At Least I Know I'm A Sinner

MALLORY'S P.O.V. (March 1, 2006)

The smell of popcorn greeted my nose, causing me to wake up from my dream-less slumber.

I sat up in my spot on the couch and looked into the kitchen area where I saw Anna, and Torrence talking and drinking beer as they waited for some popcorn to pop.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"You're finally up," Torrence said with a laugh as she looked in my direction. "It's almost nine. You've been sleeping for about six hours."

I got plenty of sleep last night, so I wasn't quite sure why I had slept that long.

"What are you doing home so early then?" I asked as I stood up to stretch. "Don't you usually work until midnight on Fridays?"

"Yeah, but Ray actually scheduled two extra people tonight, and since there was an extra bartender scheduled, I volunteered to go home. Ryce and Charissa were there. You know that they can more than handle the Friday night rushes."

Ray was our boss, and was notorious for scheduling too many people on weekends, always afraid that we'd be short-handed. Ryce and Charissa were two other girls that we worked with. They were cool, and very good and what they did at the place we worked at.

I just nodded to show that I had heard what Torrence had said, and made my way over to the fridge to grab my own drink. I settled for just a bottle of water and sniffed the popcorn scent. They were fixing kettle corn. My absolute favorite.

"When did we get kettle corn?" I asked as I peered into the microwave.

"We got some at the store while you were passed out," Anna said with a laugh. "We got some movies, too. They're over there on the coffee table."

The microwave beeped to signal the finish of it's time cycle for the popcorn as Anna finished talking, so she grabbed the three bags that were in there, poured the popped goods into a large, plastic bowl, and the three of us made our way into the living room. I sat down on the large, comfy recliner that we had next to the table and placed my bottle of water onto a coaster to peruse the selection of movies that Anna and Torrence had rented for our movie night while I was unconscious.

They had rented seven movies, and they were: Waiting, Troy, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Accepted, American Pie 2, Blade: Trinity, and The Fifth Element. We had seen all of them so far except for Troy, but we didn't own any of them. We had a nice collection of movies already, but most of them had been copied for us, or given to us. We hardly ever have extra money, let alone extra money to buy movies with.

Anna popped in Accepted, and we all took our designated spots around the living room. I grabbed my first handful of popcorn, and laid back in the recliner to make myself comfortable as the beginning credits began to roll.

About halfway through the movie, or right around the time the guy said "Ask me about my wiener!", Jase started to fuss, so we took a break from the movie while Anna tended to him.

"I'm bored already," I said to Torrence as I walked out of the bathroom and joined her back in the living room.

She just stared at me.

"No offense," I said with a smile.

"Alright. I got Jase back to sleep," Anna said as she appeared around the hallway corner a few moments later. "Let's start the movie back up."

"Well, Mallory over here, apparently, isn't enjoying our company too much," Torrence said as she looked over at me again.

"Don't even start with me, asshole," I said, throwing a pillow at my twin sister. "It's not that I'm not enjoying your company, it's just that...well...I'm bored," I said, over-exaggerating the word "bored".

"Well, what do you suggest we do, then?" Anna asked me with a smirk.

"Ah shit. We gotta do it again dude. I left the lens cap on," Glen's voice from Accepted floated up from the television screen as I engaged in a staring contest with Torrence. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay, I'm not that bored," I confessed. I just would rather to go out to a club. Maybe call up those guys that Courtney and Sisi introduced us too. The guys in the band. Either way, I want out of the cramped apartment, and a club sounded inviting.

"But this is supposed to be a movie night," Anna pouted and then she made me feel bad.

"Okay fine. Tomorrow night, let's go clubbing?" I suggested to Torrence and Anna and as Torr agreed fully, Anna was hesitant.

"We'll call up a baby sitter, or my mom can watch him," and I saw Anna's shoulders relax as I said that. Her son is always a top priority in her life.

"Alright. Tomorrow night, I promise we'll go out or something," Anna said as she sat back down in her chair.

Torrence and I followed suit in our own chairs and resumed watching the movie.

We actually made it through the rest of Accepted, all the way through Blade: Trinity, and halfway through Troy when we were interrupted again. This time, the interruption was by way of the telephone.

"Hello?" I said as I answered it on the third ring.

"What's your favorite scary movie?" said a random, creepy voice from the other.

"Who is this?" I asked as I sat up.

Torrence paused the movie, and her and Anna just looked at me like I was crazy.

However, the person on the other end of the phone hung up before anything else was said by anyone.

"That was weird," I mumbled as I hung up the phone.

"Who was it?" Anna asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "I think it was just a prank call. Kids being stupid."

They just nodded their heads and went back to the movie. About 20 minutes later, the phone rang again, and it was the same creepy voice asking me what my favorite scary movie was.

"Who the fuck is this?" I asked, raising the volume of my voice.

The person on the other end started laughing, which was soon muffled by some object being placed over the receiver on the other end soon after they started laughing.

"Matt, stop laughing or they're gonna know it's us," I heard someone say in the background, which, by the slight lisp they had, I figured to be Jimmy. I hate to admit it, but knowing that I was talking to Matt, even as weird as our conversation was going, caused a whole colony of butterflies to spring up in my stomach.

A short while later, whatever had been placed over the receiver was lifted, and the person, who I now knew to be Matt, asked me again what my favorite scary movie was.

"Actually, I think my favorite scary movie of all time is A Night In Paris," I said.

It took all of my self-control to not start giggling uncontrollably.

"Wh...what did you say your favorite scary movie was?" he stuttered.

Anyone listening, which now included Torrence and Anna on the other house phones, would now be able to realize that I wasn't talking to some creepy stalker person, but I guess my answer had caught Matt off-guard.

"A Night In Paris,' I stated again. "I mean, come on. The title says it all."

Matt started to blubber about random nonsense, which sent Torrence and Anna into fits of uncontrollable laughter.

"What the fuck is that?" Matt asked once he realized that there was more than one person on my end of the phone.

"Matt, I'm just fucking with ya," I said as I started my own laughter.

"Is this Mallory?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's me," I said as the smile of all smiles appeared across my face.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Well...let me just say that next time, you should tell Jimmy not to be so loud when he tells you something while you're trying to prank call someone."

I heard the sound of Matt yelling a few choice words at Jimmy, then the sound of him chasing Jimmy around whatever house they were in, then Matt catching up to Jimmy and doing something hurtful to him. I mean, it had to have hurt for Jimmy to be able to the that high 'c' note.

"Damnit," Matt muttered. "What are you guys up to?" he asked, a smile on his features clearly evident by the tone-of-voice he was using.

"We're just sitting here, watching movies that we've already seen before," I said with a laugh. "What are you guys doing? Other than prank calling me?"

"Actually, nothing," he said with a laugh. "That's why we were attempting to prank call you in the first place. We're bored and have nothing to do."

"You're bored and have nothing to do, huh?" I said as I looked at Anna.

She just rolled her eyes at me, then sat back in her chair and laughed at me.

"Invite them over, stupid ass!" she loudly whispered.

"Hold on a second, Matt," I said. "But it's our movie night," I said to Anna and Torrence. "I don't want to ruin it for everyone."

"I swear to God, Mallory. If you were a man, I'd tell you to grow a pair of fucking balls," Torrence said as she then proceeded to bury her face in the couch pillow.

"Hey fuck you," I said to her.

"Just do it, Rory," Anna said with a smile.

I smiled back to her, then turned my attention back to the phone conversation.

"You still there, Matt?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm still here," he said. "Did I just hear an offer to fuck?"

I don't know why, but I blushed so bad at his comment. Anna and Torrence noticed this and pointed at me while laughing their asses off.

"No offense, sweetheart, but what I said was aimed at Torrence, not you," I said with a nervous laugh as I flipped off my sister and our other roommate.

"Oh. You guys are those kind of siblings," he said.

"That's gross, Matt," I said.

"Eh, you never know," he said, laughing as well.

It was silent on the line for a moment until one of the movie cases hit me in the head. I looked over at my sister, who was pointing at me with one hand, and threatening to pick up the phone with the other. This only meant that she would completely embarrass me if I didn't invite the guys over soon.

"You guys still bored?" I asked.

Yeah. That question made me feel like an idiotic loser. However, Matt just laughed.

"Yeah, we are actually," he said.

"Well, I know we're on the other side of town, but you guys can come over and watch some movies with us if you want some more company."

I could hear him turn from the phone and ask everyone else if they wanted to come over. I heard "yeah's", "sure's", and even a "sounds like fun". I did even notice a couple female voices thrown in there too. I guess Courtney and Syeira were over there with them too.

"Yeah, we'll be over in a bit," Matt said. "The girls are coming over too. That cool?"

"Of course," I said. "And tell Courtney and Sisi that I wanted to thank them for giving you our number."

"Will do," he said with a chuckle. "Alright. We'll be there in a bit. See ya"

"Bye, Matt."

With that, we both hung up the phone. I smiled to myself then set the phone down on the table and went to lean back in my chair. Right as I was about to put up the foot rest on the chair, I noticed my sister, and Anna staring at me with shit-eating grins on their faces.

"What the fuck are you guys staring at?" I asked them.

"You're not even dating this guy, let alone, hardly even know him, and you're already whipped," my sister told me.

"Oh please, you guys. I was just being nice."

"Yeah, right," Anna said. "Being nice, my ass. You just want to get into his pants."

I couldn't help but blush at her statement, because it was technically true. I mean, I did want to date him and stuff, but getting to have sex with someone as good looking as him would be a nice bonus.

I turned my head to the side to try and hide my face, which was now turning a deep red, only to realize that my attempts to do so weren't working.

"I FUCKING KNEW IT!" the both of them said at the same time.

They felt it was necessary to jump on me, and tease me, and Torrence was the first to climb off of our pile.

"There's no denying it now, sweetheart," my twin said to me with a malicious grin spread across her face as she sat back down in her spot. "And if you even so much as hint that you are denying your feelings for that boy, I swear, I will make your life a living hell."

"Thanks for the support, Torr," I said as I pushed Anna off of me.

"Oh, come off it, Rory," Torrence said back at me. "All your fucking life, I've seen you let guys walk all over you, and the ones that wouldn't walk all over you, you were too chicken-shit to go after. I'm tired of seeing you not being happy just because you're too much of a chicken-shit to get over your so-called fears."

"Well, that certainly was unexpected," Anna said.

"Indeed, it was," I said. "You are right, Torr. Even I'll admit that. Everything you just said was the absolute truth. But he has a girlfriend, and you know how I feel about going after someone who's already taken."

"What are you talking about, 'already taken?'" Torrence asked. "Matt has a girlfriend?"

"Uh, yeah," I said, looking at her like she was retarded. "You were in the living room today when she called him on his phone, then we had that whole convo with Sisi and Courtney about how Sisi doesn't like her."

"Hell no. I forgot about that. If I remembered, would I be sitting here, fucking asking your ass about it?" she asked. "And besides...it's obvious to everyone that you like Matt. At least, it is to the two of us, Sisi, and Courtney. Maybe it's just because I've never had this problem, but I still don't understand why you can't just tell someone you like them. Especially someone that's as great a catch as Matt."

I just shook my head at my twin's stupidity.

"Anyways, Mallory. Indeed, we do know about your feelings on the subject of dating someone who's already taken," Anna said. "But you also heard what Syeira said earlier. She doesn't like Matt's girlfriend, Courtney doesn't like her, and none of the guys like her. Hell, Matt is even starting to lose interest in her."

Before I could say anything, there was a knock at the door, followed by a loud "fucker!" being yelled by someone.

"I guess they're here," Anna said as she got up to answer the door.

"I fucking swear, Torrence," I said, pointing a warning finger at her. "If you say anything to Matt, I'll kick your ass so hard."

"Aye, aye, Captain!" said, standing up and saluting me.

An evil grin spread across her face, but I left the subject alone as everyone entered the living room. That grin of Torrence's meant one of two things; a) she was going to embarrass the hell out of me, or b) she was just trying to make me nervous. Either way, I was already nervous, so if that was Torrence's objective, she achieved it with flying colors.

The rest of the gang had brought in some beers, as if that had shocked anyone. Alcohol was passed around to those who wanted it, then seats were chosen. Matt and Jimmy were left without a seat, because we have limited seating choices, so Jimmy spread out on the floor, and Matt sat in front of the chair I was in with his back against it.

Five minutes after everyone sat down, Troy ended, so Jimmy put in The Fifth Element, then we all settled in to watch it.

We were almost a third of the way through the movie when were interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone. I swear, I think everyone we know got together and decided to interrupt us tonight, no matter what anyone was doing.

"Sorry, guys," Matt said as he stood up. "It's Heather. I'm gonna go into the other room to talk to her."

He walked down the hallway to one of our rooms and shut the door.

"I swear to God," Jimmy said as he got comfortable again. "He's like a fucking love-sick puppy. Everything she wants, she fucking gets from him. I know she's only in it for his money, but you can't tell him that."

"He'd probably kick your ass if you tried," Johnny said with a laugh.

"You guys seriously think Heather's only in it for the money?" I asked, trying to keep my voice low so that Matt wouldn't hear our conversation.

"Oh fuck yeah," all the guys said at the same time.

"She's all the time asking him for money," Brian said. "At least twice a week, she needs money from him for something."

"Holy shit," I said.

"Yeah," Johnny said, joining in. "If Matt buys Heather anything, she makes him keep the receipts. That way, if she finds the same item at a higher-priced store, she'll buy the more expensive one. Always with his money. She never spends her own when she's with him. Fuck, he's even paying for her apartment."

"And not only that," Zacky interjected. "She expects him to plan his whole schedule around her, her life, and her own schedule. No matter where Matt's at, or what he's doing, if Heather needs something, she expects him to drop everything to come to her aide. It's really quite sickening sometimes."

"Not to mention, annoying," Brian said. "There's nothing like sitting at the studio, trying to record some stuff, and her bitch-ass calls, wanting Matt to leave and open a can of dog food for her."

I just gave him a perplexed look. That didn't make any sense.

"That actually happened a couple times," he said, reading my expression. "She had just gotten her nails done, and didn't want to ruin them. So instead of asking her neighbor, she has to fucking bother Matt."

I just stayed silent. The entire room was silent other than the light sounds from the television, the volume being turned down when Matt's cell phone rang. The room stayed that way until we could hear Matt's voice start to get louder from the other room.

"What the fuck is your problem?!" he yelled.

It was silent while he waited for a response.

"They're my fucking friends, Heather! Why do you have such a fucking problem with them?"

Again, a few moments of silence.

"Bull-fucking-shit!" he yelled, his voice steadily getting even louder. "We're over at a fucking friend's house watching movies. What the hell is wrong with that?"

More silence.

"So-fucking-what if they're girls? If I were fucking cheating on you, don't you think I would not have answered my Goddamned phone?"

Everyone's eyes were looking towards the hallway at this point. None of us could actually believe that Matt was having this conversation...especially since Johnny told me that Heather was at the house with them, and said that she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to come over here with them.

"You're the one who said you didn't want to fucking come over with us!" Matt said. "Do you honestly think I'd be stupid enough to invite you to go somewhere with me if someone I was cheating on you with was gonna be there too?!"

The silence that came every time Matt was listening to Heather talk was almost unbearable. It was awkward to say the least, listening to Matt argue with his girlfriend that I had never met.

Matt's next statement was muffled, as I guess he was starting to think we could hear him yelling.

A few moments later, Matt walked out of he room he was in. He walked straight out of the apartment, and slammed the door. He didn't look at anyone, or acknowledge any of us in any way.

"Ummm..." I started. "Maybe you guys should go after him?" I suggested.

"Nah," Jimmy said. "He just needs to blow off some steam. He's probably on his way over to that bitch's house to kick her ass to the fucking curb already."

"One can only hope," Johnny and Zacky said at the same time. They laughed at each other, then gave each other a high five and went back to watching the movie.

"Guys, I'm just gonna go lay down," I said, standing from my chair.

I ignored everyone's protests to my leaving the living room, and walked to my own bedroom. I shut my door, then changed into some random pajamas and got underneath the covers. I shut off the lamp that was on, but didn't go to sleep.

I couldn't stop thinking about Matt and his girlfriend. In a way, I kinda felt responsible for what happened between them. If I hadn't invited them over, then Matt and his girlfriend would still be together, and Matt would still be happy. And that's what I wanted.

But I couldn't help but wonder if he was really happy with her.

About 10 minutes later, there was a soft knock on my door.

"Rory, you okay?"

I looked over towards my door to see the dark outline of Sisi standing in my doorway.

Without answering her, I just went back to staring at my ceiling. Syeira gently closed my door, then walked towards me and sat on the edge of my bed.

"Mallory, you alright?" she asked me once again.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I said.

"I know something's up. Just by the way you left the room, I can tell something's bothering you."

I loudly sighed, not really wanting to tell her why I suddenly left the room.

"Rory, talk to me," Syeira pleaded.

"I feel bad about Matt," I said.

"Why on earth would you feel bad about that?" she asked.

I sat up on the bed and turned on my lamp to get a better look at her.

"Because," I said.

"Oh. Well, that fucking explains everything," she said with sarcasm.

I laughed, not being able to help it.

"You better hurry up and tell me why the hell you're feeling bad for Matt," she said.

"I kinda feel like him and his girlfriend fighting was all my fault," I said.

"Why would it be your fault?"

"Because."

She just looked at me and cocked her eyebrows, her eyes saying "if you say that again, I'll kick your ass".

"What I meant, was," I started. "I think that if I hadn't invited you guys over, then Matt and Heather wouldn't be fighting."

She just rolled her eyes at me.

"I know you're not as sad about their potential break-up as you're letting on," she said.

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes at her.

"If he wanted to be with her so bad, he would've fucking blown us off for her. They were having problems anyways. Get over it Mal," she chuckled as she stood up from my bed.

"Now get your lazy, pathetic self out of bed and join us!" Sisi laughed as she pulled my covers off of me.

"Fucking bitch," I mumbled. "I have to fix all that shit later," and I punched her in the arm as she mocked me in her fit of giggles.

She looked appalled when I hit her and she slapped me on my arm, and I gave up and let her win. She wasn't going to stop until she did anyways, so I just spared myself the pain and bruises.

I walked back into the living room in my pajamas, Sisi following behind me, and I was about to walk back to my spot on the recliner, only to see it preoccupied with a bulky, colorful mass of a man.

A man named Matthew.

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled when he saw me walk in, and he got off of the chair, and sat down on the floor next to it, his back leaning up against it.

My cheeks started to heat up from the simple gesture that was making me blush currently. He didn't have to get off of the chair, but he did anyways.

For me.

I took the empty seat on the recliner that I was sitting on before, trying not to make the seat move too much so that I wouldn't disturb Matt.

I could tell by his facial features that he was upset about what happened before with Heather. I was seriously considering asking him what the result of the argument was, but my better judgement told me that he probably wouldn't be too interested in that conversation.

The end credits to The Fifth Element started to roll about half an hour later, and all the guys except for Matt stood.

"Well, kids," Brian said. "It's almost three in the morning, and we need to go home and get some fucking sleep cause we have a meeting with Larry tomorrow to discuss when we're gonna start recording the new album."

I got up off the chair I was in to stop the movie, and turned around to see Matt shoving Johnny and Brian off of him from his place on the floor. He stood and thanked us for inviting them over, then walked over to the door with the rest of the guys. I walked over towards the door behind him, so that I could close it when everyone was gone.

Right before he walked through the door, he turned around abruptly, almost making me run into him.

"Oh. Sorry," I mumbled when I had regained my stable balance.

"It's cool," he said. "But I just wanted to apologize."

"Apologize for what?" I asked.

"Well...for my girlfriend calling in the middle of everything, and for yelling and ruining the night for you guys."

Well, at least I know now that they aren't broken up yet if he's still calling her his girlfriend. But I think she was overreacting. He didn't deserve the way she treated him.

"You have nothing to apologize for," I said.

"Thanks," he said with a smile as he backed out of the door. "Bye, Mallory."

"Bye, Matt."

He turned and walked down the hallway, and I closed the door quietly behind him, locking it in the process.

I turned around to see my sister, as well as my roommate, staring at me with goofy-ass grins on their faces.

"What?" I snapped.

"You know that it's not nice to be happy about people breaking up, don't you?" Torrence asked me.

"Okay, so I'm a little happy that Matt and Heather are having problems. But so what? I can't imagine him wanting to get together with me. He doesn't like me anyways."

"Mallory...you're hopeless," Torrence said with a laugh.

"And you're fucking blind to boot," Anna said, mimicking Torrence's amusement.

I just stared at them dumbfounded as they continued to laugh and retreated to their rooms. It made me think even harder about Matt, but I tried to shake it off as I cleaned the mess that everyone had made.

I finished cleaning about half an hour later, and made my way to my own room. Torrence and Anna were already asleep, as was Jase, so I just went to my room, changed in to some pajamas, and layed down under my covers and tried to go to sleep, finally doing so as I thought of partying the next night......and how long it was going to take Matt and Heather to finally call it quits.