The Bad Boy's A Softie

IV

Matthew walked inside, holding the door open for me. "Mom, I brought someone home," he called out as I walked in behind him. As he closed the door, I could hear light footsteps walking towards us.

"It better not be that Jake friend of yours, you know that every time he comes over he--," I heard Matthews mom say as she walked into the front room. Her eyes landed on mine and she stopped in her tracks, her hands shaking noticeably. "Hi Mrs. Reed," I said, smiling at her.

Mrs. Reed was a very short person. At 5'2, she had a little weight on her but she is the sweetest lady you could ever meet. She and my mom were the closest. When my mom moved here, Mrs. Reed had just given birth to Matthew, while I was not yet born. They instantly clicked and acted as if they had known each other for ages. When I was born, they made jokes about Matthew and I growing up and falling in love. Look how that turned out.

Something major happened in the summer of 8th grade, making us fall apart. I made my mom and dad stay away from their family. I didn't want any connections with Matthew anymore.

I've learned to grow up and try to move past it, but it's been hard. I'm still cautious around him and I don't talk to anyone about what happened.

"Willow? It's been so long," I finally heard Mrs. Reed say, breaking the silence. I felt her warm arms wrap around me and embrace me into a tight hug. "You don't know how long I've missed you for." She said, pulling away slowly.

I could see her eyes watering, making me feel really bad for leaving in the first place. I smiled at her as I felt tears welling up in my own eyes.

I quickly blinked my tears away before they fell and gave her a toothy grin. "Uhm, I'm here to tutor your son, Matthew," I said, clearing my throat. She nodded and smirked, placing her hands on her hips. "Well, I am making cookies right now, so I'll bring some up soon." She said, winking at me.

She turned around and started to walk to the kitchen. When she got to the doorway she turned around to face us again. "You are welcome to stay for dinner. It's good to see you here again, Willow." And with that, she left, leaving Matthew and I standing there. "Shall we go then?" Matthew said, after a few seconds of awkward silence.

I nodded and followed him up the stairs to his bedroom. As he opened the door, memories flooded back to me.

"Matty! You know I totally wiped you out on those waves," I said, laughing as I ran into his room. Matthew shook his head and smirked, running right behind me and tackling me onto his simple bed. I, being a weak fourteen-year-old, tried my hardest to push him off to no avail.

"Get off of me, Matt!" I said, trying to push him off. He just laughed and started tickling my side, making me jerk around a little and start laughing. "Never," he said, moving his hands from my sides to my neck.

After a few more seconds of him tickling me, he finally stopped. My eyes were closed as I finally regained my breath, huffing and puffing as if I was the Big Bad Wolf himself. I opened my eyes and noticed that Matthew was staring down at me with a gaze I'd never seen on him before.

I raised an eyebrow at him and crossed my arms. "Whaddya staring at?" I asked, tilting my head. "Did I grow another head or somethin'?" I laughed at my own joke, expecting him to laugh also, but he didn't.

I went quiet, waiting for him to talk. "You're really pretty, Willow," his voice cracked as he quickly blurted his sentence. His face and ears turned red as he realized what he had said.

He started panicking quietly, apologizing for what he had said. His awkward self hadn't exactly thought through what he said before he said it. I shook my head, dismissing his rambling, and leaned up, gently kissing his red cheek.