The Great Pretenders

Chapter 1

Wanted to give Matt some love with his own story! A different twist on the same concept of my other story, Almost Easy. More fun with high school antics!

Matt's POV

"You're breaking up with me?"

"It's not you, Matt. It's me" Val said brushing her long blond hair behind her ear and then pulling her pants back on. I couldn't believe she was going to use that line on me...here in by bedroom..in my bed where we just got finished having sex.

"Don't give me that crap. What have I done now?" It was always me. I always made her miserably unhappy.

You don't love me.

You hurt my feelings.

You don't care.

You always choose your friends and your music over me.

You never take me anywhere unless the guys are around.

"C'mon Matt, did you seriously think we were going to stay together forever? It's our Senior year in high school. I'm headed to UC Davis next year for college and you...well, I don't know what you are going to do. You guys will still try to make it big time, playing tiny clubs, making no money whatsoever. I just think its best that we make a clean break. We both know long distance will never work." She said not making eye contact while putting her boots on.

"It's not like Huntington is that far from Davis ." I told her as I watched her dressing routine. I knew she always put her left shoe on first and then her right and then she'd stand up and stomp, as if testing her shoes out.

"Yeah well times are changing. I don't want to be the girl that takes her high school relationship to in the real world. It was bad enough that I've let it last this long. I think it's only fair that we break up now so we can get used to the idea." She still wasn't looking me in the eye and she seemed calm, almost as if she had rehearsed the speech.

"C'mon Valary, you can't be serious. Why did we just have sex if you're breaking up with me?" I started to try to reason with her while I zipped my jeans up and pulled on a t-shirt.

"Matt, we break up all the time. We just aren't made to be together. I can see it why can't you,"she said as she pulled her blond hair into a ponytail.

Yeah,she was right. We break up all the time but I never really thought of it as a break up...more of a pause. More of a "You forgot our anniversary because you were out drinking with the guys, I'm not talking to you for a week" kind of thing.

Although I usually played it cool whenever she freaked out, it seemed as if this time she wasn't going to buy my aloof act. Desperate times called for desperate measures. "I know I haven't been the best boyfriend but seriously, I care about you. We've been through so much. You understand me."

"Exactly, we've been through so much but it's all in the past. You don't know how to be a boyfriend. You want to hang out with your friends and run free with your music. You never want to spend time with just me or me and my family. You never even hold my hand in public."

"Is that what this is about? Holding hands?" I'll hold your hand if you want." I said and then I realized I was practically whining.

"No Matt, if I have to tell you what I want then it doesn't count. You'll never be a perfect boyfriend. You'll never call me just to say 'I love you.' You always do what you want whenever you want and you never think about me. I want someone who'll be perfect for me...prince charming." She explained as she straightened her sweater.

"I can be Prince Charming." I said trying to sound convincing but failing miserably. I almost wanted to laugh at the outright lie but knew better.

" No you can't. You're more of a phase...my rebellious boyfriend...tall, handsome but poor and bad boy phase. And frankly, I've outgrown it." She continued.

She really struck a nerve with that one but I realized what she was doing. She said the one thing she knew would hurt me to distract from the obvious. I wasn't buying her excuses or distractions.

"Ok who is he?"

"Who is who?" she said her eyes brightening.

"The guy. The one you're dumping me for. What's his name?"

She stood up quickly from the bed and began wringing her hands. "There is no one."

I knew better. I knew Val better than she knew herself. She wasn't the type of girl that wanted to be alone and she certainly wouldn't dump me without having an alternative to turn to.

"Want to try again? I asked trying to hold my temper. She knew I was mad and that worked in my favour. I knew I could be scary when I wanted to be.

"Matt, really."

""His name?"

Lucy's POV

Mark Harrison.

My best friend since summer camp after 7th grade.

My bandmate. He played guitar while I sang in his band. He had a dreamy voice that reminded me of Dave Matthews. I absolutely loved our duos when we played at the pizza joint his dad owned every Thursday. They were the best part of our performance.

My boyfriend. All that singing romantic duos on stage finally helped friendship turn into a romantic relationship and we'd been an item for almost two years. It was a great relationship because he understood me. He knew the real Lucy. He wasn't like other guys who just cared about looks and popularity. He loved me for me. Sure he wasn't Mr. Sensitivity unless we were on stage but I still knew that girls were envious of us.

It was Mark that I was waiting for today. Zoey Baker, Lana Simms and I had a study date at the library till 6 but since it was Friday, he was supposed to pick me up from the Baker's house for our date.

"Don't worry." Zoey said taking in my worried expression

"I'm sure he's just running late." Lana agreed

"I know but he's like, never late." I said getting up from the couch to pace back and forth. "What could be keeping him? I hope he didn't have an accident."

"We should be so lucky." Zacky said walking through the living room.

"Who asked you, Baker?" I snapped back tossing a pillow in his direction but he was already out of earshot and out of reach. "Remind me why your brother is such a pain in the ass."

"He's just misunderstood." Zoey tried to explain, looking back at the direction her brother went in.

Lana frowned. "You're just saying that cause he's your brother."

"You're not wrong." She replied and we all laughed. "And he can be somewhat of an asshole when he wants to be."

"I can hear you." We heard him call from the kitchen which made us laugh harder.

Just then I heard a knock at the door. I practically tripped over myself to get to answer it, thinking only of the relief that I felt because Mark finally arrived. I opened the door to find him looking better than I'd ever seen him. Much too dressed up for a movie or dinner. I was underdressed and quickly wondered if he'd mind waiting so I could borrow something from Zoey or Zina to change into.. Maybe he had other plans for us...something romantic. My excitement grew.

"C'mon in" I said trying to give him a kiss as he walked in which he returned but not with much real affection. Maybe he was nervous about Zoey and Lana being in the room. I probably should have known something was up then, but you know me, always trying to look at the bright side of things.

"Hey there...Zoey, Lana, how are you?" he said.

"Hey Mark...I'm good. Just studying," Zoey offered and Lana pulled her in the direction of the kitchen "We'll just let you two crazy kids get out of here. Lucy, call us later."

I nodded and turned my attention to my boyfriend as I picked up my bag and walked toward the Baker's front door.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting for almost an hour," I said when we were out of the door.

When he didn't answer, I knew. Something was wrong. He looked nervous and his eyes kept darting to back and forth.

"Lucy, can we go somewhere?" he drawled in that extra sexy voice that I loved. "We need to talk."