Mirror // Van McCann

43. Who's Matt?

We were all sat in the kitchen eating dinner and exchanging small talk about how our day went. All was fine as I stuffed my mouth with potatoes until my mom opened her mouth to speak.

"I've been visiting grandma and she keeps mentioning someone named Matt. She's always asking where he is. Who's Matt?" mom asked, looking at me and raising her eyebrow.

I managed to choke on the potato I was eating and quickly downed some water. Ryan eyed me sympathetically and started patting my back, hoping it'd help. Once I finally managed to calm down, I took a big shaky breath.

"He's a friend of mine," I managed to croak out. All that coughing made my throat really sensitive and I was afraid talking would induce another fit of coughs. I drank some more water to help.

"You've never mentioned him before. Did you meet him recently?" mom continued to probe.

I quickly glanced at Ryan, silently begging him to help. Knowing my mom, she can go on forever. Ryan kept looking back and forth between us, a hint of a smile on his face. Is he enjoying this? That little shit.

"I've known him for a little over two months," I replied. I kept my answers short and to the point, not wanting to reveal more information than was needed.

"How or where did you meet him?"

"Uhhh...." I dragged out, trying to buy myself more time. "I met him at the library." Ryan started sniggering and I kicked his leg.

"The library?" she asked, wanting me to elaborate.

"Yeah, I saw that he was studying for the MCAT so I started talking to him and we became friends."

"Oh that's nice. So he wants to go to medical school?"

"Yeah."

"Can I invite him over for dinner tomorrow? He sounds like a great guy according to mom."

"What did she tell you exactly?" I asked, not wanting to know the answer.

"That he's handsome and reminds her of a guy she used to date," mom replied, laughing. Ryan burst out laughing as well. "I don't mean to put you on the spot but I want to meet him. So can you ask him to join us tomorrow?"

"Uh...sure," I said hesitantly. "I'll ask him but don't get too sad if he says no."

"I'll make whatever he wants for dinner. That way he can't refuse," my mom joked, winking at me. Did grandma say more to her than she's letting on?

"Okay?" I replied. It sounded more like a question than a statement.

The rest of dinner flew by fast after that. All I wanted to do was get out of there. Before we knew it, we were heading back to Ryan's house and that's when I started talking his ear off.

"Why didn't you save me back there?" I shouted, lightly hitting his arm. "Oh God, my mom can be so embarrassing! What am I going to do?"

"Ask Van if he wants to go," Ryan piped up.

"I'm not asking Van. I'm going to tell my mom he said no."

"Aw, why you gotta be like that?" Ryan pouted. "I think it'd be fun."

We reached the front door and Ryan fumbled, looking around for his keys.

"Fun for you but not for me! You don't know my mom. She's going to embarrass me and try to get us to date."

He finally found the keys and opened the door. To our surprise, Van was there by the door.

"Get who to date?" Van asked. He obviously heard me through the door.