Fools in Love

5. Little Town to College Town

School life returns to normalcy come Monday morning. All the chatter is calmed down to the point that I rarely hear any mention of the dreaded food court incident. No one brings up what happened at the party either, which likely has to do with Matt stepping in. Everyone probably took his side without even hearing the whole story, although if they had I would hope they still took his side.

But it's finally easier to traverse campus on my own. No more worries about getting jumped or hearing profanities thrown my way. We're back to the regularly scheduled program! Which isn't an exciting program but it has higher ratings than what it was a few days ago.

"How does it feel to have freedom?" Tori asks during lunch. Chelsea is with him, sitting at his side while playing on her phone. Her friend, Rose, sits next to me with a soft smile but says nothing.

We're sitting in the food court, far away from Matt. I make sure of that now. My eyes glance over to him, finding the campus superstar surrounded as usual. His head is down as he eats his lunch. It's clear he's quiet. I don't even see him speak. I rarely do. His mouth is glued shut more than mine.

"Great," I finally answered with a happy nod. "I don't know if I could survive had it gone on any longer."

"Wouldn't it have been cool if you already had a YouTube channel and posted the video yourself though?" Chelsea asks, causing all to look at her. She grins from ear to ear. "I bet you could have monetized it real quick and at least made some money!"

Tori snickers and, well, she's right. I probably could have. What a missed opportunity! The revenue probably could have paid for Matt's Gucci shirt. Damn.

"Oh, right, didn't Matt help you at the party Friday?" Rose inquires. Tori and Chelsea's jaws drop in shock, both turning their gazes to me. The spotlight has been moved to shine directly above my head and there's no escape.

"Uh, y-yeah."

"What the hell? When? Why? How?!" Every question Tori has, I had back then as well. Glad I am not the only one confused.

"I was walking down the steps to leave when someone stumbled in the way. We collided and he got super pissed—"

"And Matt showed up," Rose interrupts with a firm nod. Now everyone watches her as she explains the story she has to have heard from someone else. "He grabbed some guy, uh, Liam, was it?"

I nod.

"Matt grabbed Liam's arm and pushed him back. He stood up for Dana and they left together. Everyone was talking about."

Tori chuckles. "Everyone talks about anything Matt is involved in, but what the hell? Why didn't you tell me, Dana?"

"You were gone...all weekend."

Chelsea bites her lip. Tori's cheeks go a little pink. Rose and I roll our eyes. No need for details on that weekend adventure.

"Besides, that's the gist of it. Nothing interesting," I say, but only because I don't want anyone interrogating me about what happened after. Matt helping me, even tending to the scratch, that would probably cause an uproar too. I'm done with those. I've had enough to last me a lifetime!

"How is spending time with a movie star not interesting?" Chelsea groans, pressing her elbows to the table so she can rest her head in her hands. She's pouting, practically pleading with her eyes to give details. "Come on, Dana. What happened after? Did he say why he helped? Is it because he wanted to make sure you were ok to keep working to pay him back?"

Tori furrows his brows because he knows I'm not paying Matt back. However, I give him a quick glare to state he better not bring it up. Nodding, he acts like he knows nothing and I explain, "We just walked. He headed home and I came back to the dorms. I guess he just helped because he could."