The Musto Family and Me

Ain't It Fun

My heart literally stopped when I heard Carla's voice as Mat and I entered the house.  Mat still had his fingers laced in-between mine.  It let me know that I was not going to be the only one in trouble tonight –or morning, whichever you prefer.

Neither Mat nor I said anything in the dark foyer.  When the lights were turned on, we instantly dropped our hands from one another.  My fingers grew cold without his to keep them warm.

“Where on Earth have you two kids been in all hours of the night?”  Carla disputed, her arms crossing over one another below her chest.  Her lips gathered in conniption, as Robert was now coming down the stairs in a hurry.

“We have been worried sick about you two.”  Robert was now saying.  “No calling or texting saying that you guys were fine.”

“Sorry,” Mat said softly.  “Katie was just very upset about dinner, it was the only thing I could think of to do was drive her around.”

“I did not mean to walk out like that, I was just upset about what Ryan and Kaeden said.”  I jumped in, trying to get Mat in less trouble than what he probably was already in.

“That’s understandable,” Carla said uncrossing her arms. “But you should not have walked out like that.  And for you Mathew,” pointing her finger at Mat.  “You should have called us young man.”

“You kids should go to bed.”  Robert said, waving his hand up the stairs.  “We have to go shopping for Katie’s school supplies and we have to set up her schedule tomorrow too.  We can discuss the repercussions of your actions when we all have a level head. ”  He finished.

As Mat and I climbed the stairs we heard Carla and Robert mumbling under their breath.  Feeling self-conscious that Mat was following me up the stairs, I took them two at a time.  I had adrenaline coursing through me as I smiled and raced on. Mat only made it worse as he grabbed hold of my leg to get ahead of me.  I let out a soft squeal and laughed. Mat pulled me to a stop, gently pushing me up against the wall. He leaned in close to me, hands softly sitting on my hips. My heart pounded in my ears louder than I've ever heard it. Before I could mutter anything, he gave a sly grin, one side of his mouth reaching higher than the other, and took off up the stairs, two at a time. 

"No fair!" I whispered to him as I ran up the stairs, attempting to not stomp on the floor. 

At the top of the stairs, Mat grabbed my hand like it was natural.  He walked me to my bedroom door and looked at me for a minute before he finally spoke.

“You okay now?” All liveliness from our race was gone, replaced with a soft, melancholy tone.

“I think I am now...thank you.” I let my lips curl into the smile that felt normal when I was around Mat. 

“Anytime,” he started.  “But you’ll have to learn to ignore my brothers and their insensitive comments. They're not the kind to think about what they're saying.”

I nodded my head in a mixture of agreement and understanding as I looked up at him. 

He started leaning in as I did too.  A few hours ago we nearly kissed, but it was wrong. The timing wasn't right.  As he leaned in even closer, I wrapped my hand around the doorknob. Before he could kiss me I opened my door and slipped into the room, shutting the door in his face. 

Back against the door, I slid down to the floor with a smile on my face. I wrapped my arms around my knees as I listened to Mat on the other side of the door. 

His chuckle to me that he didn't take the rejection too harshly. "Good night, Katie." 

"Good night, Mat." I whispered to his retreating footsteps, knowing he couldn't hear me.