The Great Pretenders

Chapter 4

Matt’s POV

As soon as she agreed, I felt awkward. I hadn’t had a real conversation with this girl in over two years, if ever. And now I'm practically asking her to be by girlfriend.  And she’s agreeing. It took me six months to get Val to agree to have pizza with me and the guys.

“So give me some background history. What did you do to make her dump you?” she asked as she nervously played with her hair.

“What makes you think I did anything? Maybe she did something” I asked defensively.

She stopped fidgeting long enough to look at me as if I was crazy. “Uh hello, only the fact that you are the one scheming to get her back.”

Damn..she had me there.

“Well, I guess I just wasn’t perfect. She wants  to be swept off her feet.”

“And let me guess, jam sessions in your garage and long hours of Xbox 3 on Friday and Saturday nights wasn’t working for her?” she said with a bit of sarcasm.

“Haha...and what about you? Why’d you get dumped?” I asked roughly. Watching her face fall, I cursed myself. Sensitivity, Sanders…you have to remember to be sensitive. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

 “It’s no big deal,” she said blinking tears from her lashes “And to answer your question, I… I guess he thinks he’s found something better.”

Oh no. Here I was torn...what should I say? I mean, I was in love with Val so what could I really say? I mean Lucy was really pretty, a lot prettier than I remembered. She wasn’t better or worse than Val…just different.

“By the time we’re done, he’ll be eating out of your hand.” I tried to reassure. I’m not sure if I sounded convincing.  I definitely needed more practice on this sensitivity shit.

“Thanks. So how do we do this?” she asked wiping her tears but looking determined. Her blue eyes sparkled. I never noticed she had blue eyes before.

“Well I’m sure they are here by now, if they are coming at all. Val likes to be fashionably late and loves to make an entrance.”

“Then I guess we’d better get in there. But let’s lay the ground rules. First, I know boyfriends and girlfriends should touch but….” She began

But I interrupted “But what? No touching? Are you kidding? You’re pretending to be my girlfriend, it’s like expected of me to touch you.”

“Listening isn’t one of your fine points is it, Sanders? I was just going to say that it was okay BUT don’t think for one second that you won’t pay immediately for anything you try that’s inappropriate.”

I looked at her and couldn’t help but smile. She was a tough cookie after all.

“Ok” I agreed “Fair enough.”

“Second, your wardrobe has to go.”

Was she serious? “What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“Uh color...have you ever heard of it? This black and grey shit that you’ve been doing for years isn’t working. No one would ever believe that I’d date a guy that dresses like you.”

“No, no way...I’m not agreeing to that….unless you change your wardrobe too.”

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE WAY I DRESS?” she yelled loud enough to cause people to stare.

“Keep it down, Luce.  Nothing is wrong with the way you dress…just needs to be tighter…and you need to show more skin.”

“You’re fucking insane and a pig. I’m not doing this.” She said beginning to walk away.