Currently Untitled
Mallrats
Matt and Laur lay on the couch for hours curled up in each other’s arms, both dressed only in their shirts and underwear. Matt stroked the sleeping girl’s hair gently, his breathing even and his eyes closed. The sound of an opening door, though, made him suddenly snap to attention. “LAUR!” he hissed, jumping off the couch and pulling his pants on. But in his haste, he tripped over the pants and collapsed on the floor.
Laur heard footsteps in the hall and quickly followed suit, pulling her pants on. She managed in time, but Matt was still struggling with pulling his up when his mother walked in. Mrs. Good gasped and stopped short. “What’s going on here?!” she shouted at her son, who had finally managed to button his pants up.
Matt bit his lip, and both teens avoided eye contact, both with Mrs. Good and with each other. She sighed, and put her keys down on the coffee table. “Matt, sit down,” she instructed her son, motioning to the couch. “Laur, I think you should stay here for this too.” The teens exchanged glances and sat down on the couch. Mrs. Good took a deep breath. “It’s normal,” she started, “for kids your age, to want to… to move to a more physical step in their relationship. To want to start doing more than just kiss…”
Matt and Laur were frozen in their seats. This was it. They were getting ‘the talk.’ Together. From Matt’s mom. “It’s okay, Matt, I’m not mad,” She started. “Don’t worry. But, I just want you two to promise me that you’ll tell me before you intend to, well, have sex. I just want to know when you plan on doing it,” she smiled. “To make sure that you two do it safely, that you use protection, and, to be honest, I just want to know when you do it, I feel safer that way,” she finished.
Matt took a deep breath. Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Don’t say it, Lauren willed him mentally. “We just had sex, mom,” he exclaimed.
Mrs. Good froze. “You what?!” she screamed. “You SLEPT TOGETHER?! Please tell me at LEAST used a condom!” she shrieked, smacking her son around the head.
Matt’s thoughts raced, and he bit his lip. “Uh,” he started. “Well, uhm…” he trailed off. Mrs. Good looked furious.
“Lauren, I think I would rather you go home right now.” She said dangerously. Laur nodded. She got up from the couch, and grabbed her belt and bra from the floor before darting out. She stood by the door outside the house, waiting to see if Matt would come out. Sure enough, after ten minutes that seemed like an eternity, Matt came out. He grinned when he saw her sitting on the porch, and stroked her hair.
“What’d she say?” Lauren asked, not standing up.
Matt shrugged. “She’s not mad or anything… she just wishes we’d told her first. Yeah, like that would ever happen,” he laughed hollowly. “But she’s mad we didn’t use protection and stuff, she even kept asking me when you last… when you had…” he looked away and didn’t finish his sentence. Lauren arched an eyebrow, embarrassed. “That,” he finally said. “Anyway, you wanna go chill at the mall or something?” he asked. “It’s only,” he checked his watch. “Six thirty.”
Laur nodded and held her hands up for Matt to pull her to stand in front of him. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Y’ready to go, lovely?” he asked, and she nodded.
----------
Ten minutes later, the two of them were walking through the mall, hand-in-hand “Oh! Oh!” Laur shouted, and ran in the direction of the pretzel stall, dragging Matt behind her. Matt had to laugh when he saw Jess and Katie there, each with sunglasses covering half their face, and biting through pretzels that hid the other half.
“Wan’ fome?” Katie asked, holding her pretzel towards Matt and Lauren, crumbs spraying everywhere. Matt flinched and wiped his cheek. “Forry.” Katie mumbled, and swallowed her pretzel. “So whatcha guys up to?”
“Yeah, and why’s Matt’s hair all messy and wet like that?” Jess added, taking another mouthful of pretzel. Matt and Lauren exchanged nervous glances.
“YOU TOTALLY FUCKED, DIDN’T YOU?!” Katie screamed, loud enough that the entire mall must have heard.
“On second thought, a bite of pretzel sounds amazing,” Matt changed the subject, and reached for Katie’s pretzel.
“Nuh-uh!” she shouted, holding it back. “Not unless you’ve washed your hands. I know where they’ve been, and I do not want that all over my dinner thank you very much Matthew Aaron.” The four laughed, and Matt pulled his arm back, putting it around Lauren. “But seriously, congratz, guys. You’ve reached a new plateau of your relationship,” she winked.
Matt rolled his eyes, “Come on, let’s go,” he laughed to Laur, and the two kept on walking.
“Where are we going?” Laur asked as Matt seemed to bypass every cool store, both clothing and food.
“Well I thought maybe, my mom’s right… That, you know, we should…” Matt trailed off.
“What, buy condoms?” Laur suggested, and Matt nodded. She shrugged. “Sounds like a plan,” she ginned, and they leisurely made their way towards the pharmacy.
As they were paying for the condoms- non-flavoured; Matt had informed Laur that those creeped him out- Matt stopped in his tracks, staring at a specific spot. Laur looked in the direction, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“What’s wrong, babe?” she asked, but he seemed not to have heard her. “Matt?” she persisted, touching his arm. He jumped, startled, and handed money to the cashier, a woman in her fifties who was obviously sour on the thought of selling condoms, let alone to teenagers. “Matt, what was that about?” Laur asked him, as Matt pocketed the change and put the box of contraceptives in a bag.
He shook his head. “Nah, just thought I saw someone I knew, from Ohio…” he shrugged. “Are you hungry, I’m starving.”
Laur was skeptical at how quickly he changed the topic. “Who, from Ohio, Matt?” she stopped walking.
“If you must know, I think I saw my ex and her best friend, okay?” he shouted. “And I don’t want to run into them and those bitches never eat so I figured we should go to the food court!”
Laur arched an eyebrow. “Never eat?” she asked him.
Matt nodded. “Yeah, they’re like… photographers slash models slash clothing and jewelry designers, I don’t fucking understand it really and I put up with it for nine months.” He kept walking, and Laur rushed after him, but she was obviously mad.
“Wait, your ex girlfriend who you were with for nine months- you never told me that part by the way- is a model?!” she shouted. “Yeah right you’ve never fucked her. Jesus Christ, Matt, I can’t believe I bought that line!”
Matt stopped and spun around, so sudden that Laur kept walking and slammed into him. “I did not lie to you!” Matthew boomed furiously. “And I can’t believe you would ever fucking think that. Sommer and I were a fucked up couple, okay. Yes, we were together for nine months. But I was absolutely miserable for eight and a half of them. I know you’re thinking that it would’ve been just like you and me, but fuck, it wasn’t, Laur. With her, I wasn’t like this. I was quiet, I was awkward, and I was scared shitless of her. She had me wrapped around her little finger, I was totally manipulated by her. But we weren’t close, we were never close,” he took a deep breath and then finished. “For eight of the months that I was with her, I was miserable. The last was when I was in Florida. When I was finally myself again, and when I met the most amazing girl in the world. Okay? I don’t like her and I never really did. But I love you, Laur,” he stroked her face. “I love you.” Lauren smiled widely, and leaned her head against his chest, sighing contently as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Matt?!” They heard a girl’s voice shout. Matt grimaced, and pulled away from his girlfriend. He kept one hand holding Laur’s, the other holding the bag.
“Sommer!” he exclaimed, a fake smile plastered on his face. “Long time no see! What brings you to Florida, anyway?” he asked, after the obligatory awkward hugs were exchanged.
“Oh, me and Laur are down here on a modeling job!” she brushed some of her dark brown hair from her face. Laur was confused.
“…Laur?” she asked.
“Yeah, my friend Lauren, she’s…” Sommer turned around. “Wait, shit, where’d she go?!” she demanded, and looked around. “Oh, over there,” she pointed at a gorgeous stick figure girl with reddish brown hair and bright blue eyes talking to the one and only Travis Richter. “Talking to that random with the nice hair.”
“Uh-oh,” Matt and Lauren said in unison, and Sommer looked confused.
“Why, why, do you know that guy? What’s wrong with that guy?!” she was obviously worried for her friend.
“Yeah, he’s the whole ‘I can conquer the entire female gender by fucking every one of them and dumping them on the curb’ kind of guy…” Laur said.
“Oh, that’s it?” Sommer shrugged. “Yeah, well, Lauren’s the kind of girl who falls for that anyway and doesn’t mind,” she laughed. “She’ll be fine!”
Wow, a model and a whore, Laur couldn’t help but think.
----------
“Wait so… you’re actually a model?” Travis asked, smiling.
Lauren nodded. “Well, it’s not the top of my priorities, I prefer to stick to photography, and Sommer and I are working on this clothing line,” she grinned.
“Oh, photography?” he nodded along, pretending to be interested in everything she said. “What do you take photos of? Landscapes? Still life?”
“Models,” she chuckled. “Yeah, it’s a lot of fun…”
Travis glanced down at his watch. “Look, Lauren, I gotta go… but I was wondering, do you wanna get dinner tomorrow night?”
She shook her head, and smiled at how disappointed he looked “Awh, no, it’s not you! It’s just, we have to drive back up tomorrow, and we leave in the morning…” she paused “I’m free tonight though if you want to do something!” she offered. Travis hesitated, and pulled his phone from his pocket.
“I’d love to,” he grinned, “I just have to text my mom and let her know I’ll be home later than I thought, kay?” He started tapping buttons.
“Make sure you tell her I hope I’m not inconveniencing anyone,” Lauren winked and smiled.
----------
At the food court, Jess’ phone went off. She pushed her oversized sunglasses to the top of her head so she could read the text:
Hey bby
sorry cant make it 2nite
something came up
movie 2morrow nite instead?
xoxoxo
Trav
Laur heard footsteps in the hall and quickly followed suit, pulling her pants on. She managed in time, but Matt was still struggling with pulling his up when his mother walked in. Mrs. Good gasped and stopped short. “What’s going on here?!” she shouted at her son, who had finally managed to button his pants up.
Matt bit his lip, and both teens avoided eye contact, both with Mrs. Good and with each other. She sighed, and put her keys down on the coffee table. “Matt, sit down,” she instructed her son, motioning to the couch. “Laur, I think you should stay here for this too.” The teens exchanged glances and sat down on the couch. Mrs. Good took a deep breath. “It’s normal,” she started, “for kids your age, to want to… to move to a more physical step in their relationship. To want to start doing more than just kiss…”
Matt and Laur were frozen in their seats. This was it. They were getting ‘the talk.’ Together. From Matt’s mom. “It’s okay, Matt, I’m not mad,” She started. “Don’t worry. But, I just want you two to promise me that you’ll tell me before you intend to, well, have sex. I just want to know when you plan on doing it,” she smiled. “To make sure that you two do it safely, that you use protection, and, to be honest, I just want to know when you do it, I feel safer that way,” she finished.
Matt took a deep breath. Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Don’t say it, Lauren willed him mentally. “We just had sex, mom,” he exclaimed.
Mrs. Good froze. “You what?!” she screamed. “You SLEPT TOGETHER?! Please tell me at LEAST used a condom!” she shrieked, smacking her son around the head.
Matt’s thoughts raced, and he bit his lip. “Uh,” he started. “Well, uhm…” he trailed off. Mrs. Good looked furious.
“Lauren, I think I would rather you go home right now.” She said dangerously. Laur nodded. She got up from the couch, and grabbed her belt and bra from the floor before darting out. She stood by the door outside the house, waiting to see if Matt would come out. Sure enough, after ten minutes that seemed like an eternity, Matt came out. He grinned when he saw her sitting on the porch, and stroked her hair.
“What’d she say?” Lauren asked, not standing up.
Matt shrugged. “She’s not mad or anything… she just wishes we’d told her first. Yeah, like that would ever happen,” he laughed hollowly. “But she’s mad we didn’t use protection and stuff, she even kept asking me when you last… when you had…” he looked away and didn’t finish his sentence. Lauren arched an eyebrow, embarrassed. “That,” he finally said. “Anyway, you wanna go chill at the mall or something?” he asked. “It’s only,” he checked his watch. “Six thirty.”
Laur nodded and held her hands up for Matt to pull her to stand in front of him. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Y’ready to go, lovely?” he asked, and she nodded.
----------
Ten minutes later, the two of them were walking through the mall, hand-in-hand “Oh! Oh!” Laur shouted, and ran in the direction of the pretzel stall, dragging Matt behind her. Matt had to laugh when he saw Jess and Katie there, each with sunglasses covering half their face, and biting through pretzels that hid the other half.
“Wan’ fome?” Katie asked, holding her pretzel towards Matt and Lauren, crumbs spraying everywhere. Matt flinched and wiped his cheek. “Forry.” Katie mumbled, and swallowed her pretzel. “So whatcha guys up to?”
“Yeah, and why’s Matt’s hair all messy and wet like that?” Jess added, taking another mouthful of pretzel. Matt and Lauren exchanged nervous glances.
“YOU TOTALLY FUCKED, DIDN’T YOU?!” Katie screamed, loud enough that the entire mall must have heard.
“On second thought, a bite of pretzel sounds amazing,” Matt changed the subject, and reached for Katie’s pretzel.
“Nuh-uh!” she shouted, holding it back. “Not unless you’ve washed your hands. I know where they’ve been, and I do not want that all over my dinner thank you very much Matthew Aaron.” The four laughed, and Matt pulled his arm back, putting it around Lauren. “But seriously, congratz, guys. You’ve reached a new plateau of your relationship,” she winked.
Matt rolled his eyes, “Come on, let’s go,” he laughed to Laur, and the two kept on walking.
“Where are we going?” Laur asked as Matt seemed to bypass every cool store, both clothing and food.
“Well I thought maybe, my mom’s right… That, you know, we should…” Matt trailed off.
“What, buy condoms?” Laur suggested, and Matt nodded. She shrugged. “Sounds like a plan,” she ginned, and they leisurely made their way towards the pharmacy.
As they were paying for the condoms- non-flavoured; Matt had informed Laur that those creeped him out- Matt stopped in his tracks, staring at a specific spot. Laur looked in the direction, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“What’s wrong, babe?” she asked, but he seemed not to have heard her. “Matt?” she persisted, touching his arm. He jumped, startled, and handed money to the cashier, a woman in her fifties who was obviously sour on the thought of selling condoms, let alone to teenagers. “Matt, what was that about?” Laur asked him, as Matt pocketed the change and put the box of contraceptives in a bag.
He shook his head. “Nah, just thought I saw someone I knew, from Ohio…” he shrugged. “Are you hungry, I’m starving.”
Laur was skeptical at how quickly he changed the topic. “Who, from Ohio, Matt?” she stopped walking.
“If you must know, I think I saw my ex and her best friend, okay?” he shouted. “And I don’t want to run into them and those bitches never eat so I figured we should go to the food court!”
Laur arched an eyebrow. “Never eat?” she asked him.
Matt nodded. “Yeah, they’re like… photographers slash models slash clothing and jewelry designers, I don’t fucking understand it really and I put up with it for nine months.” He kept walking, and Laur rushed after him, but she was obviously mad.
“Wait, your ex girlfriend who you were with for nine months- you never told me that part by the way- is a model?!” she shouted. “Yeah right you’ve never fucked her. Jesus Christ, Matt, I can’t believe I bought that line!”
Matt stopped and spun around, so sudden that Laur kept walking and slammed into him. “I did not lie to you!” Matthew boomed furiously. “And I can’t believe you would ever fucking think that. Sommer and I were a fucked up couple, okay. Yes, we were together for nine months. But I was absolutely miserable for eight and a half of them. I know you’re thinking that it would’ve been just like you and me, but fuck, it wasn’t, Laur. With her, I wasn’t like this. I was quiet, I was awkward, and I was scared shitless of her. She had me wrapped around her little finger, I was totally manipulated by her. But we weren’t close, we were never close,” he took a deep breath and then finished. “For eight of the months that I was with her, I was miserable. The last was when I was in Florida. When I was finally myself again, and when I met the most amazing girl in the world. Okay? I don’t like her and I never really did. But I love you, Laur,” he stroked her face. “I love you.” Lauren smiled widely, and leaned her head against his chest, sighing contently as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Matt?!” They heard a girl’s voice shout. Matt grimaced, and pulled away from his girlfriend. He kept one hand holding Laur’s, the other holding the bag.
“Sommer!” he exclaimed, a fake smile plastered on his face. “Long time no see! What brings you to Florida, anyway?” he asked, after the obligatory awkward hugs were exchanged.
“Oh, me and Laur are down here on a modeling job!” she brushed some of her dark brown hair from her face. Laur was confused.
“…Laur?” she asked.
“Yeah, my friend Lauren, she’s…” Sommer turned around. “Wait, shit, where’d she go?!” she demanded, and looked around. “Oh, over there,” she pointed at a gorgeous stick figure girl with reddish brown hair and bright blue eyes talking to the one and only Travis Richter. “Talking to that random with the nice hair.”
“Uh-oh,” Matt and Lauren said in unison, and Sommer looked confused.
“Why, why, do you know that guy? What’s wrong with that guy?!” she was obviously worried for her friend.
“Yeah, he’s the whole ‘I can conquer the entire female gender by fucking every one of them and dumping them on the curb’ kind of guy…” Laur said.
“Oh, that’s it?” Sommer shrugged. “Yeah, well, Lauren’s the kind of girl who falls for that anyway and doesn’t mind,” she laughed. “She’ll be fine!”
Wow, a model and a whore, Laur couldn’t help but think.
----------
“Wait so… you’re actually a model?” Travis asked, smiling.
Lauren nodded. “Well, it’s not the top of my priorities, I prefer to stick to photography, and Sommer and I are working on this clothing line,” she grinned.
“Oh, photography?” he nodded along, pretending to be interested in everything she said. “What do you take photos of? Landscapes? Still life?”
“Models,” she chuckled. “Yeah, it’s a lot of fun…”
Travis glanced down at his watch. “Look, Lauren, I gotta go… but I was wondering, do you wanna get dinner tomorrow night?”
She shook her head, and smiled at how disappointed he looked “Awh, no, it’s not you! It’s just, we have to drive back up tomorrow, and we leave in the morning…” she paused “I’m free tonight though if you want to do something!” she offered. Travis hesitated, and pulled his phone from his pocket.
“I’d love to,” he grinned, “I just have to text my mom and let her know I’ll be home later than I thought, kay?” He started tapping buttons.
“Make sure you tell her I hope I’m not inconveniencing anyone,” Lauren winked and smiled.
----------
At the food court, Jess’ phone went off. She pushed her oversized sunglasses to the top of her head so she could read the text:
Hey bby
sorry cant make it 2nite
something came up
movie 2morrow nite instead?
xoxoxo
Trav