The Arrangement | Book 2 | Completed

14

Matty's POV

"So that girl in your office earlier." Evan says, taking a bite of one of his fries. Although he isn't on the same diet as I am, I am able to find something to eat at this little burger joint pretty easily. He offered to change the restaurant we were going to be eating at, but I insisted that we go to the original place he picked. He told me that he did his research on the food in America, and he was excited to try this place. By the way he is eating his food, I can tell it is up to par with his expectations.

"Yeah?" I ask, almost forgetting about that incredibly awkward encounter.

"Is she like...your girlfriend or something?" He asks nonchalantly, but I can tell his curiosity is piqued.

"Candace? No. No, no. no. She's just...she's an old friend." I tell him quickly.

"I see...an old friend with...?" He says, wanting me to fill in the blank for him. I laugh but shrug off his question. Something about the fact that I can talk to him the same way I do with Frailey is comforting. I don't really have too many guy friends in Seattle. So if Evan wants to fill that spot for the next month, I will gladly allow it.

"She's my ex girlfriend." I tell him honestly.

"Ex? Why ex?" He asks. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm just curious is all. You two seemed to get along pretty well from what I could see." He smirks.

"Well, I moved to Seattle." I tell him.

"Where were you at before this?"

"Vancouver. In Canada." 

"Wow...so what is she doing here right now? Just visiting you?"

"She's here for work. She just has a lot of free time. She is kind of an over achiever, so everything is done early. Which is good for me, I guess." I shrug.

"So are you two going to get back together?"

"No. I have a girlfriend." 

His eyes go wide momentarily at this statement. He is genuinely surprised by the fact that I am dating someone else. I mean, I guess I would be sort of surprised too. He did kind of walk in on me and Candace. He didn't see anything, but he definitely knew what was going on.

"I see." He says with a quick nod.

"It's just...I don't know. This is weird. Is this weird? I mean, I just met you and I'm about to just dump all of my problems on you?" I laugh, shaking my head.

"Hey, I don't mind. You're a pretty cool guy from what I can tell. Plus, you're really going to be the only one I speak to here. Well, that and Clarissa. But I don't really see myself having casual guy conversations with her." He laughs. 

"I guess you have a pretty good point. Okay, so...I have a girlfriend. She works with us. Her name is Melissa. She is the head of our Finance department. She is going to be gone for the next month, though. She's in Vancouver with my partner, Kyler. Something about him needing help over there. Candace literally showed up the same day as Melissa was leaving. It's just...I don't know. I feel like all of these feelings are coming up again.  I don't really want them to, either. I love Melissa, but I also love Candace. I never stopped loving Candace. But Melissa and I are...well, we have a very mature relationship. I can't just pretend that Candace and I are going to have some fairytale ending. The realistic of this is that Candace is going to be leaving in a month, and Melissa will come back. So...I'm just enjoying my time with her while she's here and I can have her." I explain. It sounds as fucking low as I expected it would.

Evan is cocking a brow at me and giving me a look of amusement. I guess he thinks it's just as insane as I do.

"That's kind of crazy." He says.

"It's completely fucking insane." I groan.

"Hey...I'm not trying to say that cheating is okay. Because it isn't. It's terrible, actually. But, if there is a chance that you and Candace could be together....why wouldn't you take it? Fuck it. This all clearly happened for a reason. Now, if that reason is positive or negative I have no idea on...but fuck it. Candace seems nice." He says, shrugging his shoulders and taking a bite out of his cheeseburger.

I never really thought of it that way. On one hand, this could completely make me lose my relationship with Melissa. It would completely crush Mel if she found out. But...if she does find out and we end up losing our relationship, does that mean I could have a potential relationship with Candace once again? Could we be able to work everything out and be together again? Despite the lies, the distance...despite everything.

"I never really thought of it like that." I say, stirring at the soup in front of me.

"Like I said, it's still messed up that you're cheating. Like, I'm just being honest, dude." He says, holding his hands up in surrender. "But you also need to think about you and your life. Who are you happier with? Why are you happier with them? What can you do to make it work out to the best of your ability?" He asks. They aren't exactly direct questions to me, but just questions in general.

"You're a pretty smart kid, you know?" I laugh.

"I've been told." He says with a cocky smirk.

"So what about you? You have any girl drama or am I the only one?" I laugh.

"I just got out of a relationship with a girl I was dating in Russia." He says, nodding his head.

"Why?" I say, "If you don't mind me asking, that is."

"Well...I don't know. Okay, actually I do know." He says with a sigh before continuing. "I'm a good looking guy. I mean, I don't want to sound cocky or whatever, but it's true. I'm a pretty handsome guy. Everyone thinks so. Realistically, I could get with whoever I want. I know how cocky that sounds, but it's true. I just haven't ever had a problem getting a girl. So Natalie- the girl I was dating- didn't really put up a fight in dating me. She was very...quick to date me. She was beautiful. For real one of the hottest girls I have ever seen, but there wasn't anything there. We didn't really have anything in common. I just kind of want someone to see me for me. Not for what I look like." He shrugs simply.

"I get that." I say honestly. I really do get where he's coming from. I was that way for a long time. I mean, I am no where as confident as Evan, but I do know that I'm fairly good looking. I just want someone to see me for me.

"So, Clarissa." He says with a smirk. "You think she'd let me take her out? Like I said, it's hard for people to say no to me." He laughs.

"I highly doubt it. Like I said, you're way younger than her." I laugh.

"Hey, that doesn't mean anything. All that matters is whether or not I can get the job done." He says with a loud laugh. I almost spit my soup out at his comment. We're both laughing and for the first time in a long time, I don't feel as lonely in this big city. I feel like I actually have a friend.

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