Sequel: Love With a Motive
Status: Jan. 25, 2014: I'm reposting this story. Woo hoo!

Maybe Holding Hands Wasn't Such a Good Idea

Nicky's

“Matt asked you to WHAT?!” Kara yelled.

I sighed a bit and rolled my eyes. Kara and I had been talking about my helping Matt out for at least ten minutes now. “You know what he asked me,” I said in a resigned voice. I had a feeling that Kara might freak out a bit when I told her, which is why I decided to tell her fifteen minutes before Tyler was due to pick me up for our lunch date. I needed a legitimate excuse for getting away from Kara’s questioning.

“And you said yes?”

I nodded.

“Why?”

I bit my lower lip before answering with a shrug. “He asked for my help. Matt just seemed so...hopeless when he asked me, I couldn’t just tell him no, you know?”

“No, I don’t know,” Kara said quickly, her voice was slightly raised. “I tell him no all the time. It comes naturally to me. In fact, I’ll go tell him no for you right now and then you can get out of this, this...whatever this is!” She started for the door.

I jumped up quickly and blocked her path. “Come on, K. He’s your brother, I don’t mind helping him out.”

“But you guys aren’t even friends!”

“Yeah, I know we’re not. But like I said, he’s your brother and you’re my best friend. So, I guess that makes him a sort-of-friend through association.”

Kara eyed me for a moment. “Are you sure you want to do this, Liv?” Concern etched onto her face.

“I’m sure, Kara. I’m really, really sure.”

“It’s just, I don’t want you to get your hopes up,” Kara mumbled quietly looking away from me.

My brows furrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you already had a crush on my brother, who’s to say it won’t come back while you’re pretending to date him?”

“It won’t.” My voice left no room for argument.

Kara found the room to argue anyway. “Look, Liv, you know I love you, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings or anything, but when I was making fun of your crush on Matt yesterday after school, I was only half joking,” she said seriously. “Let’s be honest here, you may have a boyfriend now, but some small part of you still likes my brother.”

I opened my mouth to protest but Kara held up a hand to interrupt the speech she knew I was about to unload on her.

“I know what you’re gonna say. You have Tyler now, you’re over my brother, blah, blah, blah. I know, I get it. It’s just that I know Matt really, really well, and well, you’re not his type. I’m not saying that to hurt you,” she said quickly as she registered my offended expression. “I kinda wish you were his type. Anyone—including my best friend—would be better than that bitch he’s with now, even though the thought of you and Matt together for real, kinda freaks me out a lot, not gonna lie. But, if you’re only doing this thing to try and hopefully change his mind, you’d be wasting your time.”

I kept my face smooth as I took in Kara’s advice. “I know, Kara. Believe me, this deal I’ve got with Matt, is just that, a deal. There are no other motives on my part. He asked for my help and I agreed to help him.”

“But do you think this is a good idea considering you had a crush on him?”

I wanted to roll my eyes at her in the worst way as I noted her obvious use of the past tense. I was annoyed. Severely annoyed. “It’s because I know that I’m completely over Matt that I can help him out without getting attached, okay? Thanks for the talk, but I’ll be fine, alright? So stop worrying, please. It’s just a friend helping out another friend.”

Kara just looked at me skeptically before she nodded. “What are you going to tell Tyler?”

“I’m not going to tell him.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Kara laughed.

Her voice was light and joking again and I figured that we were past all the heavy parts of our conversation and smiled at her.

My phone vibrated then and I pulled it out of my pocket before I heard loud knocking on the front door.

“Let me guess, Tyler’s here?”

I opened the text.

Hey, babe.
Knock, knock. ;)


“Yeah,” I said closing my phone.

“My god. You were right. He’s right on time!” Kara said after looking at her alarm clock. “Is he always like this?”

I started to leave the room and Kara followed. “Yes, always,” I answered.

“Dude, doesn’t that get annoying?” She asked as we walked into the living room.

“Sometimes,” I said honestly. Yes, most of the time, I found Tyler’s anal-retentive like punctuality a little annoying, but today, that quirk was a godsend. For once, his obsessive need to be on time benefited me.

Kara opened the door and smiled at Tyler. “Hey.”

“Hey, Kara. How’s my favorite girl?” Tyler asked me as he stepped into the house and swept me up into a tight hug. The smell of his cologne invaded my nose in strong wave.

“Hi, Ty.” I returned the hug. “Do you have practice later today?”

Tyler’s smile faltered a bit as he stepped away from me. “Yeah. I was hoping since yesterday’s practice went well that Coach would give us the day off, but no go. So are you ready for lunch?”

I nodded. “Yeah, just need to find my purse. I think I left it in Kara’s room. I’ll just go up, get it and be right down.”

“Okay,” Tyler said pecking my lips quickly. “Hurry back.”

I smiled back at him. “I will.”

“So, Kara, how was your night? Did you two have...”

Tyler’s voice faded into an indistinct mumble as I climbed the stairs to the second floor and walked into Kara’s room to look for my purse. I spotted my purse on the floor by Kara’s bed as soon as I stepped into the room. I slung the strap onto my shoulder and left.

I had only taken two steps out of the door when I walked into something big and warm. I felt a pair of strong hands on my shoulders steadying me to keep me from falling.

“Hey, are you alright?” Matt asked. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see where I was going.”

I looked up at Matt and nodded. “Yeah,” my voice sounded a little breathless and I cleared my throat. “I didn’t see you either.” I looked down and noticed that Matt was half naked, only wearing a pair of blue plaid pajama bottoms and my face flushed slightly. I quickly looked away from his toned torso, hoping he didn’t notice me staring at him.

For a moment, neither Matt nor I said anything and the silence stretched awkwardly. What were supposed to say to each other now anyway?

“So, I’m gonna go back to bed,” Matt said tousling his already tousled bed head.

“Alright. See you later,” I said walking away quickly. I nearly tripped over my feet in my haste to get away that I almost fell down the stairs. A broken neck was not something I had in mind for the day. I slowed my steps and walked at a safer pace down the rest of the stairs to see that Tyler and Kara were still talking near the front door.

“Ready to go, babe?” Tyler asked as soon as he saw me.

“Yeah. See you later, K.” I gave her a quick hug and then followed Tyler out to his Candy Apple red Mustang convertible. He really loved this car; boys and their toys. Since it was a nice day, Tyler had the top down. He opened my door for me and closed it once I was settled. He hopped over the driver’s door and landed squarely in his seat. Tyler started the engine and pulled away from the curb before linking our hands.

At lunch at Nicky’s—the local burger joint—where the employees were even greasier than the food, Tyler had been going on and on about his football practice. Talking to me in depth about everything that was going on.

I’m not entirely girly, I won’t faint at the sight of blood, scary movies don’t make me scream out loud in the theater and I don’t squirm when doing a dissection for a science class, but I draw the line at sports and anything creepy and or crawly. Back to the sports, I just don’t understand the games or rules, or the overall appeal of guys hitting each other as hard as they can, dunking baskets, running around bases, or why hitting a small black disk with a long curved stick was so interesting. So, suffice it to say, I was bored out of my mind as Tyler tried to explain to me what a “wildcat” play was in depth before moving on to the almost delicate art of setting up a “screen pass”.

I was busy contemplating the funny names Tyler told me they named the plays after, when I saw a familiar figure standing a table about ten feet away from the one I was at with Tyler.

Matt looked up just then and shot me a polite smile. The one I returned was a little strained which I knew he noticed when his gaze narrowed on my face and he started to walk over to me and Tyler.

“Gonna go to the restroom, babe. Be right back,” Tyler said walking off just mere moments before Matt reached the table.

“Hey,” he said with a wave.

“Hi,” I said glancing quickly at the closing restroom door.

“So you look like you’re having the best time with your boyfriend right now,” Matt said as he took Tyler’s seat.

“Oh, yeah the best,” I smirked. “So what brings you by?”

“Kara assaulted me after you left and I couldn’t get back to sleep,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “So I figured I grab some lunch with the guys,” he jerked his head back toward his table.

When I looked over at the table Matt indicated, I saw Zacky, Jimmy, and Brian tossing French fries at each other and smiled.

“Wait, Kara, assaulted you?” I asked. “I guess that’s my fault. I told her about what we talked about last night.” My voice had dropped into a whisper as though I somehow thought Tyler would be able to hear me talking to Matt.

“I figured as much,” Matt whispered back with an easy grin. “Don’t worry though, I escaped pretty much intact. She did give me an earful though.”

My body tensed up. There was no way Kara would have told him about my former crush. Right? “Oh really? What did she say?”

“Oh nothing really, she just kinda went on about how this is a stupid plan and that it won’t work. But it has to work. I don’t know what I’ll do if it doesn’t. I mean, would I have to get a restraining order or something?” He shook his head. “Anyway, I guess we’ll talk about it later.”

“Yeah, or now if you want?” I suggested.

Matt’s eyebrow rose in question. “Aren’t you on a date with your boyfriend right now?”

“I’m so bored I think I’ll actually start crying if he keeps on talking about football. So, since I’m helping you, maybe you can help me.”

“How?” Matt asked.

“Just go wait in your truck and I’ll handle the rest,” I shooed him away with my hands. “Quick, before he comes back.”

Matt chuckled. “Okay. See you in a bit,” he said trotting away and leaving the restaurant with a wave to his friends.

Tyler came back a few minutes later. “Hey, sorry that took me so long. Coach called and wanted to talk about some new plays, but I told him that I’m busy with you, once I was able to get a word in, and that it would have to wait till later.”

“Actually, it won’t,” I said grasping at the new information. “Kara just called me,” I explained. “She uh, needs help with an assignment for our History class that I’ve already finished and she’s like freaking out because she hasn’t started yet,” I laughed. “So, I was going to head back and help her out.”

“Oh, okay, I guess that kind of works out. I’ll drop you off and then go to school to talk to Coach,” Tyler stood and put his jacket on.

“No!” I said alarmed. “I mean, no it’s fine. Kara sent her brother to pick me up,” my gaze went to the windows casually. “And he’s already here,” I pointed out the truck to Tyler.

“Okay then. I hope you and Kara can finish up that project today,” Tyler said collecting our trash.

“Me too,” I said slinging my purse onto my shoulder. “Good luck at practice.”

“I’ll call you later, okay?” Tyler hugged me.

“Okay. See you later, Ty.”

“Bye, babe. I love you,” he said and planted a small kiss on my lips.

“You too,” I said walking through the door he held open for me. I walked over to Matt’s truck, waved back at Tyler before getting in and breathed a sigh of relief. “That worked out well.” I buckled my seatbelt. Safety first.

“So what did you tell him?” Matt asked as he watched Tyler drive off toward school.

“I told him Kara called and was freaking out over a project that she needed my help with.”

“Hmm, good thinking,” Matt said putting the car in gear and driving out of the parking lot.

Matt and I were quiet for a while just listening to the radio while he drove.

“So, where are we going?”

Matt turned the radio on and drummed his fingers along on the steering wheel. “The park I think.”

“Why the park?”

“We can’t go back to my place because I don’t want Kara to hear us and stand there and mock my plans to get rid of Tiffany. So I figure the park would be an okay place to talk about it.”

“Or we can go to my house,” I offered.

Matt’s hands tightened slightly on the wheel and I smothered a smile.

“No, that’s alright,” Matt said. “The park will be fine.”

“Relax, Matt,” I couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Carver’s not there, he’s at work.”

Matt’s grip relaxed on the wheel and he shot me a nervous smile. “Are you sure about that?”

“Positive,” I laughed again. “He goes in at six in the morning on Saturdays. But you don‘t have to worry about Carver, Matt, he likes you.”

Matt grimaced. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

I laughed loudly at the martyred face Matt was making. “Not like that! He knows you’re too young for him and completely straight.”

“Oh. So what do you mean he likes me?” Matt asked driving toward my house.

“Well last night, he was messing with you. If he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have. He would have tossed you out on your ass without any remorse or apology.”

“Is that why he wants to meet Tyler?” Matt smirked.

“I think so,” I nodded.

“And do you think Carver will just kick him out when he meets him?”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “Which is why I haven’t brought him over yet. I don’t want Carver scaring him off.”

Matt laughed.

Again, Matt and I lapsed into silence, it wasn’t awkward, but not completely comfortable either. I’m not sure if he felt the same way, but I was thinking we needed a buffer to keep our conversation flowing with ease instead of the starting and stopping thing we had going on.

A certain thought struck me after a few more moments: Matt and I were alone together again, less than twenty-four hours after the first time. If this had happened last year—before Tyler and I had gotten together—I’d probably be hyperventilating right about now at being alone with him. However, that’s not the case and I’m glad that I’m able to breathe easy instead of embarrassing myself with some sort of spastic episode.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I opened the text from Tyler, of course. I managed to not roll my eyes.

Coach has 3 GIGANTIC binders on his desk with new plays!!!! :O
We’re going to over the plays before AND after practice.
I think I’m going to be here all day. :(
I probably won’t be able to call you until late tonight.
<3


I typed out a quick response and put my phone back in my pocket with a small smile.

Have fun! ;)

“It looks like we have all day. Tyler’s gonna be busy with football,” I explained as Matt parked in the driveway. “So what have you been thinking about?” I unlocked the front door and let Matt and myself in.

Matt had seated himself in one of the leather chairs and cast me a glance. “I don’t think you’ll like it. In fact, I’m absolutely sure you won’t.”

“You won’t know that for sure until you tell me,” I said sitting down on the couch.

Matt sighed and looked up at me; his hazel eyes locked on my brown ones letting me know he was as serious as a heart attack in the middle of the emergency room. “I want Tiffany to catch us in bed together.”