Second Chance at Love

Chapter 22

“Are you sure you haven’t played since high school?” Mathieu ask, putting the ice pack on his shoulder, sulking like a 5-year-old kid.

“Yeah, it had been a long time since I played, but you still shouldn’t have underestimated me,” I say, sitting next to him at the dining table, chuckling under my breath.

“Maybe, but did you really have to shoot from that close? That’s going to leave a huge bruise on my shoulder.” He says still whining.

“Sorry. I forgot how badly they can sting. I should have been more careful, but it was still fun. Thank you for today. Even with my major meltdown, I still had fun” I say feeling my cheeks redden.

“Your welcome, even though you massacred me on the court, it was quite fun. We should take your daughter with us next time. Do you think she’d like going?” Mathieu asks, looking hopeful, but shy at the same time, with slight pinkish cheeks.

“I don’t know. I’d have to ask her. She’s out until later tonight with Alex, but I’ll talk to her about it. See if she’s ready to meet you.”

“Ok, let me know what she says and will plan it out.” He says smiling.

Sitting in my kitchen with Mathieu, I don’t really know what to talk about.

“This is a little awkward, isn’t it?” He asks me, laughing nervously.

“Yeah, it's kind of is. But I don’t know why.” I say exasperated.  “We used to be able to fill the silence with any topic,” I say smirking, remembering some of our many conversations.

“Oh, do you remember the time we had this huge debacle about the proper way to files CDs on a shelf?” He says with so much melancholy in his eyes, it almost hurt.

“Yeah, and I still stand by my opinion, you need to store them by genera and then by alphabetical order,” I tell him pointing my finger in his face pulling my tongue out at him.

“Oh, no! I still think it’s all by alphabetical order, regardless of genera!” He says straightening up.

“Agree to disagree. We are not going to have another 3-hour debacle about it again.” I say laughing out loud remembering how we ‘fought’ way back when. “It’s not like you have a good CD collection anyway unless you taste has gotten better with time?” I ask, smiling mockingly at him.

Smiling at each other, Mathieu takes in a deep breath and sighs a little.

“You know, I miss this, I mist us, talking like this. I really did miss you, so much all these years. I tried to find you. I looked on f*******:, insta, snap. I tried asking your parents a few times, but they never wanted to tell me where you were. I’m so sorry for everything that’s happened back then, I wish I could turn back time and just grow some balls and not let you down at the party. I know I already apologized to you about all this, but I really mean it. I was such an asshole! I’ll never be able to change what I didn’t do back then, but I’m so happy you're giving me a second chance now. You truly have no idea how much it means to me. I know I have a lot to make up to, but I will give it my all. I promise you, I won’t let you down!” He says looking at me seriously.

“I know. My mother told me every time you asked. She kept trying to get me to tell her why I didn’t want to talk to you or want you to find me. I never told them about what happened. I was scared it would damage the friendship between our parents. So, don’t worry if you see them, they don’t know anything about it.”

“I figured you didn’t say anything.” He says smirking.

“How would you know?” I ask curiously.

“Because if you did, your father would have killed me a long time ago. Are you kidding? Hurting his baby girl. Lord knows I would not have survived the day he would have found out.” He says laughing out loud, throwing his head back.

Thinking about it now, my father would have destroyed him. Cut him up in tiny little pieces and spread him out all over town.

“Your right, he definitely would have beaten the crap out of you!”

Not feeling as awkwardly as before, I get up and take a few ingredients out to make diner.

“Do you still like chow main and honey garlic ribs?” I ask him, already cutting up the cabbage.

“Oh, yes I do. Since when you can cook?” He asks.

Feeling my heart tighten as I remember that it’s Michael that thought me how to cook, my hand slips and I cut myself pretty deeply with the knife.

“f**k!” I say through gritted teeth, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my bleeding hand

“Tasha! How bad is it?” Mathieu asks, pulling my hands apart and taking a look at the cut.

“s**t, Tasha, that look really deep. I think you might need a few stitches.” He says, putting back the towel around my wounded hand.

“Keep the pressure on it and put your shoes on, I’m taking you to the emergency right now.” He says, grabbing his keys from the counter.

Not arguing having seen the amount of blood pouring out into the towel, I put in a pair of flat shoes and take my wallet out of my purse.

How much of a clut’s can I be!?

I’m glad I don’t live far from the hospital. I hope it won't take long. I hate going to the hospital.

Getting in and out of the hospital in under 2 hours is pretty good. I ended up needing 6 stitches. That’s going to leave quite the big scar. Arriving back home, I’m starting to feel very tired from everything that’s happened today.  

Yawning Widely, I sit on the sofa and slide my blanket on my legs.

“You looked wiped out. Do you want me to make you something to eat, then you could take a nap?”

pushing my blanket aside, I start getting up.

“No, it’s ok. I’ll get something ready if you don’t mind waiting a bit. It won’t be chow main, but I can make spaghetti or home-made Mack and cheese.”

“No! You are sitting your pretty little ass back down and I’ll get something ready. You are injured, so I’m kicking you out of your kitchen! No arguments!” He says pointing at me.

Sitting back down, I keep my mouth shut.

About 30 minutes later, Mathieu come in the living room with 2 bowls of Mack and cheese.

“This smells delicious, thank you,” I say, grabbing my bowl and scooping a big bit into my watering mouth.

“Hummmm!!!” I moan out, closing my eyes. “This is sssso good! Thank you”

After we finished eating, Mathieu didn’t let me get up to put my dirty bowl in the sink. He took it from my hand before I even had the chance to move a muscle. He even cleaned the whole kitchen while in there. This is awesome! It’s not often I get the chance to sit down and do nothing.

After he’s done, he come back and sits next to me. I can feel myself getting sleepier and sleepier by the second. Not even realizing it, I lay my hand on his shoulder and close my eyes.

I really must have been tired, because I didn’t even hear Alex’s car pull -in.