What Do You Want From Me?

“M-Matt Sanders?”

Matt just looked at the awestruck girl. His mind had yet to process just who it was, but the moment his eyes lay claim to those of her jade ones, it hit him instantly.

“Shit. I wasn’t even watching where I was going. I’m so fucking sorry,” Matt broke out, surprising even himself at the gentility of his voice. “Are you okay?”

Jessica looked him over for a moment, her breath a little shaky from the excitement of the situation at hand. “Yeah, I’m okay. Are you? Your head is bleeding pretty good.”

Matt winced in pain as he felt the wound on his forehead. He motioned for Jessica to stand aside so he could rise from the cramped driver’s seat. She did, and he advanced from the car, the sound of his back muscles crackling a little making Jess grimace.

“I think I’m alright, just a little banged up from that damn tree,” Matt pointed to the tree currently standing in the way of his car. Jessica nodded meekly, but still seemed concerned with Matt’s well-being as he rubbed at the laceration to try and make the bleeding stop.

“You should really get that looked at. Jesus, what were you even doing? You swerved right into my lane like a maniac!” She exclaimed suddenly, just now remembering who caused this and how he did it.

Matt flinched a little at her tone, but was nonetheless amused at her concern of his health. “I dozed off. I didn’t get much sleep last night so it just kinda hit me like the moment before I heard your horn. Look, I said I was sorry.”

“I know that,” Jessica began to say, still looking at the gash indented on the other’s forehead. “I’m just a little wound up. I’ve never been in an accident before.”

“Just relax, okay? Your car is fine and--”

“My car?” Jessica back lashed. “Do you honestly believe that I’m thinking of my car right now?”

Matt gave her a look of bewilderment. “Uh…I don’t know?”

“Boys, I swear to God, I’ll never understand you! You’re standing here bleeding from a car accident and you think I’m worried about my car? No, dumb-butt, that’s not what I’m worried about.”

Matt still looked at her, his expression not changing in the least bit, as the thoughts of what exactly she was concerned about crossed his mind. She certainly couldn’t be worried about him. He was just some scum bag delinquent and she was obviously wasting her time with his asinine tomfoolery. No, there certainly wasn’t a single reason in the world that Jessica Flaherty would be that concerned with Matt Sanders’ well-being.

“Well…what are you so worried about then?” Matt questioned her solemnly.

“Matt, you just crashed into a tree. I think it’s kind of self-explanatory that you’re who I’m worried about. Does it still hurt a lot?” She stood on her tippy toes to observe the wound a little better. Matt felt a sudden rush as she reached her hand up and ran her thumb across the gash on his head. “It’s not too bad, I guess. It probably hurts worse than it looks.”

“Yeah,” Matt nodded his agreement. He tried to swallow down the words that have been bothering him almost since he saw the girl standing outside his car door only moments before. He shook his head and threw all caution to the wind. “Hey, listen, I just want to apologize for what happened earlier today. It was all blown so far out of proportion by Jason and I didn’t mean for you to get involved like that.”

Jessica only looked at Matt, though the visibility of a small smile was clearly present. She definitely wasn’t used to someone caring about her feelings like this; most certainly not someone like Matt Sanders.

“Oh, well, that’s very nice of you. It was blown very far out of proportion. Jason never would have done anything. I don’t think he’s ever been in a fight in his life. He was just trying to show off for me and all the other ‘cool’ kids,” Jessica replied, accentuating the cool part with a roll of her eyes.

“Heh. I kinda figured. He’s a little maggot. No offense to you or anything, but you could really do so much better than him,” Matt stated, gaining a blush from Jess.

“That’s very nice of you,” She said again, a little surprised by his amiable words and attitude. She wasn’t expecting this kind of disposition from a guy like Matt, and felt a refreshing wave of admiralty toward him.

“Yeah, well, just call it as I see it,” He grinned back. She let out a little chuckle and looked down to the ground below her as a way to hide her shyness.

“You’re not like your other friends, are you?” She questioned as her eyes met his and she studied him over as if trying to draw some acceptable conclusion to his hospitality. Matt wanted to tell her how wrong she was for her judgmental behavior; she didn’t know Brian or Zack, and yet she assumes that they’re horrible people just because they’re withdrawn individuals and they constantly wear black clothes and smoke.

“I think,” Matt began to say after considering it. “Maybe sometime you should break yourself away from that social bubble you think you’re required to follow, and embrace the real you; the one who isn’t told what’s right and can make the decisions all by herself. You know what I’m saying?”

Jessica let out a tiny chuckle and sighed. “You should really get that checked out. I wouldn’t want it to get infected or something.”

Matt grinned at her and nodded his head. Jessica returned the grin and slowly turned on her heel to make her way back over to her dormant vehicle. Matt watched the girl’s every move, sizing her up from top to bottom, and holding the grin on his face as he liked what he saw. The grinned dropped though when he noticed Jessica stop her movements just as she was about to enter the car and turn back around to look at him.

“Listen, I know we’ve hit some kind of a break through here. You’re a nice guy and I’m sorry if I’ve been nasty to you any time before this,” She posed at him as she stood just outside her car.

“Don’t worry about it, Red,” Matt returned, retaking his signature grin and enjoying it even more when Jessica’s lips turned into one of her own.

“I also wanted to tell you not to take it personal if I see you at school and don’t say hi or even acknowledge you,” She continued, her head dropping.

Matt sighed to himself and nodded his head. “It’s alright. Maybe I’ll get lucky and we’ll get into another almost car accident again or something.”

Matt even surprised himself with the last part, but was rewarded with a bright smile from the red head as she bid her farewell and got back in her car. He was thoroughly satisfied with the outcome of what started out as a dreadful situation, and too retook his original position in his car.

He was almost immediately met with a text message by the time his bearing’s had been returned, but his chipper attitude still remained when he read the message and began his reply to Brian, who of course was wondering what in the world was taking Matt so long. Matt threw his phone in the passenger seat and started his car once again, pushing the gear in reverse, and easing the slightly dinged up vehicle from where it was pressed up against the tree.



Zack and Brian were already sitting out in front of the latter’s house by the time Matt pulled up. They held their position on the polished front patio as Matt exited his car, smile still plastered on his face, and sauntered up the stone walkway to where they sat.

“What are you all smiles about?” Brian questioned him as soon as he sat down on the other side of Zack.

“And what the hell happened to your head?” Zack continued as he leaned over toward the bigger man and investigated the small gash he realized wasn’t there earlier.

“Oh, this?” Matt lifted his hand to lightly touch the wound. “Nothing, I just hit it when I was getting back in the car on my way over here.”

Matt studied his two friends, and was pleased to see they both bought his lie. The smile from before found its way back to his lips as he thought about the day’s events, and he knew right then and there that he was never going to forget it.