• CHAPTER 7

    We went to Tony’s Pizzeria for supper. I was tired and hungry from my walk from the hospital to the school. Nick hadn’t stopped ringing me since. I’d called Ben to tell him I was fine and to ignore him. We sat in one of the retro booths that had picture frames of cars and people who looked like their deal was all Texas and we were soon given menus. We haven’t spoken a single word and I noticed Matt hadn’t stopped glancing at me when he thought I wasn’t looking. He smiled a small smile every now and then too.

    I noticed two waitresses speaking softly to each other while looking at Matt, occasionally giggling. It was then that I turned to Max and took in his features. He had and an angular face and I saw his jaw flex as he bit down his teeth –a habit he’s had since he was a kid-. The dim, golden light accentuated his olive skin and because he was looking down at the menu, a dark shadow enveloped his beautiful royal blue eyes. He definitely got his hair from mom -silky yet styled dark brown hair- while Ben and I got dad’s wavy not-blonde-but-not-brown-either sand colored hair. He played some soccer when we were kids. I don’t know if he still does but he was always an active guy so I’ll attribute that to the results of having a toned body.
    “Good evening and welcome to Tony’s. I’m Michelle and I’ll be your waitress for the night. You guys ready to order?” One of the waitresses interrupted my thoughts, pulling me back to the booth. She was smiling intently at Matt and he just smiled politely back at her. The girl must’ve been in her early twenties since she didn’t look that much older than me. But she did look better than me. She had big yellow eyes and porcelain skin. She wore her black hair tied up in a pony tail with a few loose strands framing her cute, round face and a smile that said “I’m a good girl”. Despite the black polo and the dirty apron she had on, I could tell she had a nice body and her chest was bigger than mine. I had never been concerned or troubled with my body –I had James and he’d loved me just the way I was- but thinking now, I couldn’t help but feel… jealous.
    “Um you ready, Jade?” I snapped up and looked at Matt.
    “Uh…”GARLIC BREAD. LASAGNA. CALZONE. “What are you having?” He smiled at me and looked back at the waitress.
    “Give us two more minutes please.” Matt smiled at her again for the twentieth time and she nodded dreamily. Gross.
    “What’ll you have for a drink?”
    “Two cokes…?” He glanced over at me.
    “Make mine a coffee.” Matt raised a brow but shrugged it off. Michelle nodded and left.
    “So… what do you want to eat?” Matt asked as soon as Michelle disappeared into the kitchen.
    “To be honest, I’m not that hungry anymore.” Thanks, Michelle. Matt beamed.
    “Then let’s share a calzone. Pepperoni?”
    “Yeah sure, whatever.” He nodded.

    In 15 minutes, we had downed our first round of drinks (After my much awaited cup of coffee, I ordered water), ordered our food, and were now waiting for the calzone. Matt and I still hadn’t spoken except for the occasional small talk and those barely lasted a second or two. The calzone arrived and we sliced it in half. When we finished eating, we split the bill and he paid the tip.

    As we stepped out of the restaurant, the sun was long settled for the day and only a few stars hung high in the sky. The smell of forest and car smoke was heavy tonight and it was hard to breath. I heard Matt stepped beside me and placed his hand on the small of my back. He bent his neck slightly to kiss mine and even though it took me all I had to do so, I pulled away.
    “Jade--”
    “Matt…” I cut him off. “Why?”
    “Why what?” He leaned in again and I pushed him slightly. I gave him a serious look and he sighed. “What is it, Jade?” He repeated slightly irritated. He kept eyeing me as if I were something to eat though.
    “Why do you do this?”
    “Do what?”
    “This!” I said gesturing to the space between us. He smiled and raised a brow.
    “What? You mean this?” Before I even realized it, he crushed his lips against mine painfully. I slapped his chest and pushed him back.
    “Stop doing that. You keep ignoring my questions. Just tell me.” He released a tensed breath as if annoyed with my constant chatter.
    “I do it for the same reason you’re doing it.” But I didn’t know why I was doing it. Somehow, I hoped his answer would clear out mine.
    “What? Because you missed me? Because you thought that if you didn’t accept it, we’d go back to our distanced relationship? Because of love?” I didn’t know how true these words rang to me. “Because maybe you got tired of this and decided you’d do anything no matter how stupid or wrong to get it all back to the way it was?” He looked at me as if I’d just said two plus two was forty four.
    “No… what the—No…” He still couldn’t believe it.
    “Then why?” Tears began to build. “That’s why I did it…” I sobbed.
    “What the hell? Seriously? You’re so lame.”
    “What? But you said you missed me…” He just shook his head. His silence was pissing me off. “WHY THE ******** DID YOU DO IT, MATTHEW!?”
    “It was a ******** dare!” I gasped.
    “W-What?”
    “IT. WAS. A ********. DA-“ I slapped him before he finished.
    “I HATE YOU! I HATE YOUR GUTS, YOU b*****d!!! HOW COULD YOU BE SO--” A drowning pain engulfed my skull. I clutched my head and pulled at my hair from the roots.
    “s**t, Jade!” Everything went black and the last thing I heard was the smack of flesh against pavement.