Good Girl

Mallory put on a hard face as she walked up the driveway. Pushing open the front door of the house, she stepped inside. She didn’t want to be there if she didn’t have to, after all that happened last night.

She had over twenty text messages, missed calls, and voicemails when she woke up that morning. A few were from Brian, asking where she was. Erin and Matt had left the most messages. Erin had sent a five-page text that Mallory deleted without even reading it. She didn’t want to hear anything from anyone, especially her so-called ‘friends’.

Matt repeatedly called her all night, prompting Mallory to turn off her phone. Each message was the same. He apologized over and over and begged her to come home. At one point, it sounded like he’d been crying.

No one should have been crying but Mallory. She’d spent the night at a cheap motel outside of Huntington where no one could find her. She cried and kicked herself in the ass all night. How could he cheat on her with her best friend? How could everyone have known but her? Mallory wanted to believe it was a cruel joke.

“Can we talk?”

Mallory stopped in her tracks, her hand on the banister and her foot on the first step of the staircase. She was still in yesterday’s outfit.

“You can talk, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll listen,” She said flatly, turning around to face him. She was exhausted. She hadn’t gotten any sleep. “Even though I think I’ve heard enough.”

“That’s fine with me,” Matt nodded. “I just… need to explain.”

Mallory refrained from rolling her eyes as she followed him into the kitchen. She sat on a stool, resting her head on her arm. She mumbled, “If you’re going to say you’re sorry then forget about it.”

“But I am sorry, Mal,” He stressed. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. I admit that I cheated and it’s really fuckin’ low for it to be her. I just got… caught up.”

Mallory sat up straight. “You could have said no, knowing that you have me.” She glanced at the diamond ring on the counter. “Well, had me.”

“I could have, but I didn’t and I’m taking responsibility for it,” Matt confessed.

There was a moment of silence before Mallory spoke up. “How long? How long have you been with her?”

“It doesn’t matter how long,” Matt told her. “It’s over now, and that’s it.”

“Wow,” Mallory stood up, shaking her head. He still wanted to withhold information from her. “I asked, how long, Matt.”

“And I said it doesn’t matter,” He snapped at her. “Why would you want to know?”

She slammed her hand down onto the counter angrily. “I want to know how long I’ve been getting played, Matt! How long I’ve played the fucking fool in your goddamn game! Do you know how humiliating it is? For everyone to know about you and her, except for me? I just want to know how long they’ve been smiling in my face and laughing behind my back. That’s all I’m asking for and you can’t even give me that.”

“Five months,” Matt blurted out. “It’s been five months, if you really want to know.”

“And everyone knew the entire time,” Mallory muttered, more to herself than him.

“Not the entire time,” Matt clarified. “It was after the tour and-”

Mallory put her hand up to stop him. “I don’t want to know how it happened. I don’t care how it happened. I just know that it happened, and that’s enough for me.”

“No one was laughing at you, Mallory.”

“Are you sure about that? Then what, they all felt bad for me? I wish I’d known that they were like this sooner,” Mallory said, her hazel eyes staring into his. “I mean, I get it. You’re a part of the band, so they can’t kick you out. You were friends with them before I was, so I expect them to back you up. But I thought…I thought they had some sort of respect for me. Now I know that their loyalty lies one hundred percent in you. I’m clearly not worth shit to them.”

“They do respect you-”

“They obviously don’t!” Mallory yelled. “They very well couldn’t give a damn about me. I’m sure the guys gave you a round of applause, Matt. You had two girls at the same time. You’re the fucking man.” It was very clear from her caustic tone that she was being sarcastic.

“You think I’m proud?” Matt asked, narrowing his eyes at her. “You think it feels good to hurt you?”

“After last night, it sure looks like it,” Mallory replied sharply. “Tess had a good time with you. She’s proud. She wanted to hurt me, so why not you?”

“I didn’t know what her intentions were,” Matt said, and for a moment Mallory considered he was telling the truth. “I slept with her and cheated on you, as a guy. That’s not a good excuse but I did it. Whatever Tess’s plans were, I had no part of it. It happened and I’m sorry that it did.”

“I’m sorry that it happened too,” She said quietly. “I’m sorry that you threw away seven years on a slut I called my best friend. I’m sorry that I believed everything you said, every one of your lies. I actually feel sorry for myself.”

“So what are you saying?” Matt asked lowly. “What are we doing?”

“I’m saying that we’re done,” Mallory wondered if she had to spell it out for him. According to Tess, he was planning on leaving her anyway.

“If that’s what you really want-”

“That’s definitely what I want,” She cut him off.

“If you want the house, you can keep it,” He offered. “You can stay, and I’ll move out, only because I know you can’t afford anything like this on your own.”

There he went with his arrogance.

“Don’t do me any fucking favors,” Mallory said venomously. “Best believe I’ll be out of here by the end of the week. Then, maybe that bitch can move in and take my spot.”

“And where are you gonna go, Mallory? To San Diego with your parents? A cheap hotel on Main Street?”

“Don’t worry about where I’m going. Just know that I’ll be out of your way and you can stay out of mine.”