The Mate Deal

Chapter 9

“So, when do I finally get to meet this Matt?”

I frowned, wishing Renee would let me stop thinking about Matt.  Because thinking about him made me think about the kiss, and thinking about the kiss just confused me more.  It was hours later and we were sitting in her dorm room, and I still hadn’t come to the conclusion that it was a mistake.  I haven’t had a chance to think at all.

“Um, well his birthday is in a few days.  We could all go get dinner or something.”  She was satisfied.  It was soon.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be alone-”

“No,” I said quickly, a little harshly, and immediately felt bad.  “No, I insist.  Besides, we’re spending that evening together.  There’s this… thing going on.”  The thing was a pack meeting, and we wouldn’t quite be alone, but she didn’t have to know that.

“Okay then.”  I lay back on the bed that belonged to Renee’s roommate and looked at the clock on the wall.  “Now it’s almost midnight.  Can we go to bed?  I have to be up at eight for my theatre class, and then I’m going to Matt’s place.  My car is still there from last night.…” I realized me mistake a moment to late.

“Stephanie Haynes!  Are you sleeping with him?”

“No.  well, technically, no.  not that way.  Just…” I was confused myself.  The night before we had techniclly shared a bed, and he did sleep.  “I mean, no.  We are not… you know.”

“Okay.”

“Now shut up and turn out the lights before I get a headache.

That day, Matt had to pick Stephanie up from school after her classes, and he was silently debating all night, whether he should talk to her about it or not.

Finally, he came to the conclusion, that if he didn’t bring it up toda, they’d never talk about it, and things would never be not awkward between them again.

So that afternoon when he went to pick Stephanie up from school, she got in the car and he began to drive away before he said anything.

But eventually, “Stephanie, we need to talk about it.”

“I guess so.”

She sounded resigned.

“Look, it wasn’t like that was the first time we’d ever kissed, and unless you decide you want to walk away now, leave the deal, it won’t be our last-”

“But it was our only kiss where no one was around.  We weren’t trying to convince anyone.  I just… kissed you,” she interupted.

“Why?”

For a minute, she was silent, and I was about to repeat the question, when she sighed.  “I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s a crappy reason.”  He pulled over the car, unsure that he’d be able to drive safely during this conversation.

“I know, but I don’t know why.  I wasn’t planning on it.  It just happened.  And now, I feel bad, because I feel like I totally ruined things with the deal….”

She kept rambling off apologies, and Matt couldn’t take it anymore.  She wasgoing on and on about how bad she felt for kissing him.

So he shut her up by kissing her.

And unlike the last kiss, yesterday, this lingered a minute.  And when he finally pulled away, he smiled.  “Now we’re even.”

Andd Stephanie didn’t seem to have much to say.  She was shocked, and Matt chose then to put the car back in drive.

“Look, Stephanie, do you think I’m mad about yesterday?”

“No.”  It was not much more thn a whisper.  “I don’t know what to think.”

“Don’t.  because we can put it all behind us right now if you want.”

“Is that what you want?”  She sounded hopeful.

“The way I see it, Steph, it doesn’t matter much what I want.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, one of your conditions for the deal.  I have to do whatever you say.”

She took a deep breath.  “Then I say pull over again.”

He did as told.  “And now I say kiss me again.”

And again, he did as told.

This felt right.  But at the same time, it was wrong.  So wrong.  And I knew that it was wrong.  I was kissing this guy, who cared about me, and who I cared about, but it felt more wrong than right.

And I had asked him to kiss me, knowing how wrong it would feel, counting on how wrong it would feel.  But still, the kiss lingered.  I allowed him to make it last.  About five minutes of serious kissing.  And when I pulled away, I didn’t know whether to smile or frown, because of where I was taking this.

“Thank you, Matt.  Now drive.”

I tried to tell him with my eyes what I was thinking, and He seemed to understand why I’d asked him to kiss me.

Because it would be our last real kiss.

[A/N: So, what do you think?I’m loving this story.  My current favorite, and I’m currently working on four-ish.  Plus the three that I’m co-writing.  Well, I hope you guys like it, too, because that’s why I write it.  Now, what should I wear to church today?  Something cute, because I want to impress someone.  Maybe my maxi?

Well, vote and comment.  I really want to know what you guys think.  Are you team Steph and Matt, or team, no Steph and Matt?  I need better team names.  You got any ideas?  And ne more thing.  Do you guys like Renee?  You better, for what I have planned for her.  I think I'll but in more Steph and Renee time soon, though.  Maybe they'll go shopping soon?  I don't know.]