Fight or Flight

"Used to be," Veronica repeated Val's words, processing the information. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, not sure how she was supposed to react.

"I thought you knew," Val frowned as if she'd said something she wasn't supposed to. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's alright," Veronica waved her hand, turning around to face her.

"I mean, we're divorced now obviously," Val explained.

"He just... didn't tell me that part," Veronica said.

"We usually don't," Val said truthfully. "It's not something we regret or really look back on, but the past is the past."

"How long were you guys married?" Veronica asked, curiously. It could have been one of those Kardashian marriages. Maybe it wasn't a serious thing; just something they thought they were ready for.

"Just about two years," Val told her after some thinking. "It was officially over in 2011."

"Wow," Veronica said, her eyebrows rising in surprise. Two years was a long enough time to be married.

"We're still friends. It’s kind of hard to avoid each other within our group of friends,” Val went on. “But Matt’s like my brother.”

People don't get married to their brothers, Veronica thought.

"That's a bad comparison," Val said immediately afterwards, as if she’d read Veronica’s mind. "I'm going to stop talking now. What matters is that it's over and now he's got eyes for you. There's no feelings between us whatsoever, so you don’t have anything to worry about."

"I'm not worried," Veronica told her matter-of-factly.

"Well, okay," Val said. She fidgeted with the hem of her blouse. "You should change so we can pay for this stuff and get out of here."

Veronica nodded in agreement and returned back to the dress room, thinking about how she was going to tell Matt about what she knew.



Veronica dialed Matt’s number as soon as she got home. She had to find out what was going on and if what Val said was true. She wanted to hear it from his mouth.

Please pick up, Veronica thought as she paced around her living room. After a few more rings, he finally answered.

"Veronica," Matt's gruff voice came through the phone.

She could barely hear him, the background was so loud.

"Matt," Veronica greeted him the same way.

"What's up?" Matt asked. "Sorry, it's so loud. One of the opening bands is on stage."

"It’s okay. I just wanted to talk to you about something," Veronica sugar-coated.

"Er, okay. I kinda hope it's quick 'cause we go on stage in a little while," Matt said, "unless you want me to call you back after the set."

"No, no, it'll be quick," Veronica persuaded him.

"Okay," Matt said. "I'm listening."

"Val and I went shopping earlier," Veronica started.

"You and Val hang out now?" Matt asked skeptically.

"Uh, sorta," Veronica muttered. "She's pretty cool. But anyway, we were in the store and she mentioned something..."

"What'd she say?" Matt said. "God, I hope she didn't say anything stupid."

It was clear from his tone that he was playfully teasing Val.

"She said you guys used to be married," Veronica blurted out.

She could hear him sigh at the end of the line.

"Hold on," He said. He said something to someone in the background and then it became quiet. "I couldn't hear out there. She told you that we were married?"

"Yep,” Veronica popped the ‘p’ and chewed on her bottom lip.

"And now you want the truth," Matt inferred.

"Pretty much," Veronica said indifferently. "I just wanted to hear it from you."

"It's true," Matt confirmed confidently. "We were married for some time. I didn't tell you because I didn't think I needed to, so please don't think that I was hiding it from you. There's nothing to hide."

"Okay," Veronica said, plopping down on the couch. She listened intently to the rest of what he had to say.

"It was a mutual decision to get divorced and the reasons were nothing crazy. It just didn't work out, and obviously we're still very close," He continued to choose his words wisely.

"I understand," She said, absently looking up at her ceiling.

"Just know that Val's an important person in my life," He said very seriously. "I don't know if you want to be with me or not, but she's one of my best friends and I know that she would never deliberately do anything to hurt you."

So he couldn’t let Val go or kick her to the side that easily.

"Okay," Veronica nodded. "I can respect that."

She understood that he wasn’t necessarily going to give up Val for her if they started any type of relationship. That would be like her giving up Nate for Matt, and she knew that definitely would never happen.

"I'm really sorry," Matt apologized. "It's not that you weren't supposed to find out. It was just easier not to talk about it, in case it threw you off."

"It doesn't throw me off," Veronica said, almost not caring about what she had called for in the first place. But, it did throw her off for a moment at the mall. "I'm kind of glad that she told me. It doesn’t bother me.”

"That's... great," Matt more so questioned than stated, not knowing how to express his relief.

"So where are you guys, anyway?” Veronica asked, changing the topic.

"Uh, Pennsylvania," Matt said unsurely. "I'm not very good with remembering places. Touring gets me all mixed up."

Veronica giggled, "Yeah, I can see that. I'm going to let you go play your show, but at least you get back in three weeks."

"Yeah, we do," Matt said. There was some shuffling and some footsteps in the background. "I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye, Matt. Have fun," She said, smiling as she hung up. She sat back on her couch, exhaling deeply. She had to sort out the muddled feelings inside of her.