forever and always. (Matthew Espinosa)

chapter twenty

But, Matt was Matt. My best friend since I moved here. The one I've felt so comfortable around, even though I've only known him for three months. The one I could talk to about anything. The one who made me feel better about anything. And now it all made sense, that's why I liked him.
"Why are your eyes red?" I asked.
"Uh, I didn't want to hurt you, and I, uh, felt really bad," he stuttered, implying he was crying, "I'm really sorry Kyra."
I smiled, causing Matt to smirk a little bit, "it's okay, Matt, let's go back inside."
Matt nodded and we both stood up. I was glad he came outside, because it was freezing cold and I couldn't stand it any longer.
We walked back inside as if nothing had happened, although I could still feel the tension in Matt. We didn't need to stay long, though, because Cam was still tired and wanted to go home. He got one of his senior friends who hadn't been drinking to drive us home. Right when we got home, Matt walked Cam up to his room since he was half asleep, then came over to say goodbye to me.
"You're not staying?" I asked. Maybe he could tell. Maybe he knew I liked him. Maybe it totally creeped him out.
"Um, no, I need to go check on Dylan," he sasid, not looking me in the eye. God, he was a horrendous liar.
"Okay, see ya."
"Bye," he replied, walking out the front door.
I walked away from the door and into the living room. I fell back on the couch, wondering if I had completely ruined things between Matt and I, but I hadn't even told him I liked him yet.
I reached over to Buster, who was sleeping right next to me, "Buster," I said, attempting to wake him, "Buster," I said again.
Finally, the puppy's small ears perked up as he yawned. I picked him up as I turned myself around so that I was laying down. I layed the dog on top of my stomach.
"Buster, I think I like Matt," As if the dog knew what I was saying, his head turned quickly to face me. I giggled, "and I don't know what to do," I let out a long breath and thought for a moment. "Do I tell him? Do I act like everything's okay?"
I groaned and closed my eyes, hoping to quickly fall asleep and escape the stress that was reality.
I woke to my phone vibrating on my collarbone. The dog lied at my feet now, so I sat up and let the phone fall into my lap. I picket it up and answered it, not checking the contact, "hello?"
"Hey, are you awake?" Matt's voice spoke quietly from the other line.
"No. I'm sleep-talking," I said sarcastically, "Are you dumb?"
"Shut up, I'm coming over," he stated.
I hung up. Normally, I'd be freaking out if the boy I liked told me he was coming over at 2am when I was just sleeping, but Matt was different. Matt's seen me at my worst, and I didn't mind that. He made me feel comfortable being myself. I pushed myself off the couch and walked to the door to unlock it. Within seconds, Matt opened the door quietly and ran up behind me. He grabbed my waist and lifted me off the ground with one hand, and covered my mouth to keep me from shrieking with the other. He didn't scare me like he was expecting because I knew he was coming though.
We both laughed as he put me back down, "Let's hang out in the basement," Matt suggested.
I shrugged, "okay," As silly as it sounds, I hadn't really been down in the basement yet, but it looked really cool. I walked to the glass door and turned the light switch. The carpeted stairs were lit so we could find our way down.
"What do you wanna do?" I asked.
Matt shrugged, "We could go through your baby pictures."
My tired eyes widened, "I have baby pictures here?!"
Matt chuckled, "Yea, Cam and I used to look through them and imagine what you were like."
"What'd you think I was like?"
"Prissy," he admitted.
I laughed, "far from it."