RESET (To let us heal me)

CHAPTER 6-MATT

The next morning I had to go early for practice, tomorrow was our next game and the last game's loss had taken huge impact. But the problem was that the game was the last thing on my mind.
Taylor Stewart was sure different, she wasn't as real as I thought of her, but she was as real anyone could get in a different way.
Having her smile at me last night just proved that she was gonna be a trouble for me, but the thing was I was looking forward to her. All I need is the right way to approach her, I needed a girl coaching and I couldn't think of calling anyone else than my elder sisters.
On my way I group face timed them, Makayla, Madison and Maya.
"Hey, Matt, Everything's fine? You called early?" Makayla said as she answered first and then Madison answered next almost immediately,
"Hey, miss us this early? Want me to sing to you?" She teases, making me smile instantly and Maya joined last,
"What did I say to msg me before calling? I got a 2 month old baby here, I can't afford a ringing voice!" She snapes in a very low voice. Damn. Motherhood was hitting her hard.
"Just mute the phone or keep it on silent" Madison said bored and Makayla being the eldest stopped her immediately, speaking from her own experience of motherhood.
" That's not convenient if there's some sort of emergency. And by emergency,  what's the matter brother? To what do we owe this morning call? I am running late so you better be quick. I got to run and Maya will have to end the call soon and Madison is hardly ever help if it concerns real advice" She says and all my sisters nod. What a chaotic start to the call.
"Ok. So I've got a girl situation here-" I told them after a beat. The last time I talked to them about a girl was in highschool and that ended up bad. Hopefully this conversation could be a mature one.

Maya was the first one to speak.
"Okay....tell us about her. When did you meet? Are you guys already dating or you conflicted about your feelings?" She asked calmly but I could see all of them had dropped their work and baby and had their attention on me.
"Ok. So ......theoretically I met her day before yesterday but practically met her yesterday.
Let's say she thought I'd say some bad rumors about her, straight d grade disgusting one, you know.. the whole fight in my last match, so she angrily confronted me in locker room. But went away soon before anything could be solved or so ......you know how those kind of encounters are." I say them and they nod
"What kind of rumors?" Madison asked and I take a gulp.
"Hmm.. about...I feel disgusted even saying this.. but yeah.. that I'd drug and assault her in that way....get the context. She immediately confronted me and I don't think so she believes them anymore.
So anyways moving one. Olivia had asked me a favor that one of her favorite person is moving in her apartment and if I could help her with the boxes and stuffs. It's Olivia so I agreed. Turns out the friends is the girl.
She kind of falls on the grumpy introvert side. But once you get to know her close enough she is real soft.
So I spend couple of hours with her yesterday. And no she wasn't happy with our time initially, I forced in myself.
She makes best food and we had dinner which I again forced myself into and she was extremely on alert the whole time. Dick move making a girl feel unsafe in her own house...I get it.
But then I happened to take a look at her work and damn she is gifted prodigy.
So here's the thing about this girl. She's got extremely low self esteem. And no I don't think she is self conscious. The girl literally wears extremely loose clothes and no make up at all with unattractive buns but strikes with confidence. She literally doesn't care what other think of her but she doesn't feel she's good.
How do i deal with her? A girl who has low self esteem but no self conscious " I ask them and they remain silent for few seconds.
" You like practically met her yesterday right? You like her?" Makayla asks and I park my car aside.
I shake my head," I honestly don't know if I like her or I'm just intrigued and obsessed.
But I don't like her best friend. He seem too toxic for her and I want them apart. I've seen their interaction in person. He doesn't respect her at all. But I also want her to be happy and be successful since she's got the talent." I tell them honestly.
"You just can't conclude that based on one day interactions. You just can't know someone's character based on few hours. You need time to understand a person.
I'd advice you take few more days with this girl and see if she is important or not. She doesn't feel right, let her go. If she's right, just be a gentleman. That's the solution to 99 percent of problems. Just be a gentleman" Madison says and I nod.
" Be gentle with her, encourage her and make her see how good she is. Help her find herself. You wouldn't have been concerned enough to call us for advice for someone you feel is not good. So just be her friend and make her see her worth that she is good enough" Makayla says and her words hit me.
"How do I do that?" I ask genuinely.
"Honestly, everyone differs and everyone's situation and story is different. For now just be there for her and try to read the words behind her eyes. Just be there. That's what most people need.
You'll figure it out by yourself Matt. "Maya says.
I talk for a few more minutes about their life and then ends the call.
One day and Taylor Stewart had already tied me to her strings.
I enter gym for our work out session and find Kol and Sean waiting for me. I'd say there's always a trio and in our team, although we are tight, Sean, Kol and I just hit different.
"There's our lover boy!" Kol says as he slaps my shoulder.
"There's no lover boy here." I say them and start doing warm up.
Sean raises his brows," Ok. Where were you last night? You didn't reply to any of our messages, which is completely unlike you." He says and damn he's right. It was pretty late when I left Taylor's apartment and after going home all I thought was about Taylor and started searching ideas to make her blog a hit. I totally ignored their messages.
"Ok fine...I was over at Taylor's. She owed me a dinner and trust me  best deal ever....that was the most delicious meal I ever ate. I gotta let mama eat her food." I tell them.
"Ok......before we move to introducing her to parents stage, let's slow the pace down. You just met her yesterday" Kol said and I realized he took it in a completely different way.
"What did you guys do after eating food?" Sean asked, yet once again raising his eye brow. I swear all this guy do in the name of communication is ask questions and raise his brows as the question mark.
"We talked...yeah...we talked and we kinda made a deal....that I'd pitch in for groceries and she's cook me dinner and I'd wash the dishes clean. You know.. socialize with neighbors and save time" I say them, not telling them the real deal because I promised secrecy to Taylor but they immediately look at each other and do the eye talk thing.
"You guys forgetting I invented the eye talk thing among us" I inform them and Kol shakes his head
"Dude, no offence but you are moving way too fast.
Like we know you are too nosey for your own good and a gossip girl  but this is a different angle.
I think you are entering a obsession era. Please don't turn into a psychopath when she doesn't reciprocate your feelings.
The girl has been friends with Trevor like forever. She is famous for attending each and every one of his games. She is either too deep in friendzone or too deep in love.....either way...not healthy" kol says.
I frown at his words. "Well...let me clear few things up.
1) I still am not sure about my feelings...about her. Because Once I get clarity on them, it's either I am all in, making her mine....or it's was nice to meet you neighbor, lets be friends.
2) Taylor is a good person. I just feel that in me. That aura...she's like watermelon. Hard and confusing on the outside...because you know ..you never know from outside if the watermelon is good or bad...just hard.
But soft and delicious from the inside. With too many seeds that I have to get rid off...like Trevor Salvio ." I say them and they look like I've gone insane.
"What do you mean by get rid of Trevor?" Sean asks yet again raising his brows.
"Exactly what you heard. I don't like them together. She invests too much of her time on him...I don't like that at all. I'm going to separate them. She can befriend some green flags instead" I say then and kol laughs.
"Shit bro, that another level of crazy. You can't decide that for her life. It's her life. And that's only going to make you a crazy person" he says.
But what if that's exactly what Taylor needs? A push? She clearly suffers from low self esteem if she is doubting her knowledge and blogs.
The girl literally learnt hockey just to help that guy. Makes sense that as long as he was not under professional help, he benefited from Taylor's help, and as soon as he was drafted, he left Taylor's help and his game fell.
But Taylor's obsessed with him and that makes me mad for some reason.
"You know what...help me realize if I am just obsessed with Taylor and this obsession will wear off soon or I genuinely like her. I need answers really quick" I ask them, getting bothered by Trevor's friendship with her.
They exchanged a look and a smile makes its way to Kol's face.
"My brother, I have just the answer for you-" he says wickedly smiling as he takes his phone out.
Half and hour later, we sit defeated.
"Makes sense....you've only known her for few hours,  you know nothing about her. It's basically love at first sight
WAIT! What if it's love at first sight!?" Sean says and I look wide eyed at him in shock
"You can be right!" I gasp in shock.
"This online test to see if you have crush is stupid! We are smarter than this tests!" Kol says annoyed at the phones. We'd taken 5 tests online to see of I like Taylor, all of them showed inaccurate different results.
"But she wasn't even looking pretty!" Sean says frowning.
"Hey, she was charismatic and bold, and the way she radiated confidence in that work behind that pent up anger. I'd do her of she wanted" kol says Sean and I smack him hard.
"We are talking about my potential wife, restrain from talking dirty! I WILL NOT TOLERATE DISRESPECT TOWARDS HER" I warn him and he immediately raises his hand.
"There you go dude. You down hard for this girl. I conclude love at first sight which you yourself didn't realize and that's why the reaction. Your body and heart realized it before you that's why she's all you think about. And that's why Trevor's behavior towards her is irritating you so much, and that's why you wanna separate them. I know you can never be red flag even obsessed,  you just can't stand your girl being disrespected, And that smack right now and standing up for her, damn you're lost, too deep bro.....even before you realize.
I conclude my results" Sean says and me and kol just stare at him.
Me all cold as slow realization hits me. Why I love annoying her, just to see that she does react to me, that she acknowledges my existence, the need to protect her from Trevor, her low self esteem, to see her smile, to see her as a successful writer, to eat her food.
I hold my head in my hand. How stupid could I have been? I didn't even realize it was love at first sight troop!
And here I thought we could go from enemies to lover.

"You scare me bro, you chose wrong profession" Kol says all flabbergasted by Sean....
" What should I do now?" I ask them, suddenly all scared.
The last time I ever liked a girl was in high school and that was because she told me my hair looked good and pecked my cheeks. I was just 14, and my sister's terrible advice resulted in a very quick breakup. After that I never had girlfriends....I don't know a thing about girlfriend!

"What do you by that!? Go after her, chase her, woe her, make her fall for you, ask her out on a date, make her your girlfriend....after that if you still feel she's the one, marry her. It's a simple thing you know" Kol says but I feel nothing it could ever be that simple with Taylor.

"What if she doesn't want relationship right now? Holy shit what if she's already into a relationship! What if it's Trevor?" I ask them and they shrug their shoulders.

"Honestly.....she could be deeply in love with Trevor or anyone. You just met her for one day" Kol said while Sean was in deep thought.

"Didn't you say she was Olivia's friend? Olivia would know if Taylor was interested in any guy...right?" Sean said and for the second time in a row surprised us.
"Dude where has been your wisdom and advices until now? Kol says as I take my phone out to call Olivia and puts it on speaker so that Kol and Sean could listen to it too. She pick it on the 2nd ring.

"You know Matt I think you're obsessed with me. "She says and I could see Kol melting as he hear her voice. My boy's a simp for her.

" I don't know about me, Taylor for sure is your fan. She seems to know everything about you... And your GPA." I say her and hear her chuckle.

"Yeah...she's just really good at remembering stuff about people close to her" she says and it was as if the universe wanted the conversation to look like on track.

" Close people? You fall under her list of close people? Who else in that list?" I tried to be subtle but I don't think my tone was... I could see Sean face palm himself.

"Well....her family, me, Trevor and pretty sure one more boy....definitely sure a boyfriend......she's kind of really loyal,  maintains strong circle but fiercely.....why do you as" she asks and I am pretty sure I could feel my heart crack and break.
Breaking her away from Trevor was one thing....breaking her away from a boyfriend I don't even know is another impossible thing.

Taylor's chapter was closed even before I could start anytime.