Fame

Chapter Fifteen

"So... who was that?"

I snapped my head up waiting to rip into whoever was asking me such an intrusive question but faltered when I saw that it was Matt.

I was more than ready to not speak to anyone of the opposite sex for a very long time, but I supposed the universe didn't agree with me.

I still felt like absolute crap for what I'd said to Sawyer, especially after his apologies and his attempts to rectify our issues, but when he'd spoken about Ryan like he was the reason that Sawyer had ditched me, I just lost it.

"Oh...just an old friend. He can give me a hard time sometimes, but I handled him."

He came further into the room and I was thankful the girls had decided to go for coffee as I was not in the mood for girl talk.

"So I guess that's what you meant when you implied that you had a lot of baggage, huh?"

"You remembered me saying that? Ugh, well, it's not true. You might run screaming from me if you knew the full extent of it honestly."

His blue eyes quirked up.

"I'm not one who scares easily. Try me."

I eyed him with a guarded curiosity. I knew he just wanted to get that date with me, but would it have really been so bad? Maybe dating a nice guy like Matt would help me...heal.

"Well...I've had some tragedy in my family. It's not something that I ever really talk about though..."

"I get it. My mom died a few years back and I still can't talk a lot in detail about it."

I began to see him in a new light and some of my hardened walls came down.

"Brother."

He nodded in understanding.

"I have two brothers and a sister. I would be devastated if I lost one of them. My sister became our motherly figure when mom passed, and it's been our new dynamic ever since."

He took a spot on my desk chair and leaned back, watching me with an intense curiosity that would've made me feel uncomfortable had we not been having this type of conversation.

"I don't have any other siblings, but I still have both my parents. My dad's been the rock of the family, and I guess I have too...my mom has kind of been a wreck through the investigation and everything."

His face turned into a mask of confusion, but he didn't ask the dreaded question that always made me shut down completely when I would speak about what happened, and I thanked him for that. He must have hated the intrusive question, 'what happened' that always came when I spoke of Ryan's death.

It was like people couldn't help but find out the morbid details surrounding his death, as if it satiated their disgusting appetite for gruesome information.

He cleared his throat.

"Uh...I don't want to seem too forward, but if you need help with that friend of yours, I'd be happy to help."

"I know, thank you, but he's harmless, except for when it comes to how he chooses his words."

"Heh, yeah, I know what you mean. Not really the same situation but I had an ex who was a serious bitch who constantly told me what to wear and what to do."

"Damn, that sucks, I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'll never understand someone who is controlling..." I trailed off, thinking of a certain singer I couldn't get out of my head, even after I probably pushed him away for good.