CHAPTER 51 A date with Matthew
CHAPTER 51 – A date with Matthew
CHAPTER 51–A date with Matthew
KYLIE’S POV
The day of my date with Matthew brought with it a whole lot of uncertainties. I mean, I know I said I wanted to move on, but the truth was, when I made that call to Matthew the evening before, it was sort of, on the spur–of–the–moment thing. I didn’t think of how I would feel after. And now, morning had come, and I suddenlyd this desire to run away from the commitment I had made.
I blew out a breath as I got out of bed. I couldn’t have been more pissed with Elijah than I was right then. If it weren’t for his lies, and all of his mystery that made him toxic, of course, I would not have a reason to be with someone else. Then there was how he called me his friend.
His friend!
My anger came in waves, and for the better, because it was the motivation that I needed to go on with my meeting with Matthew. I drew my brows together and went to the wardrobe to pick out my outfit.
I settled on a white crop top and dungarees. We were going to a park, and I judged my outfit to be more on the relaxed side, seeing as there were no fancy restaurants for today. The thought of fancy restaurants brought with it a twinge. The fancy restaurant was Elijah’s thing.
“no. no.no,” I said to myself at the thought of Elijah. And I made a personal note to myself, that unless I was using the memory of Elijah’s behavior as a motivation to press on with my life, I was NOT going to let myself dwell on him at all.
If Elijah was too foolish to give me up, then he was more than welcome to do so. I did not have to dwell on it, hurting myself with it.
I met him at the photo booth. He was the one with the good–looking hair, and I smiled warmly when he turned to look at me.
“Hey!” he said with a lot of excitement, and it’s safe to say that it rubbed off on me a bit.
“Hey,” I said and spontaneously gave him a hug.
When I let go, he was still smiling, and I couldn’t help but wonder why I had even considered not coming. Sure, he wasn’t Elijah, but by the looks of things, he was exactly what I needed after constantly having to deal with Elijah’s toxicity, I guess.
“so, tell you what. I thought it would be nice if we tried out these booths. Take a lot of cute little funny pictures, before we try out a ride. It’s more advisable to go on a ride, before eating, so you don’t throw up.” I was smiling, I felt myself smiling, and I couldn’t help myself. It was obvious he had thought everything through, and I found it entirely cute that he had. It
made me feel seen.
“That works for me,” I said and shrugged. Something about a masculine man made me willing to shut off my mind. And to be honest, shutting off my mind was exactly what I needed right at that moment.
“Let’s do it then.” He stretched out his hand and I took it in a heartbeat.
We made different faces, that had me laughing, and once when our head got so close, I caught him when he looked at my lips a bit too long, and wondered if he would then kiss me. But the camera snapped and brought us back to the moment.
We left the booth after that and took our pictures.
“These look nice,” I said lightly, choosing to act like the little intimate moment that just passed between us did not just happen.
He drew closer, so close that I took the time to inhale his cologne. He smelled like the ocean. If that made sense. But I liked it. It soothed him.
“I had my eyes closed in this one.” he pointed out and I giggled, he did look a bit funny in that one.
“The hair makes up for it.” I teased and he chuckled.
“fine then. So how about that ride?”
I looked around us. There were many rides to choose from, and I had not really come with a particular ride in mind.
“I don’t know, why don’t you choose?” I asked and shrugged.
“hmm. There’s the game room. It’s sort of monster–inspired. There are rides in there, with monsters popping out at odd moments. Think you can handle that?”
“hmm. Will you hold my hand?” he took my hand at that moment.”
“holding your hand right at the moment.”
“Then I don’t have anything to be afraid of.”
He was right about the monster popping out at the most crazy moments. I did have a few adrenaline–surging moments that
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CHAPTER ST A date with Matthew
had me holding on to him for dear life. He, on the other hand, handles it like a pro. He had done it all before.
By the end of it all I had my hand over my, trying to still my racing heart, my other hand in his.
“I think you did well, for your first time,” he said to me when we were outside. I blew out a breath and looked at him. His hair was a bit disheveled, but it only added to how handsome he was.
“you’ve obviously done all of this before.”
“Once or twice,” he said and shrugged effortlessly.
“No fair,” I said, shaking my head.
“Tell you what. I’ll get you fries and a milkshake. The fries are comfort food, and the milkshake will calm you down.”
I didn’t think I needed a milkshake to calm down. But I was down for some comfort feeding.
“I’m in.”
“Perfect!!” he exclaimed and led the way.
“I can feed myself though,” I told Matthew when he tried to feed me, yet another fry.
“I know. But I like how it feels. Feeding you.” he said as he popped another fry in my mouth.
“Everyone is going to think we’re in love.”
“that would not be a bad thing. They thinking it. The Idea being true.”
And just like that, the atmosphere changed, and I suddenly did not feel like eating fries anymore.
“Matthew…”
“hear me out. I know you and the quarterback, Elijah, have an on–and–off thing. I respect that, but, Kylie….” he took my hands and brought them to his chest.
“I swear I can treat you better. With me, you won’t have to have an on–and–off anything. I won’t let you out of my sight long enough for you to even consider an on–and–off thing.”
I sighed. I had hoped things wouldn’t get this complex. Honestly, I should have seen it coming. I don’t know what I was thinking.
“Matthew, what Elijah and I have or had, is a bit more complex. He isn’t a bad guy or anything. He just…” has too many secrets, I wanted to say, but bit my tongue on that, “I don’t think I want to talk about it.” I said in a quiet tone, looking anywhere else but at him. But he lifted my chin with his fingers so that we were looking at each other.
“If you don’t want to talk about him, that’s fine. But I promise… I promise, Kylie, that if you gave me a chance, I wouldn’t hurt you. I won’t do anything hurtful. Damned man I would be if I tried so much as tried.”
I smiled in spite of the sudden ache in my heart. I didn’t know I was capable of sudden ache after having such a good time.
“I know, Matthew. And trust me, believe, I would never try to hurt you. I don’t ever want to hurt you.” but I was scared that the whole thing with Elijah would only make me hurt him. And I knew it would kill me when I eventually did.
“The truth is, the only thing that could hurt me right now is you not accepting me.”
“I’m not sure I can get into anything perfect with you when I’m still such a mess though.“you’re already perfect, Ky,” I said and scoffed.
“you’re just saying that.”
“no, I’m not.” he ran a thumb down my cheek, “You’re perfect, Kylie. Perfect for me.”
I smiled at his words, as the ache in my heart slowly reduced. I didn’t if I could give him anything right then, but I would consider it. Because with him, I could have the stable, the peaceful, and the healthy. And that was everything I needed right then.
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