Beautiful Mess

"You spent the night with Matt!?" Lacey's voice boomed through the phone. "Are you still there now?"

"No," I said, rushing to my closet and pulling out my clothes for work. "I just got back to my place. I knew you'd kill me if I didn't tell you right away though."

"Very true," she said. "Alright, be honest. Did you do it with Matthew?"

"Lacey!" I screeched. "Come on, I thought you knew me better than that. We're not even dating yet."

"Yet?"

I rolled my eyes. "Lace, I gotta get to work."

"But I want to know everything!"

"I'll call you later, okay? I'm about to be late." I hung up without waiting for her response, grabbed my shoes, and bolted out the door.

I sped all the way to work and managed to make it right on time. I was attempting to pull my hair up into a ponytail as I walked through the doors. "Someone looks cheerful," Lisa said from behind the counter.

I rolled my eyes and pushed past her to see what needed to be done for the day. She followed me and placed her hands on her hips. "I don't understand you," she said. "Ever since I started working here all I've tried to do is be your friend. As far as I know I've never done anything bad to you, so why do you hate me?"

I knew I couldn't answer that honestly. The reason I hated her was because she was so much like Val, and until recently Val had something I wanted. I looked up at Lisa. "Because I'm a terrible person," I answered. "I'm sorry." She just nodded and walked away. I sighed and looked down at the list of arrangements I need to start working on.

Honestly, the day went a lot faster when I decided to be nice to Lisa and actually talk to her. The conversations kept me from getting bored and wanting to fall off the earth like I usually did. It only got better when, right before we closed, the glass doors opened.

"Hey," I said, smiling as Matt walked toward the counter. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled back at me. "I was just in the neighborhood, looking for some girl I kinda like."

"Oh really?" I said. "And who might this girl be?"

"Oh, you wouldn't know her." He leaned over the counter and quickly pressed his lips to mine. "But I was wondering if she wanted to hang out with me tonight."

I chewed on my lip, trying not to smile any wider. I heard Lisa giggle somewhere behind me. "Maybe just tonight. I almost didn't make it to work on time this morning."

"Alright," he nodded. "I was thinking about heading to Brian's tonight to hang out. Lacey and Johnny will be there, so it won't be too weird."

"Okay. I have to finish closing up first." He just grinned and I returned to my work.



"What the hell did you do with my best friend?" Lacey said as I approached her, hand in hand with Matt. Matt just chuckled, gave my hand a squeeze, and walked over to where Johnny and Brian were standing. "Damn, Linds. It's only been a few minutes but I can already see the change in you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, first of all, you don't look like you wanna kill everyone in the room. Second, you were holding hands with Matt! I've never known you to hold hands with anyone."

I simply shrugged. "I don't know. I like holding his hand."

Her eyes grew wide, and she started shaking her head. "Holy piss. You love him."

"What?" I snapped. "I haven't known him that long! We're not even dating!"

"There's no rule that says you have to be dating someone to love them, Lindsey."

I looked over at Matt, who was now sitting on Brian's couch, and sighed as I thought about what Lacey had just said. I was absolutely crazy about Matt, but there was still that voice in the back of my mind telling me to get out before I fell too hard.