The Reason

Emilia turned over to her stomach to hug her pillow, but the moment she turned she bumped into a warm body. She wondered if her dog jumped onto her bed again, but when she blindly reached out her hand she didn’t feel the fur of her husky. She felt skin, warm skin. Her eyes shot open because she didn’t remember going to bed with anyone. When she opened her eyes, she saw a back of someone. She quickly recognized that back. It belonged to her long time friend Matt Sanders, the leader of Avenged Sevenfold.

She lifted her head from the pillow, and when she looked around she realized she wasn’t in her room. She wasn’t even in Matt’s room. It would be weird if she was in Matt’s room because then a very angry fiancée would be there. Emilia tried her best to remember the events of the night before. She closed her eyes and begged her brain to remember. She was naked in bed with her best friend. A best friend who was engaged and to be married in a week.

How could she sleep with someone else’s love? She wasn’t that kind of person.



Emilia walked into the bar she often went to with her friends. It was also the place she often went to meet Matt. It was their favorite place to be when they needed to talk to each other. She was wondering how long it would be before she heard from him. The last time she saw him was two weeks ago, and it wasn’t a good. Emilia had punched Matt’s fiancée because she was sick of the gold digging whore. Okay, maybe she wasn’t a whore, or a gold digger, but she was annoying as hell. Emilia couldn’t stand to be around her. Needless to say, Val demanded that Emilia get kicked out of the wedding.

What hurt the most was that Matt didn’t stand up for her. He didn’t have much time because she quickly left the party to get away from it all. She was so sick of Matt always going back to Val. Their on and off relationship was taking a toll on her. She was sick of being there for him when they had a fight, and then be ignored when they made up. She wasn’t a welcoming matt to be stepped on every time.

But, Emilia couldn’t refuse to meet Matt when he called. He sounded sincere when he said he needed to talk to her. She could only listen to him. She would tell him how she wouldn’t go to his wedding even if he planned to have tacos to eat. She would rather eat shit.

Emilia smiled at the bartender, a friend of hers. He pointed to the usual table she and Matt took when they went there. Matt was sitting alone with two beers, and his left foot shaking. A bad habit he had when he was nervous about something. She took a deep breath and adjusted her dress. She had a date, and she cancelled it because Matt called. He was the only person she would cancel a date for because he had done it before for her.

Years ago, they were attached at the hip, but when Val changed, so did Matt. He didn’t obey her every order, but he didn’t spend as much time as before. Emilia didn’t demand every minute, but she at least wanted to see him more often.

She met his eyes and she sent him half a smile. He seemed dazed for a moment, and then he gave her the dimple smile.

Matt Sanders stood up to greet his best friend. He could tell her anything. He could tell her he committed murder, and he knew she would help him bury the body somewhere. He had absolute trust in her. Only she would tell him the truth. His other friends couldn’t. He needed to hear the truth for once, and he knew Emilia was a blunt person.

He opened his arms, and she smiled wider and hugged him. He held her. He inhaled her familiar scent. Honeydew, she always smelled like it. It was her shampoo.

“I’m not apologizing,” she said before he could verbally greet her.

He chuckled, and she felt the vibrations through her body. He pulled away, and she crossed her arms across her chest. He knew that look. She was stubborn as hell, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to make her budge.

“I’m not here to talk about that, Emi,” he said, and sat down. She followed suit and took the other beer. The Corona was for her, and the Budweiser was his. She took a long sip of hers and then ended with an “ah”.

“Why did you call? I had a hot date tonight,” she said, but she didn’t seem upset about it.

“Who was it?” he asked after he cleared his throat.

She shrugged. “No one important,” but it was. It was a date with Brian Haner Jr. One of Matt’s best friends. And one of her oldest friends as well. Brian asked her out before the fall out with Val, and he understood when she had to cancel. She didn’t want to tell Matt yet. He probably wouldn’t approve. Hell, he didn’t approve of ALL of the guys she ever went out with. “So why did you call me?”

He took a long drink of his beer, to get the courage.

“I have doubts about Val,” he finally said.

She scoffed. “Now? A week before the wedding? How did these doubts come about?”

He cleared his throat again, and he shook his left leg faster now. She reached under the table and placed her hand on his thigh warning him to stop shaking it. He stopped and chuckled.

“I think I’m making a mistake marrying her,” he spoke from the heart. “It’s felt wrong since I proposed, but it’s only gotten stronger the closer we got to the wedding.”

She saw how tormented he was. She wanted to yell at him that she was right, but she couldn’t do that. She would tell him later though. She would remind him for the rest of his life about it.

“Took you long enough,” she said and retreated her hand from his thigh. “Have you broken up with her?”

“Uh, yes, right before I called you. I’m going to be getting calls from my parents, her parents, and probably the guys any minute now. This is bad, Emi. We’re all close friends. Val is close to Gena and the others. You’re the only one I know she won’t go near.”

Emilia smirked. “Not if she knows what’s good for her. So…. What do you wanna do? Run away?”

His eyes lit up. “Let’s do that.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What? I was only kidding.”

“Fuck this, Emi! Let’s fucking run away. I really don’t want to face all of the aftermath. They’ll hang me.”

“Thousands of dollars on a wedding,” she nodded her head. “Your mom is gonna be so pissed,” she laughed. “I would love to see the look on Val’s face when you broke it off though. I hope she thought of me because I told her it would happen. I mean, I didn’t mean it, but… God, this is amazing.”

“EMI!” he growled.

“Okay, okay! Let’s run away!” she raised her beer. “Let’s go to… where the fuck do we go?”

“Tijuana! We’re going to fucking TJ!”



Emilia knew they weren’t in Tijuana though. The hotel they were at was too nice. She got out of bed without waking up Matt. She soon realized she was sore. Oh God, they had sex. They had sex and she couldn’t remember. How the fuck could she forget having sex with her best friend? Yeah, Matt was hot. Really hot. Yeah she fantasized about it when she was younger, but she thought she was over her crush. She dated other guys. She almost had a date with Brian and there she was naked with Matt.

“Fuck,” she cursed and covered her mouth when Matt rolled over to his back. He was going to wake up.

She knew it was better to get it over with. His eyes opened and like her he was lost for a moment. She quickly looked for her clothes. She saw her panties and slipped them on along with her bra. When Matt sat up, his eyes were on her. They were wide in surprise, but not fear or regret.

“What the fuck happened?” he asked with his rough voice.

“I think we got wasted, said we were gonna run away, and ended up in a hotel… and… and…”

“We fucked,” he concluded.

Emilia shrugged. “I guess. Don’t be offended, but you know when I consume lots of alcohol I don’t remember pretty much anything. I blame all the weed I’ve smoked over the years.”

“I don’t remember anything either. I thought I would remember since I’ve dreamt about it so many goddamn times.”

She smiled. “You have? Me too. And I gotta say, you were perfect in my dream.”

He smirked. “By the looks of it, I was in real life. You have my marks on your hips.”

She looked down and realized that she did. “You have my hickeys,” she pointed them out. “Oh yeah, those are mine. I’ve dreamt about doing that to you. Where are we anyway?”

They looked around for a room key and they found it. They were at a Hilton hotel.

“I think we only left the city,” Emilia muttered.

She gasped when she got a memory of something.



At the back of a cab, she was laughing with Matt. The cab was going to take them all the way to Tijuana. When a drunk Matt offered the driver one thousand dollars, the driver didn’t think twice about it. They were talking about a time when they were in high school and they did pranks on others. Then it happened.

They slowly stopped laughing and they were staring into each other’s eyes. Their lips met, once, twice as if testing waters. Then she grabbed the back of his head and pressed his lips against hers. He didn’t waste time and kissed her back. She climbed on top of him as his large hands roamed her body. The feeling of it sent her to another world. She moaned into the kiss when he was caressing her stomach.

She went to kiss his neck and sucked on the flesh. She wanted to leave her mark.

“Take us to the nearest hotel. I’ll still pay you,” Matt said.

Emilia said nothing to stop him. She was so caught up in the feeling.



“Our great runaway plan was just outside of Huntington Beach,” she said as she slipped on her dress.

Matt rubbed his face with his hands. “I don’t want to go back. I broke up with Val, Emi. I was serious about getting away.”

Emilia saw sincerity in his eyes. She pressed her lips together in a straight line. “What does this mean about us? We slept together, Matt. I was going to go on a date with Brian last night. I end up fucking you? How is that going to make me look?”

He frowned. “You were going to go on a date with Brian, and you didn’t tell me?”

“I did. I told you I had a date.”

He scowled. “You said it wasn’t anyone important.”

“Why does it matter?”

“I called you to tell you I broke off the wedding because of you! Not talking to you for two weeks was torture. Even when we fought we made up easily in a day or two. But being away from you made me realize it’s you I can’t live without! I can go weeks without missing Val. I never miss her. I miss you all of the time! You’re the reason I’m not getting married.”

His words shocked her. He got out of bed and pulled on his boxers.

“We’re clearly on different pages,” he muttered.

“Wait, let me soak in what you just fucking told me! Are you saying you like me, Matt? More than a friend?” she asked going around the bed to face him.

“I’m saying I fucking love you more than friend,” he said fiercely. It sent chills all over her body in a good way.

“We’ve been friends for twenty years, Matt," she didn't want to admit she had those feelings for him too. In fact, the reason she punched Val was mostly because she was jealous.

“And I’m not sick of you. I get so easily sick of Val, and almost anyone except you. You’re the one who keeps me grounded,” he grabbed her hands.

She groaned. “We started this out badly, Matt. Getting drunk and sleeping together the day you break off a wedding?”

“Who gives a shit?! Let’s actually run away until everything blows over,” he smiled. “We’ll actually go to Mexico. I know you want to. I can see it in your eyes.”

Emilia grinned. She did. She wanted very much so. “Fuck it, let’s do it. Guadalajara is where we’re going.”

“I could some tequila,” he grinned and then kissed Emilia on the lips.

She returned the passionate kiss and moaned when his tongue slipped inside of her mouth. He took control of the kiss, and she loved it. Their clothes were gone once more. She was getting more and more memories of their heated night together. He had been amazing. Her orgasm had been explosive, and she couldn’t wait for it to happen again.

Screw the consequences. She would lose her job for not calling in, but she didn’t give a damn.