cassie was peacefully sleeping until someone gently shook her awake, causing her to roll around with a low groan. she reluctantly opened her eyes while sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"alex, if this isn't important, i swear to god–"

"it's not alex." matt laughed and raised his eyebrows, amused.

"matthew andrew daddario!" she hissed and playfully punched him. "it's almost two am. what the hell?"

"what?" he shrugged innocently and looked at her. "i'm not really tired and i felt like going out, but i don't want to be alone."

"i am this close to slapping you right now." she whispered and made a small amount of space between her thumb and index finger. "is there no one else you could bother?"

"oh, so now i'm an inconvenience? okay, alright." he asked dramatically, a hand against his chest. "our relationship escalated quickly." he added as he stood up, but she quickly grabbed his wrist and smiled.

"you're such a drama queen." she laughed and stood on her knees instead. "fine. what are we doing?"

"that's a surprise." he teased and bent forward until they were in the same height. "get dressed, it's pretty cold outside."

"what if i would be sleeping naked?" she folded her arms together and tilted her head sideways.

"i know you don't sleep naked."

"but what if i did this one night?"

"cass, you absolutely hate sleeping naked. why would you do it this night?" he reminded her and gave her a slight push. "get dressed."

"okay, first of all, you're not supposed to know that. second of all, we live in florida. i don't own any hoodies at the moment."

"i'll borrow you one. stop creating problems that do not exist."

"then go get one. i'll brush my teeth or something." she mumbled and got off the bed, pulling her fingers through her messy hair.

"roger that, sir. i'll be back in a minute." he grinned before leaving the room.

rolling her eyes, cassie did just that and then brushed her hair too. she tried to be as quiet as possible when changing to a pair of soft shorts.

matt grabbed a black hoodie from his closet, his car keys and then returned to her room. he entered with a smile and tossed it to her, looking away.

"how does one want to drive this early? or late." she scrunched up her nose and quickly put the hoodie on, stretching her arms.

"i'm feeling spontaneous." he exhaled deeply and slid his hands down his pockets.

"you know what i feel?" she asked sarcastically and stepped out of the room. "tired. and hungry for snacks."

"i'll get you some pringles to eat." he offered, and her eyes lit up towards him.

"i'll love you forever if you buy me the original one." she grinned and walked beside him to his car.

"ah, so not the sourcream and onion one?" he chuckled and tried to ignore the first thing she said.

"i'm tired of that flavor. the original one will always be good." she explained and put her hands in the pockets of the hoodie.

"i need to fill up the car anyway." he picked up his keys and unlocked the car once they reached it.

"of course you do." she smirked and sat down in the passenger seat.

"you need to stop saying that." he laughed and ignited the car.

"definitely." she winked to annoy him and sunk down in the seat a bit. "how do i know you're not driving me off somewhere to murder me?"

"ouch, is that what you think of me?" he raised his eyebrows questioningly and drove out on the road.

"just saying. who even wakes someone up at two am and then just... drives?" she snorted and gazed forward.

"i do, obviously. and don't worry, it's just a one-time thing." he assured her and drove to the nearest gas station with a small shop.

"that's what she said." she smiled wryly and looked out her window, pursing her lips to stop smiling.

matt let out a little laugh through his nose and parked the car when they reached an open gas station. the two stepped out of it at the same time; matt to fill the car, and cassie to go inside and wait for him in there.

she sauntered around by the snacks and puckered with her lips a bit, bobbing her head to the background music. he joined her after a minute or so and nudged her upper arm to get her attention.

"do you want anything else or just pringles?" he asked and looked at her, noticing how her eyes wandered around the good stuff.

"just pringles." she nodded and seized one, following him to the cash register.

matt paid for the fuel and the chips before returning to the car with her. this time he drove aimlessly, tapping on the steering wheel with his fingers. cassie tried to sleep, but she wasn't tired anymore. so instead she turned the music volume up and watched the road.

"are you a star-gazing kind of person?" he asked after a moment and glimpsed at her carefully, a weak smile on his face.

"i don't know. i've never star-gazed before." she shrugged and bit on her thumbnail, her elbow supportive against the car door.

"well, there's always a first."

"i thought you said we'd just drive."

"just eat your pringles, cass." he chuckled, glancing at her.

"that's the words of a murderer." she whispered before opening the chips and putting a pringle in her mouth, staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"if i wanted to murder you, i wouldn't do it now. i'd do it in daylight since you'd be less suspicious then. i'd take you somewhere secluded and then dump your body in a lake or something, washing away the evidence." he retorted, talking with one hand as he usually does.

"okay, sounds fair. but they'll still find my body eventually."

"true, but there won't be any evidence that leads to me." he said, a proud smile formed by his lips.

"i don't know what's more weird; the fact that we're having this conversation, or the fact that i like your murder plan."

"both are just as weird." he snickered and took a turn.

cassie smiled as she continued eating the chips with her eyes on the road. she held one in front of his face until he carefully took it with his teeth.

"we're star-gazing at some point, aren't we?" she sighed and looked over at him.

"yes, we do." he smirked and weakly nodded. she faintly shook her head and watched a park they drove by.

"what if we die tonight?" she blurted out, still looking out the window. he frowned and glanced at her, waiting a moment before answering.

"why are you thinking about that?" he asked back and slowed the car pace down a bit.

"just thinking. it's really late, and dark, and we're both tired deep down. what if something happens and we die?" she laughed shortly in the middle, only confusing him even more.

"then we die and it'd be my fault." he stated slowly.

"your fault. that sounds so... negative. i mean, i'd rather die in a car accident or something like that, than in my sleep when i'm eighty."

"so... if another car came full speed towards us and killed us, you wouldn't really regret this?"

"it's not like i want to die right now, i still want to live a life. but i wouldn't be too bitter about it in heaven." she shrugged while putting one foot against the edge of the seat.

"okay. i've never thought about my death before." he smiled and frowned with his lips.

"yeah, i thought so." she chuckled and pursed her lips, finishing her pringles.

"what kind of death themed night is this?" he mumbled amused and parked the car in an alley.

"it'd be complete if this is where you're murdering me." she pointed out with a weak smile and surveyed the area around them. "what exactly are we doing?"

"star-gazing." he reminded her and stepped out of the car.

cassie rolled her eyes before doing the same and looking around. she pressed her lips together and glanced up at the building in front of them.

"we're climbing up the building, aren't we?" she sighed in realization and looked up instead.

matt had already found the metal stair and pulled it down, a smug look on his face as they made eye contact. she tiredly tilted her head to the side and climbed up anyway, whereas he followed behind.

"you see, this way we're closer to the sky." he said happily.

"dude, the level of your clichéness is higher than this building." she stated and finally stepped up on the flat roof.

"did you just 'dude' me? that's practically friendzoning someone." he pouted and grabbed her hand as she helped him up.

"oh man, did i just break your heart?" she smirked and sat down on the edge, dangling with her legs. he joined her side and laced his hands together against his lap.

"into a thousand pieces." he said over-dramatically and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"aw, i'm sorry dude." she patted his back and made a sorry face.

"there you go again." he waved his arm and raised his eyebrows for a split second.

"get used to it, love."

"now that's better."

"okay, star-gazing." she laughed and laid down on her back carefully, hands on her stomach. "pretty."

"yeah. the sky's pretty beautiful." he agreed and mirrored her position. she glimpsed at him with a smile and then blinked.

"i really wanna' know what it's like being up there." she uttered and exhaled through her nose.

"you should become the first woman on the moon."

"that'd be a cool title to die with." she nodded a bit and twitched the corner of her mouth sideways. "i want to fly to space one day. walk on another planet. watch earth from up there. wow."

"but wouldn't that be a bit scary? like, actually being up there. and what if something happens? it wouldn't be worth it."

"depends. if i do fly to another planet and actually step foot on it, but then something happens on the way home... it'd be worth it. i'd die in space, after being on a different planet. the only downside is the tremendous amount of time it takes to fly between planets."

"okay, good point. astronomy really is your subject, huh?"

"it's always been fascinating." she shrugged and gazed at the sky. "althought, watching the stars from up there probably wouldn't be as beautiful as from this roof."

"because they're burning rocks up there, and not shining, silver dots?" he mumbled and turned his head to look at her.

"something like that. and it'd probably be harder to see the asterisms." she added, weakly pointing up at the sky.

"what a shame, not being able to see orion and his belt." he raised his eyebrows in an entertained way and watched as she cracked a sheepish smile.

"are you making fun of me, daddario?"

"a little bit, yeah."

"i've never said this, but i really like your last name. it's cool."

"keep it. it suits you."

when cassie turned her head to look at him with blank glare, matt was grinning like a proud fool, then closed his mouth and half smiled. she shook her head and stared at him for a moment before laughing quietly.

"god, i must be so damn tired because i actually found that smoothly funny. in the most cheesy way ever, of course, but still. what's up with you and these comments lately?"

"well, you're providing me with blank spaces that i can fill with my smooth lines." he shrugged shamelessly and made a frowning face.

"cassie daddario. sounds a bit weird." she murmured more to herself and bent one leg upwards. "anyway, i have a question."

"hit me." he said and puckered a bit with his lips.

"what would you do if you saw an alien? a living, real alien in front of you?"

"tough question." he mused and knitted his eyebrows together. "i don't know. i mean, if it was in front of me, i wouldn't want to scare it away or give it the wrong impression. i'd try and be as peaceful as i could."

"ah, so you're not a typical american man in american movies whose first decision is to blow up the foreign thing before actually getting to know it?" she smirked and looked at him.

"definitely not. unless it's threatening us. but most aliens in movies don't even have the time to do that before the american government — of course the aliens land in america and nowhere else in the entire world — kills them."

"we're americans! we decide everything! we can bomb an alien force if we want to because we're so afraid of different things that we know nothing about! our only solutions are guns and dynamites!" she mocked with a hand against her forehead, as if saluting.

matt laughed and shushed her, in spite of the fact that it was very late and no one could possibly hear them. cassie smiled innocently and bit on her bottom lip while thinking.

"okay, but what if the alien doesn't have an actual body? what if we can't see it?" he wondered out loud and gave her a questioning look.

"you mean like in the whispers?"

"oh my gosh, you've seen that show too?" he exclaimed happily and halfway sat up on his side, propping himself up with his elbow.

"yeah." she chuckled and examined his face. "it's a great show. too bad it got cancelled."

"it sucked that it got cancelled." he sighed sadly and pushed his lips to the side.

"i don't know. if the alien isn't actually visible, it'd be a lot harder to communicate. and it would probably become a lot more dangerous. just look at drill; he manipulated our kids and whispered to them. if it was like that, we wouldn't stand a chance."

"how do you know drill is a he?" he asked to be annoying and raised one of his eyebrows.

"it. better? and besides, drill is more of a male name, and the children calls it a he, so they must hear a male voice."

"you're right, we wouldn't stand a chance." he agreed with her and laid down on his back again.

"okay, so... if an alien invasion ever occurs, we stick together. right?" she asked while averting her eyes to him. he looked at her and cracked a soft smile, weakly nodding.

"yeah, of course. wouldn't want to be with anyone else." he assured her, and then talked again before she could even finish her glare. "because you seem very cunning and knowing. i want to survive, don't i?"

"okay, that's true, not cheesy. and you've got the fists, and awkwardness that could possibly help. hopefully. and your charm. and you can talk, really good..." she rambled, listing the things with her fingers.

matt just quietly laughed as he gazed at her. he didn't bother cutting her off since he liked that she filled the quietness with her words. cassie slowly silenced herself while closing her eyes, sighing.

"i'm sorry, it's funny when you babble." he smiled and pressed his lips together.

"really funny." she mumbled and rolled around to lay on her stomach instead, propping her upper body up with the help of her elbows.

"to me it is." he smirked and pushed away some hair from her face.

"hey, you're the rambling one of us!" she laughed and playfully hit his hand. "i make you nervous, remember?"

"oh, i remember." he nodded and caressed her cheek with his thumb.

"close your eyes." she murmured and licked her lips, receiving a suspicious look.

"why...?"

"i'm not gonna' stab you." she deadpanned and tilted her head to the side.

"okey, fine."

sighing, matt obeyed her and raised his eyebrows out of surprise when cassie kissed him firmly, but tenderly. she folded her arms together against his chest and breathed deeply.

"matthew?" she whispered after a short while, without removing her lips.

"mhm?" he mumbled and barely rested his fingers against her shoulder.

"i'm about to fall asleep any second." she stated in the lowest voice ever.

"okay cass, i can't carry you down the stairs, so let's go." he said quickly, ushering for her to get up.

matt held onto her arm as he stood up, practically pushing her towards the stairs. he climbed down before her just in case and helped her down on the ground.

cassie yawned against the sleeves of the hoodie while they approached his car and then rested her head against the window, closing her eyes instantly. unfortunately for him, she slept through the enire ride, but he didn't really mind.

matt carried her back to her dorm and carefully placed her on the empty bed, kissing her forehead with a weak smile. he pecked alex's forehead too before leaving their room.

-

a/n

i was really aiming to make a gif manip of nina & matt, but he has like zero proper car scenes so im sorry and enjoy the delena gif instead

im re-watching friends and charlie sheen just appeared, my maaan