Starting Over

The rest of the night at Val’s house went well and I got home around midnight and went straight to bed since it was way past my normal bedtime. I was grateful the events from the day stayed buried deep in my mind so I wouldn’t have to remember them while I was sleeping but when I woke up the next morning, they were right there waiting for me to remember. I sighed to myself and got out of bed and decided that maybe cleaning would take my mind off of the memory that was sticking out the most. Matt and Harper were all over each other last night and no matter how much I tried to ignore it, it was just hard to see. It was like a giant slap in the face since I thought that Matt was just solely interested in me, and that obviously wasn’t the case. I turned on my radio that I had in living room and put in my wireless headphones that connected to the radio and started my distraction from my mind. I don’t know how long I was cleaning but I know I was singing at the top of my lungs and my mind was definitely distracted. After seeing Matt with Harper, it was a little bit hard to believe that he was just using her. The way they were acting was definitely making me think that Matt was not into me at all. I was getting lost in the melody of one of my guilty pleasures while I was cleaning up Jace’s room. I had my back to the door picking up some of his dirty clothes when someone grabbed my shoulder and I immediately went into self-defense mode. I was thankful that I had taken the self-defense class that Charlie had bought for me for my last birthday. I did exactly what I was taught and when I turned around to get the hell out of the room, I was shocked to see Matt on the ground groaning in pain.

“Oh my god,” I said putting my hands over my mouth and pulling out my earbuds, “Matt. . .”

Matt couldn’t say anything because he was on the ground in a ball and I quickly rushed downstairs and grabbed a package of frozen vegetables and rushed back upstairs. Matt was now sitting in a normal position and I handed him the vegetables to which he put on his face since I had given him a nice jab to the nose.

“Do you always beat up your company?” he asked as I sat next to him.

“Do you always sneak up on people who don’t invite you into their homes?” I retorted back a bit irked that he showed up unannounced.

“Touché,” he replied, “In my defense however, I called your phone three times and then rang your doorbell for five minutes. I checked around back because that’s really unlike you to not answer the door while you’re home. I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Yeah well, I needed to clear my head after last night,” I muttered looking anywhere but at him.

Matt sighed and took the frozen bag from his face and looked at me.

“That’s why I came by,” he said, “I wanted to come by and apologize for last night. It was not cool of me to do that and I’m sorry I was a huge douche bag.”

“You mean Class A Douche Bag Prick,” I replied and he sighed, “Sorry but you get my drift. I didn’t deserve that, you are right and I accept your apology but it doesn’t change what you did Matt. You basically assumed you had me eating out of the palm of your hand and you don’t. No guy ever will with me. Not after what happened.”

“I know,” he said, “and I realize that now. I really do, I just. . .Look I’m just going to put it all out there and then take what you will. I really like you Melrose. More than just a friend and more than just my kids’ best friends’ mom, when you asked to make me dinner I was very impressed with how smooth it came across. I was really looking forward to it. Then the whole Derek incident happened and when you cancelled I totally understood. But you have to see things from my side, after that you went MIA for two weeks. The only texts I got were in a group message to Val. I thought that you were interested in me too and then you switched completely and I assumed you were just leading me on. Then at the party you and Brooks were talking literally all night, I just I don’t know I guess I just need to know if you feel the same.”

The more Matt talked, the guiltier I felt. I had no clue that Matt was thinking all those things when I went MIA for those two weeks. I put my hand on the hand closest to me and I looked up at him and saw that Matt really was worried about what my response was because he looked so vulnerable.

“First of all, you don’t have to worry about Brooks,” I said smiling lightly at him, “Brooks is way too old for me and I’m definitely staying away from jealous ex-wives. Brooks just seems like a good friend to have. It was nice to have a complete stranger understand where I was because it sounds like his ex-wife and Derek are pretty similar.”

Matt smiled lightly at my response to the whole Brooks thing.

“Now as to the whole you like me more than a friend,” I said, “I feel the same way however, I just don’t know how to go forward. I haven't dated in years, and the boys and I just somehow got onto the same page. I would like to possibly maybe go on a date and see how it goes I guess. I just don’t want to rush into anything and then have shit hit the fan.”

I had no idea if that made any sense but I assumed it did because the smile on Matt’s face looked like it was trying to split his face in half.

“I take it that it makes sense,” I said as my phone rang and I sighed looking at Matt who was just grinning at me as I answered my phone.

“Please tell me that my douche bag of an ex-husband is apologizing to you as we speak,” Val’s voice stated before I could say hello, “What did he say? Are you making him work for it? What’s going on Mel!”

“I will talk to you later Val,” I said, “Have a good day.”

I then hung up on Val and shook my head smiling lightly. That woman did not rest until she got her way. I looked up to see Matt had slowly stood up and was lightly cupping his family jewels.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I’m glad I don’t have to worry about you never getting your ass kicked,” he said gruffly, “You have a killer elbow and knee moves.”

“I’m really sorry,” I said slipping my arm around the giant in front of me and put his arm around my shoulder, “Come on I’ll help you to the living room couch.”

We then slowly made our way down the stairs and onto the couch. I handed Matt the remote and said that I would be right back and went to go change into something that covered everything that was showing since I decided to wear an old crop top and gym shorts while cleaning the house by myself. Once I was done changing, I headed back downstairs to see Matt had some baseball game on.

“How are the family jewels feeling?” I asked leaning against the door frame to the living room.

“Pretty tender but better than fifteen minutes ago,” he said as I sat down on the couch next to him.

“Sorry about kicking your ass,” I said, “But seriously breaking and entering?”

“One you didn’t kick my ass, I was caught off guard. Two it’s not breaking and entering when the backdoor is unlocked. You’re lucky I wasn’t some sadistic serial killer,” he said pointing towards my kitchen and I rolled my eyes at his dramatics.

“Whatever you say to keep your ego inflated drama king,” I said standing up, “While you’re waiting for the pain to go away do you want something to drink?”

“Water is fine,” Matt said turning his attention to the TV.

I just shook my head at how quick Matt’s attention shifted from me to the baseball game. I grabbed Matt a glass of water and decided that he could hang out by himself like a big boy and let himself out when he was feeling better. I definitely wanted to spend today by myself without anyone bothering me and now that Matt and I had cleared the air between the two of us, the knots I had in my stomach were now gone. I set the water on the table and then walked back to the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Matt asked confused as to why I was leaving the room.

“To finish cleaning the house,” I said, “Just let me know when you’re headed out.”

I think Matt was shocked with my response but I wasn’t going to change my plans because he decided to show up unannounced. I then put my headphones back on and continued my cleaning upstairs. I must have cleaned for another two or three hours before I decided to head back down and see if Matt was feeling better. When I hit the bottom of the stairs I smelt something wonderful and looked to see that it was already noon and I had been cleaning for six hours straight. I walked back towards the kitchen to see Matt’s back to me while he was setting up the table. I was a bit taken aback by seeing burgers and tater tots on the table but I wanted to see what his explanation was.

“Are you really trying that hard?” I asked smirking walking more into the kitchen.

Matt looked up from the table with his infamous grin.

“If I answer yes will it give me brownie points?” he asked and I shrugged, “Then yes, I am really trying this hard. Besides I grill way better than Jonah. I would’ve grilled but I pissed off Val and she wouldn’t let me near the grill.”

I just laughed rolling my eyes as I took a seat next to Matt. He handed me a glass of water and I smiled lightly at the gesture since he knew that I was going to pick up the boys in a few hours.

“So how does it feel to be kid free for a weekend?” he asked as he sat down and handed me a burger.

“Relieving to be honest,” I said, “I forgot what it was like to have a break. The last few months have just been go, go, go, that I never let my parents have the boys for a weekend. I think the last time I was completely childless for a weekend was when Val and I went to a spa for the weekend.”

Matt’s eyes got wide because he knew how long that was.

“Mel that was like five months ago,” he said and I gave him a sheepish look.

“Yeah,” I said slowly, “Things have just been a bit hectic.”

“Well I think you should try to give yourself more of a break. You are a kickass mom but you have to have time to recharge every once in a while,” he said and I smiled lightly at his statement.

“Thanks Matt,” I said, “For lunch and everything else.”

“Anytime beautiful you can just repay me in a date maybe Friday night?” he half asked, half said.

“I think that can be arranged,” I said smiling lightly, “Since I do seem to keep canceling on you.”

I think if Matt’s face could grin any wider it would have happened after I said yes. The rest of lunch was quite an enjoyment. We just made small talk and he did know what he was doing with grilling. The burger was awesome and I was completely thankful that he used the hamburger in the fridge since I was supposed to use that by tonight. Matt helped me with the dishes and for some reason I asked him if he wanted to tag along to my parents’ house for dinner. I knew we had barely agreed to going on one date but I knew my mother itching to meet the man that she knew so much about since Matt’s mom and my mom were like best friends since they moved next door to each other. Matt agreed enthusiastically without hesitation which made me think that everyone was right, Matt was truly interested in seeing where this could go and was willing to take it as slow or as fast as I wanted.