in time // h.s.

xii. janet

Fifteen years old...

Matty wasn't my first ever boyfriend (how I wish I could forget my brief, yet embarrassing, relationship with James Martin), but I instantly knew that he was going to be my first proper boyfriend. That we would be together for a long time, that he'd be the first boy I'd ever say 'I love you' to and that our being a couple would have a huge effect on both our lives. I think knowing that was what had made me so aroused by the whole thing.

The night we got back from Paris, I was up in my room reliving the previous night, dreamily hugging my pillow, unable to wipe the smile from my face yet again. I'd only been home about ten minutes or so .when dad shouted up the stairs that Matty was on the phone.

I sprinted down the stairs.

"Hey..." he purred when I picked up.

"Hey, you," I said back as I curled myself into the corner of the hallway floor and coyly fiddled with the telephone cord, grinning to myself with giddiness.

"I can't stop thinking about you."

"You only saw me ten minutes ago," I laughed, relieved that I wasn't alone in my thoughts.

We hadn't really talked on the bus coming home, we were both shattered from our busy week and all the excitement on our last night. Instead I'd tucked myself into Matty's toned chest (yes, what a delicious treat), and we'd both slept most of the way. Okay, there was some more kissing too... but my point is there was not a lot of talking.

"I miss you."

"Already?"

"Yep."

"I'm sorry, who is this? What have you done to Matty?"

A gentle laugh came from the other end of the line, making a smile spring to my cheeks.

It's surprising how content you can feel, even in a silence, and there was a lot of silence on that first phone call as a new sense of shyness fell over us both.

Eventually Matty attempted to get to the root of why he'd phoned, "I was calling because... I don't want you to feel like you're just... I dunno... just another girl... because, you know... you're not like anyone else," he sighed. "You know I think the world of you. I really like you..."

"Matty?"

"Yes?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" he blurted.

I cackled into the phone.

"You're not meant to laugh!"

"But it's you! You asking me that! Matty who's known me forever, one of my best friends!"

"And?"

"It's weird."

"Bad weird?"

"No!"

"What then?"

"What if it all goes wrong?"

"It won't."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I won't let it," he said quietly.

I smiled into the phone.

From the tone of his voice I could tell he was smiling too when he asked again, "So, will you be my girlfriend?"

How could I possibly refuse?

After years of poking fun at the hoards of girls who swooned at Matty's charms, I'd found myself giving up the fight and joining in. I was swooning, swooning bad! It was quite unsettling.