Why Do You Love Me ── MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER

vii. a possessive boyfriend

.·゜゜·　　·゜゜·．

REINA'S POV

I didn't hate high school. I wouldn't say I was particularly excited about leaving, more so because I wasn't ready for the responsibility of actually growing up, but I wasn't too keen on sticking around any longer either. I went to college the furthest place possible from my hometown, and Stef and I lived our lives away from our town in the best way we could; by being completely reckless and not caring about anything but each other. That being said, being at a high school is nostalgic in a disgusting way. The kind of way that makes me uncomfortable, and went to curl into myself to avoid the judgy eyes of these annoying teenagers.

Liana is leading a cheer today, and as her sister, I told her I'd be there to see it. What I didn't expect was to be joined by the ever-persistent six-foot asshole that is Matthew, who seemed to attract the gaze of just about every sixteen-year-old girl with working eyes. When I was driving Liana back to school and accidentally pulled up next to him at a stoplight, the last thing I expected was for my energetic sister to just about crawl over to me to shout her invitation to the next car over. I was downright horrified when Matthew immediately accepted, informing us that he'd be trailing behind us to the high school.

"You know," I mutter, keeping my voice low as to not alert the parents in front of us, "you could have spared me and just said no."

Matthew looks at me with raised brows. "And miss your sister's performance? Never." Then his lips tilted up into a smile. "Besides, I like watching you squirm."

I glare at his side profile, but don't bother muttering a complaint; the last thing I want is to start an argument here where Liana's friends could see. I angle my body away from Matthew's, or at least I attempt to before my knees bump into the leg of the person beside me. My eyes widen as I rush to apologize, "So sorry about that."

Much to my surprise, the man beside me doesn't scowl at me, instead, he smiles back at me. "No worries, Reina." I blink back at him, who the fuck is this and why does he know me? "Sorry, that must seem weird. I'm Xavier Black."

I calm down only slightly as I recognize the name, but still, really weird that he knows me and I don't know him. "You're Liana's English teacher," I say slowly, just in case I got this all wrong. Thankfully, he nods, confirming my assumption. "Well, uh, it was nice to—"

"So," he cuts me off, and I stiffen. The leg I had moved to not press against is pressed against mine completely, and I'm sure he knows that. "Liana speaks very highly of you, it seems you two are really close."

I blink rapidly. "S-She does?" He nods quickly. "That's...that's nice of her, I'm glad she's comfortable enough to disclose that with you." In what I hope is a subtle manner, my right-hand reaches behind me to blindly grab at Matthew. I hear a sharp intake of breath as I grip his knee, but I don't really have the opportunity to make fun of him for the reaction as I'm yanked back, Matthew's arm wrapped around my shoulders as I'm flush against his chest.