Silence, as if the air were sucked out of the room and we were left in a vacuum, wordless, our eyes glued to each other. Matt’s expression remained impassive.
I arched my eyebrows.
He gave a quick shrug. “What?”
“Are we?”
“Young? Yes, relatively.”
“No . . . are we . . .”
“What do you think, Grace?” And then his mouth was on mine, except there was no urgency behind his kiss anymore. The kiss went on and on, like we were trying to melt into each other, romantic and sweet.
Finally, I pulled away. “You have a motorcycle?” I asked, dreamily.
He answered by nodding into my neck and kissing me right below the ear.
“Wanna take me for a ride?”
“You have no idea.”
“You know, we never really talked about the other night.”
“Do we need to talk about it?” His tone was suddenly stiff.
A sudden wave of paranoia slammed me back a couple of feet, out of Matt’s embrace. He was avoiding the topic. Why? I wondered if there was something he didn’t want to tell me.Was I not good enough?How could I be?I thought. He was like a god, dripping with an intoxicating blend of sweetness and sex. I couldn’t take my eyes off him most ofthe time. On top of it all, he was kind, smart, strong, and artistic.
Really, universe? That’s plenty. That’s just fucking plenty! You cannot make one person this delicious. It’s not fair.
Matthias was the kind of guy girls dreamed about marrying. The kind of guy whose last name you would doodle after your first name in wispy cursive letters across the cover of your Trapper Keeper.Graceland Shore. Graceland and Matthias Shore. Mr. and Mrs. Shore.Images of your family photos would zip through your mind in blurry streams, like stars moving at warp speed. You, standing there, glowing and pregnant for the twelfth time, with all of your beautiful little Adonis and Aphrodite children clinging to your legs as you and your husband gaze into each other’s eyes. You’d shout it out to the world, “This. Man. Is. Mine!” And you’d always give him lots of blowjobs. I hadn’t even done that yet, but I planned to. Anyway, the point is, you’d do anything for him.
And then, like a mythological creature, he would annihilate your heart with mere indifference.
Do we really need to talk about it?
Ouch.
He squinted at me, pleading, searching. Or was he playing with me? My stomach spasmed with anxiety.
“Okay, Grace, what the hell is going on?”
I couldn’t hold it in. “Was I terrible in bed?”
“What? What’s wrong with you? Are you kidding me?”
“Well, are you going to answer my question?”
He stood up straighter, “Do I really need to point out that I basically just told you I’m in love with you? I thought you got it. Fucking Christ, Grace. I have a raging hard-on and I’m trying desperately to defile you against the wall of adisgusting shed in my mother’s backyard. I thought actions speak louder than words?” We glared at each other and then he lowered his voice. “The other night was easily the most enjoyable night of my life, I swear to you. I doubt anyone else could ever top it. You are so uniquely beautiful and sexy, and you moved so perfectly that I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.” He looked down at his pants and laughed. “Which has made life on airplanes and in Aletha’s house extremely awkward.”
Heart slayed. He owned me.
He grabbed my hand. “Come on, silly girl. I want to take you over to my dad’s for lunch, and it’s already getting late.”
“Really?” I looked at my watch. I didn’t realize Matt wanted to see his dad on such short notice. “Oh shit.” I ran through the door of Aletha’s house like a whirling dervish, spinning in frantic circles. “I don’t know what to wear,” I moaned.
Matt trailed behind me and sat back on the guest bed, watching me, hands propped behind his head, a satisfied, smug grin on his face. “Just pick something. You look great in everything... and nothing.”
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.” Clothes went flying out of my suitcase and across the room. “I have nothing!”
