The Man She Met Online

“So those are your tattoos?” Harmony mused to Matt over the phone. Over the course of their 4 month ‘relationship’, their conversations have gone from over the Internet to over the phone.

“Yes, do you like them?” He asked; a hint of amusement in his voice.

Harmony scrolled through the pictures that Matt sent her. Though most of them were older from his late teens but a few are only months old. She specifically liked the ones where he was smiling. Who knew he could actually be better looking than he is already?

“I love them.” She giggled, turning away from her computer. “So what are you doing now?”

“Fixing a leak in the house. What about you?”

“I’mmmm,” Harmony pulled the phone away from her ear and looked to Lily for help.

“Yea, I’ve been thinking about you a lot.” Lily smirks into her cell phone as she toyed with the ends of her hair. She was on the phone with Zack while Harmony was with Matt.

“What do I say?” Harmony whispered to her.

“Tell him you’re about to take a bath or something I dunno-“Lily waved her off.

Harmony sighed. Though they were officially BFFs, Lily’s actions towards her haven’t changed all that significantly. Raising the phone back to her mouth, Harmony said, “Baby I’m about to take a bath. After a beat she added, “I wish you were here with me.”

“Me too. It sucks that you live in Boston.”

“It does.” She agreed halfheartedly.

“You seem like a beautiful person Zoey; I hope we can meet sometime soon.” Matt said breaking the comfortable silence that’d settled between them.

“Well what if you don’t like the way I look.”

“It doesn’t matter. You wanna know why? Because I really don’t care about looks. I mean, it’d be nice to have a super model type on my arm but looks aren’t everything. Your personality it beautiful and so are you."

Matt’s words made Harmony’s heart flutter. He was so romantic to be such a grudge.

“And age doesn’t mean a thing either; it’s just a number, right Zoey?”

“You are absolutely right.” She smiled sheepishly. “It’s getting late and I need to bathe but I don’t wanna hang up. I like talking to you.”

“I like talking to you too.” He admitted and she could just hear the smile in his voice.

Matt grunts and lets out a breath of hair. “Zoey can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.” She murmured as she crawled onto her bed, curling up at the end of it.

“I…no never mind. I’ll ask you when you’re not falling asleep on me.”

Harmony was too tired to argue.”Hm okay. Goodnight Matt.”

“Night Zoey.”



“Harmonay wake up!!”Lily groaned as she pushed the teenager off the bed. It was exactly 6:00 in the morning and Lily didn't go home last night. Her parents were probably worried about her. “HARMONAY!!”

“Matt…”She sighs, pulling her eyes open.

Lily laughs. “You were dreaming about him, weren't you?”

“No.”Harmony pawed at her eyes and then yawned. Of course she was dreaming about Matt. He's a complete dream come true. He's sweet, romantic, intelligent, helpful and more, unlike the guys at Harmony's school. Harmony finally caught wind of Lily staring at her. “What is it Lil?”

“I spent the night at your house without telling mine or your parents. My mom's probably worried sick!”Lily panicked, gathering all of her notebooks and pens in her arms. This was the first time Harmony witnessed her not being calm and collected.

“Calm down Lil, I'm sure my mom called your parents so you'll be fine.”Harmony yawned once more and stretched. Lily sat next to her BFF and rests her mess of blond hair on her shoulder.

“Do you think we'll ever get to meet them in person, like, romantic wise?”This is the first time Lily hasn't been sarcastic or bossy or even snobby in a while. She must’ve been falling for Zack. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with falling for someone, the only problem is that he's 26 and she is 15.

“I dunno, Lily. They probably will be mad we lied to them about everything.” Harmony replied then bit her lip.

Lily jumped up. “He can't be!! Zacky said he cares for me! He can't take that back no matter our age difference.”

Harmony sighed, knowing full well that there was no winning this even if she was right. “Yea, umm, I guess you're right.”

After 30 minutes of Lily going through Harmony's closet and finding something decent to wear, both girls walked downstairs and out the front door. It only took Harmony 10 minutes to get ready.

Outside, Harmony’s parents were cleaning the car so the girls had to wait for a few minutes. Lily's phone dinged. She pulled it out and squealed.

“Zacky just woke up. He said 'Good morning beautiful, how are you?'”Harmony watched as Lily's fingers flue over her touch screen phone's keyboard, wishing that Matt would text her.

“Good morning Ida and Caleb!!”Both Harmony and Lily's heads snapped towards the voice.

Matt Sanders is jogging across the street to Harmony's parents, a dimpled smile gracing his lips. Her heart speeds up. Is he coming to see me?' she thought.

“Hi Mr. Sanders. Umm, how are you?”Her mom asked in confusion. The girls didn’t blame her. Matt hadn’t talked to anyone much in years and all of a sudden he's Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky?
“Oh please, call me Matt!” Matt kissed her hand and shook Harmony’s father’s.

Harmony drowned out the rest of the conversation and stared at Matt. His well defined muscles were almost constricted by the tight shirt he's wearing. She could see his 'deathbat' tattoo through his thin white tee shirt. Matt's hazel eyes were seemingly sparkling in the early sunrise. He was absolutely gorgeous.

After a conversation with Harmony's parents, Matt threw the girls a sexy smirk and jogged back across the street.

“Do you think he knows?”Lily whispered to Harmony as they watched Matt pull his trash can up the driveway from the curb.

“Who cares?”She replied.



Lily left school early so there was no reason for Harmony to call her parents. The school wasn’t too far from her house and she honestly needed to think. Things with Matt had begun to become even more serious and now Harmony was wondering if she was getting in way over her head. She had to end it as soon as possible. Like now.
Pulling out her phone, Harmony typed a long message to Matt explaining that the distance was too much and that the relationship just wasn’t working out for her. Her thumb hovered over the send key and so started her internal battle. Matt was so happy, how could she ruin that? Over the past 4 months, Harmony's grown to actually care for Matt. He's not as bad of a person as she thought he was all these years. He was just lonely and needed someone to talk to.

A drop of water in her eye caused Harmony to move from her thoughts. Looking up, she noticed the grey sky for once. Maybe she should’ve called home after all.

2 minutes later and it was officially storming. Rain fell heavily and drenched Harmony to the point of her giving up on attempting to stay dry. Still blocks away from her home, Harmony wondered was this punishment for her not pressing send on her text. Was God punishing her?

A black truck slowed down on the road and pulled over. Harmony thought about running but at this point she was too tired to even try. Glancing over, she found the smiling face of Matt Sanders looking at her. "Hey Harmony! Need a right home?"

"Umm no, I’m fine! Thanks though."Why she said that she wasn’t sure.

"Aw c'mon! It’s the least I could do for my neighbors. Plus, I don’t want you walking around with a see through dress on anymore." Matt seemed uncomfortable as he said the last sentence, eyes obviously focused on her face.

Harmony looked down and groaned as she finally noticed that the white mini dress Lily had forced her to wear had in face gone transparent. Without another thought, Harmony jumped into the truck and closed the door. Matt waited until she put on her seat belt before pulling off.

"So how was school?" He asked as Harmony fiddled with her phone. God would she ever be able to send that text?

"Huh? Ok it was okay, same old same old." She replied quietly.

"Well just-what- two more years? Then you’ll be free." Matt smiled and Harmony couldn’t help but to smile back.

"Yes I can’t wait!" Still couldn’t send it.

"Haha be careful what you ask for, soon you’ll be old and worn out like me."

"You’re not old and worn out!" Harmony laughed, "You’re still good looking."

Matt just smiled and shook his head. How could she hurt such an innocent man with her lies and still be okay with who she was? Harmony sent the text and then texted Lily for moral support.

Matt’s voice dinged as they pulled into their neighborhood. She watched him glance at the screen before hesitantly keeping both hands on the wheel. Her hands tightened around her phone and Harmony swallowed a thick lump that had settled in her throat. In just a matter of seconds Matt would read the text and be devastated. She was a horrible person.

As soon as Matt pulled up in front of her house, Harmony thanked him and hurried out of the car before she became nauseous. Racing past her mother, who looked at the white mini dress that she was wearing in confusion, Harmony ran up to her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

Falling onto her bed, Harmony allowed tears to slip from her eyes as she stared at her ceiling fan. Everything was falling apart and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

A few minutes passed before her phone rang, Matt’s name popping up on the screen. Harmony denied his call and instead called Lily, who she hadn’t heard from since the girl left school earlier. The phone continued to ring without an answer and by the time she was able to record her voice message Harmony could only sob into the phone,

“Lily, I don’t know where you are or what you’re doing but…please pick up. I need you.”