The Summer I Met The Girl

one

"Get the fuck out of my apartment," Carly spits at him.

Matt knows he fucked up this time, beyond repair. Not that he blames her, he'd be pissed too.

"I'm sorry," is all he manages to say.

Carly sighs, and pinches the bridge of her nose, "I know you are. I just can't do this anymore."

Matt walks out without another word. He climbs into his black Jeep, cranks Black Dog by Led Zeppelin and drives away.

Matt hasn't always been a ladies man. In high school he was skinny and lanky, he could play football, courtesy of his dad but girls hardly gave him a second glance until he got to college. He filled out, became the starting quarterback his sophomore year and everything changed.

He didn't even have to try, there was always a girl willing to be in his bed. He loved the attention, he was a 19 year old boy getting laid every night.

Matt really wanted to make it with Carly though, she was an art history major with tattoos and a nose ring. She loved horror movies, and never ate anything healthy but she managed to see through his bullshit and loved him, like really loved him. And then he screwed it up — like he always does.

Matt's always craved the type of relationship his parents have, but the older he gets, the more he wonders if that just isn't the norm. Maybe not everyone gets that pure of a love story.

Matt drives home even though it's the last place he wants to be. His house is off campus, it's a two story white home on the corner of a busy street. And there's always a party. Matt lives with 4 other football players; Rodney, a linebacker from Alabama, Clark, a running back from Tennessee, and Harrison, a offensive lineman from Maine.

Pulling into the driveway, he can already tell the party is out of control based off the volume of the music. The windows are shaking in their sills from the bass, and there's people streaming in and out of the house like a club. He fights his way into the house, trying desperately to get to his room on the second floor.

"Fish!" Someone yells at him.

He doesn't engage, he just keeps walking. He pushes past a couple making out on the stairs, a few other football players hanging out in the hallway and some girls who come piling out of the bathroom. The noise in the house is deafening, and while normally he's ready to party, tonight he isn't up for it.

The 4 of them make a habit to look their doors when there's a party, so he digs the key to his room out of his pocket and unlocks the door.

His room is tidy, just the way he likes it. A few pictures of him with his parents and siblings, and his football trophies line the dresser. He has a Patriots flag hanging above his old record player that his grandpa gave him, and his bed is on the opposite wall. He sits down on the bed and hangs his head in his hands.

"Fuck," he mutters to himself.

He kicks his feet up, and closes his eyes, hoping he can just tune the noise from the party out. But no such luck, it's loud.

His door opens and he snaps his head, he should have locked it behind him.

"Get out," he grumbles.

"Chill, it's me," Crew's voice fills the room, making Matt relax.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were out with the basketball team tonight."

Crew and Matt are sort of famous at the school, mainly because he's a star football player and Crew's a star basketball player. The Fisher brothers, making college sports great again.

Crew sits on the edge of Matt's desk, "I heard Carly dumped you."

Matt runs his fingers through his hair, "How? It happened like a half hour ago."

"She called Lily, who is with Jessie and Jessie showed up here and told," Crew sighs, "Well she told everyone."

"Great," Matt grumbles.

"The bright side is now all the girls know Matt Fisher is single, I'm surprised you don't have girls outside your door already."

"I'm not interested."

"In girls?" Crew smirks.

"I'm not interested in dating."

"Who said anything about dating?"

His door flies open and Matt throws his arms up, "What the fuck?"

Katie, Crew's girlfriend of 2 years, saunters into the room like she owns it, "What are you two doing in here?" She kisses Crew on the lips quickly, and then presses herself up against his chest.

"Just talking about Matt getting back out there," Crew snakes his arm around Katie's waist.

Katie takes a sip of her beer, "Sorry about Carly, Matty."

"Can't really blame her, can ya?" Matt rubs his temple, the loud music is giving him a throbbing headache.

"As much as I hate to say it, no," Katie smiles pitifully at Matt.

"Just come down to the party, have a drink. There are plenty of hot girls down there," Crew says.

Katie raises her eyebrows, "And how would you know?"

Crew chuckles, "I haven't looked at another girl in two years."

Katie pats his chest, "Good boy,"

Matt shakes his head, "You two are insufferable."

"It's called being in love, jackass." Crew kisses Katie again.

"Whatever it is, it's annoying."

Katie chuckles, "I'm going back downstairs. Come find me," She winks at Crew and walks back out the door.

"You don't have to stay in here," Matt says to Crew.

Crew nods, "I know."

They don't speak for a few minutes, and although he wants to be alone, Matt's grateful for the company being Crew.

Crew's less than a year younger than Matt and because of their birthdays, they were always in the same grade in school. Matt doesn't remember life before Crew, he just remembers his parents bringing him home one day, and then he never left.

After that, Matt and Crew became inseparable. They played sports together, learned how to surf together, told each other everything, and were truly best friends.

"Are you going to be okay?" Crew finally asks.

Matt nods, "Yeah, thanks."

Crew nods and then quietly leaves the room, leaving Matt with the thumping bass and his thoughts.

How could he do this? He was raised better than this. Matt groans just thinking about his mother, she would be so disappointed in him. His father even more so. They raised him to be a good man, who treats a woman well. His brothers seem to have absolutely no trouble doing it, why does he?

Matt thinks about how he's going to tell them that Carly broke up with him. Or course they don't need to know the full story. Matt flips onto his stomach and grabs his phone.

He dials her number but it goes straight to voicemail. She doesn't even have a customized one setup. It's just the operator lady, her voice filling his ear, "I'm sorry, this number cannot be reached."

Matt throws his phone across the bed. He had no right to call her. He has no right to even have her number

His phone pings a few seconds later and he scrambles to get to it quickly. It's from Carly.

Matt, please don't call me.

Matt sighs and scrolls through his contacts. His thumb hovers over the screen but he hits the 'Delete' button.

He has to move on.