Dedicated to fictophilic for the cover at the top, thank you💟

I always find a way to write this story listening to Zayn I swear. Today's song in Nicole's playlist was 'BRIGHT' LOL.

Congrats to all the Watty winners : )

Chapter Twenty Five: "Kinky."

I WORKED IN the back, sorting out through the new stock and what books were to be on display at the front of the store.

It was normal. When there wasn't school or soccer I was usually here, trying to make the most I could. I got called in even though I had an exam in two days but I didn't care because I needed the money and was multitasking with reminding myself of all the things I've learned in my tutorials and labs this semester.

Only God knows how much sleep I could get in a three hour lecture during the past weeks.

I sighed, handing the box to another co-worker while I handled the heavy textbook in my hand, flipping through it so I could absorb more than I knew.

I was mumbling to myself trying to remember before the next guy came in with a new set of boxes when I felt a hand tap me on my shoulder. I jumped at how unexpected it was, turning around to face- "Zach?"

"Macy right?" He gave me a toothy grin and I nodded returning his contagious smile.

"Yeah. You got a job here?"

Zach shrugged. "Started yesterday. I've been trying to get away from Rosie for a while. Do you remember my roommate?"

"Really curly brown and blonde dyed hair? I think she was swearing in Spanish at some guy at your Halloween party."

"That's her," Zach rolled his eyes, grabbing the boxes from the guy and putting them on the table to organize on what will go to the front and what will be on the shelves. Zach glanced at the textbook in my hands. "Exam season right?"

I closed the book, dropping it and getting back to work. "I hate it."

"We all do. I'm positive that there isn't a person happy about taking exams."

"I'm definitely not one of them," I told him, grabbing the boxes we separated a while later. "Want to help put these up?"

"Sure." Zach and I walked out of the work room towards the front when I saw a visitor at the front.

Although I was disappointed that it wasn't Sam since he was studying at home, in complete quiet where he could absorb information at best. By quiet I meant he couldn't stand people talking but he could obviously study while listening to music preferably Drake.

"Victoria." Matteo said with a wide smile, some type of bubble tea in his hands.

"Stop calling me that." I grumbled, walking past him but not before tipping his hat off of his head.

Matteo muttered a couple words behind me as Zach had already made his way to the front of the store, already setting up the books. "Then stop doing that."

"Every time I see you these days, you're wearing a hat." I told him, laughing.

"I wasn't wearing one the other day."

"You weren't wearing one at first but later one you pulled the blue one out of your bag."

"Is it wrong to wear a hat now? It's cold outside. Sue me."

"Go home and study. We're on a reading week. No classes but still the same stress." I told him with a pat on his chest and walking by him.

"Nope." Matteo grabbed me by the wrist, turning me around to face him.

"You realize I have to work right?"

"I know."

"Then go home would you?" I told him, laughing and trying to leave again but Matteo wasn't having it.

"How about after you're done with your shift we go and play some billiard at the pub?"

"The one where I first met you?"

"Yeah, we can play a few rounds. I'll be able to kick your ass in basketball and in pool." I'm suddenly reminded by yesterday when Matteo and I along with Maddy had hit the library but after tiredness we had played a short game of basketball where Matteo's height really came into use.

"I grew up with competitive boys on my left and right. I'll be kicking your butt in pool easily."  

"You really think that Macy?"

"Thank you for calling me by my real name and yes, I really think so."

He leaned against a bookcase. "Alright we'll see."

"But not today. The second I'm out of here I have to study like you should be doing. Idiot." I muttered the last part and Matteo rolled his eyes.

"Fine, then after the break. You're heading home for the holidays, am I correct?"

"Yeah," My thoughts of chemistry flew out the window with the chance to have proper time with people I could call my family. "What about you?"

"Probably going down to Charlbury. It's about three hours down from here by car. My family lives there. I'll see you tomorrow then...Victoria."

I rolled my eyes, flicking his hat off his head again before he left. Joining Zach at the front where he was stacking the books, I helped him out trying to recall everything I've learned this past semester.

When I was putting the last book on the stand, I felt Zach's eyes on me. I turned to face him with questioning on my face, wondering why he was staring at me like that. "What?"

"Who was that?" Zach nodded towards the front door.

"Just Matteo."

"You're still with Sam right?"

"Yeah..." I trailed off on that word, wondering why the heck he was asking that.

"Is he fond of this Matteo character?" The way Zach asked the question reminded me of someone way mature than his age.

"Not exactly." After that day at the indoor track and gym, Sam didn't say a lot about Matteo so even though he didn't like Matteo, I didn't think he was bothered by him. We didn't exactly have time for us to discuss his dislike for Matteo because of exams and I haven't seen him much since.

"I can understand why." Zach said, getting up and grabbing the empty box, leaving me confused.

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I sat down on the ground of Sam's room, making faces through the laptop camera along with Phillip whom was lying down beside me.

Sam and I arrived home yesterday and I was completely happy with the whole two week break from school. My life was at ease for a moment and I didn't think anything could ruin my break especially since I was with Phillip again.

I moved through the different filters on Sam's Macbook Photo Booth and Phillip laughed loudly as we changed in every picture, making me crack up with each one. "This one." He pointed to the bottom of the screen and I did as he asked, watching our faces change once again.

Sam walked into his room, staring at the two of us, lying down on the ground. "What are you both doing?"

"Taking pictures." Phillip answered and like the eight year old he was, I watched him stick his tongue out so much to the point where it looked like he wanted swallow the whole screen.

I smiled, pulling him back gently by the hair and he laughed loudly, almost falling back. Sam moved over and I watched him shove his brother out of the way and get in the frame with me.

"Hey!" I heard Phillip yell just as he jumped onto Sam's back.

Sam let out a loud grunt. "Phil, I don't think you realize how much older you're getting. If you keep jumping on me like that you're going to break my back one day."

"Then don't steal my Macy time." Phillip moved his way between Sam and I.

"Macy time?"

"Yeah, you get her all the time. My turn now." He tried shoving Sam who didn't budge and whined when he came to a conclusion that he definitely could not get Sam to move. 

"You realize she's my girlfriend right?"

Phillip looked up at his brother, with not a care in world at that question. "And? What does that have to do with me?"

I rolled out of the frame, watching Sam play wrestle his brother who was laughing like crazy when Sam picked him up, heading out of his room. I followed them to Phillip's room which had a new trophy on his shelf that I didn't notice last time I was here.

Sam threw Phillip on his giant bed that was far too big for any eight year old kid even one of Phillip's height and his eyes caught the glint of the silver trophy on Phillip's shelf. Sam grabbed, looking down at it in his hands. "What's this?"

"My dance competition from two weeks ago. I won."

Sam's lips parted in surprise. "Wow Leonardo. First place."

Phillip nodded, grabbing the Leonardo Ninja Turtle action figure that was on his nightstand and holding it in his hands. Sam stared at his brother, sitting next to him on the bed. "What's wrong? Why didn't you tell me?"

Phillip blew raspberry with his lips, taking the trophy from Sam's hand and it looked like it mentally weighed him down. "I don't want to do dance anymore."

Sam and I exchanged a look. "What? Why not?"

Phillip shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't want to do it."

"There's got to be a better reason than that."

"I want to do something else."

"Like what?" Sam asked him.

"Remember when I did tumbling classes and gymnastics before I got into dance?" Phillip asked and Sam nodded. "I wanna go back into that."

"Are you certain?" Phillip nodded, putting the trophy behind him and moving the arms of the action figure. "Alright. I'll tell mum."

Phillip's eyes lit up and he stared at his brother with surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, why would you think she wouldn't say yes?"

"It's not her," Phillip sighed. "It's dad."

"If someone like Greg could change from baseball to hockey to ice dancing then I think he'll be okay with you going back to gymnastics, okay Leonardo?"

Phillip grinned. "Thanks." He ran out of the room and I stared at Sam, confused by what I just heard.

"Greg's doing ice dancing?"

"Yeah," Sam said, heading out of the room. "Toby sent me a couple of videos. He's actually good. I'm pretty sure-"

The sound of the large door closing cut Sam off as he looked over the railing to see Liz, Joey and Lucas make their way inside. I rushed over to the twins who were taking off their jackets. "Happy birthday guys!"

They hugged me back and even with their identical grins I could sense some weird tension between them. "Thanks." They both said at the same time.

"How are you celebrating it?" I asked, looking more at Joey because I knew Lucas wasn't the social one.

"Joseph is kicking everyone out of the house to throw a party." Liz said, walking up the stairs past Sam.

"I'm still wondering how you managed to convince her to do that. I know you threw shit before but not to the point where you practically kick everyone out of the house." Sam said beside me.

"I'm not kicking out everyone," Joey said, crossing his arms. "You guys can come if you want."

"Going back to a high school party when I went to my last one months ago? Even if it's your birthday, sorry Joey." I patted him on the back and he laughed, expecting the answer from me as he went up the stairs.

"What about you?" Sam asked Lucas.

Lucas shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "I'm not doing anything."

"Oh yeah?" Sam asked and there was something in his tone that let me know that he was trying to get Lucas to admit something out loud.

"I'm probably just going to go to a friend's house or something."

"Or something?"

"Yeah." Lucas said, looking a little ticked off.

"Really? Nothing? No special friends to be with?"

Lucas' cheeks turned a light pink color and I got the hint that he was seeing someone today. "Wait, who is it?" I teased him, poking him in the stomach multiple times to a point where he swatted my hands away.

"Do you remember Sydney?" Lucas took the beanie off his head, running his hands through his hair that was ungelled which to me was a rare sight to see.

"From the wedding?" I asked, my lips parting with a surprise and a huge grin came onto my face. "Oh my God, are you guys dating now?"

Lucas rolled his eyes and Sam grabbed his brother, putting him into a headlock. "Tell her what you told me. How she-"

Lucas elbowed Sam in the stomach, making him release him with a grunt. Lucas fixed his shirt, grumbling to himself. "Shut up. You speak like you weren't rambling about Macy when you guys started dating."

I look at Sam, feeling surprised. "That's news to me."

He pointed a finger towards me. "Mute."

"Excuse me? Did you just tell me to mute? I-" I glanced at Lucas, changing the topic and composing myself. "So you guys are dating now?"

Lucas nodded, twisting the ring on his finger. "Yeah."

"I'm glad you finally got the balls to tell her how you feel." Sam muttered and I pushed him away for teasing his brother like that.

"Don't listen to him. Hope you have a great day."

"Thanks, I'll see you later." He walked away from us, going up the stairs and it was then that I shoved Sam.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked him, putting my boots on.

"What? What did I do? Where are you going?" He questioned when I put my jacket on and put my hood over my head.

"Just follow me outside." I said with a roll of my eyes.

I made Sam follow me to the back of the large house, near the trees in front of the pool house. "Why do you have to bother Lucas like that?"

"Because it's his first girlfriend and it's fun."

I picked up snow as Sam continued walking, cupping it tightly with my hands before I threw it in his direction. It hit him in the middle of his back and he stilled, turning around to face me. "What was that for?"

I couldn't help the smile that came to my face. "You were being a jerk."

"I was being a jerk? Really? That's why?" He reached down and gathered snow in his glove covered hands. "C'mere Hazel, let me show you what a jerk really is."

He quickly walked over to me and I ran. I ran so quick just to feel that first snowball fly right past my body. Sam laughed when I stumbled and I quickly reached down to gather the snow throwing it back to him. He dodged it easily. "Look who can't throw." He taunted.

With the adrenaline in my body I ran over to him and he tried getting out of the way but quickly I jumped on his back, making him spin in a circle. Without him knowing, I shoved the snow down the back of his neck and he started swearing.

"Holy shit. Hazel, what the fuck?" I watched him shake the snow out of his clothing and laughter rang through the backyard just as Caleb along with Christian joined us.

"What are you guys doing?" Christian asked.

I grabbed more snow, packing it in my hand before flinging it at Caleb. It hit him in the chest, falling against his jacket and he dramatically fell with the motion. "Really? We're going to do this now? You sure you want to do this Macy?"

About a half an hour later, Jon Ming, Austin, Toby and along with Stevie and Cedric were all in our the back, snowballs being thrown from left to right. My hand was freezing from the cold and wet seeping through the fabric of my gloves. I could spot Sam at a distance, throwing a snowball that hit Toby in the back of the head.

He laughed loudly along with Caleb and I loved how we all could act like little kids in a moment. At a distance I could even see Greg and Christian helping one another roll a huge snowball as the base of the snowman they were building.

The second I took my eyes off of them, I felt myself get tackled to the ground. Sam laughed above me, snow in his hand. With my eyes wide I was already warning him. "Don't you dare-"

He threw it down and I groaned loudly but laughed feeling the snow hit my cheek. I shoved snow in his face. "You suck." I yelled when I stood back on my feet, wiping snow off me.

"Baby, don't be like that c'mon." He yelled back when I ran away from him, trudging to the inside of the house.

I opened the door to back of the house, sliding it closed behind me just to see someone walking towards me with a bright smile on her face. I tackled Natasha into a hug where she almost tripped but steadied the both of us. "Did you just come from a snowball fight or something?"

I sighed, talking my gloves off my hands and shoving them into my pockets, rubbing my hands together. "Yeah. They're having one outside and I'm freezing. But tell me about your honeymoon."

I looked at her closely, before looking down at her stomach. To think that one of my closest friends was pregnant was insane but at the same time so expected since she was married to Ivan. I've never felt happier for her.

"We came back too soon." I heard Ivan mumble as he walked towards us.

He gave me a hug before cringing, stepping back. "I hate snow." He hooked an arm around Natasha, pulling her towards him.

"Okay you looked tanned," I said to Ivan, noticing how his blue eyes looked like they were glowing. "And you," I said to Natasha. "Look slightly red."

"I can't tan like you people." she huffed, glancing at Ivan. 

The door behind me slid open and Sam and Caleb came in, laughing with one another. "You leaving?" Sam asked me.

"I promised Andrew I would meet him at my house in a bit."

I know Emma and Justin are at movies and Gigi was with Sam's grandmother somewhere with Liz. Now the question is was where Alexis since my boyfriend was right here.

"When am I going to see you next?" Caleb mocked just when Sam opened his mouth.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I'll see you later okay?"

"Of course Sam!" Caleb said high voice that definitely did not sound like me.

I hit him on the shoulder, pressing a kiss to Sam's mouth. "I'll see you later."

"I'll see you later." Caleb mocked me again like a child, grinning to himself.

"Caleb shut up-"

"Mute." I put my finger over Sam's mouth and Caleb burst out laughing. Sam looked down at the finger on his lip and looked up at me with a dry stare.

"Seriously?" The sound of his voice showed annoyance and the look on his face probably showed the same thing. But his eyes portrayed amusement when I quickly took my finger off his mouth when he nipped at it teasingly with his teeth.

"You guys are going to be so kinky when you get married." Caleb muttered as he moved past us, laughing under his breath.

I rolled his eyes just when Ivan spoke up. "He's probably not wrong."

"Ivan." Natasha and I said at the same time and Sam put an arm around my waist, chuckling under his breath. 

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"Ugh, why can't you ever let me win this game?" Andrew grumbled in frustration, tossing the controller on one side of the couch.

I laughed, hitting his leg. "Because you suck."

"I'm done for the day. Wanna play air hockey?"

"Maybe later," I got up to sit next to him, putting my hair up into a ponytail. "How is everything?"

"You mean how is everything without Jasmine?" He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

"I-I honestly didn't want to ask-"

"It's alright. First week? It was weird. I wasn't really myself. Everyone kept saying how down I felt about it. How depressed I was acting."

He leaned back, running a hand through his hair. "Week two consisted of me deleting almost everything I had of her. Pictures of us together while we were dating. I realized that I couldn't just delete pictures from before that because she's a huge part of