The Arrangement | Book 2 | Completed

25

"Matty! Candace! I can't believe both of you are here right now!" My mom shrieks, pulling the two of us in for a hug.

"Hi, Mom." I say with an exaggerated cough, indicating her tight hold on the two of us.

"I missed you both! I'm so glad you came! Your father said that you probably wouldn't be able to come by today. This is such a nice surprise!" She says excitedly.

"Yeah, well I thought it would be nice to come by today. I have missed you." I tell her honestly, giving her one last hug.

"I've missed you, love. How are you? How's work?" She asks me.

"I'm good. Work is good. Everything is really good right now." I assure her. She smiles at my reply and then directs her attention to Candace.

"Candace, love. How are you? How's Phoebe?" She asks.

"We're both really good. I miss her like crazy, but she's in good hands right now." She tells us. I forget that Phoebe is with her fucking ex boyfriend, and the thought makes my stomach turn.

"That's so great. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad both of you are here right now." She says proudly. "What do you two want for dinner? I can cook us anything." She asks, motioning for us to follow her into the kitchen.

"Anything you want?" I whisper to Candace.

"I think we're up for anything." Candace answers.

"Matty, you're still vegetarian, right?" She asks me.

"Yes, ma'am." I reply. "I'm basically vegan." I inform her.

"Oh god, this is going to be much harder. But, I like the challenge." She laughs.

"It doesn't have to be vegan, Momma. I'll have anything." I assure her.

"Nope, I like the challenge." She laughs.

"If you say so." I laugh.

"I didn't know you guys were going to be here?" I hear my dad say from the door frame.

"Yeah, we decided to stop by." I tell him.

"Candace, how are you?" He asks her. She smiles as she approaches him and engulfs him into a hug. The sight is slightly unsettling to me, but I try and brush this off.

"I'm doing great. How are you?" She asks him with a large smile.

I shouldn't be so upset over this, but it's aggravating. I want to get over all of the drama that took place last year. God, that's all I want. I want to forget about all of it completely. How the hell am I supposed to forget about their betrayal when they're hugging and conversing right in front of me?

I should be glad that they get along. My dad doesn't get along with too many people, so I should be glad that she's one of those people. But at the same time, I can't help but wonder why she's still one of those people.

I don't know why I even care if she's one of those people or not. She isn't my girlfriend. We broke up. We are still broken up.

We're staying broken up.

"I'm hanging in there, that's for sure. I'm so glad you guys decided to stop by. Let's get dinner started, yeah?" He offers. His phone begins to ring and he glances down, holding a finger up at us. "It's Frailey. Let me take this." He says.

"Since when are you and my dad still so...buddy-buddy?" I ask Candace in a slightly disgusted whisper.

"We're not." She tells me with a slight eye roll.

"Sure did seem like it." I mumble.

"It's called being friendly." She remarks.

"Well, you sure were friendly." I reply with an eye roll.

"Are you seriously going to be like this right now?" She asks, turning me to face her.

"Be like what?" I ask, immediately defensive.

"Be like...this!" She exclaims in a hushes whisper.

"I'm not doing anything! You're the one who is basically kissing my dad's fucking ass right now." I spit out.

"No I'm not! I'm just being polite!" She defends.

"You literally ran up and gave him the biggest hug when you saw him!"

"It's just a hug! It's not a big deal! Maybe you are forgetting that Daniel has done a lot to help me, so I'm very appreciative of him." She scoffs, crossing her arms.

"Oh trust me, I haven't fucking forgotten." I spit out.

"Wow, Matty. Wow." She huffs and turns to walk away.

"Where are you going?" I call after her.

"I'm leaving." She replies and heads for the front door.

"Wait, no." I call after her, grabbing her elbow gently. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just...it's unsettling to see you two so...normal. It's just...I'm scared." I admit.

"Why are you scared?" She asks in an exasperated way.

"Because I don't want you to do it again. I know we're trying to move past all of this. I know we keep having this fight over and over again. I know all of this. I don't know why I can't let It go. I just...I'm upset. I'm still upset over this and I don't want to be anymore. I just need to learn how to keep my mouth shut sometimes, okay? Please, don't leave. I don't want to be here without you." I sigh.

She gives me a sad look and then pulls me in for a hug. I hug her back and rest my chin on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry I hurt you, Matty. But please just...try and trust me again, okay? It's different this time. I'm different this time." She promises me.

"I'm just scared." I tell her.

"Why?"

"Because I just...don't want to lose you again." I sigh.

"Then don't allow yourself to lose me." She states simply.

I don't reply to her. I only hold her close to me. Had I been allowing myself to lose her before now? Was it my fault, or was it equally distributed between the two of us? Was losing her my fault entirely?

It couldn't be. I didn't ever want to lose her. I wanted to keep her for as long as I could. I still want to keep her for as long as I can. I have been trying everything I can do to assure that I keep her while she's here. I ended things with Melissa just so I could keep Candace.

No you didn't. Well, not really...

"I'm not. I want you here. With me." I tell her honestly.

But I know that after she figures everything out, she will never want to be with me again.