Chapter Ten
1204 Words
I stopped dead, "did you hear that?" I whispered, he laughed, "I think..." he said before stopping dead, "come with me..." he said rushing to his room and diving under the bed!
I laughed, "You're hiding from your girlfriend?"
"No, well... Yeah! I don't want to see her right now!"
"Don't be such a baby! I wanna meet her, besides she's bound to have seen your car outside!"
"You don't wanna meet her!" he said, "I do, and seeing as I'm gonna meet her sooner or later, this is a bonus! Come on!"
I was actually excited to be meeting his girlfriend, not knowing who to expect, for he hadn't told me anything.
He moaned as I dragged him to the top of the stairs, he looked as if he really didn't want to go down, I didn't think about it, "Cass, I've just remembered..."
"It can wait!" I said laughing, placing my hands on his shoulders and gently pushing him towards the stairs, "march!" I whispered, "Matt?!" someone called, "see, she misses you!" I remarked, "Cass! Don't push!"
"Matt, don't make a big deal out of it, you've been pushing me around all evening, I..." I cut my sentence short as I heard someone almost shout: "Matt, there you are!"
"So the rumors are true?" I said immediately recognizing the girl who was waiting at the foot of the staircase. Fiona, supermodel and occasional actress. I released my grip on his shoulders not wanting to give a wrong impression.
"Hey there..." he said brightly, she barely answered before launching herself into his arms, and kissing him, a little bit more than passionately.
I was a little embarrassed, and a pang of jealousy in the pit of my stomach surprised me.
Eventually, Matt managed to extricate himself, "Fiona, I'd like to introduce Cass, my friend from way back..."
I smiled as I extended my hand, "nice to meet you," she said a little stiffly, I faltered at the way she seemed to regard me with a certain coldness to her gaze, I smiled. "Nice to meet you too," I said as warmly as I could.
I guessed that to walk in and find your boyfriend with one of his ‘friends from way back’ could cause one to be a little cold ...
'It could raise suspicions, especially if there have been problems before,' I thought; my mind automatically searching for a reason for her lack of enthusiasm.
I noticed that Matt seemed happy, we all sat down and talked for a while, I really wanted to make a good impression, after all, I knew that it would mean a lot to Matt if we could be friends, so I was doing my best but it wasn't exactly easy, there was a certain coldness to the atmosphere, a certain tension.
I turned the conversation to her, trying to ignore the insane jealousy that was burning in me at the sight of her all curled up next to him, I had no right to be jealous; our history was in the past, he'd moved on, I had too.
She got up some time later, Matt immediately came and sat down next to me, "thanks for making the effort..." he started to say, but I silenced him, "it's nothing," I said.
“Anyone else would have been upset by the way she treated you at first," he said, piquing my interest, so it wasn’t my imagination.
Yeah, and I wouldn't usually bother trying to make conversation, I was doing it because she could be the only barrier between us, and I just wanted my best-friend back.
"I'm doing it because I don't want anything to be difficult, I really need you back as a friend," I explained, "so do I," he told me sincerely.
"Well, if your house is occupied we could always go back to my place..." I said jokingly, "Unless your services are needed elsewhere?!" I added with a grin and a wink, he just laughed, "I want you to promise me something, something you promised me a long time ago..." he said before I could say anything, "what?" I asked, "that we'll always be friends, and that we'll always talk freely, without holding back or judging."
"I promise..." I said, looking him in the eye, a little scared of what I saw there, the way he looked at me.
"I think maybe I should be getting back home," I said, noticing that it was 5:30 am. "Just stay over, " Matt said, "um... with you and Fiona in a room near me? No thanks!" I said jokingly, "does she live here?" I asked curiously, "no, but she comes over sometimes..."
"At 4:30 am?"
"When she feels like it," he corrected, "kinda like what you used to do!"
I could feel the heat rising in my face, "I used to sneak to your room cause I missed you," I said defensively, "or to watch a movie..." he added.
"You used to come to me too!" I reminded him, he grinned, "yeah, when I couldn't sleep,"
"So you'd come and wake me up," I laughed, "And we'd stay up all night talking."
He sighed, "life was good then," he said leaning back against the couch.
"Life is still good," I said, he smiled, "If I could choose between now and then, I'd choose then..."
"But now you've got so far... Making your dreams reality, remember how frustrated you used to get before because nothing was happening and you felt that you were wasting your time?"
He looked thoughtful for a minute, "I know, but either way I'm frustrated because I'd be missing something so important."
I smiled, "As far as I can see, you're lacking nothing." I said, knowing what he had meant by 'missing something so important'. I didn't want to go down that road.
He was about to answer when Fiona reappeared sitting down; I noticed the look she gave me, between scorn and disdain.
"So, you and Matt knew each other at college?" she asked me when he'd gone to answer the phone, I nodded, "yeah, it was quite a while back, I haven't seen him for years and years..."
"I see," was all she said, "I don't think I've ever heard him speak of you though."
"Well, he probably forgot about me, I mean it has been ages," I said, not knowing why I was saying that, knowing it wasn't true from what he'd told me earlier, I just felt that it was better that she didn't know about what we were to each other in the past. Things were complicated enough without that fact.
Certain things were best left unsaid. She seemed very protective of him, almost as if she was scared he'd leave her for another, I could see it clearly, she obviously cared about him.
I felt as if I was suffocating, but I vowed to keep everything the way it was, not to let our past get in the way of our present and future, not to let it ruin whatever we had going for us at the moment.
I smiled, "I knew him for a long time, we were very close friends," I said, wanting to put her mind to rest. She sighed in a relieved sort of way, and I felt good about it.
She didn't stay for much longer after that, Matt showed her to the door and waved her off before coming to sit next to me.
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- Writer
