Maybe Holding Hands Wasn't Such a Good Idea

Matt and I had ended up at the mall later Monday afternoon and I found a dress for the homecoming dance without even trying—it was a silk knee length pale gold dress—and I’m sure that it would be suitable to wear on Saturday. When I’d asked Matt if he was going to the dance he had said that he wasn’t entirely sure if he was going or not and that it was still too early to tell.

And after a day of being completely distracted by Matt, who I couldn’t have been more grateful toward, I’d asked him to drop me back off at school so I could talk to Tyler.

When I approached the practice field and took a seat on the bleachers that were warmed by the bright afternoon sun, Tyler spotted me almost instantly and jogged off the field toward me despite Coach blowing his whistle and turning red in the face as he called Tyler to “get his ass back on the line and throw the damn ball!”

“Coach looks like he’s having a fit,” I said as Tyler neared me.

Without looking back, Tyler rolled his eyes. “He can wait a minute,” he said as he removed his helmet.

I looked at Coach over Tyler’s shoulder; he threw his clipboard down on the grass so hard that it bounced up two feet before landing back on the ground. “I don’t know about that. So why’d you come over here?” I asked ignoring the vulgarities coming from the field.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Tyler said wiping some of his sweat drenched hair away from his forehead.

“Oh, so now I need an excuse to come see my boyfriend?” I bit my lip shyly. “I haven’t seen you in forever. At least it feels that way, so I thought I’d come down and watch you practice for a bit.”

“Vaughn! If you don’t get back here now, I’ll have you running laps until the end of the season!”

“He’s getting pretty pissed. Maybe you should head back,” I said.

“Not before I get a kiss from my girl,” Tyler smirked.

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll catch my cooties?” I asked playfully.

“I’m willing to risk it,” he said as he wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me close against his pad-covered body. He lips captured mine softly before he began to kiss me more intensely.

The football team behind him started going nuts and cheering us on like they’d never seen anyone kissing in public before.

When we pulled apart I knew my face was bright red, Tyler leaned his forehead against mine and smiled down at me. “Are you staying until practice is over?”

I nodded.

“Good. You want to get something to eat after?”

“Sure,” I smiled.

“That’s it, Vaughn!” Coach bellowed. “Ten laps after practice! Followed by ten suicides!”

The guys on the team “Oohed,” at Coach’s threat.

“Oops,” I laughed. “You should get back now before Coach really decides to give you hell.”

Tyler chuckled and pecked my lips softly once more. “You’re worth any punishment.” And then he ran back to field to cheers and light, playful shoves from the helmeted players. The guys huddled up quickly after some more barking from Coach and Tyler started shouting out the play for the drill they were running.

“Come on, ladies,” Coach shouted red-faced. “One more time, line it up and do it right this time. Jenkins, block for Vaughn like you’re supposed to, you left him open just now! You can’t do that on game days otherwise the other guys will run over him and we’re fucked!”

Even from where I sat in the stands, I could see a vein throbbing harshly in Coach’s forehead. I thought it was going to burst without warning at any given moment. With a shake of my head, I tried to make myself comfortable on the unyielding bleachers and started texting Kara to pass the time.

Twenty minutes later, and much shouting from Coach to Tyler telling him “not to showboat” for me, football practice ended. The large sweaty guys marched off the field and entered the locker room, which the exception of Tyler who took off his helmet started running his laps with a grin on his face.

As soon as Tyler was on the opposite side of the practice field, Coach turned to me and motioned me over to him.

I met him on the track. “Yeah, Coach?”

“Look, I understand that you’re here for support and all that lovey bullshit, but you’re distracting Vaughn when he needs to be concentrating. I can’t have him losing focus, period,” his loud voice boomed at me. “And you are definitely distracting him.”

“What are you trying to say, Coach?” I asked even though I had a pretty good idea what was coming next.

“Don’t make a habit of coming to watch Vaughn practice, sweetheart,” he glared down at me before he turned and walked toward the locker rooms.

“Don’t call me sweetheart!” I shouted at his back.

Coach paused halfway to the building and for a moment I thought he was going to turn back and say something but instead, he shook his head and continued on, ignoring me.

Tyler ran up to me then. “What was that all about?”

“Nothing. Coach and I were just chatting. And what are you doing here talking with me? Go on and finish up your laps,” I playfully shooed him away from me.

“Yes, ma’am,” Tyler nodded before jogging off.

After Tyler finished his laps, suicides and showered, he drove us to Nicky’s in his mother’s silver Volvo. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from probing too deeply about why his Mustang was in the shop. When we got to Nicky’s, Tyler ordered the largest cheese burger on the menu—completely loaded, with extra bacon—and two orders of fries along with a large soda and a slice of apple pie just for himself.

Halfway through our meal, I told him that I was at school that morning but left before first period even started. When he asked why, I pulled out the folded note from my pocket and saw his eyes widen as he read the threat directed at me.

“Someone wants you to break up with me?” He asked through a mouthful of fries.

“No, not you,” I looked down at my lap where my hands were busy shedding my napkin into confetti.

“What?”

“Don’t freak out,” I said.

Tyler crossed his arms over his chest, his food forgotten for the moment, and silently stared at me, waiting for me to continue. Figuring that was as good a promise as I could expect I took a breath and started my explanation.

“The note is from Tiffany Walsh,” I said.

Tyler eyebrow quirked up in surprise. “Isn’t she that psycho loner chick?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Now, I can’t prove she left me this note, but uh, I can’t think of anyone else who would.”

“Why is she leaving you threats?” Tyler asked as he reached forward with his hand, palm up.

I put my hand in his and felt a wave of comfort flow up through my hand and reminded me that I wasn’t alone. “She thinks I’m dating her ex-boyfriend.”

“Who’s her ex?”

“Remember when I asked you to not freak out?”

“Who?”

My voice was quiet when I answered him. “Matt Sanders.”

Tyler looked away from me and out the window and I could see that he was trying not to let his anger get the best of him.

I took advantage of his silence and started lying quickly, the words spilling from my lips faster than I could even think of them.

“Last week, Matt had told me that Tiffany was pretty much stalking him everywhere he went and I guess she’d seen me at the Sanders’s house a lot when I would be hanging out with Kara. When Matt had finally got her to realize that he didn’t want to date her anymore, she accused him of breaking it off with her so he could date me,” I said quickly and hoped it made sense seeing as how I came up with that on the spot. “Then I find this on my locker this morning and Matt told me she was crazy obsessed with him, what else was I supposed to think? And now she has it in her head that Matt and I are like together, even though he told her I had a boyfriend.”

Tyler’s thumb had been gently stroking my knuckles during my explanation but stopped when he turned back to face me, a thoughtful look on his face.

“What if I tell her that I’m actually your boyfriend and that you’re not dating Sanders?”

I bit back my panic and managed to remain calm. “That won’t work,” I said thankful that my voice remained even.

“So you’d rather let her think that you’re dating him, not me and receive threats?” Tyler asked incredulously.

“No, Tyler. It’s just when Matt was telling me about this, he mentioned that once Tiffany believes something, nothing can change her mind. Think about it, the whole school knows you and I are together.” With the exception of Matt’s friends and Tiffany, I said in my head. “But Tiffany thinks I’m dating Matt. I just thought I should let you know, seeing as how you are my boyfriend.”

“Why didn’t you tell me last week?” He asked.

“I didn’t think Matt was serious. Of course, that was before I found this taped to my locker,” I said nodding at the note on the table. “And this is pretty much the first time we’ve been able to get together in a long time.”

“You still should have told me,” Tyler said with a slight scowl creasing his forehead.

“When? Last week when I was sick? Or after school when you have football practice? When would have been a good time to tell you?”

Tyler sighed and I saw a tiny smile form on his mouth. “You do have a point there, I guess. But, babe, I already told you how crazy first semester was going to be for me. And that the craziness would last until football season was over.”

“I know you did, I guess I just didn’t realize how much we were going to be apart until it happened,” I said softly. “Did I ever tell you that I can’t wait to watch you play on Friday?”

Tyler smiled over at me and I took it as a sign that the Tiffany subject was dropped. For now at least.

“The first touchdown we score is gonna be for you,” he stood up and leaned forward to kiss me. “And then it’s your birthday and the dance on Saturday.”

“I already bought my dress,” I said. “And my parents want to meet you on Saturday,” I added.

Tyler grinned. “It’s about time. You met my parents what? A week after we started dating?” He laughed.

“Something like that,” I smiled before biting at my bottom lip.

“What’s with that face?” Tyler asked.

“It’s nothing,” I said. “My parents are gonna love you.”

“Naturally.” He smirked. “But seriously, what are you worried about?”

“It’s just Carver. He’s gonna be there when you meet my parents. And I don’t want him to scare you away,” I said truthfully.

“After running those laps and doing those suicides for you, do you think anything can scare me away?”

I smiled at him. “I guess not.”

“Damn straight,” he said as he stood up to give me another kiss. “Of course,” he said sitting down, “if you introduce me to Carver now, you won’t have anything to worry about on Saturday.”

I shook my head. “No way. I definitely want a room full of witnesses when you two meet for the first time.”

The rest of the week passed in the same manner as last week, except, I didn’t get sick and I spent a little more time with Tyler, after his practices ended—mainly to keep Tyler on Coach’s good side so he wouldn’t have to run any more laps or do those suicide things. It wasn’t exactly easy managing my time between Tyler, Matt, Kara and my homework, but I had somehow managed to pull it off without any slip ups.

On Tuesday during lunch, I told Matt that I let Tyler know about the threat Tiffany made against me, all the while being completely cognizant of her glare on the back of my head. I’m sure she was trying to make the phrase if looks could kill come true as she kept her eyes on me. Thankfully, though, I didn’t get any more notes from Tiffany on or in my locker the rest of the week threatening me to stay away from Matt.

After much pleading, begging and bargaining, I finally got Kara to agree to go to Friday’s game with me. Of course, Kara being Kara, made me agree to her terms if I wanted her to go to the game with me. She had two conditions; the first was that she got to choose all the movies we got to watch for our next three movie nights. And the second was that I had to make my Chinese stir fry for our movie nights.

The second condition, I had absolutely no problem with; I didn’t mind cooking in the least. The first, however, was a great concession on my part; Kara loved watching Thelma & Louise and I had a feeling that I was in for back to back marathons for the next three weeks. Although Kara claimed that she loved Thelma and Louise’s friendship, I had a sneaking suspicion that she loved watching Brad Pitt in that movie more than she loved the women’s friendship. Another part of me suspected that she just liked to see me suffer. Of course, it was probably a great compromise on Kara’s part too if she was willing to go to the game with me to cheer on my boyfriend, especially when she disliked football even more than I did.

Early on Friday morning, at almost two in the morning, I was lying on my bed listening to music as I tried to fall asleep when the light turned on in my room.

I sat up on my bed and felt a large smile spread on my face.

“Mom! Dad! You’re home!” I said as I launched myself at my parents and hugged them both and felt their arms circle around me. “I missed you guys.”

“Hi, honey,” my mother said once we pulled away from our group hug. “Oh, Cameron, look. Olivia just gets more and more beautiful every time I see her.”

I sighed and took a quick moment to just look at the faces I hadn’t seen in what felt like forever. Their clothes were wrinkled and worn and they looked like they’d been spending a lot of time in the sun. Man, it felt so good to finally have them home again. I felt myself blush. “You’re only saying that because you’re my mom and you have to.”

“And taller,” my dad chuckled, ignoring my comment. “How is our almost birthday girl?”

My grinned widened. “Happy now that you two are here.”

“Well, we just wanted to see you before we got settled in,” my mom said as she hugged me again and planted a kiss on my forehead. “We missed you so much, Liv.”

“Maybe we should let Liv get some sleep, Gwen,” my dad said as he hugged me. “She does have school in the morning and we have to go into the hospital.”

My mom and I pouted at the same time. “But you guys just got home,” I said. “I want to hear all about your trip.”

My dad’s smile was tired and I could see that he and my mom were ready to fall where they stood. “We’ll have plenty of time for that later. But right now, we all need to get some sleep.”

“Fine,” I sighed reluctantly, knowing that my dad was right; we all did need to get some rest for the morning. I had a test in my Spanish class that I was only feeling faintly confident toward. “Good night.”

“Night, sweetheart. See you in the morning,” my mom said as she and my dad left my room, closing the door behind them.

I ran back to my bed and jumped right in. My cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so widely, but I didn’t care, my parents were finally home! Despite the fact that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight after seeing my parents—I was feeling too hyper—I lay in bed anyway, anxiously awaiting sunrise.

After a long breakfast with my parents—that I made for them as a welcome home gesture—where we caught each other up on the recent things that had been happening lately, I was now on my way to Matt and Kara’s house.

James had seen my smile that morning and immediately knew that my parents were home. After he gave me a little pre-birthday gift—a blueberry muffin that I had to make myself eat so he wouldn’t feel bad even though I was already more than full from breakfast with my folks—he dropped me off at Matt and Kara’s with another ‘happy birthday and give ‘em hell, kid”.

“So I take it the plans are the same for your birthday tomorrow?” Kara asked as Matt drove us to school.

I nodded a large, happy grin on my face. I was sure the smile was quickly becoming a permanent feature and that nothing would be able to get me to stop. “Yeah, almost. You, me, Carver, my folks and Tyler are having lunch tomorrow.”

Kara looked over at me front the passenger seat with a quirked eyebrow.

“What?” I asked as she continued to stare at me.

“You’re finally introducing your Tyler to your parents?”

“Yes. And I probably would have introduced them sooner if they hadn’t been out of the country, K.”

“Are you nervous?” She asked.

“No. What I am nervous about is when I introduce Tyler to Carver. I just hope Carver behaves himself.”

“Good luck with that,” Matt chuckled.

I shot him a glance and couldn’t keep from smiling. Matt knew firsthand how intimidating Carver could be when he wanted to be. And I had a feeling he would wish that kind of torment on Tyler. “Thanks,” I said with a soft giggle. “That really means a lot.”

The whole day had passed more quickly than I thought was possible for a Friday and Kara and I were exiting the gym after the pep rally was over. Because Tyler was my boyfriend and it was homecoming, I had to don his football jersey and play some weird game with the other players’ girlfriends. I had no idea what I was doing the whole time and I lost. It was painful. Kara was laughing at me the whole time and I knew it would be awhile before she’d let me live it down. If she ever let me live it down.

When we reached Matt’s truck and hopped in, my cheeks were still furiously red with my embarrassment. When I looked over at Matt, he had a deep scowl on his face. I exchanged a loaded look with Kara and nodded my head slightly toward Matt.

“Something wrong?” Kara asked.

I saw Matt’s grip tighten on the steering wheel. “Tiffany,” he said through grated teeth.

My breath caught in my throat and I had to remind myself to relax and take a deep breath. I started looking over my shoulder at the other cars on the road, trying to see if I could spot her.

“Why can’t she just get over you?” Kara asked rhetorically. “What did she do now?” She asked, a dark look crossed her face.

“It doesn’t matter,” Matt said in a tone that forbade further questions and turned the volume on the stereo up so that no conversation could be made over the loud music.

Kara and I took the hint and didn’t ask again. I could tell that even though Matt was obviously upset with whatever happened between him and Tiffany, he refrained from taking his anger out on the gas pedal. His hazel eyes kept locking with my brown eyes in the rearview mirror as though to constantly remind himself why he couldn’t start speeding down the road. And for his steely control, I was infinitely grateful.

When we got to their house, Kara tried to ignore Matt’s mood and had me make my Chinese stir fry while she sat on the kitchen counter and watched me as I cooked, making fun of me and my poor performance earlier at the pep rally.

After Kara and I ate up in her room, we changed into the school’s football shirts with the mascot on them that I’d bought earlier in the week.

“So are your parents coming to the game tonight?”

“No,” I sighed. “They have too much to catch up on at the hospital and everything, but they did say that they would try to catch the next game.”

“Wow,” Kara whistled. “You’re folks aren’t even home for one full day yet and they’re already back at the salt mines.”

“I know. But trying to keep them from working is harder than getting the sun to start rising in the west and setting in the east.”

Later that night, Kara and I were at the new stadium—that my parents had donated the money toward for the complete makeover; the construction took most of the summer, but the new stadium definitely looked better than the old one—sitting on the uncomfortable steel seats, waiting for the game to be over. To be honest, I cheered for Tyler whenever I saw him take the field, but as far as knowing what was going on during the game, I had no idea what was happening. After our team scored the first touchdown, Tyler turned to the crowd and pounded his chest in celebration. I only knew that our football team took a large early lead, 14 to 3, and kept that lead throughout the whole game. The end score was 42 to 10 and even I knew the other team got slaughtered.

Kara and I ran into Tyler’s parents and we talked to them while waiting for Tyler to come out of the change rooms. After congratulating Tyler on the win and exchanging a few chaste kisses with him—his parents were still nearby—Matt’s truck pulled up and we said good night. Tyler was a little upset that I couldn’t go to some party with him but said he’d call me later.

Kara reheated some of the Chinese and we both got ready for bed. I held back a groan as Kara popped in Thelma & Louise into the DVD player. We watched the movie and ate the leftovers from earlier. Halfway through the movie, I heard soft snores coming from Kara and stopped the movie, wishing that she had fallen asleep sooner. I picked up our dishes and went downstairs to wash them up.

When I entered the kitchen, I saw Matt sitting at the table with a plate of the stir fry in front of him. I nodded my head in acknowledgement and began washing mine and Kara’s dishes. When I was done, I got a glass of water and joined Matt at the table.

“That was really good,” he said pointing down at his empty plate.

“Thanks,” I smiled.

“Kara already asleep?”

I nodded. “So what happened with Tiffany?”

Matt breathed deeply and exhaled loudly. He ran his hands roughly over his face before looking back over at me. “She cornered me after school and started begging me to break it off with you so we could get back together. Apparently she doesn’t think you’re right for me or something. I wasn’t paying too much attention to her.” He put his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands. “I just wish she’d get over me already. Or at least find someone else to fucking obsess over and follow around.”

I couldn’t think of anything to say so I just sat there silently tracing the wood grain patterns on the table with my finger. My head snapped up when Matt’s hand covered mine.

His eyes stared intently into mine and I had to swallow to ease the sudden tightness in my throat.

“Happy birthday, Liv,” his voice was quiet and gravelly.

I checked the time on the microwave and saw the green numbers glowing brightly. It was one minute after midnight and I was officially sixteen. “Thanks,” I smiled at him.

Matt stood up and pulled me to my feet, his large arms engulfed me in a tight hug close to his firm, warm chest and we just stood there in the middle of his kitchen hugging each other, the smell of his cologne entering my nose in soft, pleasant waves. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Matt gently pushed me away from him and planted a soft, lingering kiss on my forehead. Without saying a single word Matt left me standing there in the kitchen alone as he went upstairs.

I had stayed rooted to the spot a few more minutes, too confused by Matt’s actions to even know where to begin thinking about why he’d acted the way he had, before I went back into Kara’s room and settled into my sleeping bag. It didn’t take me long to fall asleep seeing as how I hadn’t slept last night and got very little sleep the night before.

Despite falling asleep after Kara had, I was still the first one to wake up and took advantage of the bathroom before waking Kara up. When I walked back into Kara’s room, I was surprised to see her empty bed. I wandered downstairs and could hear some weird noises coming from the kitchen. As I neared the kitchen, I could smell coffee being brewed and could hear bacon sizzling in a frying pan.

My eyes strayed to the spot where Matt and I had hugged for the longest time last night. I wasn’t sure if I could ever come into Kara’s kitchen from now on without remembering what happened last night.

“Hey,” I said to Kara, tearing my mind away from the memory.

She turned to face me from her spot by the stove. “Good morning, birthday girl.”

“Good morning,” I said walking closer and inspecting Kara’s actions.

“Happy birthday,” she said as she cracked some eggs into a bowl and started beating them.

“Thanks. Are you making me breakfast?” I asked as I poured myself a cup of coffee.

Kara smiled. “Yeah. Figured it was the least I could do for my best friend for her sweet sixteen.”

I smiled as I took a seat at the table and watched Kara as she busied herself around the kitchen making me a birthday breakfast.

“Thanks, K,” I said once Kara placed a plate in front of me covered in scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, a few strawberries, and a couple of previously frozen toaster waffles. “This is so awesome.”

After breakfast was over and Kara washed up, we went back into her room and watched Phineas & Ferb. We were slightly obsessed with that show. When the show was over, I changed out of my pajamas into the clothes I’d brought with me and checked my phone for any missed calls or text messages while Kara was straightening her hair.

I had some texts from my friends wishing me a happy birthday. I quickly sent them thank you texts and smiled when my phone started vibrating in my hands. Tyler was calling me.

“Hello,” I answered the phone with a smile as I sat down on Kara’s bed.

“Hey. Happy birthday, babe,” Tyler said. His voice sounded a little scratchy and I knew that he had just woken up.

“Thanks, sleepyhead,” I laughed softly. “Late night?”

“Yeah,” Tyler chuckled. “The party was pretty awesome, I wished you could have been there with me, it would have made the night perfect. Anyway, I just wanted to hear your voice before seeing you later this afternoon.”

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my lips. “I’ll see you later, Ty.”

“’kay. Love you.”

I closed my eyes at his words and I took a deep breath. “Love you, too. Bye.”

“Bye,” he said and we both hung up.

I tossed my phone onto Kara’s bed and looked toward the doorway to see Matt there, his arms crossed over his large chest, a knowing look on his face.

“Don’t say it,” I muttered.

“Do you think he knows?” Matt asked.

My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Do you think Vaughn knows that you’re not really in love with him?”

My mouth popped open and I made some sputtering sounds meant to deny what Matt had just said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Matt,” I finally managed to say. “I do...love Tyler.”

“See, there it was again,” Matt said quickly, stepping into Kara’s room and sitting down next to me on her bed. “That slight hesitation in your voice.”

“I don’t know what you’re...” I looked away from him, unable to finish my denial. “How did you know?”

“For the most part, chicks are thrilled when a guy drops the L bomb, they can’t wait to say it back. But every time I’ve been around you when you tell Vaughn that you love him, you hesitate, like you have to give yourself a second to get the words out; it doesn’t even sound like you mean it.”

“Because I don’t,” I said softly.

Matt grinned. “I knew it.”

I shook my head at him and rolled my eyes. “It’s not like I don’t care about Tyler. I do, I really care about him a lot. But I know I’m not in love with him.”

“So why do you tell him that you love him?”

I let out a soft sigh and started twisting my fingers together in my lap knowing that I was about to tell Matt the truth and that I couldn’t stop myself. “I tell him I do because I know he’s in love with me. We’d only been together for a month when he told me for the first time,” I said staring at my hands, I couldn’t make myself look anywhere else, much less at Matt as I confessed. “And then he was just looking at me with this expression, like he was waiting for me to say it back. Before I knew what was happening, I said I loved him and then his eyes just lit up. I’d never seen anyone’s eyes do that when they were looking at me and I’d never felt so horrible in my life.

“Every time he tells me that he loves me,” I paused my quiet declaration, not quite capable of finishing my sentence and cleared my throat of the guilty lump that had formed there. “I think, maybe someday, I could fall in love with him. I’m a bad person, aren’t I? For lying to him?”

When a few moments had passed and Matt hadn’t said anything, I took a chance and finally looked up at him. His eyes seemed more honey brown than hazel today as they narrowed on my face.

“No, Liv. I don’t think you could ever be a bad person,” his quiet voice was serious with his sincerity. “And as much as I hate Vaughn, I think he’s a lucky bastard to be able to call you his girlfriend.”

Matt left Kara’s room after that and I just stared at the spot on the bed that he had just occupied. Feeling even more confused than I was last night after he held me in the kitchen and then left without saying a word.

Lunch, thankfully, went better than I could even let myself hope for. On the way to my parent’s friend’s restaurant, I told Carver not to mention that Matt had stayed with me last weekend when I was sick to Tyler. He promised he wouldn’t so long as I told him the reason behind my request. With all the deals I’d been making in the last week, I felt the burden lay heavy on my shoulders. I would just be glad when I didn’t have to watch myself to ensure that I didn’t say the wrong thing at the wrong time anymore.

Carver, however, would glare in Tyler’s direction whenever he would take hold of my hand or plant an innocent kiss on my cheek. I was glad that I was seated between Tyler and Carver; at least I was in a position to give Tyler a heads up in case Carver decided to make a move. My parents, on the other hand, couldn’t stop smiling at the easy affections passed between Tyler and I. All in all, lunch was a success. My parents seemed to like Tyler and had asked him questions about football and his plans for college.

At the end of the meal, Tyler excused himself to get something from his car. When he came back, he was holding three identical yellow gift bags and handed one to my each of my parents and myself.

“The team and I wanted to thank you for your mind-blowing and generous donation that enabled the school to pay for the new stadium,” he said as he sat down. “It’s incredible playing on the new turf and seeing the crowd cheering us on up in the stands.”

The three of us looked in the bags and pulled out the jerseys and held them up. They were exactly like the football jerseys the team would wear while playing. They said Masters on the back of them. My parents’ jerseys had the number ‘5’ on them and mine had an ‘11’; which was Tyler’s jersey number.

“Thank you,” my mother said to him. “These are great. And we’ll definitely be wearing them when we go out to a game.”

“And this is for you, Liv,” Tyler said reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a small silver box with a dark blue bow wrapped around it. “Happy birthday,” he said as he kissed my cheek once more.

I smiled as I opened the box. Inside was a silver necklace with a silver ‘T’ on the delicate chain. “Thank you,” I beamed up at him. “I love it,” I said taking it out of the box.

Tyler took the necklace out of my hands and motioned for me to turn around. I shifted my hair to the side as he put the necklace on for me. The cold metal made me shiver as it made contact with my skin. I looked at the ‘T’ before turning back to Tyler and hugging him.

Unfortunately, Tyler had to leave shortly after that because he had a few errands to run before the dance that night and missed out on getting a piece of birthday cheesecake. My parents, Carver—who was Mr. Charming now that Tyler was gone—and Kara decided to give me their gifts.

Kara had gotten me a plush stuffed Perry the platypus that made his signature purring-growling sound when I squeezed his middle.

Carver got me a beautiful brownish red leather bound journal. It was so beautiful that I didn’t want to write in it.

My parents’ gift confused me when I stared at the photo they handed me. The photo was of a silver Toyota Prius.

“Happy birthday,” they said together.

“You got me a car?” I asked.

They both nodded and beamed at me. I forced a smile to my lips and hugged them.

“Thank you,” I said. “I love it.”

“Well, we figured you’d be wanting to get your driver’s license soon,” my dad said.

“And we wanted to get you something reliable to drive around in,” my mom finished. “It’s back at the house in the garage.”

“Great,” I said forcing out some enthusiasm. “I can’t wait to drive it.”

After we had cake and everyone had given me my birthday gifts, we left the restaurant. Kara and I drove back with Carver to my house so we could get ready for the dance and my parents went back to the hospital.

Kara and I were up in my room before she asked me, “You hate that car, don’t you?”

“No,” I said. “I just didn’t know they were getting me a car. It’s just a little weird is all.”

“Because you’d rather drive something that gets like ten miles per gallon of gas and roars like a monster when you rev the engine?”

I smiled sheepishly and nodded. “Come on,” I said. “We have to get ready for the dance.”

Kara and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching a couple of movies before we even started to get ready for the dance. I had on my pale gold silk dress—and the necklace Tyler gave me—and Kara had on a black strapless dress. We’d curled each other’s hair and while I wore mine down, Kara’s was half up. After we were both dressed, hair done and make-up on she sighed as she sat on my bed.

“Why am I even going to this thing tonight when I don’t have a date?” She asked.

“Because it’s my birthday and you’re my best friend in the entire universe and you’re going to keep me sane when we hang out with Tyler and his friends tonight. Please, Kara, don’t leave me to endure all that jock-talk on my own.”

“Fine,” Kara huffed over-dramatically before she smiled. “Only because it’s your birthday.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

Tyler picked us up half an hour later. And after many pictures taken by Carver we were ready to go. When we got to the school, Tyler grabbed my hand and I linked my arm through Kara’s and we headed toward the gym.

Streamers and balloons in the school colors littered the gym. The pop music was blaring loudly through the speakers and there were many dancing bodies in the middle of the gym being closely monitored by the school chaperones.

Tyler dragged me off to the corner of the gym where his friends were and I dragged Kara with us. After a lot of small talk, Tyler titled his head to the dance floor with a smile. I nodded and we went out to dance. A few dances later we stopped for some lemonade that was being guarded by one of the school’s guidance counselors to prevent anyone pouring anything foreign into the drinks.

I looked around and noticed that Kara was dancing with one of Tyler’s teammates whose name I couldn’t remember. I smiled once I caught her eye and she blushed. She might have come to the dance alone but I doubted she wouldn’t have anyone to dance with for the rest of the night.

An hour had passed and another one of the school’s guidance counselors took the stage as the music was stopped.

“I hope everyone is having a nice evening,” she said into the mic. “Well, congratulations to the football team for their victory over the Pirates last night. Good job, boys!”

A loud roar of clapping and cheering erupted in the gym.

“Yes, well,” she said trying to quell the cheering. “Without further ado, I’d like to announce this year’s homecoming king and queen.” She tore open the envelope that held the names of the winners and after a brief pause, she shook her head with an obvious smile. “Surprise, surprise. Tyler Vaughn and Sandy Duncan, please come up here to be crowned.”

Tyler smiled and kissed me before taking the stage. I knew he was going to win king. But I wasn’t happy that Sandy had won queen knowing that she and Tyler would be sharing a dance soon. Sandy, of course, had a large triumphant grin on her face that widened once her eyes met mine as she stood next to Tyler on the stage. She wrapped her hand around his arm and stood a little too close to him for my liking.

It wasn’t exactly a secret that Sandy hated the fact that Tyler and I were together. She was all smiles and would act like we were the best of friends in front of Tyler but when it was just me, she ignored me completely. The feeling of hate was mutual.

Live it up, I thought as I stared at her on the stage, crown on her head and a bouquet of roses in her arms. He’s my boyfriend and not yours, sweetheart.

On cue, a slow song started up and Tyler led Sandy down to the middle of the dance floor so that they could share their dance. A spotlight hit them and the rest of the gym darkened as the students made a large circle around them.

“May I have this dance?”

I turned around at the familiar raspy voice and smiled. “I didn’t think you were coming tonight, Matt.”

Matt was dressed in a white button down shirt with a black jacket on top and black slacks. “The guys wanted to come tonight,” he smiled and shrugged and held out his hand toward me in silent invitation.

I put my hand in Matt’s and he pulled me close and started spinning us slowly on the dance floor. We didn’t exchange a single word as we stared up at each other and swayed to the music. I couldn’t help but feel like Matt and I were the only two people in the gym and I rolled my eyes at myself at the overly cliché thought as I continued to dance closely with him.

Halfway through mine and Matt’s dance I felt a hand on my shoulder and I was being pulled away from Matt.

“What the hell, Liv?” Tyler’s angry voice managed to pop the bubble of intimacy in my head. “What are you doing with him?”

I felt myself blushing as I heard the music stop and felt several hundred pairs of curious eyes on the three of us.

“We w-were just,” I stuttered quietly.

“We were just dancing, Vaughn,” Matt said for me and I shot him a grateful glance. “Chill out.”

“Yeah, relax, bro, why shouldn’t Liv dance with her boyfriend?” Jimmy asked popping up out of nowhere.

I closed my eyes at Jimmy’s words. Why now?

“Boyfriend? Liv, what is he talking about?” Tyler asked me.

I opened my eyes and saw that Tyler’s anger was growing along with his confusion.

“Matt and Liv are together,” Jimmy said slowly as though explaining two plus two equals four to a five year old. “Not that it’s any of your business or anything.”

“Shut up, Jim,” Matt said.

“No, I’m Liv’s boyfriend,” Tyler said firmly as he removed the crown from his head.

This isn’t happening right now, I chanted inside my head. Please don’t let this be happening right now.

“Are you sure about that?” Tiffany asked as she slinked up to us in a dress as green as her eyes, a smirk on her face and a manila folder in her hands.

Despite being angry with me, Tyler took a protective step in front of me when he saw Tiffany approaching. Matt mirrored his actions.

“What do you mean?” Tyler asked as he looked at Tiffany warily.

Tiffany’s smirk widened. “I have some photos here of Matt and her,” she sneered at me, “that will prove she’s been seeing him behind your back.”

Tyler snatched the folder from Tiffany’s outstretched hand and began to look through them quickly. The look of firm denial that I would never cheat on him slipped from Tyler’s face and was replaced with a mask of total fury. I was able to see the pictures of Matt and I together over his shoulder, looking too close for friends in the photos. Matt and I hugging. Matt kissing me on the cheek. Matt and I hugging outside of my house last weekend when I was sick. Me kissing him on the cheek for staying with me.

Sure, the pictures weren’t too damning, but the way Tiffany was presenting them was enough to condemn me.

“You’ve been cheating on me with this emo fag?” Tyler’s voice rang loudly throughout the gym.

At his outburst, whispers broke out among the on-looking crowd, even the teachers began whispering to each other behind their hands. Why weren’t they stepping in? Why weren’t they trying to disperse the crowd around us or step in before fists started to fly? I wondered desperately to myself as I turned back to face Tyler. I glanced at his angry face and then Matt’s angry face to a smirking Tiffany.

“I told you I’d make you regret it,” she laughed.

“Liv? Did you cheat on me?” A note in Tyler’s voice made me realize that he still didn’t want to believe what the pictures in his hands were telling him.

“Tyler, I can explain,” I said. But after looking at Tiffany’s victorious expression, her eyes were drinking in my misery with a malice I never knew anyone could possess I couldn’t make myself deny his question. “Sorry you had to find out this way, Tyler.” I said quietly, my voice full of genuine regret. I surprised myself with my words as I threaded my fingers with Matt’s.

I heard both Matt and Tyler’s shared sharp intake of breath and watched as Tiffany’s expression morphed from one of victory to one of outraged shock.

Tyler fists clenched into balls and the “proof” of my deceit was crushed in his hands, which were trembling slightly. Tyler raised his fist was about to charge forward when the guy Kara had been dancing with, slung a thick arm around Tyler’s shoulders and pulled him back.

“She’s not worth a week on the bench and missing out on next Friday’s game, bro,” Tyler’s friend said.

“No,” Tyler said coldly as his icy blue eyes met mine making me shiver from the pure hate that I saw in them. “She’s not worth shit,” he said as he shrugged off his friend’s arm and cut through the quickly dissipating crowd. Now that they were sure a fight wasn’t going to break out, the surrounding teenagers quickly lost interest and the music had started back up again.

“Stay away from Matt,” I said coldly as I met Tiffany’s green eyes and she stomped away, too angry that her plan had been foiled to even leave me with another threat as she stormed off.

I leaned heavily against Matt feeling as though I had just done battle with a dragon with only a thin wooden shield as a weapon. My brain was still too numb to process everything that had just happened. “Get me out of here,” I said quietly. “Please.”

Matt’s hand tightened on my own before he wrapped his arm around my shoulder holding me closely to his side. “Make sure Kara gets home okay, will you?” Matt asked.

“Yeah, no problem,” I heard Brian say. His voice was confused but neither he nor the rest of the guys that I hadn’t noticed were standing beside us throughout the fray, asked questions as Matt led me out of the gym.

My motions were stiff and jerky as I walked with Matt out of the gym and toward the parking lot and I couldn’t think past the numb haze that had settled over my mind. Somehow through the foggy swirl that was my mind, something from class entered my brain: Murphy’s Law. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

I had a hard time wrapping my thoughts around how the night ended so badly when the day had started off better than I could have hoped for. My birthday wasn’t supposed to go this way. My parents were home. Things with me and Tyler were no longer feeling weird. Carver didn’t try to kill Tyler at lunch. Everything should have been coming up roses for me. But then the rains came and drowned my garden, effectively killing the fragile, defenseless roses with it’s harsh downpour.

Matt had been driving for ten minutes when I broke the silence. “That really just happened, didn’t it?”

The only answer Matt gave me was to reach over and take my hand in his.

Somehow, even through everything that had happened tonight, I felt the smallest bit of comfort in Matt’s touch. And I couldn’t make myself regret my decision to choose Matt over Tyler tonight, even when I remembered the hurt and betrayal reflect in Tyler’s blue eyes. Mostly because I knew if I denied Tiffany’s claims that everything Matt and I had done in the past two weeks, all the lies and carefully crafted half-truths would become unraveled and she would never leave him alone after that.

I looked up when Matt stopped driving, surprised that we were at the beach and not parked outside of my house.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly as the waves crashed against the shore in the background. He got out of the truck.

After a moment, I got out of the truck and sat down next to Matt in the sand. “You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

Matt smiled mirthlessly at me. “I promised you and Carver that you wouldn’t get hurt in all of this. I have a lot to apologize for.”

I shrugged. “It’s not really your fault. I figured something like this might happen; not exactly getting dumped on my birthday, or embarrassing Tyler in front of the majority of the school, or having Tiffany show Tyler those pictures of us or anything like that. But, yeah, I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I knew we couldn’t keep getting away with this. That sooner or later something was going to happen and everything would blow up in our faces.”

“When did you realize this?”

“About two seconds after I asked you to be my boyfriend that Saturday when Tiffany threw us that first curveball and vowed to wait for you.”

“And you decided to go through with helping me anyway? Fully knowing that things could end badly?”

“I never go back on a promise,” I whispered quietly.

“Would you stop doing that?!” Matt bit out suddenly.

I jumped at his side, not expecting his voice to get so loud. “What?”

“Acting like nothing happened just now. Like you didn’t just get dumped in front of half the school. You don’t need to be so goddamned tough all the time. It’s okay to let your guard down every once in a while.”

“I know,” I said, my voice trembled softly and broke over the two words as tears made wet trails down my cheeks.

“Liv,” Matt sighed. He pulled me into his lap, his arms curled around me as I cried into his jacket. “I hate it when you cry.”