Good Girl

A giggle traveled through the foyer when Mallory came home. She recognized it as Tess’s voice. Mallory pushed the door closed behind her, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor as she made her way to the living room. The lights in the living room were turned down to a dim setting, the television casting shadows throughout the room. The television was low enough for her to hear Tess and Matt’s voices.

“Hey,” Mallory popped in, her soft pink handbag held on her forearm.

“Hey, Mal,” Tess said, looking up. She stood behind the couch, her hands digging deep into Matt’s shoulders.

“A massage?” Mallory asked, not thinking anything intimate of the scene.

Tess nodded, her fingers trailing down Matt’s muscular arms. “He’s really tense. You must not be giving it up too much.”

Mallory laughed at her friend and then raised an eyebrow to look at Matt. “Is that what he’s been telling you?”

“Mhmm,” Tess giggled.

Mallory took the few steps towards the couch, coming around the back. Tess removed her hands from Matt and allowed Mallory to take her spot. Mallory leaned down over Matt’s shoulder, whispering in his ear. “How about we go upstairs and I’ll finish up this massage?”

Matt looked up at her, pecking her lips slowly. “We’ll go up right after this movie, okay?”

Mallory agreed, looking at the previews on the tv. “What movie is it?”

“21 Jump Street,” Tess answered. It was one of her and Mallory’s favorite movies. “Watch it with us. There’s Chinese in the kitchen, too.”

“Thanks.” Mallory leaned back down to kiss Matt again. She left to go to the kitchen for something to eat, hoping they’d gotten lo-mein. She was thankful that whenever Tess was around, she didn’t have to cook. She appreciated having a meal as soon as she came home, and not having to take the time to prepare it.

When she returned to the living room, the movie had just started. Tess lay on the rug on her stomach, hugging one of the pillows. Mallory sat down on the sofa close to Matt, kicking off her heels and curling her feet underneath her. Matt threw his arm around her, bringing her into his side while she ate.

When the movie was over, Mallory’s stomach ached from laughing so much. She was sure she’d gotten a six pack and burned off the high calories of the Chinese food from laughing. Mallory remained cuddled in Matt’s side as the credits rolled. She glanced at the time on the cable box, seeing it was little after nine.

“Welp, that was fun,” Tess said, rolling over and standing up. “I’m gonna head home.”

Mallory stood up, intending to walk her out.

“I’ll let myself out,” Tess said, kissing Mallory’s cheek.

“See you later,” Mallory said, returning a kiss onto Tess’s cheek.

“Bye, Tess,” Matt waved.

“Goodnight,” Tess waved at the two of them before leaving the room.

Mallory heard the front door open and close. She bent over to pick up her plate and glass, debating on whether to wash the dishes now or later.

“Matt!” Mallory shrieked, standing up straight when Matt’s palm slapped her ass with a loud smack.

“Sorry,” Matt apologized with a laugh, clearly not sorry. He smoothed down her skirt, purposely groping her ass in the process. “I couldn’t help it.”

Mallory rolled her eyes at his boyish ways, walking barefoot into the kitchen. She dropped the dishes into the sink and returned to the living room. She grabbed the remote, shutting off the television for the night.

“You heading up?” She asked Matt, picking up her purse and keys to bring upstairs. The two of them left the living room, shutting off the lights and heading to the stairs.

“Yeah,” He nodded. They paused at the bottom of the staircase. “Let me make sure all the doors are locked first and I’ll be up.”

“’Kay,” Mallory said, starting up the curved staircase.

The carpet runner on the stairs felt rough under her bare feet as she made her way up. She turned down the hall and stepped into their bedroom. The bed was still unmade from the morning, as always. Mallory was always out of the house before Matt by eight, and of course he never made the bed when he got up.

She undressed in their large walk-in closet, hanging up her blazer and folding up her skirt. She changed into a silk, black nightgown, checking herself in the mirror. Glancing at the other side of the closet, she sighed. Matt’s side was always messy and unorganized. It seemed as though his clothes never made it to the inside of the laundry hamper that was a few feet away. T-shirts laid any and everywhere and hoodies were half hung on the hangers. The only neat thing on his side was the jewelry plate that housed his expensive watches and a spare pair of silver gauges.

Mallory supposed she could tidy his side of the closet before she went to bed. Honestly, she was tired of looking at the mess for weeks on end. She bent over, beginning to pick up the clothes on the floor.

“What are you doing?” Matt asked from the doorway of the closet.

She glanced over at him, piling the shirts in her arms. “Just cleaning up your side.”

“You don’t have to do that, Mal,” He told her. “I’ll clean it whenever I get around to it.”

Mallory rolled her eyes, knowing that was a lie. Matt only cleaned when he absolutely needed to or she forced him to. “I’ve got it. It’s not that hard to toss your dirty clothes into the hamper, Matt.”

“I know, I know,” Matt said, stressing the words. “Thanks for straightening it up for me. I’m gonna take a shower.”

“Uh-huh,” Mallory nodded, dropping the clothes into the laundry basket.

Matt left her alone, and she heard the shower running two minutes later. Cleaning the closet didn’t take much, Mallory thought. In less than five minutes, she could now see the floor on Matt’s side. She made a note to do laundry over the weekend.

She turned around, facing Matt’s unorganized jackets and hoodies. She pulled each jacket from the rod, adjusting the shoulders rightly on the hangers. She hung each jacket back up as she finished, intending on sorting them by color like her clothes. It was obviously hard to do when ninety-five percent of his shirts were black.

Mallory bent down, picking up a shiny square that had fallen from a jacket pocket. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion as she looked down at the condom in her hand. She dipped her hand into the same pocket it came from, pulling out two more foil packages. She knew that they didn’t use condoms when they had sex.

Mallory walked out of the closet and back into the bedroom. She looked at Matt, just now coming out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. Mallory ignored the beads of water rolling down his chest.

“Why do you have these?” She flat-out asked, showing him the three condoms in her hand.

“You’re asking me why I have condoms?” Matt asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought most people were into safe sex, you know.”

Mallory rolled her eyes at his attempt to be nonchalant. “You know we haven’t used them in a while. I found them in a pocket.”

“Maybe we should start,” He muttered off-handedly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mallory asked with an attitude, folding her arms across her chest.

“It means that more protection is better, I guess.” He sounded almost like he was convincing himself. “Birth control doesn’t always work.”

“So, you’re saying you don’t trust me?” Mallory jumped to conclusions, biting the inside of her cheek.

“What?” Matt looked at her. “I didn’t say that. Where’d you get that from?”

Mallory had watched a handful of reality shows. She knew that men didn’t trust it when a woman said she was on birth control. They thought females were trying to trap them into a relationship by getting pregnant.

That was definitely not on her list of intentions, yet it still hurt to think that Matt didn’t trust her enough.