I managed to convince my mom and dad to solve their problems by going to a counselor and they had to realize they had so many things they just couldn’t give up. Like the fact that they were together for nearly 30 years now and that’s something.
“I think you’ll be just like us with Emma in 30 years,” mom said and my eyes widened as I realized that she knew something was going on between us.
“No, I…”
“Seriously, you can’t fool me, Matthew,” mom said and dad nodded, and then rolled his eyes. “Stop making a fool of yourself, David,” she continued and turned to look at me. “You really are perfect for each other. And she’s smart, sweet and you’ve known her since high school… I mean, her high school. She’s perfect for you,” mom said with a smile.
“Yes, I just hope I won’t ruin this.”
“You won’t!” mom said at the same time dad said “You will,” and I started laughing.
“I know I will. It’s just… Too good to be true and I… I think I love her.”
“Seriously?” mom asked in complete disbelief. “That is so cute!” she said and dad and I rolled our eyes. “She’s amazing, and I love her, too. Can you imagine just how beautiful your kids would look like?”
“Whoa, mom, wait!” I said as I jumped out of my seat. “Why are you talking about… that?”
“Because you’re almost 28, Matthew, and to be frank, I want grand kids. And I’m sure Helena wants them too. God, wait till she hears this. She always said you’re the best for Emma, so…”
“No, no. Stop it,” I told my mom as I ran a hand through my hair. “You’re not saying anything. Emma doesn’t want to say anything to you guys yet. I have no idea why.”
“It’s obviously she has a lot of doubts about this it’s normal! I mean, you’ve been friends for a long, long time. And now everything is just confusing and maybe she doesn’t want Helena or me to get our hopes up.”
“Like you obviously do. I mean, kids? I’m not sure I even want them.”
“You do,” mom glared at me and I stared at her in shock, and then looked at dad who shrugged.
“I can’t help you, son. She told me from the second date that I want kids,” he said and laugh.
“Look, I don’t… We barely started dating, mom, we’re not getting married.”
“Why not? That would be just so amazing! Wait till Helena hears…”
“I said you won’t say a thing!” I said with a harsh tone. “Don’t make me regret I said anything to you. Emma said she doesn’t want her mom or you to know, so you just don’t. Shut up, mom, okay? And stop about the kids or us getting married.”
“We got married two months after we started dating.”
“Yeah, and now you wanted to divorce if it wasn’t for me,” I said and mom’s eyes widened and my dad’s jaw clenched. “I’m… I’m sorry, that’s not what I wanted to say. It’s just… I don’t wanna rush into it, okay? I’m a guy, gimme time, mom okay?”
“Okay… But don’t make it longer, okay? You could get married in a year or so.”
“Stop. It.”
“For now it’s enough for me to know you are dating. You couldn’t find anyone better.”
“I know,” I said with a smile.
Emma’s hand squeezed mine and I kissed her forehead and she sighed.
“What are you thinking about, baby?” she whispered and I turned to look at her.
“Just… I don’t know. Stuff,” I said before I kissed her.
“Mind to share?” she asked and her hand caressed my cheek and I smiled.
“Um… It’s nothing much, actually. I was just thinking that everything is perfect the way it is, right? With us, I mean.”
“Oh. Yes, surely,” she said and looked away. I liked that she blushed every time I said something about it.
“And I’m so glad I’ll get to be with you all day now. And I miss my room.”
“I can’t get rid of you, can I?” she asked and I nodded. “I miss Rick. It would’ve been so great if he had been here as well. I can’t even remember how much time has passed since I spent some time with my family.”
“I know. It was good to have some family time. And I’m glad my parents decided to give each other another chance. It would’ve sucked to see them divorced.”
“Yes, I know. And they get along so well, right?”
“Yeah, they’re the best,” I said and she nodded. “We’ll be like that one day, too, right?” I asked without thinking and then I realized what I said.
Emma shifted uncomfortable in her seat and turned to look at me and ran a hand through her hair. Yeah, was a little too soon to talk about future or important stuff like this. It’s just my mom’s fault she only talked about her future perfect grand kids that would look just like me or Emma.
“Yes, I guess so,” Emma finally said with a shy smile.
“But I’ll be better looking than my father,” I said and she laughed and shook her head. “What? I’ll surely be better looking. It hurts me that you don’t share the same opinion.”
“I guess we’ll have to see. But you really have competition, your dad looks like Hugh Jackman.”
“So? I’ll be better looking than Hugh Jackman,” I replied and she laughed. “I wanted to ask you something. Will we tell the others about us?”
She looked a little taken off guard by my question and opened her mouth to say something then closed it. I had no idea what she thought about this or what she actually wanted. And even though I wanted to ask her about it, I couldn’t.
“We should… I-I… It’s not…” she took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hand again. “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just…”
“We shouldn’t hurry, right?” I completed her sentence and she nodded and smiled at me. “Yes, I know. I agree. But what about Rick? I mean, he lives with us.”
“I don’t know, Matthew.”
I nodded and changed the subject. It was pretty obvious that she was confused about this and we needed time. Two weeks away from everything didn’t mean that it was all different now. Maybe she thought I was acting like this just because Kate left me or something. Nope, that couldn’t be. Emma is not stupid, obviously she’d know I love her and that this has nothing to do with Kate. But she doesn’t know I love her, right? When I said that a few nights ago she was asleep and when she woke up didn’t mention it and she didn’t act any different. I knew she would act different if she heard it, so she didn’t know that I actually felt that way about her.
“Who is overthinking now?” she asked and I laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her softly.
“No one. I’m not overthinking anything. I know what I what, unlike others.”
“Others like who?”
“I don’t know, people,” I replied and she laughed.
“I know what I want, okay?” she said and I laughed at her and stopped when she glared at me.
“Okay, baby, what do you want? It’s okay if you don’t know, you’re a girl and girls have a lot of trouble realizing that.”
“I want you,” she said and my heart started beating faster as she leaned and kissed me.
*
“Oh, my bed!” Emma said as we entered our apartment, and I caught her elbow as I let go of our luggage on the floor and pulled her closer to me.
“Why don’t you come and stay with me?” I asked and she looked at me with her eyes widened. “What? I’m not… insinuating anything, Ems, just I missed living with you.”
“Um… Okay,” she replied with a shrug and I smiled and kissed her. I didn’t even bother to check if Rick was home and I don’t think she bothered about it either since she kissed me back immediately.
“Hey, I know I’m just irresistible, but we should get some sleep, Ems,” I said as I took her hand walked towards my bedroom. “Oh, home sweet home!” I said as I sat on my bed and dragged Emma and she fell on top of me. “You really c
an’t stay away from me, can you?”
“It’s… I…”
“Indeed you’re the cutest person I’ve ever met, baby,” I said and kissed her forehead. “Let’s get some sleep,” I said as I took out my shirt and she stared at me. “It’s…”
“Not nice to stare, I know,” she finished my sentence and I laughed. “Can’t help it though.”
“I knew it!” I said victoriously and she laughed and kissed me. “Can we sleep now, love?” she asked as she moved closer to me and placed her head on my chest.
I nodded and wrapped my hands around her thinking how good this was.
*
The alarm rang too loud for my liking and I pushed it from the nightstand and it hit the floor, breaking in pieces. I swore out loud and opened my eyes and I realized Emma was next to me still asleep. A smile curled my lips as I watch her sleeping peacefully with her hand in mine. I leaned to her and kissed her then I slid out of bed carefully not to wake her up. I knew we’d be late at the office today, but who cared? We had three weeks off and it didn’t actually matter.
I made coffee for her and then took a quick shower before I went to wake her up.
“Wake up, sleeping beauty,” I whispered into her ear and her lips turned into a smile and she wrapped her arms around my neck and dragged me in bed again.
“Good morning to you too,” she whispered and kissed me. “Can’t we stay here today?”
“We could…” I started running my hand through her messy hair and smiled. “But we have to go, princess.”
She sighed and kissed me one more time before she got out of bed and went to the bathroom and then I got dressed in a few minutes and returned to the kitchen.
“Oh, hey, man!” Rick greeted me with a grin. “I had no idea you guys are back. I stayed in Emma’s room and she… Isn’t she home?” Rick asked looking around.
“No, we… She noticed you were asleep when we came and then slept in my room,” I said with a shrug and Rick eyed me suspiciously and then returned to his coffee.
“So how was New York? Are the girls just as hot as they say?” Rick asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Um… I… I don’t know,” I answered as I looked at my watch. God, Emma was late again and this conversation with Rick was going so bad.
“You don’t know? C’mon, man, it’s New York! You must’ve noticed someone. Have you worked that much?”
“Yeah, you know, I didn’t actually go there in a vacation,” I lied and hoped he’ll buy that. “What about you, man? All cool?”
“You have no idea, man!” Rick said with a smirk. “Wait till you hear-“
His words were interrupted by the doorbell. Who would come here at this early hour? I looked at Rick and he shrugged and took another sip of his coffee. I slowly walked towards the door wishing Emma would be ready sooner and opened the door to see…
“Ben!” I exclaimed and gave him a bear hug and then took a step back to let him in. “What the hell happened to you?”
Ben wasn’t his true elegant self, his black hair was messy, his shirt was slightly unbuttoned and her tie was loose.
“Monica and I broke up, dude,” he said as he sat on the couch.
“What?!” I asked at the same time as Emma.
“I’m glad to see you, Emma,” Ben said with a bored tone without looking at either of us. He looked miserable.
“Man, we… We have to go to the office today…” I said as I sat next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Rick could… Could you, right? Stay here and…”
“Oh, yes of course!” Rick replied with a grin from ear to ear.
“Hey!” I said as I jumped out of the couch and grabbed Rick and pushed the kitchen. “What’s the matter with you, asshole? You can’t be happy Ben’s miserable. I don’t care about your crush on Monica, you two aren’t meant to be or anything. So get your head out of your ass and make Ben feel better, got it? Or you’re really gonna see me angry.”
“Calm down, Hulk!” Rick joked and I took the collar of his shirt and pushed him into a wall.
“You don’t joke when it comes to my fucking best friend!” I hissed and Rick started at me in surprise and then nodded.
“Matt!” Emma yelled as she entered the kitchen and I let go of Rick and shook my head.
“Let’s just go,” I said with a harsh tone. “You gonna be okay, bro?” I asked Ben as I entered the living room again.
“Sure. Look, Matt, I…”
“We’ll talk about this later, bro, okay? Just… Stay here, I’ll try to come at lunch, okay? And let me know if that stupid Rick isn’t good of anything, okay?”
“Matt, I’m a grown man,” Ben complained.
“Sure. Keep telling yourself that. See ya, okay?”
Ben nodded, and then I went out of the apartment without waiting for Emma. I hated I couldn’t stay with my best friend now and that the stupid jerk of my girlfriend’s brother was acting like a complete ass just because he had a fucking crush on my best friend’s girl.
And everything was so great in the morning!
“What happened?” Emma asked as she hopped in the car. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know what happened, but I didn’t like your brother’s fucking grin when he heard about Monica and Ben’s break up. They’ll work it out, right? They’re…”
“Matt. Breathe,” she said and placed her head on top of mine. “I wanna see Monica. Maybe that’s why she texted me yesterday…”
“I can drive you to her place,” I said with a sigh. “I hate leaving my best friend with your brother.”
“Look, Rick can take care of it, okay? He’s not… He surely understands that he and Monica are not gonna happen, right?”
“No, he doesn’t!”
“Matthew. Calm down. Let’s go to work, okay? Safely, please,” she said and I nodded.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered and squeezed her hand. “I acted like a jerk with your brother, but Ben’s like my brother, you know? So it was like…”
“Matt. I get it. I wanna see Monica too, but I can’t, so can we go?”
I nodded and started the engine without saying anything else. After five long minutes we reached our destination and I saw Emma’s terrified expression considering the fact that I drove like a mad person.
This was definitely going to be a long day.
“Do you need anything, baby?” Emma asked as I entered my office.
“Nope, I’m perfect,” I said as I sat on my chair and she sighed. “Come here,” I said and she gave me a weak smile and then sat on my lap. “What do you think if we go to dinner tonight?” I asked running a hand through her curled hair and she smiled.
“You should stay with Ben,” Emma said with a smile. “I think I’ll go see Monica after work if that’s okay with you.”
“Sure,” I replied and slowly kissed her. “Thank you for being so adorable, baby,” I whispered and she blushed. “And cute,” I added and she rolled her eyes.
“You really shouldn’t say all those things to me, Mr. Nicholls. That’s inappropriate.”
“So it is to stay on your boss’ lap, but you’re still doing it, Miss West,” I pointed and she blushed fiercely again.
“I’ll let you do your thing, okay?” she said as she kissed me once more.
I nodded then she walked out of my office and I sighed. Yes, I definitely love her.
*
“No, no, no, no!” I yelled as I jumped out of the couch and started pacing around the living room.
Rick sat on a chair with a bottle of bear in his hand and Ben sat casually on the couch, now with his suit and tie all elegant and Ben-ish. We’ve been talking for two hours now and I couldn’t understand anything yet.
“Look, it’s a really good opportunity, Matt…” Ben started turning his head towards Rick and he nodded.
“You have no right to say anything, little prick,” I told Rick and he rolled his eyes.
/> “It’s not about Monica anymore, Matt, drop it, okay?” Ben said with a harsh tone.
“Yes, but he-“
“Then it’s okay with me,” Ben replied with a shrug.
I stared back at him as he said that casually like it didn’t matter. I knew him better than that! Or maybe he was acting like that because we both knew Rick didn’t stand a chance with Monica, especially since now she was completely devastated.
“Thanks, man,” Rick said and I glared and him and took a step closer to him, but Ben shook his head. “Matt, it’s not like… I mean, why are you taking this so personal? You have nothing to do with Monica!” he complained and I nodded.
“She’s my best friend’s girl. Bro’s don’t date another’s bro girl. That’s a rule.”
“Yeah, but he’s okay with…”
“I didn’t specifically said ‘go for it’, Richard,” Ben replied with a harsh tone and I nodded. “I just said if Monica is okay with it, then… I’ll try and be okay with it to.”
“Let’s get back to your decision, bro,” I said and Ben sighed. “How can you just… I don’t know, you have everything here and you decide you want to go and live in New York?!”
“Matt, bro, it’s a good opportunity for me, man!” Ben said and I shook my head. “No, it is. I could stay here and be my boss’ bitch or I could go there and own it, you know? It’s really different. I know, it’s Los Angeles, but it’s... It’s… New York there, man. You could do better in a city like New York when it comes to business. I would work on Wall Street, for Christ’s sake!”
“Yes, but you have everything here!” I yelled back at him.
“I had nothing when I moved here, Matt.”
“Yes, but now you have and you’re just… running away from all of it. I’m here, man, Monica’s here. I thought you two were pretty serious, you’re 28 now. Are you just gonna leave her like that after spending her best years with you?”
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