don't talk to me

❝ Anyway... I've got better things to do than argue over a joke that somehow turned into a personality assessment. Have a good one, Joel. Thanks for the invite on here, I've got a my girl I'm gonna go find. ❞ Without waiting for another response, Matt pushed himself off the railing and walked away, deciding the conversation wasn't worth another minute of his time.

Right on cue from that sentiment, he lifted his hand and the ring that resided there knocked the air straight out of her lungs and pricked a tear to her eyes that she had to blink back. "Shut up!" It came as a breathless gasp, hands reaching for his wrist so she could make sure she wasn't hallucinating, before she let him go to throw her arms around his neck in the tightest of hugs she could manage. "Joelseph Hawkins," She teased, tearfully. "I love you so so much. You're the brother I never had."

when autumn hugged him, joel wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly. “i love you too.” he pulled back, though, confusion briefly knitting his brows as her words caught up with him. “can i just be your brother?” he asked. “because being summer’s brother would feel deeply inappropriate at this point.” his face twisted into a wince as the memory of having his tongue in her sister’s mouth returned with alarming clarity. then he broke into helpless laughter.

He shifted his weight against the railing, rolling his shoulder like he was checking in with himself. ❝ And yeah, ribs are a lot better. Healed up nicely, thanks for asking—very thoughtful follow-up from my apparently confusing past self. ❞ His eyes flicked back to Joel, amusement still there. ❝ Of course Nathan could get lost. ❞

Matt exhaled, glancing out over the water for a beat before looking back. ❝ Just wasn't sure if you would remember be since we had maybe two interactions and about two hundred or something people in that house of yours. ❞

“of course i remembered you,” he said evenly. “you helped birch and the catering team. you’re also dating her, and i don’t know about you, but i tend to take an interest in the people my friends spend their time with. because i care about them.” he let the words settle for a moment, his expression remaining pleasantly blank. “but it sounds like you don’t give a shit about birch’s friends. or the person who trusted your girlfriend to cater his wedding.” the faintest smile returned, though there was nothing friendly in it now. “that tells me quite a bit about someone’s character, martin.”

joel knew perfectly well that wasn’t his name. it had started as a harmless joke, but matt didn’t seem to possess much of a sense of humor, so joel no longer felt particularly motivated to correct himself. his gaze moved slowly over the man from head to toe before he rolled his eyes. “all that muscle and no brain,” he muttered. “terrible combination.”

He was truly happy, in a way she hadn't ever thought she'd see. He glowed with a confidence that wasn't newly found but shored up with the knowledge of being where he was supposed to be. This was what she'd never have been able to give to him, and the yacht itself was testament that she'd never had fit into his lifestyle either. Maybe, they had been meant to be good friends all along. Lifelong if she had any say in it. "All'a them things, you just took the words right out'a my mouth."

when birch pointed out the crowd below, joel followed her gaze and immediately pulled a face. he had always hated crowds, which made him perfectly content to stay on his ridiculous yacht and look down at everyone from a safe distance instead of being swallowed up by them. after birch took the picture, joel set wilbur back down with a grin. the pig trotted off happily to investigate the other people on board, and somewhere nearby, emily let out an excited squeal that made joel laugh.

she looked at the drink handed her and wondered, not for the first time, if those people were doing something wrong. because every day since they'd woken up in italy had felt like the easiest year of her life. everything fell into place. she thought more about her hobbies, the things she loved doing. she spent more time watching movies with her father, writing, smiling at her husband. she took a sip, eyes widening as she tried not to blend the layers.

"freedom kicks!" she nodded, her admiration evident on her face as she tipped the rim of her glass into his before taking a sip. the little glass ting! that served as her cheers to start the night off. the name sounded right. it had a kick with the different flavors that he'd been able to pull together, and it looked like freedom in a glass. "do we still have any edible glitter?" she wanted to be helpful, although in reality joel didn't need it. she took her sip, letting the tropical flavors settle over her tongue in a splash of what she could only describe as summer. "if we don't," she smiled, delighted with the drink on a second sip, "it's perfect all the same."

she paused for a moment, unsure if she'd remembered to tell joel. the text had been so much of shock when she received it, but now she was a good sport about these things. how could she be anything else? she'd won her happiness the same way. "right before— no, right after we left? i don't know." and she didn't exactly care to remember. "when i told him we were married, she was already pregnant!"

then ingrid told him when agnes had gotten pregnant. joel’s head popped up over the bar, eyes wide. “oh my god.” that old, familiar anger threatened to flare in his chest as he thought about fitz sleeping with someone else while still engaged to ingrid. but joel didn’t exactly have the moral high ground here. he and ingrid had run off to italy and gotten married with almost no warning. then again, there hadn’t been much of a relationship left between ingrid and fitz to betray, which was exactly why joel had felt no guilt about whisking her away and making her his wife.

“i wonder how his parents took it,” he mused, ducking back beneath the bar. “he always seemed very committed to being a good son.” his hand finally closed around the container of glitter, but the thought lingered long enough for his mouth to twist faintly. “i wonder what that’s like.” then he straightened with a triumphant grin, holding up the glitter. “found it!”

he motioned ingrid closer, sprinkling some into her glass before adding it to his own and giving the drink a gentle stir. silver-blue shimmer curled through the red, white, and blue layers, catching the light as it slowly spiraled through the glass. joel stared at it, delighted. “wow, baby, you’re a genius.” he held the drink up between them, watching the glitter swirl. “look at that.”

the higher the sun got in the sky, the better ingrid felt about their choice to spend the day on the yacht instead of amongst the latest festival goers. somehow the town had swelled with tourists, more than usual, leaving little space on the boardwalk for the usual routine of activities she would have enjoyed. instead, she was watching joel with a shaker in his hand, as they worked on making the day’s signature drink.

she’d wanted everything to be as red white and blue as possible. the two of them had picked decorations all week over breakfast. still, with a few people yet to make the trip onto the boat, she could adjust some decorations. well, she was mostly admiring her husband, but she certainly had the illusion of looking helpful. “i told you fitz and aggie agreed to come, right?” she did miss fitz, despite the fact he was still in carroll she’d done a bad job of staying in contact.

“he wants to take her to england.” she talked open and casual, the only people on the patio were the crew that came by on their routine checks. “i didn’t know you could fly when you were pregnant.”

he gave the shaker another sharp shake and glanced over when she spoke, his face brightening immediately. “are they?” he said, eyes lighting up. “excellent. then they can all try our freedom kicks.” he was still undecided on the name, but that felt like a later problem. he strained the drink into two glasses, one for him and one for ingrid, since obviously they would be the first and most important taste testers. the cocktail settled in clean, festive layers — a ruby-red base made from grenadine and muddled strawberry, a pale white middle from vodka, coconut rum, cream of coconut, and a splash of pineapple juice shaken together over ice, and then a bright blue float of blue curaçao resting at the top. the whole thing looking aggressively patriotic and kind of gorgeous for it.

“that makes sense,” he said absently at first. “he’s from there.” then what she’d actually said caught up to him, and he looked up so fast he nearly dropped the shaker. “agnes is pregnant?” where had he been? apparently not listening to britney’s show, which, in fairness, he had stopped doing for the sake of his own sanity. maybe ingrid had already told him and he’d missed it. maybe she hadn’t. either way, the thought clearly blindsided him.

“well,” he said after a beat, glancing back at the drinks, “she definitely can’t try this one.” he tipped just a little more blue curaçao across the top for effect, then stepped out from behind the bar and made his way toward ingrid with a grin, holding one of the glasses out to her. “amore mio,” he said warmly, “try this for me.” his smile turned softer, more playful. “and give me your honest opinion.”

Location ⇥ Yacht

Matt had already managed to get turned around twice. Which, in his defense, felt like a perfectly reasonable thing to do when the "boat" was less of a boat and more of a floating mansion. Every hallway seemed to lead somewhere new, every deck opened into another space with an even better view, and he'd caught himself more than once wondering if there was an actual map hidden somewhere onboard. He eventually wandered back out onto one of the outer decks, grateful for the breeze, and spotted one of the few people he partly recognized and was told to be nice.

❝ Hey, it's.. Joel right? ❞ he called with an easy smile, closing the distance between them. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward the rest of the yacht. ❝ I've gotta ask... how many times have people gotten lost on this thing? ❞ He questioned to try and create some kind of conversation. He rested a hand on the railing. ❝ Thanks for having Birch—and by extension, me. I kinda won the lottery on that invitation. ❞ Matt offered his hand with a sheepish grin, realizing they hadn't properly introduced themselves beyond passing greetings before. ❝ I'm Matt, by the way. I don't think we've ever actually had a chance to talk yet. ❞

“it’s really no problem,” joel said warmly. “birch is one of my dearest friends.” then, with a proud little flourish, he threw his arms wide toward the yacht around them. “and there’s plenty of room.” it was still his favorite wedding gift, if he was being honest. the house was beautiful and private, sure, but the yacht had become his favorite toy almost immediately. if he pushed hard enough, he could probably convince ingrid to live on it for most of the summer.

then matt introduced himself again. joel blinked, visibly confused. this man had helped cater his wedding. they had spoken at the reception. it hadn’t been a life-changing conversation, no, but joel remembered it — and that had been on his wedding day, when half the town had been trying to get his attention. so he took matt’s hand, maybe a little harder than necessary, grinning all the while. “no, not today,” joel said lightly. “birch forgot to mention your accident caused memory loss. weird.”

the name still made him smile every time. emily had coined it and joel had adopted it immediately. it felt good in his mouth. easy. warm. it had been a long time since friendship felt this natural, this real, outside of autumn herself. “and,” he added, turning back to her with a little spark of excitement, “since i’m spending my first real carroll summer here…” he held up his right hand, showing her the class ring she’d given him for valentine’s, resting proudly on his pointer finger. “i figured it was fitting.”

his gaze drifted over the crowd for a moment before coming back to her, then down to wilbur as he adjusted him more securely in his arms. the pig was definitely heavier than before, but joel had been working out, and he wasn’t about to admit defeat now. “of course,” he said, looking back at birch with a genuine smile. “i hate crowds, so when ingrid brought up the fourth, i asked if we could just take the yacht out and avoid all of them.” then, proudly, he lifted wilbur a little higher like he was presenting evidence. “see?” joel said. “not a single grunt.”

Now Auttie's eyes caught Eric's, and they looked so in love, it was clear that Joel was right –flying to Carroll for a few hours would pay off. Eric smiled over at Joel before they both returned to their ladies. "Tell Ingrid I say hi and... I'm looking forward to the visit on set, I guess?"

And he was brave and audacious enough to believe that one day, he and Joel would meet at Eric and Autumn's wedding reception.

Even though he tried to hold back a chuckle, it escaped him with the silliest hint of relief. Eric let the laugh lighten the mood and last until he sighed, realizing that he had to say: "Yeah. I- didn't cheat on Auttie. I'd never do something like that." As if he had to say that to everyone, make sure they knew that. Despite the serious reassurance, the conversation kept flowing easily. "Midnight, like a damn Cinderella! I have to be back on set Monday morning, and the job I love happens to be one of those where if you're on time, you're late. Could've chosen wiser..." The plane better not turn into some zucchini after midnight, or else the comparison would age horribly...!