Lights, Cameras, Outsiders!

Chapter 82

LCO 82
"So have you set a wedding date?" Matt's dad asked me, shoving a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. I swiveled on the stool.
"March 7th."
"Really? That's about nine months away," Matt's mom said, taking a scoop of ice cream. I nodded.
"Yep."
"How are you doing on moving into the apartment? Starting to?"
"Uh, no. We ordered a mattress that's coming in tomorrow so we can at least have a bed in there and we're gonna look at paint tomorrow," I said.
"Well, you're staying here tonight," his mom said with a gooey smile.
"Yeah."
"Hey, Essie," I heard Matt say. I looked over the edge of the wall of the kitchen and into the living room. He was in his underwear and he looked like he just woke up.
"Hmm?" I said.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" He said.
"I'm in the middle of talking," I said. He walked into the kitchen, his bare feet shuffling against the tile and he sat down on the stool next to me.
"Hey, sleepypants. You disappeared after dinner? You took a nap?" His mom said, smacking his arm.
"Yeah. Look, Essie-"
"Matt, let me see your stitches," his mom said, coming around the counter. He turned and let her inspect it.
"Wow...that quite the wound."
"Yeah, it is. I need to talk to Essie," he said.
"Fine. We'll leave you two alone," she said, grabbing her bowl of ice cream and going to sit down in the living room, his dad following.
"What is it?" I said, going for my spoon but he grabbed my wrist.
"I just to apologize for what happened earlier. That wasn't like me, I'm sorry," he said. I sighed and sunk on my stool.
"What's wrong?" He said.
"It's just you never listen to me. I tell you you're probably hungry and then it turns into a screaming match."
"No, I'm sorry, Essie. It's just the circumstances were all ready tough on me, and I was, as you said, hungry. And tired cause I took a nap."
"Yeah, now what are you gonna do? You took a nap already. You're not going to be able to go to sleep," I said.
"Okay, I'm sorry, I took a nap... Please don't be mad at me," he said, taking both my hands.
"I'm not mad..."
"You're acting like it."
"No, I'm just stressed."
"Why? Why are you stressed?"
"Cause I got cram a bunch of stuff in one week. I got to get the carpets ripped out, hardwood floors in, at least paint the kitchen, bring some stuff in, start looking at furniture: and then we gotta look for wedding things like the chapel and the tailor and the florist and the-"
"Stop, stop, stop, stop. I'll get the stuff for the apartment done and you can figure out wedding things."
"But they both require both of us."
"I know, but we can make some pretty common sense choices. Like I know you won't pick a bad chapel and you know I'm not gonna pick a loud color for the kitchen," he said.
"It's just just hard to cram everything in," I said, laying my head down on his shoulder when he pulled my waist in closer.
"I know, baby. That's why there's two of us though. One of us gets out of line, the other one corrects them." I sighed and kissed his shoulder.
"But in the end, it'll be worth it. When we're sitting on the couch looking at old pictures with our kids, it'll be worth it," he said.
"You are literally the best person to get married to," I said, laying my arms on his shoulders.
"Nah. There's better people. People who have steady jobs and cooler talents," he said. I pulled the hairs on the back of his neck and he leaned down to kiss me.
"I'm sorry...about earlier," he said.
"Thanks. I'm sorry for being snitty," I said. He smiled.
"Let's go to bed," he said, holding his elbow out. I looped my arm through and we started towards the bedroom.
"Remember we used to be like that?" I heard his mom say in the living room.
"Yeah. And now look at us."