Matchmaker - Chapter 31
Wednesday
I’d finished the bottle of champagne before the photographers had even shown up.
I could tell Poppy was mad at me. But I really didn’t fucking care.
I’d had a few scotches after she was done pretending to stare affectionately at me for the cameras.
Anyone would have after that ordeal, especially after the awkward few seconds when Poppy had put her lips to mine while the cameras flashed.
I was pretty sure I’d vomited a little in my mouth.
This was a date from hell. And all that seemed to make it better was scotch. Lots and lots of scotch.
Well, maybe something else would too. Or, someone.
I hit the intercom button outside Kennedy’s place.
I smiled remembering all the times I’d snuck into this building back in high school.
I took a few steps backwards to see if I’d still be able to jump and pull down the fire escape ladder.
It was pretty high. But I totally had this.
I cracked my neck and stretched my arms. But before I could leap, the door buzzed open.
Score! I took the stairs two at a time and felt a little dizzy by the time I reached Kennedy’s floor.
I managed to avoid looking at Brooklyn’s apartment door and headed straight for Kennedy’s.
Before I could knock, Kennedy opened the door.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” I said and then laughed. I literally had no idea what that phrase meant or why I’d said it. But my eyes did like staring at her.
“Shh!” Kennedy said with a laugh. “You’ll wake my mom.”
“I don’t want to wake your mom.”
“Then lower your voice,” she hissed.
I laughed. “You lower your voice.”
“Oh my God, Matt. Are you drunk?”
“No,” I somehow managed to say with a completely straight face. Because I was plastered.
“Are you sure about that?” She raised one of her eyebrows in a way I could only describe as overtly sexual. Yep. That was it. Overtly sexual.
“Absolutely positively not drunk,” I said. “Here’s your ice cream.” I shoved the bag into her hands. “They had your favorite.” I knew her favorite ice cream. Because I knew her. I knew everything about her. Well, everything but a few things. My gaze wandered to her lips for just a beat.
“Really? They had the forbidden chocolate? I haven’t had this in years.” She reached into the bag and pulled the container to her chest with the most orgasmic sigh.
“Shh, your mom will hear you,” I said.
“Hear me sighing?”
“I have no idea what she’ll think if she heard the noise that just came out of your mouth. Come on.” I grabbed her around the waist and lifted her in the air.
“What are you doing?” she said with a laugh as I flipped her upside down over my shoulder. “Matt, put me down.”
“No, I’m taking you back to the couch where you belong.” I leaned down with her still balancing on my shoulder to grab the ice pack she’d discarded on the floor. Somehow one of her hands slid down to my butt.
My whole body tensed. Not because I didn’t like it. Because I did. But I didn’t know if she knew her hand was perched precariously on my left ass cheek. And it seemed like a good idea to tell her just in case it was an accident. “Kennedy, I need to inform you that your hand is on my ass.”
“Would you just put me down, you big oaf?”
I laughed and tried to gently put her down. I collapsed on the couch next to her. “You touched my butt,” I said and pulled out the French fries I’d picked up after I’d gotten her ice cream.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“Sure,” I said. But I was pretty sure she’d meant to.
“You’re really drunk.”
“Am not.”
“You’re talking so much louder than you realize,” she said with a laugh. “Oh my God, this reminds me of one night when Brooklyn and I came home drunk. Do you remember that party at Felix’s place?”
“Yeah, I remember.” Brooklyn had looked so beautifully out of place at that party. I hadn’t been able to stay away from her.
“Oh no, wait. Uncle Jim was pissed after that. But not as pissed as he was after the party at your house. Because we came back drunk again. He tried to ground her for life.”
I shook my head.
Kennedy leaned forward and for a second I thought she was going to kiss me. But then she just gently touched my neck, right below my ear. I tried not to orgasmically sigh like she had. I may have groaned though. Just a little.
“Why do you have mud on your neck? Or is that chocolate?”
I scratched the side of my neck where there absolutely was mud.
That was going to look great in Poppy’s pictures.
Serves her right. I rubbed it off on my sweatpants.
“Don’t eat that,” I said and grabbed Kennedy’s hand in case she was about to put her fingers in her mouth.
I pulled her hand onto my lap just to ensure she wouldn’t do something crazy.
“It’s definitely mud. I have the best story,” I said and started laughing.
Kennedy just shook her head as she smiled back at me. “Aren’t you going to tell me the story?”
“So I went on a terrible blind date a few weeks ago. So bad that the girl actually jumped in a lake to try to avoid me tonight. I helped her out. She must have gotten some lake gunk on me. Oh, but get this…”
“I’m still stuck on the fact that this woman jumped in a lake to avoid you. What the hell happened on your date?”
“She was super late and tried to set my dick on fire.”
Kennedy laughed and somehow her fingers wound up intertwined with mine.
I didn’t pull away. And neither did she.
“Wait, I need more than that,” Kennedy said.
“Right. I was about to tell you more. She was married to Cupcake.”
Kennedy cringed.
I would have missed it if I hadn’t been staring right at her. Fuck . Why had I mentioned Cupcake to Kennedy after everything he’d done to her? That was a sure-fire way to ruin the night. “I’m sorry…”
“It’s fine. Really.”
I held her hand a little tighter as she fidgeted with a strand of hair that had fallen from her bun. “I was actually asking for more details about how this girl set your penis on fire.”
“Almost. She didn’t succeed in her attempts. My dick is fine. But it was crazy. Just picture a candle and some of that oil you dip bread in. It was an accident. I think.”
Kennedy laughed. “Well, phew. Close call, huh?”
“Very close.” And speaking of close, her hand was pretty close to touching my dick right now. Except I was holding it still. And as much as I wanted her hand on my dick, I actually really liked holding it.
“Did she say why they got divorced?”
“Hm?” My mind had been preoccupied with thoughts of Kennedy touching me. “What did you say?”
“The woman you went on a date with. She divorced Cupcake?”
I knew what she was wondering. If he’d hurt Ash too. He had, but not in the same way. At least, I was pretty sure. “He cheated on her.”
“What a dick.”
“What a dick,” I said. “Someone should set him on fire.”
Kennedy laughed and placed her chin in the palm of her hand. And she just stared at me.
It was unnerving. I felt like I needed to get up and run around her small apartment. But I didn’t want to move because I didn’t want to let go of her hand. So I just stared back at her. “What are you thinking about over there?”
She sighed. “Do you ever just feel like you’re stuck?”
It was like she was speaking to my soul. “Every day. Like I’ll never actually leave high school.”
“Being the football coach was an interesting choice then,” Kennedy said.
I looked down at my t-shirt. We’d talked a lot during dinner with her mom last night. I could tell she thought it was an odd decision for me to choose to go back to Empire High all the time. “Like I said. I’m stuck.”
“Well, you said you went on that bad blind date. So you’re dating. That’s good.”
“I’m not really dating. I’m not taking that app Penny has me on seriously.”
“But what about your dinner tonight?”
“Business.”
“Ah. Right, you did say that. So you’re not seeing anyone?”
Technically I was dating Poppy now. Barf.
The pictures would be plastered all over tomorrow morning’s tabloids.
It was just like Poppy had said. The whole city would know by tomorrow night.
But my relationship with Poppy wasn’t real.
This though? Holding Kennedy’s hand? This felt real.
And I didn’t want to talk about Poppy or anyone else with Kennedy.
I just wanted to be here right now and be happy for five fucking seconds of my miserable life. So I shook my head. “What about you?”
“I just uprooted my whole life and moved back here. How would I have met someone so quickly?”
“That doesn’t really answer my question.”
She smiled. “I didn’t leave anyone behind, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“What was your last serious relationship?”
“You’re full of questions tonight, Matt. I think it’s time for me to ask one. A very important one. What’s in the other bag?” She eyed the other plastic bag I’d walked in with.
“French fries,” I said and went to grab them. I immediately regretted it. Because my hand fell from hers and my whole body suddenly felt empty.
“Now French fries sound good,” Kennedy said and plucked one out. “Mmm. Just what I was craving.” She grabbed another instead of opening up her ice cream container.
Kennedy had a bad habit of never ordering the right food. She’d stolen so many fries from me while we were in school. I put the takeout bag between us so she could keep stealing my food. I’d never minded then. And I didn’t mind it now either.
She hugged her knees to her chest and watched me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“You should be elevating that,” I said. I reached out and grabbed her ankle, pulling it onto my lap. I placed the ice pack on top. If I couldn’t have her hand, I would at least take her foot.
She just kept silently watching me.
“What?” I asked again.
“On a scale of one to ten, how drunk are you? Like are you going to remember this when you wake up tomorrow?”