Forgotten Faces

I brought my hands together, intertwining my fingers together. It was cold in this place, and I didn't have jacket on me.

My mind wasn't really on the temperature of the room though. It was stuck on one boy. It was stuck on Matt.

He actually wanted to speak to me. I half expected him to stop conversing with me, after his fight with my brother. That wasn't exactly the best thing that happened for him, I was guessing.

But I was more focused on that he would want to talk about my brother, asking me what he was doing. He'd want to know everything. I didn't want him to know anything about my brother.

But now he was hanging out with me. He tried speaking to me. I was the one who tried to ignore him. It was a weird twist.

And now I was actually getting ice cream with Matt. I was actually going to be sitting down with Matt in an ice cream parlor. He would want to speak and converse with me. He would eventually get onto the subject that included my brother, Justin.

I wasn't entirely sure, if I was going to be able to tell him anything though. I didn't exactly know what I should even say to anyone on the subject. How would everything come out of my mouth?

I didn't want to sound like I was some innocent little girl who was tortured inside and outside, but I didn't want to sound like I didn't hate everything Justin did to me. I wanted Matt to get me without me actually saying a word to him.

Impossible.

My eyes went over to Matt. He was conversing with the cashier. She was kind of pretty, I guess.

She had short dirty blond hair that was almost a boy's cut. Her prominent cheekbones helped her pull off the look. She had gorgeous green eyes that I could see from so far away. Her smile was so radiant, I wasn't sure how Matt could resist her.

"Probably getting her number," I muttered.

I looked down at my hands.

I was jealous, wasn't I? I was jealous of that cashier girl with the beautiful smile. How could I not be jealous? They looked so perfect together.

I looked back up.

She was touching his face, probably admiring his lip ring.Whore.

I wished I could've been bold enough to get that good of a look at his lip ring.Slut.

I looked back at my hands. I frowned.

There was a small bruise on my right hand near the thumb. It was purple and ugly. I was sure that it would end up even bigger than it already was soon enough.

I sighed, and I slowly brought my right hand to my waist line. I softly applied some pressure, making me wince.

I was sure that there were more than bruises there.

He went easy on me this time. I was lucky. I just hoped that he would go easy on me again, if he did get his chance.

"I got you Sherbet. I hope that's okay," Matt said, sitting down across from me.

He had a smile on his face. It was probably from that cashier. He probably did get her number. They would make the perfect couple.

His bad boy look and her girl next door look would make the perfect couple. She probably didn't have a crazy brother either. I bet she would make the best girlfriend he could ever have.

I nodded slowly.

It was my favorite flavor. I had often gotten it, when my dad used to take me to get ice cream.

"Thank you, Matt." I said softly. He grinned at me. His dimples- they were showing, and they were so adorable.

Matt handed me my ice cream, which was in a little paper bowl.

I stared down at my ice cream. I set it down on the table top.

I wasn't in the mood for ice cream, but I wouldn't say that to Matt. That would not only be rude, but I wanted to please him. I was sure that would displease him, if I didn't eat it.

"No problem, Adriana. These things are actually pretty damn cheap," he said happily. He took a big bite of his Rocky Road ice cream.

He had a bit of ice cream on the side of his mouth, which he quickly wiped away with a napkin.

He was just like a child.

"I didn't mean the ice cream, Matt."

Matt stopped eating his ice cream. He frowned slightly.

"Did you mean Justin," he asked softly.

I didn't want to answer his question. I felt like if I didn't, the problem would eventually disappear. I was hoping it would just go away.

Of course, nothing ever does work the way we seem to want it to. Nothing would just go away, if you chose to ignore it. No, it only got much, much worse.

So instead of saying anything to Matt, I just nodded my head slowly.

Nodding was the only thing I wanted to do, when it came to the subject of my brother. I didn't even want to say his name. It was like venom to me.

I was terrified that if I said his name, my whole body would just wither away. I thought if I admitted what he did to me, then I would be a coward. I didn't know what to do, but wasn't that normal for a teen aged girl?

Every teen aged girl was afraid of something. Everyone was afraid of something. Some people had a phobia or two. I guess my own brother was my fear. Anything to do with my brother was never a good thing for me.

I didn't hate my brother though.

"What was he doing to you," Matt asked.

I continued to stare at the ground, not knowing what to do now. Matt was asking me to say something to him now.

I was sure that I couldn't do that for him. I didn't want to utter a single word about my brother to him. I didn't want to say what he did.

I was hoping that Matt would see that I didn't. I was hoping that he would back off, and he would calm tell me that everything would get better like everyone else did. Of course, they always said that, when they had no clue on what was happening.

"Was it that bad," Matt asked.

I finally looked up at Matt. He was entirely focused on my face. He was so serious, yet he could look so caring. It was amazing.

For once, I was beginning to think that someone in this pitiful world had more concern for me than they did for themselves. Maybe Matt did care.

He was frowning now, and I just wanted to see a smile.

A smile would've made me feel slightly better.

I brought my hands to the table top, and I began fiddling with them. I was trying desperately to come up with some way to please Matt and still not say anything directly.

That was harder than I thought. There wasn't a way to go on talking without bringing up something my brother did or say to me. There wasn't a way to talk about anything without having to say my brother's name.

I bit down on my lip, and I could feel my chest tightening up. It was beginning to become harder and harder to breathe now.

I gulped.

I wasn't sure why I was just about to cry. I could feel the moisture in my eyes. I could feel my legs shaking. My lungs were begging for air. My hands were trembling.

I nearly jumped out of my seat, when I felt hands on mine.

I looked at my hands. Matt's were covering them with his own.

His hands were rather soft.

I looked up at Matt again.

This time he looked worried. He looked a little sad as well.

"You don't have to say anything you don't want to," he said calmly.

I felt a tear escape my right eye. Another one fell soon after.

He was saying everything I had hoped someone would've said to me years ago. He was doing everything the right way.

"Please don't cry. I don't want to see you cry. You don't have to tell me anything," he said softly.

He didn't sound like he just didn't want to be seen with the crying girl in a public place. He sounded genuine. He didn't want me to cry. He wanted me to smile.

He was just so perfect.

Matt moved his hands off of mine, and I almost begged him to put them back.

He quickly got up, and he grabbed me up from my chair.

And he hugged me.