Good Girl

“You know what I want?” Matt asked suddenly during a commercial break, sitting up from his laying position.

“What?” Mallory asked without interest, preoccupied with her work. She sat against the headboard, already in her pajamas and her hair tied up into a ponytail. She flipped another page over, examining a client’s claim.

“Some chicken wings,” Matt responded.

“There’s food in the kitchen, Matt.” Mallory grabbed her red pen, underlining a few lines.

“C’mon, you know Hooters has the best wings,” Matt tried to persuade her to go with him.

She glanced over at the clock on the nightstand before saying, “And it’s about to close. It’s almost midnight.”

“The one in L.A. is open twenty-four hours,” He mentioned.

“No,” Mallory said firmly, continuing her work.

“Mal, come on,” Matt groaned like a child, leaning into her. “You need a break. You’ve been working ever since you got home and it’s a Friday.”

“I want to have the weekend free,” Mallory explained, glancing at him for a second. “I don’t want to have to do this on Sunday night.”

“You act like it’s homework,” He said before Mallory gave him an annoyed look. “Let’s just go have a good time, have a few drinks and you can finish that tomorrow.”

“If you want to drink, go down to Johnny’s,” Mallory suggested, licking her thumb and turning another page.

“Okay,” Matt said, trying a different approach. He closed the binder on Mallory’s lap, pushing it to the side.

“Matt,” Mallory whined in annoyance, reaching for the binder.

“You have the entire weekend to finish that,” Matt told her, pulling her into a laying position and rolling on top of her. He kissed her forehead and then made a trail of kisses down her face. “Let’s just drive up to LA for the night. See if Brian and Erin want to come, too.”

“Matt,” Mallory mumbled against his lips. She really didn’t feel like going out so late. She’d had a long day at work and was already in her pajamas. She moaned and giggled when he placed kisses around her jaw and sucked on the sensitive skin of her neck.

“We’ll go out,” Matt put his lips to her skin again in between words. She smelt like fresh Dove soap and fruity shampoo. “We’ll get back in the morning and… you know how that goes.”

“Okay, okay,” Mallory gave in with a giggle. She placed her palms flat on his broad chest, uselessly attempting to push him away. “We’ll go.”

“I love you, Mal,” Matt leaned down to kiss her one more time.

“I love you too,” Mallory mumbled, her eyes fluttering closed when his lips touched hers. It’d obviously become a common phrase between them, but Mallory meant it every time she said it.

“Come on, get dressed,” Matt grinned, satisfied that he’d gotten his way.

“Whatever,” Mallory playfully gave him the finger before shoving her work binder into her nightstand drawer. She turned to Matt with her phone in hand, ready to text Erin. She cocked her head to the side mischievously, knowing the only way to get Erin and Brian out of the bed this late. “I’m telling Erin and Brian that food and drinks are on you.”



“Hi, I’m Tess and I’ll be your waitress tonight,” The brunette introduced herself to the table like they’d never met before. She held her pen and notepad in her hand, her cloud-gray eyes wide and patient. Her chest was nearly ready to bust from the top of the white Hooters shirt and her caution-orange shorts looked a bit tight and uncomfortable.

“Why are you introducing yourself?” Mallory asked, amused with Tess’s introduction. “You never introduce yourself to us.”

“Manager’s over there,” Tess said through gritted teeth, holding her taut smile and nodding her head in the direction of her boss. “I’ve gotta say it.”

“Oh, right,” Mallory nodded, like she was just now getting it.

Mallory looked down at the menu, even though she wasn’t hungry. It was after one in the morning on a Friday night and if she was going to be with her friends, then she wanted to loosen up with a drink or two. After all, Matt had convinced her to drive all the way to LA with him just for food. She was dressed very casual for middle-of-the-night dining, in a sweatshirt and jeans. She’d even kept her hair up into a ponytail.

“Ok, what do you guys want?” Tess’s forced smile dropped into a more natural one and her tone was more relaxed once her boss left the table area.

The four of them ordered, which was mostly alcoholic drinks and an appetizer tray. Mallory could tell that Brian was milking the whole thing. He’d ordered a round of beers to start off with, grinning at Matt as he did so. The only way Mallory was able to coax the couple out of their bed at midnight was by promising free food and drinks. Brian was turning into an old man, going to bed regularly at eleven. Mallory was just glad she hadn’t interrupted them when she called.

“Gates, I’m going to kill you if you put a hole in my wallet,” Matt threatened his close friend after Tess left to put their orders in.

“Aw, but Mal said you were paying,” Brian blinked innocently.

“Yeah, we’re basically doing you a favor, Matt,” Erin told him, linking arms with Mallory.

The tray of drinks had come before the actual food. The four of them touched their beers together and gulped them down. Beer wasn’t Mallory’s favorite drink, but she drank it if she had to or if everyone else was. She was honestly more of a fruity cocktail type, with an occasional swig of hard liquor.

“I’ll be back, babe,” Matt told Mallory after about ten minutes. He set his beer down on the table, waiting for her to finish drinking to respond.

“Okay,” Mallory nodded, setting her empty beer down. The crisp and fizzy feeling of the beer lingered on her tongue and in her mouth.

Brian and Erin had jumped into conversation with Mallory, which mostly consisted of dirty jokes and anything else that they found hilarious. Before she knew it, fifteen more minutes had passed and Mallory had finished another beer. Through her early setting buzz, she realized that Matt hadn’t come back and neither did Tess with their food.

“Where did Matt go?” Mallory thought out loud.

Erin half-shrugged, “Bathroom, I guess.”

“Maybe I should go find him,” Brian volunteered, getting up from the booth and walking away to find her fiancé.

“Your waitress wasn’t feeling too well, so I’ll be taking over for the rest of the night,” A ginger-haired girl walked up wearing the same exact uniform as Tess was. “I’m Chelsea and I’ll be back with your food shortly.”

“Matt’s gone and Tess suddenly doesn’t feel well…” Erin said lowly, stirring her straw in her glass of water. “Mallory…”

“I know,” Mallory unintentionally snapped at Erin before sighing. “I know what you’re going to say.”

Erin raised one eyebrow as if to ask if she really knew.

“You’re going to ask if it seems weird,” Mallory continued. “You keep bringing it up and I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell you, Erin. I don’t think of Tess like that. She’s not that type of girl, you know?”

Erin scoffed, “Yeah, right.”

Mallory didn’t feel like arguing with her friend in the middle of Hooters at 2AM. She just didn’t have the energy for it. Erin had been trying to convince her that Matt and Tess had been acting weird, and Mallory wasn’t having it. Tess wasn’t that type of girl and she knew that Matt definitely wasn’t that type of man.

“There’s Tess right there,” Mallory pointed out at the brunette.

Tess was practically speed walking past the tables, visibly upset. She wiped under her eyes with her fingertips before pushing open the swinging door to the kitchen and disappearing. Mallory stared at the dented silver door as it swung for seconds after.

“Um,” Mallory started, wondering what had just happened. She wondered if Tess had somehow gotten fired.

“Mal, don’t even worry about her right now,” Erin advised. She was obviously unconcerned about their mutual friend.

“Okay,” Mallory listened to Erin, sounding like a defeated child. Her fingers itched to pull out her phone and text Tess. It always frustrated Mallory that Erin didn’t care about Tess the way she did. She never wanted to be in between her two friends.

Matt and Brian returned a minute after the new waitress delivered their food. Matt was more quiet than before as he chugged his beer. Mallory placed her hand on his thigh under the table, feeling him tense up. She wondered what had happened wherever he and Brian were, but decided not to ask about it.

“You alright?” She simply asked, looking up at him. Matt clearly being upset had sobered her up in two seconds.

“I’m fine, Mal,” Matt told her unconvincingly, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to him.

Mallory took his word for it, like she always did. It was clear that something had bothered him, but she just didn’t want to confront him about it.