Living on Perfectly Remembered Memories

Franchesa

My cousin, Joanna's birthday bash was themed a black tie event. She's absolutely evil for doing this to me. She knows how much I hate to wear black. I never wore black clothing except for shoes and the undergarments or whatever. Black is such a depressing color. It doesn't show any vividness of life. It's just...there.

I hated the color but no, Matt loved it. He was preaching to me about how awesome the color is and how easy it is to find nice black shirts. It was hard to tune him out when he was screaming in my freaking ear.

Why did I agree to go to Joanna's party again? Oh right, she walked to my house during our spring break and begged me to go. I kept saying no and she was about to give up until mom found her in the living room with me. My own mother betrayed me and forced me to go. She even went out and bought a black dress for me the next day.

Matt and I entered the dance hall, seeing a sea of black. Did I mention how much I hate the color yet? I already did? Well too bad, I wish it were dead.

"It's not that bad," Matt laughed, squeezing at the small of my back a little, as he led us past the dancing people.

"It is so," I grumbled, pouting. We were trying to find Joanna to wish her a happy birthday but the sudden change of song forced Matt and I farther away from Joanna. Hordes of people pushed us back to where we came from, into the middle of the dance hall. Matt pulled me to his body, wrapping his arms around my waist so I wouldn't fall to the ground.

"Is it over?" I squeaked, my face hidden in his shirt.

He laughed, "Yeah it is."

I gently lifted my head from his chest and stared around. There were people still around us but they gave us some breathing room. I was happy. I hate feeling squished against other strangers I don't know.

"Let's just dance," Matt offered, already getting into position. I nodded, hoping I'd be able to find Joanna soon.

Matt and I danced a few songs and I was already somewhat tired from it all. I wanted to go sit down but he looked like he was having so much fun, I decided to suck it up and dance with him more. After all, he hates dancing with a burning passion.

On one of the twirls that Matt left me through, I bumped into someone to the left of me and stumbled on my right foot. I shook it off and twirled back to Matt but failed.

"Ow!" I gasped, falling into Matt. He held my waist, concern in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, trying to check if something was on my face.

"My foot, I think I sprained it," I said through gritted teeth. It hurt really badly and I couldn't move it without the pain doubling.

"Oh boy," he sighed, "I'll help you over to a table."

Gradually, I sat down in an empty seat and placed my purse on the table. I figured that if I took my shoe off, it would help the pain. My heels had straps on them anyways. When I tried to take my right heel off, I cursed, the pain felt even worse.

Matt grew frantic, his hands in a weird clawed position. He knelt down, touching my ankle softly, and earning a whimper from me. He looked at my face, his lips a very thin line.

"Uh, can I try something?" he asked, his cheeks turning red. I nodded, hoping he would be able to make the pain just go away.

He took my leg in his hand and ran his fingers softly against my skin until he reached my ankle. His delicate touch was very relaxing. After running his fingers very gently on my swollen ankle, he began to massage it with his large hands.

I gasped every few seconds and clutched onto the table linen due to the pain of it. Other than that, the pain simmered down.

"And you two say you're not together," an amused voice said from beside us.

The both of us looked to find my dear sweet cousin Joanna standing there, her arms across her chest, and her eyebrow arched.

Matt grinned. "We aren't together. Fran twisted her ankle."

"If that's what you want to call it. You're lucky you aren't trying to feel her up. Other wise I would have to hurt you."

"Happy birthday to you!" I exclaimed so the subject of me would leave their mouths.

"Oh right, thank you! Well, I'll see you two later then," Joanna said, adding a wink before she walked back to the dance.

I shook my head at her. She was always very...open-minded. It sometimes scared me but hey, at least you always knew she wasn't hiding her thoughts or feelings.

Matt cleared his throat, placing my foot to the floor with care. "How does it feel?" he asked.

"Better," I smiled, taking a chocolate from the party bowl in front of me. I eyed Matt from the corner of my eye. "Go dance. I'll be fine."

He shook his head. "No. I'm not leaving you."

"Hey, if she wants you to dance, maybe you should, with me," a random girl stated, walking up to him.

He stared at her in surprise. "No thanks. I'll stay with her."

The girl shrugged her shoulders and walked away to find another guy. I watched Matt extensively as he sat in the seat next to me and pulled my chair closer to his. My back was not facing the back of the chair. I hesitantly leaned back against his chest, relaxing when his arms wrapped around my shoulders.

"How about I tell you some stories?" he asked, kissing my cheek.

One of Joanna's friends gave us a ride home at the end of the night. The guy dropped us off about a block away from our houses, saying that he was low on gas and he couldn't round the corner.

Matt was going to argue with the driver so I pulled his arm to get him out the car. As soon as the door slammed shut, the guy drove off, speeding past a red light. He's going to get into an accident one day.

We both reached for each other's hands, lacing them together. The walk was quiet but it wasn't awkward; it was actually very comfortable.

My ankle felt much better after one of the waiters accidentally spilled a bucket of ice on my foot. Everyone was so shocked and angry with the poor guy, but he really was a lifesaver. My ankle healed a bit and I can walk on it, that's perfectly fine with me.

"You should have let me punch him," Matt mumbled. I guess I wasn't the only one thinking about that.

"For what? He made my ankle feel a lot better. It's not swollen anymore," I explained.

Matt nodded, his eyebrows knitting together. "Josh and Jessica wanted to go to the mall and watch a movie together tomorrow before we go back to school. Do you feel like going?"

"Sure. One last summer memory before we go back to school sounds nice."

"It does...Well here's your house. I'll see you tomorrow then."

He kissed my cheek and gave me a hug. I walked up the few steps, taking my house keys out from the purse I brought.

"Hey Fran?" Matt asked, sounding closer than he should.

I twirled around. He only took three steps. "Yes Matty?" I answered.

"Do...Never mind. Good night."

"Okay...Good night."

I watched him walk across the street and enter his house. I walked into mine afterwards, dragging my tired legs up the stairs. After switching to my sleeping gown, I lay in bed, staring at the night sky through the cracks from the window curtains.

It had been a very fun day, even though I had the unfortunate luck to sprain my ankle. Matt stayed by my side the entire time, making sure I wasn't bored or lonely. He never left his seat next to me unless he had to use the bathroom or refill our drinks. The way his arm was around my shoulders while he was telling me funny stories to pass the time and make me laugh felt different tonight. It felt like he was my boyfriend. It felt as though we were already dating. Is that what he was going to ask me tonight? Was he going to ask me to be his girlfriend? If he was going to, why didn't he pull through? I bet he was thinking about our friendship. He's just like me. He was afraid of losing our friendship. Why did we have to grow up being friends?