Miss. Matchmaker |✓

Chapter 22

"Don't you think you should tell mom about your big win?" Harper questioned as she collapsed onto my couch as if she had ran a marathon. I had been awarded with a settlement of four thousand dollars while Mr. Santos was awarded with serving the next three years in jail with no chance of parole. I nearly choked on a snort that exited through my nose, as my eyes naturally rolled themselves at the mention of her.

"Why? So she can convince me that it's her money too?" Harper knew that I was not a big fan of my mother and that's why we had never bothered to bring her into conversation, until now. My mom had done everything she could to please my father and once he walked out on us for his now cougar of a new wife, our mom went bat-shit crazy. "Or maybe she'll want to visit Mr. Santos in jail and thank him!" My voice oozed sarcasm and went a pitch higher up, in a mocking matter.

"Come on now Rae, you know that's not true." For some reason she had always felt the need to keep in contact with our mother, I convinced myself that it was because she looked so much like her while I was the spitting image of my father, smack down to the mole on my right shoulder which mirrored the one of his left.

I rolled the words back and forth in my mind before shaking them clear, "The sad part is, I don't." I shrugged my shoulders and heard Harper click her tongue against the roof of her mouth before releasing a defeated sigh as I made my way to my bathroom. I peeled my skirt from my skin as it felt like it had melted to me under his gaze, before unbuttoning each button from my blouse in a desperate attempt to get into the running hot water.

Finally, feeling the rush of water bounce onto my skin and roll down it, the burn was almost a welcoming sensation as I soaped up my loofah and scrubbed it against my skin until a bright pink stain was left behind. I let the water pool into my hands and splashed it over my face about a million and one times. Pumping shampoo into my hand I scratched at my scalp letting it soak into my hair, before stripping it out and replacing it with conditioner proceeding to scrunch that out of the ends of thick mass of waves.

Turning off the scalding hot water, goosebumps quickly rose to the surface of my skin as it was greeted with the kisses of cold air. Smoke was evident on the mirrors in my bathroom; I wrung my hair out and wrapped a towel around my soaking wet body. Opening the bathroom door I released a cloud of smoke and continued to pad my way into my bedroom then I shimmied into a blush pink, lacy nightgown and threw my fluffy brown robe over top of me. "So you never did tell me what you thought of Dustin?' I asked, wanting to release the tension of the words that were previously exchanged. I parted my hair into two sections and was now beginning to braid them into what my sister liked to call 'farm girl braids'.

She shrugged her shoulders, scrolling through some social media app on her phone while a rerun of 'The Bachelor' played. "He has that southern charm, but didn't seem like your type." My mouth nearly fell open as she said this.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I managed to sputter out.

"I mean, he's not your type, you think you know him Rae but you don't."

"I do too!" It was a childish reply but I was in awe at how she could come to such a conclusion.

"What's his favorite color?" She narrowed her green-brown eyes at me.

I scrunch my eyebrows and allow a frown to stretch over my lips, "What's that matter?" My nose is turned up as if there is an awful stench.

"It doesn't, but it's such a basic, simple, ordinary thing, you should know it if you know him." She tore her eyes away from the screen long enough for her words to pierce through me like a hot knife through cold butter. I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest before turning my gaze to the phone, deciding she was just bitter because I was finally happy.

You're probably tired of hearing this but I am just so damn proud of you girly. You did great today, just like everyday <3

My heart soared as I read the message from Dustin and a smile instantly found its way to my lips.

Thank you handsome <3

I thought for a moment before sending my next text

Hey do you wanna hang out after school tomorrow, catch up and stuff

I bite my lip before putting my phone down to which it instantly vibrated with a reply from him which of course read 'yes' in all caps, I laughed out loud at his eagerness. Flicking the turn on button for my six a.m. alarm and turning my attention back to the television. Harper was nearly half asleep although her thumb was still scrolling across the bright screen. Calling Speck's over to cover my feet I laid across the couch and settled there for the rest of the night.