Love, Matt

Chapter 8: The Picture

Real quick, guys!! So, some of you may have noticed that the story jumps from Chapter 5 to Chapter 7. So I also posted chapter 6, and I posted this one, because I suck.

Also, there's language again in this chapter. There probably will be small amounts in most chapters, so watch out if it offends you.
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Finally Lizzy was on the plane that would soon be arriving in her hometown, but she was here a day later than she had expected, due to the many layovers she had been stuck dealing with. She was reading a book, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment to be exact. Jay had loaned it to her in what they called "The Book Exchange" where they got together--sometimes the two of them, sometimes with others-- and loaned each other books. Jay had borrowed Lizzy's copy of Hush Hush and read the entire series already. As such, Jay had told her she wanted Lizzy to be done with Maximum Ride by the time she got back from America.

Lizzy was already halfway through the book, and confident in her ability to read the rest of it in three weeks--or more, depending on how long she decided to stay, so she put it away as the plane made its descent.

She looked out the window and watched as the ground came closer and closer, and everything grew in size. Finally. Home.

Not long after, they touched ground, and she made it off the plane. It wasn't until she was in the terminal, waiting for her luggage that she finally thought to pull out her phone and turn it back on. She stuck it back into her back pocket and let it boot up on its own, without interference.

It buzzed a few times, but she ignored it in favor of grabbing her luggage off of the carousel. When it had stopped vibrating for a good amount of time, she set her suitcases down and pulled the phone out of her pocket. She had a few notifications for social media, a text message from Jackie--who was meeting her here, so she fired off a quick response of her terminal and luggage drop location--and a few text messages from. . . Matt?

Heyytyy Lizzxuyy!! Missinf oyu!!

Do ouy midd meeeereer??K?

What the heck? Was he drunk texting her?

Loove hou!

There was a few more messages of the same sort, ridiculous messages with horrible spelling--did that guy not have auto-correct?? The final one was a picture message, and she almost didn't look at it, since she should probably be watching for Jackie, but she couldn't resist.

She opened the message, and her mouth pressed into a hard line. So you rub it in my face, huh?

Lizzy could swear she felt the rage seep from the phone, through her hands and arms, to settle in the pit of her stomach.

The picture, captioned "Miss me? Oh well." Depicted Matt, lower half covered by a sheet, with no shirt on, and another girl she vaguely recognized--Lizzy had no idea if she was wearing clothing or not, Matt was blocking all but part of her face--mid lip lock, with their hands all over each other.

And that was the first time she honestly considered never going back.

Her grip on the phone was tight enough she felt as though she may break it when she tapped on his contact name, and deleted it, as well as the message conversation. All three thousand messages. She was so focused on the task at hand that she jumped straight into the air when someone came up behind her and wrapped their arms around her shoulders.

She quickly realized who it was, and the distraction momentarily took her mind away from Matt, as she turned and wrapped her arms around the other girl.

"Jackie!! I missed you!"

"I missed you too!"

The girls had a bonding moment as they stood hugging in the airport terminal, until they finally left to get in Jackie's car.

When Lizzy approached the car, she opened the door and was about to get inside when Jackie stopped her.

"No no no no no! My car, I drive!"

Lizzy was confused until she glanced at the seat and remembered--Americans drive on the right.

Maybe she was turning British. . .

She closed the door and laughed, making her way over to the other side. "Oops. Forgot you guys drive on the right side."

"Oh, stop being so British." Jackie laughed and got in the drivers seat.

"You're just jealous!"

"Maybe a little."

The girls laughed, and Jackie started the car.

"So, how's your life been? What's new? How's Matt?" The last word was said teasingly, but just the thought made her blood boil.

"Let's not talk about that arsehole." She snapped. She felt bad, Jackie didn't know, but felt better when Jackie moved one hand from the steering wheel to rest on Lizzy's arm.

"No problem. But I'm here if you need me."

Lizzy nodded. "Thanks."

Jackie's hand returned to the steering wheel, and she flashed Lizzy a reassuring grin.

"You're the best." Lizzy told her.

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Dedication time! I can't think of a challenge, so we're going to do more trivia!

What was the name of the fictional restaurant Matt and Lizzy visited on their first date?