la campanella

six

accompanying music for this chapter: speed of light by oliver évilo

The next morning, I found myself bent over my lukewarm coffee and suffering from a pounding headache. The events of the night before were not as blurry as I had wanted them to be. I could remember – quite painfully – my reactions to the various events of the evening ...

But my hangover was preventing me from experiencing too much second-hand embarrassment. Any time I moved my head threatened to shatter into a million pieces which made concentrating on memory recall hard.

Kira came bounding down the stairs, adorned in a cute matching workout set and sporting a devilish smile. I couldn't even believe she was going to go workout after last night.

"Feeling alive, skipper?" Kira chirped, reaching over my lifeless form to grab a banana on the kitchen island. All I could do was moan in response. "Next time stick to the virgin stuff, hey?"

I looked over at her as she munched on her banana and idly stretched. "Thank you so much for taking care of me though."

Kira raised a hand in dismissal. "Like I said yesterday, I'm not all about that mushy stuff."

Suddenly the thump of feet on the stairs broke both of our attention from each other. I knew instantly it had to be Matt, he was the only other person with a bedroom upstairs, and my stomach clenched nearly causing me to puke.

Matt entered the kitchen and seemed to pause for a moment at the base of the stairs. His dark eyes looked between Kira and me before he turned toward the fridge.

I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth.

Sensing the change in mood, Kira quickly disappeared out of the house without much of a goodbye, leaving Matt and me alone in the kitchen.

Matt seemed to be bracing himself against the opposite counter from the island. I could see the muscles in his shoulders clench and unclench beneath his t-shirt. It seemed like he was buying his time, as both of us knew it was too late to escape an awkward confrontation.

"So, about last night ..." I trailed.

How do you broach the topic of ditching someone before they kiss you?

Matt spun around suddenly and waved a hand haphazardly in the air. Now that he was facing me I could see that his dark hair was more ruffled than usual and there was a hickey on his neck. Okay, at least he takes rejection well ...

Seeming to sense where my eyes had travelled, Matt moved his hand to hover self-consciously at the neckline of his shirt. "Don't worry about it."

"I just got out of a bad rela–," before I could finish explaining my past predicament with Brandon, Matt began to talk.

"No, you don't have to do that. Listen, I was really drunk – I barely remember." His eyes were trained to the ground. I guess I couldn't quite argue with him, although I seriously doubted he didn't remember much. However, I did accept that he seemed to be wanting to take an easy out.

With a brisk nod, I said. "Alright – good to know that things won't be awkward between us."

"Of course."

Although there was definitely something awkward hanging in the air.

After a brief moment passed, Matt started another conversation. "Although, I do remember offering you that job ..."