letters to the boy who never cared

t e n

"You owe me. You so owe me."

I felt like some kind of skanky sister wife. Summer, Jen and I flanked Matt, dressed in exactly what he wanted us to wear. With all the frat-boy eyes roving over my exposed legs, I felt violated.

"Sorry," Matt murmured back. He was obviously nervous to see his cousin, his hand was clammy in mine. "Just keep up the act. Please? For me?"

By the way we kept up our small smiles, anyone would've assumed we were having a cute little couple's conversation instead of bickering like brother and sister.

"I cannot believe you picked this, Matthew."

"Whoa, full name, huh?"

"I feel breezes where I never should feel them. You so owe me."

"That's been established."

"You're infuriating, you know that?"

Matt smiled cheekily at me. "Infuriatingly adorable?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "We just got here, Matt. How much have you had to drink?"

"If you two are done acting like a married couple, can I please get off Mr. Heffner's arm now?" Grace really did look straight out of the Playboy mansion with her white strappy dress. Summer was dressed in a black bodycon number, and Jen wore a black skater skirt and tank top.

Of course, Matt wanted my outfit to be the most over the top, so Grace went a bit wild dressing me. Their dresses were short enough, but mine could've been a longish shirt. It was skin tight at the top and flared out at the skirt with black tulle. I felt like this dress was just made for being felt up. I just wanted to go home.

"Matty!" a deep voice called. A guy with a quiff of light brown hair and happy-looking dark eyes came up and bro-hugged Matt. "Glad you could make it, cuzzo." I had to tilt my head a bit to look him in the eye. He must've been over six-three, a whole foot taller than me.

"Sorry, you must be Matt's girl. I'm Aiden. You?"

His smile was infectious, making me want to cuddle him like a teddy bear. So, I smiled back, sort of laughing even though nothing was funny. "I'm Alexa."

"Cute," he said. "Matt, I'm gonna be honest, I thought you were lying to me about the girlfriend."

I giggles at Matt, who blushed.

"C'mon," he said, sending a grimace Aiden's way. "I'll get you a drink, Alexa."

"He was nice! What's with the cold shoulder?" I asked once we were out of earshot.

Matt shrugged. "He's always got to be better. He doesn't say it, doesn't try to be, he just is. Always."

"Doesn't really sound fair, Matty." I put on my best teacher voice, and Matt scowled.

"Of course, you'd take his side. I should've made Grace my fake girlfriend. Nah, maybe Jen. She wouldn't choose my cousin over me." He pouted and folded his arms. "It's just 'cause you think he's cute."

"Aw, Matty, come on. You're adorable. Absolutely charming." I clasped his face in my hands and mushed his flushed cheeks.

"Alexa, could you stop--"

I ignored him and continued to mash Matt's cheeks around. "Besides, Matt, he's not my type."

Matt took hold of my wrists and lowered them, all the while looking at me incredulously. "You have a type? " he asked.

"Yeah. And it's not frat-boy."

"Yeah? What is it then?" Matt taunted me.

I didn't answer that, but I think Matt knew what I was thinking. Reed was my type. Only him. The sudden thought of him must've been evident on my face.