Bruised

Chapter 10

She walked closer to Matthew who was now only looking at her "You don't have the right to talk about me or my life, when the only thing you know is that I live near Nate, if you don't know you don't talk!" she said and there were no more tears in her eyes, yet those emeralds were not shining, they looked dead, fearless but dead.

The girl left the room and soon he heard the door close.

Matthew had no reaction, he just stood there not understanding what possible situation she could have been through that would make her that angry.

He sat on the mended sofa and turned on the tv. Not that long after his phone rang. It's was his best friend. "Yes?" he answered "Joe is stopping by, and I don't know what the hell you did but he was pretty mad when he left home" Nathaniel said "What happened?"

"I may have been a little unfair to Stella when she came here" he said feeling a bit guilty "That guy protects his sister with all he has, you better be ready for a long talk" Nate said again "Don't be rude again please Matthew, they are nice people. I'll pick you up tonight so we can have dinner, take care" he said and with that hung up.

It didn't take long until he heard another knock on the door.

"You better have a long explanation to give me Matthew." Joe said and it was so weird seeing him serious when he was always the chilled out guy.

"I was unfair to Stella, but it wasn't on purpose, she just came, and I started talking and I said things I shouldn't have and she got all mad at me" he said but was not really worried about it. As far as he was concerned Stella was just making a big deal out of nothing, and there was no reason for drama.

"She is in her bedroom crying so she wasn't only mad at you man! She came here telling you one of the things she was more proud of and she leaves your home like that, you have no idea" but Matt cut him off

"What she has been through, yeah she told me pretty much the same thing, is it my fault she hadn't told me about her so complicated life?"

"Did you bother to ask?" Joe said and he was clearly getting more angry at every word said "No! Because you look at people and you just assume things, and you don't think that maybe things aren't like that, and maybe there are stories behind what you see".

 And that was the sentence that really caught Matthew's attention. He had always complained about people doing that when it came to him but after all he had done just the same. "Just because you fight and have more strength than me doesn't mean I won't take you down" Joe said and was now really close to Matthew having his finger pointed at him "I don't care about how much of a badass you are, you aren't making my sister sad. Ever. Again" he said between pauses and then turned his back on him leaving the house.

Matthew spent the rest of the day at home, taking a shower and changing his clothes and bandages only one hour before Nate arrived.

"Hey man" he heard after opening the door "Last night Amber, today Stella, not really lucky around women I see" he mocked once they left the house.

"I truly need to forget Amber" he said for the first time since Nate had showed up at his place "I know you do" the other quickly replied looking down and seeing for the first time Matt's hands "Again?" he simply asked "Why can't you wear the god damn gloves Matthew, you must have them for a reason!" he said looking back at him clearly losing his grip "I know you are in pain, I know you lost your father, I know about everything Matt but you can't keep on doing this, you have to fight back."

"I know I do" Matthew said, on the one hand he wanted to yell at Nate, make him understand how hurt he was, but on the other hand he had no right to blame the one person who had always been there for him, the one person who just wanted him good.  "It's just so hard" he ended up saying. The phone on his left pocket rang and he disconnected from the conversation for a few seconds.

"When is it?" Nate raised his eyebrow as his friend put the phone back into the pocket; Matthew looked back at him and was confused. "The fight, you only do that face when it's about fighting" he smiled and was clearly proud of himself

Matt punched his arm "You know me way too well" he laughed and they kept walking.

It was almost dark when they returned to the blue eyed boy's house and the mood was clearly way better. Matthew had laughed for the whole afternoon and Nate, well was Nate, he was (almost) always happy. Nate made his friend promise he wouldn't fight for the next two weeks. And he did, although it seemed hard to believe he did.

Nathaniel knew that it wouldn't last longer than two weeks but he couldn't blame him, fighting was a part of him, and now that he was all alone that was his only way to have money. He wasn't very worried though, he knew just how good Matthew was and how much money he had saved from bets and fights.

One week had gone by and Matthew hadn't seen Stella yet, he had been with Joe, Nate and Christie and even with some other friends but Stella always found something to do so she wouldn't go with them. He had spent the day at Nate's playing billiard, one of the many interests they shared. He left the building after having dinner with him and his family, and Matthew's second family since he could remember.

The blue eyed boy closed the door behind him and walked past Petriece's house. He looked at his watch, it showed 11:35 p.m and he knew it was already a bit late but he could see light inside so he just approached the gate. He decided to ring Nate in case his parents were already asleep and just a few minutes later the door was open.

"I was hoping I could talk to Stella" he said in quite a low tone, because he knew that although Joe was still nice to him he was still mad at him as well. "Ella went to see a friend" he said as they stood outside "Can I wait just inside the gate?" Matthew said with a shy smile on his face. Joe opened the gate and the other sat on one of the stairs "Thank you, I'll just wait here for her" he said smiling and so he did.

Matt had been there for at least half an hour when he heard someone opening the gate.

"Matthew" She said surprised "Are you hurt?" and now she was concerned, it was late night so it was normal she couldn't see him clearly from where she was standing.

"I just wanted to apologise to you, for being so stupid the other day" he said as she walked closer "And you seem to have been busy this past week so" and now it was easy her face, and her eyes the ones he couldn't read.

She stayed like that standing frozen in front of him for some seconds that seemed like an eternity "You were a jerk, and I hate you for assuming things without asking, for assuming things without knowing. But I forgive you" She said and showed a tired smile.

Matthew looked at her again and eventually spoke "Maybe you should tell me, maybe I should know" she was still standing in front of the stairs "It's late Mat, it's late" but he today he didn't feel like giving up "Are you tired?" she shook her head "Neither am I". And he looked at his watch again just to look at her after "I have all night Stella, I have all night". She smiled, and sat by his side. 

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Ly,

Yxzmin