Finding Mollie.

Chapter 7: Chivalry and Sharky's.

"You know this used to be my dad's favorite pizza place," I said as the hostess at Sharky's seats us at secluded booth in the back. Sharky's is the locally shark themed pizza place. They are known for they're deep dish shark-shaped pizzas, and the kid's birthday parties that are held here almost everyday. When there's a birthday, some of the staff go full out and wear shark costumes, some just wear shark fin hats. I had a few birthdays here when I was younger, those are some of the best memories I have.

"Why isn't his favorite anymore?" Matt asks as he slide into the booth.

"Your server will be with you in a minute," the hostess says perkily as she hands us menus and walks back to the hostess stand.

"My parents got a divorce during my freshman year, and my dad moved to New Mexico," I say casually as I look over the menu.

"Oh, I'm sorry Molllie," Matt says as he reaches across the table and takes my hand. He give me a look of sadness, and I knew from that point on that I never wanted to see that look in his eyes ever again. 

"I'm okay, really, I am. It happened four years ago. I've come to terms with it."

"Okay."

"I know the answer," I say confidently.

"The answer to what?" Matt says confused. God, I swear he's sexier when he's confused.

"Your question to who said chivalry was dead."

"Well, out with it girl!"

"Edmund Burke in 'Reflections on the Revolution in France' 1790."

"Wow. I had actually forgotten about that. You certainly do your homework."

"It's what I'm known for, being a smart-alec," I say and grins spread across both of our faces. At that point, the waitress comes and we order "shark food" which is what they call the shark-shaped pizza. 

Forty minutes of small talk and a shark shaped pizza later, we are sitting outside of the restaurant.

"So, what do we do next? I haven't been on a date in so long I haven't really got a clue what comes next," I say.

"Finally! Something that I can one-up you with!" Matt says as he stands up from the bench we're sitting on, takes both my arms and pulls me up on my feet and yells,"TO THE RESEVOIR!!"

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"Welcome to Mississinewa Resevoir, where sex on the beach is common and the leaches aren't so friendly," I say as we pull into the entrance. I've had a few incidents here, with the leaches that is. They enjoy sticking to your body, and get a little greedy if they start sucking blood. 

"i enjoy how you refer to it that way," Matt says with a big 'ole toothy smile on his tanned face. He pulls into a parking space by a big pavillion filled picnic tables that overlook the resevoir. It's a beautiful night. You can actually see the stars out here. At home you can hardly see them because of all the lights.

We both get out and walk over to the pavillion. "Wanna pull a picnic table out so we can see the stars?" Matt asks.

"Yep," I say as we start to move the table out towards the edge of the small bluff overlooking the water. 

Matt gets up on the table and lays down. He outstretched his arms and said,"You can use my buff as hell arms as pillow if you'd like."

"Well aren't you just Prince Charming?" I say, although I take him up on his offer. 

So, there we were, laying next to each. Me, laying on his arm, and him with his hand fiddling with my hair.

"When was the last time you actually went a date?" Matt says suddenly, breaking the peace and quiet.

"Sophomore year with Nick Schultz"

"You went out with that asshole? Didn't he drop out last year to help raise the kid him and Savannah Lucas had?" 

"I'm pretty sure. They both dropped out actually. If he hadn't dropped out, I wouldn't be valedictorian. So in a way, it was a fugged up blessing," I say as I finally spot the Big Dipper, my all-time favorite constellation. 

"I hated both of them. She was as dumb as a box of rocks, and he was a narcissistic little prick," he said with a pissy tone to his voice. 

"I think anyone with a lick of sense would agree with you, and I agree 100%."

"Good," he says as he pulls me a little closer, to the point where our thighs are touching. 

"So, what are you doing after we graduate?"

"I've got a partial football scholarship to Ball State. I want to study business."

"Hey, we'll be like an hour apart. I'm going to Earlham in Richmond. Major is undecided at this point."

"That's awesome!" Matt says as he moves his hand down to the curve of my abdomen and pulls me as close as humanly possible when you still have clothes on. A couple minutes pass before I ask what has been on my mind for a couple days now.

"Matt, what made you want to take me on a date?"

"Well, I thought we had a connection after you took body shots of my stomach and after I saved you from completely knocking yourself unconcious," he says. He looks over at me with a grin that says that he's pleased with his answer.

"I suppose those count as valid reasons," I say with a straight face. Then we both start laughing, like almost rolling off the table laughing. 

Next a moment of complete and utter silence ensues and our eyes lock. He wraps both arms around my waist, pulls me in, stops for a second, and does something I hadn't expected would happen in a million lifetimes. 

Matt Miller kisses me. 

He pulls away after a good five seconds, smirks, and says,"Does that count as a valid reason?"