The Summer We Lied

Chapter Seven

"Hi, what are you guys up to?" Daniel asks flatly as I answer his call.

"Nothing much," I say, looking up at Matt who's placing his hoodie into my backpack.

"Oh."

I can hear the uneasiness in his voice and I can hear him shifting uncomfortably in the background.

To ease him, I lie and say the fastest thing that comes to mind. "Don't worry, I've barely spoken to him other than about food. Like I said before, none of your cool friends is interested in talking to me."

"Yeah, because you're lame. I have to go. Chelsea is coming over," he says.

"Do I even want to know who that is?"

I ask.

"Not really. Bye." He cuts the call.

I tuck my phone away into my jeans pocket and turn around to Matt who's on his phone

"Can we just pretend that never happened?" I ask.

"Mhmm." He puts his phone away and walks up to me. "Depends."

"On what?" I counter.

"If I want to pretend like it never happened. But it did happen so accept it. It's just a kiss, Kelsey. It's no big deal," he says.

My cheeks burn with embarrassment. Of course, it's just a kiss, but did he have to put it so bluntly.

"I know. I wasn't aware that everyone just goes around kissing each other," I mutter and move towards the cabin.

I don't know why I'm annoyed, but I'm glad when Matt doesn't follow me.

I spend the rest of the hot afternoon cleaning up the webs and the dust and sweeping each corner of the cabin. It's already starting to look better before late afternoon.

When I'm done, I climb up on my dad's old armchair and close my eyes for a few seconds. Just a few seconds and I will be okay. But I slowly find myself drifting off to sleep.

"Kelsey..." There's a light whisper across my cheek.

"I don't want to talk," I whisper back.

"Are you still mad at me? I have a surprise for you," Matt says.

I open my eyes to find Matt hovering above me.

"Kelsey Flynn, I found a good diner a few miles away from us. Will you go with me?"

"Depends," I say in a small voice.

"On what?" Matt asks lightly.

"On you buying me a big chocolate milkshake."

Matt refrains from laughing, but he nods. "Okay. Done."

We wash up by the small water fountain outside and then neaten up before getting back into the jeep.

The sun settles in the distance and I feel the exhaustion creep up on me. I lay back against the warm leather seat as Matt pulls out his phone and places it on the phone dock, and then he scrolls through his Spotify playlist and presses play on SOS by Avicii and Aloe Blacc.

I turn my head towards him and he looks back at me.

And then he begins to sing, " I don't need my drugs, we could be more than just part-time lovers..."

I begin to laugh, as he taps his hand on the steering wheel and picks up the speed. The wind is blowing my hair wildly around my face.

"Sing with me," Matt says.

"I can't sing," I tell him over the music.

"Just do it anyway," he yells back.

"I can feel your touch pickin' me up from the underground, and," I sing along with Aloe Blacc.

"I don't need my drugs, we could be more than just part-time lovers, " Matt replies.

"We could be more than just part-time lovers," we sing together and laugh.

I stand up in the jeep's open roof space and let the wind mess up my hair because it all feels so good. The music courses through my veins and I feel more relaxed than I've ever felt.

Matt and I sing our way to the diner with We will rock you by Queen and Little Red Corvette by Prince.

I stay quiet for the rest of the ride because I think I've abused my vocal cords enough for one day.

Darla's Diner is really small and full of cars when we reach there. It's small and rustic with a cute red sign spelling out Darla's Diner.

"Do you want to go?" Matt asks as he parks the car.

I shake my head. "I'm tired. Just get whatever and let's go home."

"I'll be right back," he says and leaves.

I pull out my phone when he's gone and find several texts from Kylie.

'Heard you were at the ranch house with Matt' - the first text reads.

'A little annoyed that you didn't tell me. But I'll forgive you if you give me all the details.'

I'm about to go on to the third text when I hear a small ping.

Matts phone screen lights up and I feel a little guilty as I peek at it. My eyes wander over to the screen

My mouth goes sour as I see a text.

The text 'Babe I miss u' is right there on the screen.

The screen goes blank again and I look away. I'm a little annoyed. Partly because Matt never mentioned having a girlfriend - not that he had to, but why did he kiss me?

It's my mistake for even letting that happen. It was too quick and unplanned for. At least for me, it was. I mean who kisses someone they've just met? Me. Stupid ass me.

When Matt comes back, he hands me two white paper bags and two chocolate shakes. He then picks up his phone and goes through it, before quickly tucking it away.

I feel weird about having read the message and then him probably reading the same thing after. I want to know what's going through his mind so badly, but I keep my mouth shut.

An awkward silence fills the space between us and he finally puts on some music.

I pretend to be asleep for the rest of the ride. I want to just pretend all of this is a dream. I eventually drift off to sleep with the soft music playing in the background.