Surrender Your Heart

Matt was freaked out. Today was Valentine’s Day. In two days, he and the guys would be flying back to Baltimore and then from there, drive up to New Jersey. The guys were finishing up in the studio today, and then they would be done. They’d have a day off tomorrow to do what they pleased; have fun, shop, hang out, whatever. Or in Matt’s case, break up with Kylie.

He knew he probably shouldn’t act like anything was different, so he decided he and Kylie should go out to eat and have a nice Valentine’s Day. Before he could think anything through, his phone went off. He picked it up, knowing it was Kylie, and answered. “Hello?”

“Hey babe; what are the plans for tonight?”

Matt shrugged. He hadn’t planned anything because Kylie hated Valentine’s Day; or so she had said before. “I was thinking we could go out to eat and maybe catch a movie or something. Sound good?”

Kylie smiled. “Not wanting to make too big of a deal out of V-day here, are you?”

Matt chuckled. “Be quiet; you’re the one who hates Valentine’s Day. And who said I don’t have something planned?”

She rolled her eyes. “Do you?”

“Sort of.”

“Guess I’ll just have to wait and see. When are you picking me up?”

“Seven thirty sharp; be there, or be fucked over and not have a wonderful time with a good looking boy.”

Kylie laughed and hung up. He’s such a dork, she thought to herself, but he’s my dork. She smiled and got back to work.

***

Kylie was in the middle of helping Squire figure out if A Rocket to the Moon needed guest vocals to a song when her phone went off. “I’ll be right back,” she told him and walked out into the hallway. “Hey babe,” she said, assuming her boyfriend was on the other line.

When a girl laughed, Kylie was caught by surprise though. She pulled the phone away from her ear and checked the caller ID. She wanted to smack herself when she realized it wasn’t Matt. It was her friend Jenna. She laughed and brought the phone back to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hey babe,” her friend said, mocking her.

“Be quiet. I assumed it was my boyfriend. What’s up?”

“Its fine,” Jenna laughed. “But I need a favor.”

“Okay, what?”

Jenna went on to tell Kylie she needed a dog sitter for a few days. Apparently, she had to go out of town to visit her mom, but couldn’t bring Ollie, the dog, with her. Kylie agreed happily. “Of course! I love dogs.” Jenna was a friend of Kylie’s who she went to high school with. She had lost contact with her, but reconnected one day when she ran into her at a coffee shop. The two weren’t best friends, but they were friends and Kylie was happy to help her out. “When do you want me to pick him up?”

Kylie got the rest of the details, wished her friend to have a good time, and then hung up. She called Matt back and told him what was up. “I need to pick the dog up tonight, and Jenna said it can be anytime after seven. So I was thinking we can do that tonight too, if that’s ok.”

Matt agreed. “That’s fine. We can do it after dinner or something. Cool?”

Kylie nodded. “Yep, sounds good. See you tonight.”

“Alright, bye babe.”

The two hung up and then Kylie went back to see how Squire was doing.

***

It was seven o’clock, and Kylie was no where near ready for her Valentine’s Day date. She was standing in the middle of her room, staring at her closet, in nothing but the towel she put on when she got out of the shower. She groaned because nothing was jumping out at her and decided to do her hair. She walked into the bathroom and turned her curling iron on. After brushing her teeth and doing her makeup, she started transforming her hair into loose curls that she knew Matt loved.

After a quick spray of some hair spray, Kylie went back into her room. She groaned at the time. It was now seven twenty. She had ten minutes to find the perfect outfit. She whipped her towel off and slipped on some underwear and a strapless bra, then rushed back over to her closet. She dug through all her clothes until she found a black dress she thought would be suitable. She slipped it on and stared at the piles of shoes in the bottom of her closet. She found the pair of slip on Vans she had gotten last year after Valentine’s Day that were white with hearts on them; she slipped them on. Glancing at the clock, she realized it was now seven thirty on the dot. She smiled to herself, grabbed her purse, slipped her heart shaped ring on, sprayed some Love Spell perfume, and walked down the stairs to wait for Matt.

Soon after her foot hit the last step, there was a knock and then someone said, “It’s me.” She walked over to the door and opened it wide, letting Matt take in her appearance while she did the same for him. He was looking rather well in a pair of darker jeans, a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a black tie. Kylie rolled her eyes at his look, and Matt smirked. “Thank god I wore a tie, huh?”

Kylie laughed and stepped forward to kiss him. She pulled back and looked at his crooked tie and laughed. “You can’t even wear the tie right, dork.”

Matt stepped back and looked down. “What? Its right, isn’t it?”

She shook her head and placed her hands on the tie, pulling gently to fix it. When she was satisfied, she smiled and looked up at him. “There, all better. Let’s go; I’m starving.”

Matt laughed and grabbed her hand, pulling her out the door and into the night.

***

The date destination was an Italian restaurant in Santa Monica. It was a little bit of a drive, but totally worth it. After the couple got seated and placed their orders, they fell into an easy conversation about anything and everything. That was something Kylie loved about talking with Matt. Everything was easy. They never had trouble starting a conversation; they did, however, have trouble ending it. When the food came, fettuccini alfredo with shrimp for Kylie and the same but with chicken for Matt, the two started eating wordlessly. Their conversation went in and out, from talking about the studio, to talking about Squire and how he was a pain in the ass. When they finished, they ordered the special “dessert for two”. It was a small pot of chocolate fondue with an assortment of things to dip in it.

When they were finished, they left the restaurant and drove to the beach because the sun was setting and Kylie begged Matt to. He easily agreed. They got out and walked onto the sand hand in hand. While they watched the sun set, Matt kissed Kylie on the cheek. She smiled and turned to him, hooking her arms around his neck and pulling him close. She kissed him on the lips and pulling back, whispering “Happy Valentine’s Day,” so that her breath danced across his lips. She sure knew how to drive him crazy, that was for sure.

The pair got in the car soon after the sun set and started driving. “Oh!” Kylie exclaimed, smacking her leg lightly.

“What?”

“We have to go to Jenna’s to pick up her dog. Remember?”

Matt nodded in recognition, and after getting directions from Kylie, drove off to Jenna’s. “I didn’t know you liked dogs,” Matt said while they drove.

Kylie shrugged. “I don’t know…” she trailed off. She was absent mindedly playing with a string on her dress and staring out the window. She turned to face her boyfriend after a minute of silence. She smiled.

Matt looked at her curiously because she was so quiet. “What?” he said, questioning her smile.

“This song,” was all she said.

Matt listened to the song playing. He groaned. For some reason, his old bands CD had gotten slipped into the player and now “Sleepless” was playing. He reached forward to change it, but she swatted his hand away. “Don’t,” she told him. “You sang this song to me that one night when…” she trailed off. She didn’t want to remind herself of that day, so she stopped. “You sang this song to me; do you remember?”

Matt smiled at her. He remembered all to well singing the song to her while she was curled up in his arms crying her eyes out. He had hated seeing her hurt, but he knew there was nothing he could do to help her, except be there. “Yeah, I remember.”

Smiling, she said, “That was probably the worst and best night of my life.”

“Best?” he questioned.

She nodded. “Yeah, because I realized I liked you the next morning when I woke up and you were there.”

After she said that, Matt reached over and grabbed her hand, interlocking his fingers with hers. He smiled a small, sad smile and brought her hand to his mouth, giving it a small kiss. “Yeah, I guess it was seeing you so upset and having it hurt me too that made me realize I liked you.”

“A ‘beauty in the tragedy’ sort of thing.”

Matt nodded.

They drove in silence the rest of the way to Jenna’s. Kylie went to the door and said hello to Jenna, and then met the five year old Golden Retriever that she would be babysitting for the next day or so. When Jenna was sure the dog was comfortable with Kylie, she gave her friend a few instructions and a phone number, and then Kylie and Ollie left.

The blonde let the dog hop in the back seat while she climbed up front. She smiled at the dog in the rearview mirror and then grabbed Matt’s hand again, holding it the whole way home. She smiled to herself as she closed her eyes and let the song on the radio comfort her much like it did a month ago. She smiled and realized she was almost sure she was in love with Matt; that thought made her giddy. She wanted to tell him, but decided she’d wait until tomorrow.