to her, but she was his favorite part of each day. One glance at that face and soul was worth waking up the next day to do it all over again.

"It's stupid" Chris shakes the question off

"I want to know" She persists, now placing her hand on his knee in urgency. A shiver shot through his spine, immediately staying still as to not move her. AJ was surprised that he did not immediately stop her, but she was even more surprised that his current words were not said with sarcasm or negativity.

"Well...In middle school he was my best friend, besides Matt, Nate and Nick. Nobody can replace them, but Wes was a close second. This girl came along and we never dated, and looking back now she was nothing compared to..." He stops for a moment before shaking his head, disregarding his sentence as irrelevant "Anyways. One day I ended up seeing messages between them, Wes had convinced her to leave me for him and it worked. It's so fucking stupid, but he has never been the same since then. What a fucking jackass" Chris scoffs through his teeth

"I'm sorry, Chris." She says from the corner of her lips, biting the inside of her cheek

They sit in earthly silence together, not knowing what to say next. AJs mind wanders, wondering what Chris is thinking. If she could only get inside his brain, maybe she would understand him and his ways better.

"Who would have guessed that this is how our night would end? Together" AJ says in a questioning manner

"Thankfully for you, not the creeps that hang out around here" Chris responds "How do you keep finding yourself in these situations? First with Wes, and now here- it's really not safe" He says with sass

"Again, I can hold my own. I don't need help" She derides, shooting daggers with her eyes

"As far as I can recall, I have been the one saving your ass" Chris rolls his eyes "If anything, you should be thanking me" He scoffs

"Thank you?" AJ scoffs loudly and sarcastically "You expect me to thank you? I never asked for you to save me, Chris!" She stands up and walks to the gate of the bridge, crossing her arms and leaning on the railing. She watches as waves crash over and over again on the water below, something about it was so therapeutic. AJ wondered what it would like to be stranded alone out there. Would the waves be so calm and kind to her as they were right now? Would the ocean treat her with love?

She hated the effect Chris had on her, and how authentic it felt.

After a moment alone, there was a presence that joined her. They stood in the noise of the ocean and interstate jams alone together before Chris took a step closer to her. AJ noticed and looked at him before taking a step away again. This caused Chris to close the space between them again, this time crossing his arms over hers to prevent any further movement. His touch sent tingles throughout her a body, a feeling she deeply wanted to hate when Chris gave it to her, but a feeling she simply could not hate no matter how hard she tried.

"You know..." Chris starts "No matter how far you dive in the ocean, you will continuously discover more and more the deeper you go. And somehow..." He gently laughs, loud enough for only himself and AJ to be captivated in. "somehow there's still no end in sight. There is just no depth that can be reached"

"What's your point? Why are you telling me this?" AJ asks with a soft attitude. She could feel his warm breath radiating on her cold neck, and it sent shivers throughout her whole body. For a moment she considered that Chris was aware of this fact when he got closer to her neck, letting out another deep breath. Everything inside of her was screaming to run.
Run away from Chris, run away from this moment.
Get as far as you can and leave this memory in the hindsight.
Leave and don't look back.
Yet, he made her legs feel too weak to even consider running. The undesired butterflies scattered in her stomach could not bear missing out on being with him right now.

"My point... I think that's how humans are. As cruel as humanity can be, I think we are all inherently good. We all want to be loved, to be known. But to be loved by everybody is to be known by nobody" Chris whispers softly

AJ turns her body around to face Chris, who was looking over her head and still staring at the ocean. With all of the hate and anger she has seen in his eyes, they captivated nothing but truth in this moment with her. His typically clenched jaw is now soft and free. His shaggy brown hair was blowing messily, framing his sculpted face and allowing him to feel the wind in his bones. Without thinking, AJ placed her hand on the side of his face, using her thumb to gently rub his cheek. He looks down at her, his eyes flickering over every trait on her face.

He has never noticed the small scar on the corner of her eye, and he has never wondered before how she got it. Different from his own, AJs eyes were a deep brown. She had freckles that kissed her cheeks, and a cupids bow that drew an arrow straight through his heart.

Her touch was gentle and polite.

"We want to be discovered and known like the depths of the ocean. We want our hearts and souls to be touched" Chris says softly, staring into her eyes and speaking directly to her inner being "Am I crazy for wanting to be truly known?" AJ replies to this by slowly shaking her head with a soft smile.

"I want to be known...too" She whispers

The tension between them in this moment was intense, but gentle. The universe put two hurt people together, two people afraid to let go. With the way he was staring into her eyes, it looked like Chris wanted to kiss her. As if he wanted to taste her lips for himself. He lowers his face until it's only an inch away from hers, close enough to smell her vanilla perfume and minty breath. AJs breath paced at a hesitant speed. Before he was able to connect their lips, AJ slowly pulled back and blinked in disbelief, shaking her head.

"We should uh-" She clears her throat, trying to knock herself out of the trance Chris put her in. As much as she wanted to kiss him and fall passionately in the moment, this summer was for hockey. She knew she needed to focus, and that meant avoiding a reason to stumble "We should head back"

Chris stared at her in confusion, opening his mouth to speak, but was cut off by AJ beginning to walk away.

She would not let anyone prevent her from leveling up and becoming the best. Not even the boy who was her beloved rival.

@avyoung made a new post!

@avyoung: paying attention to the road btw
liked by @matthew.sturniolo, @christophersturniolo, and 62 others
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@user: face card accepted
↳avyoung: 💳 ❤️

@nicolassturniolo: thank God i don't have a license
↳avyoung: hey! i'm a good driver

@monihayes: okay you watch the road, i'll watch you
↳avyoung: sounds like a plan!

@user2: pretty girl <3

@user3: let's make plans after summer!

@matthew.sturniolo: i'm scared to share the roads with you.
↳avyoung: why do the trips not believe in my driving abilities ):
↳nicolassturniolo: bc we have been in the car with you before......