Trying to impress Matt

chapter 27

 “Get your hands off of me or else I’ll...” I tried to think of a good enough excuse to get Matt to take his hands off of me but I came up with nothing. My slight pause gave Matt a further incentive to tighten his hold on me but I wasn’t giving up just yet “...I’ll call for Joe.” I boldly threatened.

“Call him after I talk to you.” His husky voice whispered in my ear, making my body shiver in delight and causing my heart to race a little faster. I didn’t like this. It was as if his voice alone could make my body yearn for him. It wasn’t normal. Well, I didn’t think it was normal.

“I’m done listening to you.” I replied as soon as my heart paced normally. By this point, I had no other strategy to get out of his hold then to just listen to him. The thing is I knew that when he started apologising, I would just accept it and move on.   

“We need to talk whether you like it or not.” I turned my head slightly to the left so that I could see his face. My heart swelled when I saw how sad and sorrowful he looked.  

“I’m tired though...” I trailed, yet relaxed my body into his arm as he dragged me further down the hall and towards the balcony. “Why are we going outside to talk?” I asked confused. He didn’t answer but instead, unlocked and opened the door.

When we both landed onto the balcony, he closed the door, giving us some ‘privacy’. “Uh-Matt, you can let go of me.” I told him as soon as I realised his hands were still wrapped around my waist. If it wasn’t for the faintest hint of tingles rushing along my skin, I wouldn’t have even noticed, nor minded that his hands were securely wrapped around me. However, I knew that I needed to keep my senses intact so I could figure out what to do with us. If there is still going to be an ‘us’.

I heard his deep sigh before he let go of me, and it caused my heart to swell slightly. Damn, why does this have to be so bloody hard?

“I don’t like him.” That was all he said after we settled on the couch.

I was a little confused as my eyes were focused on the dark sky, but eventually, I slumped further in my seat as I realised who he was talking about. “Yeah well I don’t like Holly.”

I felt the side of my couch rise a little as Matt slumped deeper into his side of the couch. “Holly wouldn’t have been a problem if we had just told Joe.” Matt muttered. From the corner of my eye, I saw that he was staring straight ahead, probably at the neighbours’ yards which were visible from our level.

I took in a deep breath as I willed myself to calm down and to not lash out at him since he was kind of making some sense. I mean, we wouldn’t be fighting about Holly and Dan if we had just made it official. In some micro respect, he wasn’t in the wrong. He wanted to tell Joe. It was me who held back. “I know but it doesn’t excuse what you did. I mean, w-were you ever going to let me know about tonight?” I was angry and he definitely knew I was too.

“I don’t know.” I flinched and looked away from him. “But I wouldn’t have done anything more than dance with her.” He added as an afterthought.

“That’s what you say now.” I shifted in my seat so that I was facing him. “But I know how Holly feels about you. She wants you so bad that it kills me every time I hear her speaking your name aloud.” I didn’t realise until now how much I was falling for Matt. I mean, I knew that I had a very large infatuation with him but I didn’t even realise that the link between this infatuation and something much more real was thinning out. It was so very frightening.

“Rain...” He whispered into the night, still staring straight ahead. I waited a few more seconds until I stood up, intending to leave. I was definitely more than over it. “...don’t leave.” I don’t know what it was that made me sit back down. It could have been the desperate tone I heard in his voice. It could have been the crack in his tone that followed suit. It could have also been the soft touch of his fingers on my arms which made my heart flutter. Maybe it was a combination of all three. All I knew was that when I did sit down, my body felt relaxed, carefree, just like it should be when I’m with him.