Love, Matt

Chapter 5: Relationships Aren't Easy

For Peyton.
For reminding me of this story, and how people really enjoy and actually get excited about it. Also, she really got my head spinning and my creative juices flowing. Thank you!

Love,
Kay
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Lizzy stood in Jay's living room, standing over her suitcase, which was sitting on the couch, open, as she contemplated what on earth she was going to do. She knew she needed to talk to Matt, because even if he did love her now, things could change. She didn't even know how long she would be gone. She didn't have a round trip ticket, because she wasn't sure how long she would stay. She hadn't wanted to be that far from Matt for too long, but she did want to stay long enough to celebrate Jay's birthday in three weeks--mid June. Lizzy, Jackie, and Cate--Jay's closest friends--had planned a surprise party for the girl over many group video chats. Now, being across a rather large ocean from Matt seemed quite pleasant. . .

She was startled out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of a key in a lock and a door swooshing open with the wind. Jay stood in the doorway and shot Lizzy a questioning look.

"You went back. And you didn't talk to him."

"Well, I--"

"And you called him."

"How could you possibly know that--no! He's the friend you had to meet, isn't he!" There was absolutely no question in her tone of voice. Only accusation.

Jay sighed, straightened, and pressed her lips into a flat line for a moment before she replied. "Lizzy, I read people well. Including you. Especially you. You called him, you went over there and got your stuff before he got home, and now you are standing over that suitcase, wondering if you'll ever come back."

Jay was right. Well, Lizzy hadn't quite had the thought of never coming back, but she was on that track. She told Jay so.

"Lizzy, you need to talk to him. He loves you know, but he's really hurt. You never know what people in pain will do or think."

"He's not the only one! I need some time to clear my head. And I'm not about to take dating advice from someone who hasn't had a boyfriend since high school!" After she said it, Lizzy immediately regretted it. She had gone way too far. "Jay, I--"

But Jay's mouth had already pressed into a hard line, a sure sign that she was retreating back into her hard shell. "Lizzy, don't. I'm too busy with work and going back and forth between two countries to deal with boyfriends and crap."They both knew she had more perfectly good reasoning than that, but it was something she didn't like to talk about, and Lizzy never brought it up. "You better make sure you have everything you need. I don't think you're going to want to go back there again."

And she left the room.

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Jayce collapsed onto her bed as soon as she reached her tiny little bedroom. Hey--going back and forth so often, it wasn't easy finding a nice place that would take her, and she wasn't well off enough to keep up two flats. It would be hard to bill her, anyway. Eventually her goal was o own a place in both America and England, but that was a far off dream.

Trying to keep her mind preoccupied with something other than her conversation with Lizzy, she let her thoughts wander over to Matt and Lizzy's relationship.

Those two needed to get their arses back together already. They were a wonderful couple. Jayce would call them soulmates, if she believed in that kind of thing. But Matt and Lizzy almost made her believe. They were just hurting themselves and each other with this break up. And Jayce hated being dragged into the middle of it.

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Lizzy closed her suitcase and zipped it up, after having gone through her mental check list a dozen times. She was so ready to leave, she wished she had bought the ticket for an earlier date. This was part of the reason she did what she did with Matt, the day before. She knew she would be leaving in two days (now tomorrow), and it would be like a breath of fresh air after all the fighting and the stress.

You need to clear you head. She told herself. Take your mind off of Matt and just enjoy yourself. Yeah. Yeah that's right! She needed a break from all that stress he caused.

And that's how she made a pact with herself to think about him as little as possible in the coming weeks. That way, when she came back to the issue, later, she would have a fresh perspective.

At least, that's what she told herself.

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A/N: Hello, everyone! How are you all enjoying the story so far? You know, minus all the heart break and all that stuff. I'm pretty happy with the way this is going!!!

I'm really sorry that I didn't update on Wednesday! I was super busy and the Real Life Lizzy was irratating the crap out of me. So here's an update now!

I've got LOTS of ideas for this story (some painful, some not), including some ideas that Lizzy (the real one) gave me. You'll see some of those become apparently fairly soon. Some will be a while. I'm working through some of them and how to make them not cliche. Anyone have any ideas on how to make a deadly car crash not cliche?

Kidding!!! No one's going to die. That's not in the plans. No car crash.

But there will be feels. Carry on!

Love you all!

xoxo
K