Almost Easy

Liz’s POV

I woke up Sunday morning on Marie’s couch, in one of her little black dresses, with less of a hangover than I expected after yet another night at the club. Except this time was slightly different, Marie brought someone home and I actually had my wedding ring still on my finger. Glancing down at the shimmering cluster of diamonds I sighed and sat up, running my hands through my mess of hair. A noise at the stairs caught my attention and I looked up at the guy fleeing down them, buttoning his shirt up as he settled at the bottom of the steps.

“Oh, I didn’t know anyone else was here-“

“It’s fine.” I waved him off as he made his way out the front door. I chuckled under my breath and checked my phone, a few texts from Matt had come in over night and three missed calls so far this morning. I looked at the time, it was almost two in the afternoon. He should be home by now. I groaned and stood up, looking around to find my bags and shoes.

“Hey hot stuff, leaving so soon?” Marie trotted down the stairs, her hair was probably in a much worse condition than mine and her pajamas were haphazardly put on her body. I laughed at the sight, “What? One night stands are where my life is at right now… men suck.”

“Tell me about it,” I shrugged while slipping in to my heels, “Actually, I’m gonna take a shower before leaving and put myself together a little bit. Matt’s probably already home from camp..”

“Yeah he called my phone this morning looking for you, apparently his card got shut off.” She snickered, “I told him you were still asleep.”

“Oh good, at least one of us has talked to him.” I laughed and made my way upstairs to the bathroom to shower.

I took a quick scrub down, making sure I washed off all the feelings regret from the past few nights out, the hands of other guys grabbing all over me and the thought of keeping my ring off until last night. I scrubbed my face last and got out, wrapping in a towel as I opened the bathroom door to release all the steam. “You decent bitch?” Marie didn’t wait for a response before walking in to fix her own hair, “So… what’s really going on with you two? I haven’t ever seen you get this wild.”

“I honestly have no idea what’s going on. My mind is still processing why he could have gone away and being sneaky about it. He brought up the other day going to Europe for Christmas and I guess I’m just confused what we’re doing any more. I thought being married would mean this drama stopped but it’s only been worse and more confusing than it’s ever been. Sometimes I wish it was still back in the day when we were fucking in the van behind Zack’s back.” I laughed at Marie’s facial expression as we both applied our makeup together in the mirror, “Yeah, there are days when I wonder what would have happened if I stayed with Levi.”

“You do remember calling him last night, right?” Marie asked carefully, almost silent, I nodded, “How did that go?”

“Well… I left him a voicemail because he didn’t answer, it was terrible, it was the worst drunk voicemail I could have left as a married woman…” I looked down in to the sink, “I’m hoping he deleted it.”

“So why do you think Matt went to Big Bear? Or away for that matter?”

I bit my lip and glanced down at the number setting my ringtone off, I inhaled, “Because he’s never going to just be mine. There’s always going to be drama.”

I hit ignore and finished my mascara, “Well… I hope you get happy again Lizzy. You deserve it.”

“Thanks.” I smiled back at Marie in the mirror and grabbed my duffel bag from the floor, taking out my jeans and T-shirt and changing quickly.

:.:.:.:.:

I pulled in to the driveway behind Matt’s car, sighing heavily as I cut my engine off and waited for a minute, collecting my thoughts before endeavoring in to the house I knew was about to become a war zone. I slung my bag over my shoulder and meandered up the front steps and inside, shutting the door carefully behind me. I still had my sunglasses on when Matt’s foot steps came thundering down the stairs, I sighed and just as he came in to view tossed my bag at the bottom of the stairs beside where he stood.

“Wow you’re alive.” He crossed his arms, I nodded, “Thanks for returning my calls.”

“Marie told me she talked to you,” I shrugged, leaving my sunglasses on, “Figured that was enough.”

“Did you have a good weekend?” His question sounded less judgmental than I anticipated so I took a minute to find words as he just stared at me with a waiting expression.

“Yeah, it was good. We did a lot of clubbing actually, that’s what happened with your card..” I mumbled the last bit and rubbing my arm gently, “Sorry I should have texted you about that.”

“It’s fine… that was a crazy bill though, two grand in one night? I’m surprised you and Marie aren’t dead… it was just you two right?” The loaded question I was waiting for.

I smirked a little bit at the ammunition I was about to load up with, “No, actually. We ran in to Brian the first night so it wasn’t just us.”

Matt’s skin paled as I turned to walk to the kitchen, hearing him shuffle behind to follow me, “Oh, really? Yeah he bailed on the trip-“

“No one went except you, Matt.” I grabbed a coffee mug from the cabinet and placed it beneath the Keurig, “He said he had no idea of a camping trip.”

“Liz-“

“Listen, Matt.” I shook my head and added water to the machine, “I don’t want to know.”

“It’s not what you think.” He hung his head, “It’s probably not even what he thinks.”

“Really? Because he made it sound pretty clear what was going on.” I felt a knot in my stomach at the look on his face, one I knew all too well, “We can drop the subject here, please.” Matt looked up at me, a confused look on his face. I pressed the brew button on the coffee machine and plastered a smile on my face, “I’m not going to beg for a fucking hug from my husband I haven’t seen since the beginning of the week you dick.”

Without further prodding Matt walked up and wrapped his arms tight around me, kissing the top of my head as the scent from his shirt suffocated me in the web of fuckery we were currently spinning.