Shooting Star

Matt couldn’t take his mind off Marley and Layton as he and Brian drove on home after parting ways with the two. Marley was the most beautiful little girl Matt had ever laid eyes on. Maybe he thought that because he was bit biased considering she was his daughter, but he didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, it was more than true.

He was looking forward to telling everybody that he had daughter, whether they supported him on being in her life or not. To be honest though, he was a little nervous at explaining everything to Val, but he knew that if she loved him as much as she said she did, than it should be no problem.

“Well, this sure as fuck has been an interesting day,” Brian laughed and shook his head, “I can only imagine what’s gonna happen next before midnight strikes.”

“Hopefully nothing,” Matt muttered, “I can only handle so much in one damn day.”

“So uh, did you know that she was pregnant or did she just keep it all a secret?” Brian asked, curiously.

“I knew she was pregnant,” Matt licked over his bottom lip, “She told me when I flew out for her twenty first birthday. We both agreed that she was going to get an abortion.”

“Dude!” Brian exclaimed, looking over at him with an unbelievable look.

“It wasn’t my idea,” He shook his head, “It was what Layton wanted or so that’s what she had told me she wanted, so I agreed for her to do it, because I wanted her to be happy.”

“Well fuck, you two had some major issues with communicating.”

Matt breathed out, “Yeah, something like that,” He nodded.

“Your parents are gonna freak, man,” Brian stated the obvious.

“Yeah, but whatever,” Matt shrugged his shoulders, “I’m more worried about Val.”

Brian couldn’t contain the small chuckle that passed his lips. “She’s gonna be pissed. I mean, she’ll get over it sooner or later, but at first she’s gonna probably want to smack the shit out of you.”

Matt frowned and nodded, knowing Brian was right. Of course, it wasn’t like any of this was his fault. Sure, he had a lot to do with it and was going to take responsibility for his actions, but Layton was the one who had lied to him and disappeared off the face of the planet. He had no control over that. He trusted Layton and trusted that she had gone and gotten an abortion like she said she had. Never was there a moment where he doubted her word, until now of course.

“I think that Val is definitely going to be angry, but it what it is. I can’t change the fact that I have daughter that I haven’t met or even known about for the past six—almost seven—years. I think after I give her a little time to let the news sink in she’s be perfectly fine.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Brian agreed with his friend, trying to ignore a small pinch of doubt he felt.

-x-

“Baby, you okay?” Val asked softly late that night as she stepped over to the bed and sat down on the edge beside Matt who was looking rather distraught.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” He lied, nodding his head, “Just tired.”

“I know,” She frowned and rubbed his arm, “Well you go ahead and sleep as much as you need to tomorrow, okay? You need your rest. And I’m sorry that I needed so much help these past few days, especially with you just getting back from tour and all.”

He sent a soft, dimpled smile her way and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. “Don’t worry about it,” He assured her, “It was all worth it. Tonight was amazing, especially after the day I had.”

“You know, you never told me what happened,” She murmured.

He sighed, “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“Alright,” She smiled and pressed her lips against his. “Well, I’m gonna take a bath. You go ahead and get some sleep.”

Matt nodded his head at her before lying back against his pillow, one of his arms propping his head up. He knew damn well he needed to talk to Val about the fact that he had a daughter who was going to be involved in his life now, because the longer he put it off, the worse the actual conversation would be. However, he was almost positive that no matter what happened, she would be all right with it all in the end, or so he hoped.

Once Val left the bedroom and locked herself in the bathroom to take a bath, Matt found himself lying alone and thinking about nothing other than Marley. He had always liked the idea of having kids someday, especially before Layton had told him she was pregnant, but after he thought Layton had an abortion, it pained him too much to think about it. Instead, he kept his mind on other things, and it helped that Val hadn’t brought up kids just yet. He knew she wanted them just as much as he did, but not yet. They just weren’t ready for that step. Plus, they wanted to enjoy being married first before they did take that next step. Of course, now that Marley is in Matt’s life, he doesn’t want to think about having a baby with Val for a while. He wants to enjoy his daughter for now and get to know her before even thinking about bringing another life into the world.

While lying there and thinking about Marley for quite a while, he also found himself thinking about Layton quite a bit as well. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, maybe even more. It was strange to be around her again after what happened between them, but he was also sort of happy and excited that he would be seeing her more often now that she was back in Huntington and they were both linked to Marley.

He knew he had a fiancé. After the party they just threw tonight he was more than aware that he was now engaged to Val, but that still didn’t stop him from thinking about Layton, and he knew that wasn’t good. Although he loved Val to death, he knew deep down he loved Layton more. However, he knew just how much Val loved him and he didn’t want to break her heart, especially when he wasn’t sure if Layton still felt the same for him. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if Layton had another man in her life, though it definitely wouldn’t surprise him if she did.

The following day Matt woke up sometime in the early afternoon. The cold, empty spot beside him told him that Val was already up and busy doing things downstairs. He could faintly hear the washer and dryer running from down the hall in the laundry room, and he could also hear Val’s sweet voice and laughter all the way from the kitchen. Since he could only hear her voice and her voice only, he figured that she was on the phone with someone.

He rubbed at his hazel-green eyes for a moment before tossing aside the covers. He struggled to stand straight once his feet touched the floor since he still felt exhausted, but after a minute he seemed all right. He snatched up the basketball shorts lying next to his side of the bed on the floor and pulled them on, not exactly caring if they were clean or not.

Breathing out tiredly, he left the bedroom and headed downstairs. Although his body craved for more sleep, he had to talk to Val already. The fact that she didn’t know about Marley yet was driving him up a damn wall, even though he had only found out about her less than twenty four hours ago.

He sent a soft smile Val’s way once he reached the kitchen and saw her leaning over the counter with her cell phone pressed to her ear. He made his was over to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle as he could faintly hear Val telling somebody that she needed to go. He unscrewed the top from the bottle in his hand and took a large gulp before turning towards Val. She grinned at Matt before saying bye and hanging up the phone.

“Afternoon, baby,” She smiled, walking over to him.

Matt leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, “I see you’ve been busy this morning.”

She laughed and nodded, “I had to clean up that big mess that was left behind from last night.”

“You didn’t have to do that alone,” He pointed out, pushing a strand of her blonde hair out of her face.

“Don’t worry about it, baby,” She murmured, “Everything is done. You just relax today, okay?”

Matt licked over his bottom lip, “Okay, but first, I uh, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Oh,” She narrowed her eyes slightly, “Alright. Do you want to talk now or can it wait?”

Matt folded his arms across his chest and swallowed back the lump in his throat. “I think we should discuss it now. It’s pretty important, Val.”