But I Loved Him...

Chapter 1

Kay so this is my first story I've ever shared with people. I started writing it a long time ago, but then got a mental block that I gave up on. But I decided its time to try it again! I hope you guys like it. PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Good or bad I want to know! Thanks :)

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Prologue

I love you. One sentence; three words; three syllables; and only eight letters; yet it’s life altering. Saying those three can change your future in a second. They are not words that should be passed around lightly when said together, for they are sacred. When you do decide to share these words, you’ll realize you’ll do whatever you can to protect the one you gave your heart too. Think about what if something happened to them? Then what would you do?

Chapter 1

                        His name was Matthew Halbert. He had year round natural tan skin, with the finest chocolate brown eyes I had ever seen. They were the first things I noticed, apart from his extremely perfect smile that is. The moment I saw him I was falling, and boy was I afraid to hit the ground. It was my first day as a hostess at the new restaurant in town, Lucky Bills.  He came in with a group of guys I recognized from school, not that I’d ever seen him with them before, I would have remembered those eyes. He walked up and his mess of brown hair fell in front of his miraculous eyes. He swept it away with the grace of an angel and asked for a booth for four. I stood there willing myself to remember how to breathe, and believe me I was not winning. I mumbled something alien and turned to lead them to their table. I put down the menus back to front, left to right just like I was trained and told them that the waitress would be with them shortly. As I turned to leave, chastising myself for being such an idiot the boy grabbed my wrist and gently pulled me back to face them. As I once again got lost in those mesmerizing eyes, he just looked back with a crooked smile and said “Hi.” Even at an intoxicated state, no one can say I was raised with no manners.

                  “Hi.” I turned back around and walked away. Once I was able to think again I wondered if he was just trying to be funny and if they had burst into laughter once I had turned. I pushed myself to remember if I heard anything while I walked away but could only think of the smile he had flashed me. The rest of my shift went by in a daze, with the only other recollection being of him leaving and looking at me once again with those eyes.

After that first encounter with Matt, he came in it seemed like very time I worked. I wasn’t sure if it was just a coincidence, or if for some strange reason he wanted to see me as much as I wanted to see him. Every time I seated him though, when I turned to leave he’d grab my wrist and pull me back and just say a simple “Hi.” How I wished I could say something more than a hello back.

                  Our little charade went on for a little over a month. I was informed by my co-workers that he did in fact only come in when I worked. I am normally quite a modest being, but I must say this did give my ego a little boost. Although I could not be sure that his intentions were in fact about me, but I thought it was time to figure out. One of my managers who had taken a special interest in the situation that was unfolding within the restaurant agreed that the next time he came in, I could have a break as soon as I seated him. To no ones surprise he came in about an hour and a half after my shift had started. I got a nod from my manager as I watched her punch in my break timer. Not sure yet about whether it was good or bad, she put in my half hour break. I grabbed one menu and took him to a private table in the back. He seemed a little surprised, since I normally sat in him a place more public. Not that he knew, but it was always in a place he faced me, so I could sneak quick glances at him while I worked.

                  I sat him down, and turned to leave. To my pleasure he once again grabbed my wrist and turned me back to face him.

                  “Hi,” like every other day he said with a crooked smile on his face.

                  “Hi, how are you?” Good job, I thought to myself. That was the best you could come up with?

                  “I’m good, would you like to have a seat, or are you planning on spending your break elsewhere?”

                  I was startled by his reply. I shot a look at my manager, who I caught in the middle of flashing thumbs up signs to the boy sitting in front of me. In an instant I realized they had a close resemblance, a close enough resemblance to be related. All the comments I had made about him in front of her flashed through my mind seeming like a never-ending list. I felt the blood boil to my cheeks and I felt the adrenaline push through my veins, as I got ready to run. But before my legs got the message, he grabbed my wrist again.

                  “Please sit,” he said the laughter gone from his eyes, and an honest plea coating his voice.

                  Without much awareness as to what my body was doing, I found myself sliding into the booth opposite him. The blood was still hot in my cheeks, which just made a whole new round of blood push up. I probably looked like a tomato with dirty blonde hair.

                  “I’m Matt,” he said holding out his hand for a handshake.

                  “ Jen,” I said reaching out to accept the offer.

                  He had a tall build, probably reaching a 6”2 against my 5”7. He had a way of holding himself that definitely made it hard to miss the muscular body that pressed against his dark grey shirt.  I let my mind wonder for a minute, wondering what it would be like to he held in his arms. It took a few moments till I realized that there was a silence hanging between us. I’m not normally one for awkward silences, but even though he was new to me, I didn’t feel awkward in the least. When our eyes met, he showed off one of his smiles that instantly lit up his face. “Tell me something about yourself.”

                  “Like what?” I didn’t have anything interesting to say. I wanted to be one of those witty flirtatious girls who always had a great story, but as I was constantly reminded, my flirtation skills where little to be desired.

                  “Anything. Tell me the best thing you ever did!”

 And within seconds I found myself telling him some random story from when I was younger.

                  “One time when I was seven my best friend Chloe and I decided it would be fun to live in the woods behind my house. We took the food out of the pantry and filled up our backpacks with all our stuffies and carried out a few boxes to make our house. Needless to say it only took about 10 minutes till we got bored of no TV and went back home. We kept the box fort there though for a while and always went back there for little periods to play. My parents never really figured out what happened to all the food, and never imagined two seven year olds would take it, so it was okay when the raccoons scavenged it all after the first night.”

                  “That must have been an awesome fort.” He said when I had finished, his eyes dancing in the night.

                  “Yeah it was, you probably don’t want to hear this though. Sorry.” I couldn’t believe that I had this gorgeous guy sitting across from me and I was telling him a story from when I was seven. Way to get his interest Jen.

                  “No its cool,” he said with honesty shining from his brown eyes. “I’d love to hear more.”

                  We talked through my entire break about nothing in particular, and everything all at once. We traded off asking questions about each other, and telling the other our true motivation about why we came to the restaurant and why he was seated in certain spots. When my timer went off I got up to go and started to walk away. He grabbed my wrist and turned me around and in front of the entire restaurant he kissed my cheek.