One More Night

I frowned as Lyn stomped towards the door, a look of pure anger on her face. I looked over at Brian and then back at Lyn, walking after her and grabbing her arm. “Lyn, wait,” I pleaded. “Can I explain?”

“No, Matt,” she hissed, yanking her arm away from me. “You did this on purpose. You’re friends with him and you got him to be your wingman? You made him feed me a bunch of bullshit so I’d agree to be with you? I can’t even believe you, Matt! What the fuck?”

I frowned deeply and shook my head. “No, Lyn, that’s not true,” I muttered quickly. “Please believe me. I don’t even know what Brian told you. I didn’t even know you were going to be here! I—”

“Don’t raise your voice at me,” she growled as if she were my mother or something.

I heard a few snickers from the guys and I sighed, shaking my head. “Lyn, I swear to god, I didn’t know about this today,” he said.

Brian walked forward and wrapped his arm around Lyn’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he said. “This is my fault. Matt’s telling the truth. He really didn’t know about this. This is all on me. I mean, he told me about you, and he told me you were having issues with relationship shit, so I wanted to help and—”

“You told him?” Lyn roared, shoving Brian away and giving me a look that signified death.

I glared at Brian and looked back at Lyn, shaking my head. “No, I . . . I mean . . . I told because . . . I’m so sorry, Lyn,” I muttered.

“Fuck you, Matt,” she hissed. “I’m so fucking done. I don’t want to talk to you ever again.”

I looked at Brian and then at the guys, looking for one of the girls to help. Michelle walked over and lightly rested a hand on Lyn’s shoulder. “Lyn,” she murmured in a calm, soothing voice. “Calm down, sweetie.”

I watched Lyn slowly start to calm down and she turned to look at Michelle, who smiled sweetly at her. “Good,” she murmured. “Now, take a deep breath.” Lyn took a deep breath and looked down, and I knew I’d completely embarrassed her, which I felt terrible for. Maybe I should have skipped out today. I knew something bad was going to happen, I could feel it in my gut when I woke up this morning. “Now, why don’t you stay for dinner and a couple of drinks, ignore Matt and Brian, and you can stick around with us girls.”

Lyn slowly nodded her head and Michelle led her outback, Lacey and Gena following her. I sighed and glared at Brian, shaking my head. “We didn’t agree on today,” I hissed.

“We set up dates?” Brian asked sarcastically. “I didn’t know she was going to freak out.”

“You knew I was coming over!”

Brian waved his hand in my face before walking out back. I groaned softly, looking at Jimmy and Johnny for help, but they just followed Brian. Zacky gave me a sad, apologetic smile before he followed Jimmy and Johnny. So I was the bad guy now? I wasn’t even wanted here. I shook my head, taking a deep breath and calming myself down. I wouldn’t stoop to the level of a fifteen-year-old girl. I wanted to go outside and hang out with my friends, but at the same time, I knew the moment Lyn laid eyes on me again, she’d leave. I didn’t want to ruin her good time.

I decided on just leaving, knowing that if the guys cared about me, they’d call to make sure I was okay. I walked out to my car and climbed in, starting it. I let my car take me wherever it wanted, and I ended up in the last place I wanted to be—my parents’ home. My mother would scold me for ruining my “relationship” with Lyn and my father would just make snide comments about her, which I didn’t want to hear at all. Thank god Amy wasn’t around for this.

I sighed as I cut the engine and climbed out of my car, walking up to the front door and knocking on it. About a minute and a half later, I was greeted by a happy-looking Mom. She pulled me into her arms and hugged me tightly. “Oh, Matt, you don’t have to knock, sweetie,” she murmured, dragging me inside. “Just come right in next time, okay?”

I nodded my head and followed her. “Alright,” I mumbled.

“What’s wrong, baby?” she asked, frowning.

“Nothing, I just . . . I think I messed things up with Lyn,” I said with a shrug, staring down at the floor or anywhere else away from my mother.

“I think this is a conversation for your father,” she finally muttered after a few awkward moments of silence.

She walked away and I walked into the living room, sitting down next to my father. “Hey Dad,” I muttered.

“Matt, hey,” he said, pulling me into a tight hug, patting my back. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Lyn . . . I fucked things up,” I sighed.

“That girl. I knew she was wrong for you, Matt,” he said.

“What?” I mumbled, my eyebrows furrowing together as I looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

“I knew from the moment I met her that she was the completely wrong girl for you,” he said. “Did she break your heart? She’s not even worth it, Matt. She’s not your type.”

I had a type? “What do you mean ‘she’s not my type?’ I don’t even have a type! How do you even know what my type is? I like who I like. You can’t solely base every single girl I’ll be with off Val for the rest of my life just because we were good together,” I snapped, my temper rising at the mention of Val.

“Hey now,” he started, giving me a stern look. “Calm down, Matt. You asked for my opinion, and I gave it to you.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion!” I shouted, standing up and narrowing my eyes at him. “I told you I had a problem and you completely turned the situation around on me!”

“Matt, you’re being immature,” he hissed. “Sit down and we’ll talk about this.”

“Immature?” I growled, clenching my fists and taking a deep breath. “God, just stay out of my love life!”

“You came to me!”

I wanted so badly to just hit him and I’d never felt that way about my father before. If he knew that I wanted to hit him, he’d be so upset with me. I just needed to blow off some steam before I did something I’d regret. I huffed and turned on my heel, walking out of the house before I blew up. I got in my car and headed for the gym.