Pause.
“So, I know you said you didn’t want to talk about it, but is everything okay with you?” Matt asks. “You guys randomly took off again, and now you’re in… Where are you again?”
“Texas.” I groan. “And yes, I’m fine. Everything’s okay. It’s some heavy stuff, but it’s all going to be sorted out soon. Thanks for asking.”
“Sure,” Matt says. I think I hear a little disappointment in his voice, like he wanted me to open up. Then he moves on. “So, what’s it like in Texas?”
“The lamest,” I say. “At least where we are.”
“I thought Texas was cool?” Matt asks.
“Parts of it, yes,” I say. “But Hayes? Hayes is the opposite of cool.”
“Hot,” Matt jokes. I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand.
“It is definitely hot!” I say with a laugh. “I’m sweating like a pig right now!”
Matt laughs, too, the laugh I love so much it hurts, and for the moment at least, the mood is lifted. We chat about whether pigs really sweat that much and it’s so easy and normal that I blurt out what I really want to say: “I want to be your girlfriend.”
“I want to be your boyfriend,” Matt replies easily, without hesitation.
“What do we do about that?” I ask.
Matt pauses, thinking a moment. “I guess what we just did? I mean, if we want to be together, then we are, even if you’re in Texas.”
“So we’re dating,” I say, trying it on for size.
“Honestly, I think we have been for a while,” Matt says. “At least since that first kiss.” My stomach turns somersaults and I smile a smile that makes my cheeks sore.
“I miss that kiss. And the other ones, too.”
“Me, too.”
“But, Matt?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad we didn’t… you know…”
“I know,” he says. “Not that it wouldn’t be awesome,” he adds quickly. “I’m just glad we didn’t do something so huge on a day that was so bad. The experience would always be a little bit… tainted.”
Matt’s words are exactly what I need to hear. I want to run to him, but I have no way to get there. Instead I settle for telling him I love him, because suddenly I need to say it out loud—so he can hear me this time.
The moment I open my mouth, Matt’s phone beeps.
“Hold on a sec,” he says. “I bet it’s my mom.”
“Okay,” I say. He switches over to the other line and I consider how I should say it—Matt, I love you, or I love you, Matt—while I move my feet to the beat of his hold song. A fly buzzes near my exposed ear and I brush it away lightly. Feeling airy, I sing quietly along with the song, wondering what he and his mom are talking about right now. It’s been a few seconds but I don’t mind. I’ll wait all day for him.
Just then my other line rings, too. I switch over excitedly, expecting Megan and wanting to update her on the good news with Matt before I have to flip back over.
“Hello?” I say enthusiastically.
“You should keep your room tidier, Daisy.”
I hear the lisp immediately; it sends chills down my spine.