Maybe Holding Hands Wasn't Such a Good Idea

“Good morning, James,” I said as soon as I slid into the front seat of the inconspicuous black Lincoln sedan on Monday morning.

“Morning, Liv,” James smiled politely at me as I handed him the coffee I always brought for him when he picked me up. “Thank you. So how was your weekend?” He asked as he backed out of the drive and drove me to school.

James Archer was a driver from the car service my parents have been using for years. He’s been driving me to and from school ever since I was just a little snot nosed kid. Then there are the occasional trips to the grocery store, library, or Kara’s when Carver isn’t around to take me. But over the years, James and I have grown to know each other very well and considered each other friends. I was even friends with his wife and babysat his eight year old son on occasion.

I hesitated for a moment before answering him. “It was fine. Kinda boring, did homework, hung out with Kara,” I shrugged. “The usual.”

“Well, you look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning,” James commented with a wink. “Did you manage to get more than your usual hour of sleep all weekend?”

My cheeks flushed a carnation pink as I thought of mine and Matt’s nap yesterday afternoon. I woke up that evening to see that his arms were wrapped tightly around me, our legs were tangled beneath a sheet—that I’m guessing Matt draped over us—and his head was buried in my neck. I felt his warm breath hitting the back of my neck every time he breathed out, causing slight tingles to work their way down my spine. It was actually the best nap I’ve had in a long while.

My spine was tingling again at the memory of yesterday and I shook my head to get rid of the feeling. What had James asked me?

“Um, y-yeah. I did manage to catch up on my sleep,” I smiled over at him.

“Good to hear, kid. I know you don’t like to hear this, but I worry about you.”

“Thanks, James. So how’re Lily and Harry?” I knew once I asked about his family that James would go off on a tangent and would thereby stop asking questions about me.

“Well, Harry slept over at a friend’s house for the first time this weekend. You should’ve seen his proud little smile when I picked him up on Saturday morning. He was happy that he didn’t need me to pick him up on Friday night. He was calling himself a big boy all day because he wasn’t scared,” he chuckled. “Man, kids grow up fast.”

I nodded in agreement with a smile. “How’s Lily doing?”

“She’s great. Actually she’s more than great,” James looked over at me and there was a twinkle in his light blue eyes. “We’re expecting.”

“Oh my god!” A large smile broke out on my face and I hugged James as soon as he stopped at a red light. “Congratulations! This is so amazing. I’m so happy for you two.”

“Thanks, Liv. Lily wanted to tell you herself, but how can she expect me to keep news this goddamn amazing to myself?” He smiled over at me.

“Don’t worry, next time I see her, I’ll pretend I don’t know a thing,” I promised.

“Well, if you’re free Thursday afternoon, Harry has a soccer game at four. I could pick you up after school and we can head over to the game. He’s been wanting to see you lately. And then you can let Lily tell you our good news again.”

“That sounds great,” I said. “I’m definitely free on Thursday.”

“Then it’s settled,” James said pulling over and parking at the curb two blocks from the school. He shook his head as I started to get my things and opened the car door.

“I still don’t get why you make me park some ways from the school,” he said as I slung my backpack onto my shoulders and grabbed my purse and coffee from him.

“You know why, James. I don’t want anyone to start talking about the rich girl and her chauffer. It’s hard enough trying to fit in, in high school, I don’t want people to think I’m just some spoiled brat with a personal driver and money to burn.”

James’s face became serious. “If they took half a minute to get to know you, they’d know you’re not just some rich kid. They’d know what a great human being you are. They’d know that you’re funny and smart and that you deal with more crap on a daily basis than they do in a year.

“I mean, you were looked after by nannies, your parents—who are great people, you know I love them—are never around enough, you’re fending for yourself pretty much most of the time, going to school, keeping your grades up, being a teenager who’s raising herself, and then last year with the loss of your—”

I held up my hand stopping the flow of James’s words.

He smiled apologetically. “And you do it all with your head held high and no complaints. You’re definitely one of a kind, Liv, and I’m glad to have you in my life.”

I was taken aback by James’s little speech and I couldn’t think of anything to say. “James, I...don’t know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything. I’ll see you here after school, Liv. Have a great day and give ’em hell, kid.”

I laughed. “See you later, James.” With a wave, I closed the door and started walking to school in a daze from James’s words. I never knew what he really thought of me before. It felt good to know that someone who I respected very much thought so highly of me in return.

James drove past me and honked. I laughed as I raised my hand to wave at him again.

“Hey, Liv!”

I turned at the sound of my name and saw Matt’s truck coasting slowly along the sidewalk until he parked where I was standing at the curb.

“Hey, Matt, Kara,” I greeted, a smile still lingering on my lips.

“Get in, little girl. We have candy!” Kara said from the passenger seat.

“I don’t know, my mom always told me not to talk to strangers,” I said with a laugh as I got into the backseat of Matt’s truck.

“Did you walk all the way from your house to school this morning?” Matt asked.

I looked up and our eyes connected in the rearview mirror. “No, I was dropped off.”

“Yeah, by her chauffer, Jeeves,” Kara snickered.

I let out a chuckle. “First off, Jeeves is the butler. Secondly, James is my driver.”

“Wait? You have a butler and a driver?” Matt asked as he pulled into the school’s student parking lot turning around to look at me after he parked in a spot.

Kara and I laughed again.

“No, Matt,” I said. “James is a driver from a car service, he also happens to be an old family friend. He’s how I get to school and home on days when Carver can’t drive me. And I’m sure there are butlers out there named Jeeves, I just don’t know or have one. Which Kara knows full well,” I said pointedly to Kara who just shrugged and got out of the truck.

“So, Liv, I’ll see you after third period,” Matt said.

“Okay,” I said as Matt began to walk toward the courtyard.

“Why is Matt gonna see you after third period?” Kara asked.

“It’s the first step in Matt’s plan to get rid of Tiffany,” I said as we stopped off at Kara’s locker so she could get her books.

Kara rolled her eyes. “Are you guys really gonna go through with this whole fake relationship thing?” Her voice had lowered into a whisper.

I took a deep breath and nodded. “You know, I thought you’d be happy that Matt was trying to get rid of Tiffany.”

“I am. But I’d be even happier if my darling older brother wasn’t dragging my overly kind, yet sometimes naïve and blind best friend into his problems.” Kara slammed her locker shut with a little more force than was necessarily needed and scared a group of nearby freshmen girls.

They giggled softly and nervously walked away from us, shooting curious glances at Kara and I over their shoulders.

“Calm down, you’re scaring the kids,” I said. “What do you mean that I’m naïve and blind?”

Kara threw me a knowing glance. “You already know what I think about you and your feelings for Matt. And you both know how I feel about this little scheme.”

“I’m just helping him out,” I said in a slightly exasperated tone. “You know that.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Liv,” Kara said. “I’ll see you later,” she said walking away leaving me alone at her locker, pondering her words.

After a few moments of staring at Kara’s retreating figure, I started toward my own locker and was not surprised to see that Tyler left me another Post-It note along with a red rose taped to the door.

A beautiful flower for an even more beautiful girl.
See you later.
Love you. –Tyler

I carefully removed the rose and note from the door and spun my combination in the lock. As soon as my locker was open, I placed the rose in the thin, red glass vase that Tyler gave me last Monday when he’d given me that first rose. Grabbing the bottle of water from my purse, I poured a good amount of water into the vase to keep the rose hydrated.

With a sigh, I grabbed the books I would need for my next few classes and closed my locker door carefully. The bell shrilled loudly in the halls and everyone started shuffling their way to their first periods.

My fingers tapped anxiously on my desk and I kept fidgeting in my seat. I couldn’t keep myself still no matter how hard I tried to stop my movements. I really was trying to concentrate on Mr. Johnson’s lecture on the literary dynamics and social etiquette of Pride And Prejudice, but my mind continued to wonder about what would happen after class was over when Matt and I would begin our little charade.

I knew I shouldn’t be as edgy as I was. Matt had said today wouldn’t be a big deal, and yet, I couldn’t keep my nerves in check. My fingers kept twirling bits of my hair and I knew that if I didn’t stop soon, my hair would look as curly as Shirley Temple’s by the time the bell rang ending class.

With a deep breath, I extricated my fingers from my hair and linked my hands tightly in my lap to keep them from going up to twist my hair again.

The bell rang and I jumped a bit at the sudden sound.

When I looked up at the clock over the chalkboard, I couldn’t believe I’d been in class for forty-five minutes. I could’ve sworn that the period was just starting.

I quickly gathered up my things so I wouldn’t be late running into Matt.

As I left Mr. Johnson’s class and entered the hallway, I made a mental note to find Suzy Jenkins—the sophomore class genius—later in the day and ask to borrow her notes and find out if Johnson had assigned any homework while I was busy not paying attention.

I had my head down when I was walking and nearly fell down when someone bumped into my shoulder, knocking my books out of my arms and onto the tiled floor in true cliché form.

“Crap!” I quickly bent down to pick them up before the kids walking by managed to kick them out of my reach.

“Sorry about that.”

I lifted my gaze to see Matt kneeling down in front of me.

“Showtime,” he whispered as he quickly stacked my books.

“It’s fine, Matt,” I said a little loudly to be heard over the sounds of the other students walking past. I took my books from his outstretched hands after we both stood up. “How’re you doing?” I smiled at him, glancing quickly over at the tall, bored blonde at his side.

“I’m doing great, Liv,” Matt said leaning forward and slinging his arm around me casually as though we were old friends that went way back. “Sorry about walking into you, didn’t see you there.” He pulled away from me.

I waved my hand dismissively. “It’s fine, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“I hope I didn’t cause any permanent damage,” Matt joked with a smile. “So, how is—”

Tiffany snorted loudly, gaining mine and Matt’s attention.

“Oh. This is Tiffany, by the way,” Matt gestured to her with a displeased glance.

“Matt’s girlfriend,” Tiffany said pointedly, clearly a warning for me to back off. Matt was hers. Her brown eyes traveled over me from head to toe. When she regarded me as a non-threat, she linked her hand with Matt’s. “I’m gonna be late, baby. Let’s go.” She tugged on Matt’s arm to get him to start moving.

“Hold on a fucking second, we’re talking,” Matt said in a slightly irritated tone that made Tiffany pout her glossy pink lips.

“It’s fine, Matt. I better get to class, too,” I said moving forward and giving Matt a proper hug. He hesitated a fraction of second before his arms wound around my waist. After a few seconds we stepped away from each other.

That, sure as hell, wasn’t part of the plan.

I didn’t know I was going to do that and surprised myself as much as Matt by initiating the contact. But seeing Tiffany standing there glaring at me the whole time Matt and I were talking...annoyed me. Even though it was purely juvenile on my part, I couldn’t help but want to try and piss her off a bit more and reacted without thinking. I felt a sudden rush of sympathy for Matt. How could he put up with that all of the time?

Matt shot me a quick, confused glance that Tiffany didn’t see, before smiling once more. “See you later.”

I did my best to offer a flirty smile back. “Bye, Matt,” I waved. “Nice meeting you, Tiffany.”

Tiffany made a face at me and turned on her heel without a word, dragging Matt by his arm down the hall.

“What a bitch,” I muttered under my breath as I made my way out of the English building and headed toward my next class.

Later that evening, I was getting some homework done to distract me from my sort of fight with Kara this morning—we still hadn’t spoken yet and it was really bothering me—when my phone started to ring. Matt’s name flashed on the screen.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Open the gates and garage! Please!” He said in a rush.

“Matt?”

“Yeah, it’s me, just please get the gates and garage open. I’ll be there in a minute!” He hung up.

I jumped up from the bed and sprinted through my house to get the garage open, before hitting the switch for the main gates. About twenty seconds later, Matt’s truck came into view and he drove up the drive into my garage.

“Close the gates and garage!” He said jumping out of his truck as soon he turned the engine off. “Hurry!”

Matt’s voice made me jump to do as he demanded. I pushed the different buttons for the gates and garage doors. “Matt, what the hell is going on?”

“Tiffany.”

My eyes widened in shock. “She’s following you?” I asked incredulously looking past his shoulder to the road, trying to see if any cars I didn’t recognize were driving past.

Matt nodded, his eyes locked on the garage door as it lowered completely. He let out a sigh of relief before turning to face me, his shoulders slumping slightly as he let out a tense breath. “Is it cool if I hide here for a while?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Let’s go into the house.”

“Thanks.” Matt followed me into the kitchen.

“What happened? Why was Tiffany following you?”

“Well, after that hug you gave me this morning, Tiffany was a little more jealous than I thought she’d be. She kept asking me questions about you, wondering if anything was going on between us. Then we fought, and I didn’t have to try and make it happen. It’s safe to say that things are progressing nicely in our favor.”

“You’re kidding,” I said sitting down at the breakfast table.

Matt shook his head. “She was pissed because apparently you were all over me this morning and she didn’t appreciate you flirting with me and me flirting back with you right in front of her.”

“All of that just because of a three second hug?”

Matt nodded his head gravely.

I would have laughed at the situation but everything was just too extreme for me to find the humor in it. “My gosh.”

“Anyway, I told her that I had band practice today and when I left my house, I noticed her car following mine. Tiffany knows where all the guys live, so I couldn’t go to their houses because there is no band practice today and I just didn’t know where else to go. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, don’t be stupid. I don’t mind,” I said. “Did she follow you here?”

“I managed to lose her about a few minutes back, I think, but I didn’t want to chance running into her back at my house, so I came here. I’m sorry if I made you think she was right behind me, I was just...” He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t even know. Frustrated, maybe?”

I nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I don’t blame you for not wanting to run into her again.”

Matt smirked. “So, what did you think of her?”

My breath rushed out quickly as I laughed. “Haha, yeah...she er, seems kinda... Yeah, I got nothing. What did you see in her?”

“She’s hot,” Matt shrugged. “That’s about as far as my thought process went.”

With a smile, I rolled my eyes. “You’re such a guy.”

Matt shrugged again, his dimples appearing on his cheeks as he smiled widely. “Yeah, I know. But I learned a valuable lesson from all of this.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Never go out with a chick just ’cause she’s hot. She might be fucking crazy and stalk you everywhere.”

“That’s always been my rule,” I nodded in approval. “So, are you hungry or thirsty or anything? I can whip something up if you are.”

Matt’s stomach growled loudly just then and I laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes,” I started to turn toward the pantry to see what I could make us for dinner, but Matt stopped me.

“Liv?”

I turned back to face him. “Yeah?”

“You don’t have to make me dinner. How about I order us a pizza? My treat, since you’re hiding me from Tiffany and everything. It’s the least I can do.”

“That sounds perfect,” I smiled.

Matt answering smile made his dimples appear again. “Any topping preferences?”

“I’m not too picky about that. Order whatever and I’ll eat it. Except no onions.”

“Cool,” Matt nodded. “One pizza with the works coming up minus the onions.” He started dialing his phone.

“I’ll be up in my room,” I whispered to him as he talked to the person on the other end of the line. He nodded, letting me know he’d heard me.

I sat back down on my bed and let out a huge sigh, still feeling some of the adrenaline Matt’s first call induced pulsing swiftly through my veins, making me extra aware about my surroundings. I rubbed my shoulders trying to relieve some of the tension from them when Matt walked into my room.

“Pizza should be here in about a half hour,” he said sitting down at the foot of my bed.

“Great,” I said. “I hadn’t noticed before, but I really am kinda starving.”

We lapsed into a silence that was just a smidge on the awkward side. The last time Matt and I were in my room, we napped together, and that was only yesterday. My cheeks started to warm slightly at the memory.

“So,” Matt and I said at the same time before we laughed and looked away from each other.

“What are you working on?” Matt nodded at my notebooks.

“Spanish homework,” I said with a grimace. “It’s not my favorite subject ever, but I’m doing alright.”

“Oh yeah? Let me hear some.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip, trying to think of something that I could say in Spanish that didn’t sound like I was murdering the language. “Eres un cantante increíble y tiene lindos ojos.”

“Your articulation isn’t that bad, Liv.” Matt smirked. “Do you really think I’m an amazing singer and that my eyes are pretty?”

My cheeks flamed a light pink. “You understood me?” I asked with a nervous laugh.

“Claro que sí. Tuve que tomar español, también,” Matt laughed. “Of course, when your parents tell you you’d better pass Spanish with a B+ or take it again during summer school, it kinda motivates you to soak it all in, you know?”

“So, I’m guessing you got that B+?”

“I passed with an A-,” Matt smiled. “Believe me, I’ve never worked so hard at one subject before in my life.”

“How did you get so good at it?” I asked. My voice held a note of slight fascination with the hazel eyed boy sitting in front of me. I was learning more and more about him every day.

“A lot of practicing, conjugating, and Spanish soap operas,” Matt said with a laugh. “A lot of that shit is pretty funny because the actors are way over the top. But the Mexican wrestling, or Lucha Libre, is a bit of a guilty pleasure. I’ll watch a bit every now again. Plus, whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant, there’s no language barrier and ordering food is a breeze.”