Breaking Brielle

T H I R T E E N

Breaking Brielle

Chapter Thirteen

Not Edited

~ Brielle Clark's POV ~

"We need to work on the project" Matthew said as we sat at lunch.

"I'm free tonight after work" I looked up at him.

"At 8:00?" He asked and I nodded. "I'll pick you up at the diner"

"Why don't we just do it at the diner?" I asked.

"I want to go somewhere" He shrugged.

"Where?"

"Just this place I go sometimes" He grinned at my puzzled face. "I'm not going to kill you, promise"

"Shut up" I laughed.

It had been a week since the football incident and nothing has really changed between Matthew and I. I drove him home but it just made his panic attack worse. I felt really bad but he told me it wasn't my fault. There was no way he could drive his motorcycle home in that state and he lived too far to walk.

He asked me to help him up to his room and I awkwardly agreed. His house was really pretty. The interior defiantly matched the exterior. When I opened the door, I could hear his family in the living room but the stairs to his room were right next to the door so we didn't have to walk past them.

Let me tell you, carrying a growing teenage boy up a whole flight of stairs takes forever. I spent the time taking in my surroundings. There was pictures everywhere. Some were old, pictures of Mr. And Mrs. Preston in high school. They looked like the high school IT couple in all of them. Some were of Matthew's older siblings when they were young. Some were more recent ones of his younger siblings.

There were very few of Matthew. Most of the ones he was in were group photos with his family or friends. But there was one on the wall of him by himself. It must of been before the accident because he was wearing his football gear and it looked like it was taken at the high school. He looked so different.

He noticed me staring and explained that it was taken sophomore year after they had won the homecoming game. Everyone was obsessing that Anthony made a comeback (apparently he couldn't play for a few weeks for some reason) but Coach Kenneth made sure to pay attention to him.

"You're not coming home after work?" Faye asked as we walked into the diner.

"No. I have to work on my English project with Matthew" I put my bag down.

"Okay" She sighed.

She's given up on telling me to stay away from him I think. I didn't understand why so many people thought he was bad or dangerous. He was just lonely.

He was really nice once you got to know him. Even though we aren't super close, he doesn't glare at me until I go away anymore. He even cracks jokes and smiles at me sometimes.

His smiles were really pretty. They were never full, open mouthed, teeth showing smiles. Sometimes when he thinks something I said was funny, the right side of his mouth would twitch up and he would look at me and shake his head. But sometimes if something I did would make him want to smile, he'll try to stop it but you can still see the faint smile on his lips as he watches me.

"Bad boy Preston is outside waiting for you and damn he looks good tonight" Margaret called from the front of the restaurant.

"Where is he?" I walked towards her where she was looking out one of the windows.