27. 7 Years Ago
Chapter twenty-seven
Leyla. Matt never mentioned that name, not once, so I had no idea who she was. Judging from the look on his face, he wasn’t happy to see her.
We’d talked about exes, of course. Matt had mentioned Megan, a girl he’d dated for a while, and I told him about Mike, a guy I was with for about a year during the time between college and my master’s.
I hadn’t been serious with anyone since then, and it seemed like he hadn’t either.
Not that I pressed him for details. I didn’t want to picture Matt with anyone else.
But he looked at this Leyla as if she was a ghost.
“Stay here a sec?” he asked me. “Let me just go see what she wants.”
“Okay.”
Matt hopped out of the truck and strode around the hood towards Leyla, who stood up as he approached.
They exchanged words, but I couldn’t hear them.
The body language was awkward; Leyla’s arms were folded over her chest, and Matt’s hands were stuffed in the pockets of his cargo shorts.
He didn’t look her in the face. She was more direct, aggressively staring right at him.
She looked angry, and maybe a little scared.
After a few minutes, Matt came back into the truck. He turned off the ignition.
“Do you want me to walk back home?” I asked.
“No,” he replied, but his voice was weak. Not convincing.
“Is she an ex-girlfriend or something?”
“No, she’s not. We never dated.” He swallowed. “I’ll explain everything. Let me just get rid of her. You go ahead into the house.” He handed me the key.
Something about the way he said that—let me just get rid of her—didn’t sit right.
Regardless, I quietly accepted the keys, and we got out of the truck.
I walked towards Leyla, looking her over.
She was a beautiful girl, that much was undeniable.
She wore a pair of short black shorts, revealing legs that seemed to go on forever.
Her tan toes, decorated with a neon pink pedicure, were lined up neatly in a pair of wedge sandals paired with a thin, silver ankle bracelet.
Her folded arms covered her bare waist, and her white, bedazzled tank top left little to the imagination.
Her glossy, full lips were pursed in a scowl as I wordlessly passed her to get to the front door.
“Let’s go to the back deck,” Matt said to Leyla.
I went inside and shut the door behind me.
The muggy August heat permeated the inside of the house, tempting me to turn on the air conditioner.
The windows had been left open, though, and putting on the A/C would mean closing them.
Those windows were the only chance I had at hearing Matt and Leyla’s conversation.
It turned my stomach to consider what she could be here for, but even still, I didn’t want to risk the idea of not hearing it firsthand.
I left the living room light off, since the back deck was right outside those windows, and interior light would only make it harder to see them out there.
Unsure of where to position myself, I stood behind the wall separating the living room from the kitchen, leaning my head on the cool metal of the stacked washer/dryer.
I heard Matt offer Leyla a seat, which she refused. “So, go ahead. What is it?” he asked.
“She your girlfriend?” Leyla asked.
“Taylor? Yeah.”
“Were you with her when we…” Her voice trailed off.
“No. We started dating after that. Why?”
“Just wondering.”
“Why are you here? I don’t want to keep her waiting all night.”
I peeked around the corner and saw Leyla’s expression in the moonlight. She looked—nervous, maybe? I couldn’t tell.
“I’m pregnant, Matt.”
I covered my mouth, muffling the gasp that escaped.
He shook his head. “How is that possible?”
“Really? That’s your response?”
“Well, I know how it’s possible, but we were safe. Right?”
“I thought so, yeah.”
“So…”
“So, what?”
“Well, I’m not trying to be a dick or anything, but are you sure?”
“Sure that I’m pregnant? Yes, I’m sure, Matt. Would you like me to go pee on a stick for you?”
“No. I mean, are you sure that it’s mine?”
“Is that what you think? That I’m some kind of slut?”
“We don’t even know each other! How would I know?” His agitated voice got louder. I sank down to the floor, wishing I had closed the windows.
“That didn’t bother you when you had sex with me!”
“I’m just saying, for all I know you could have slept with five more guys since we were together.”
“Are you fucking serious? Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to come back to this shit hole and face what I did?”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. I’m not a slut. I was drunk. You were drunk. We did what we did. We can’t take it back now. I didn’t know what to do—I mean, I was late, I took a test, it was positive. So I came here because I thought you should know.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Um, this is not just my problem. The question should be, what are we going to do?”
He sighed.
“And the answer right now is, I don’t know,” she went on.
“Do you think you’re going to keep it?”
“I don’t know,” she repeated. “I just heard from the producer for that movie I told you about. They want me.”
“What movie?”
“I told you about it,” she insisted.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was drunk, remember?”
“Damn it, Matt! I landed my first movie role. I’m supposed to leave for Hollywood next week!”
Of course she’s an actress. Someone who looks like that could only either be an actress or a model.
“Okay, so what do you need from me? Money?”
“Wow, asshole. I don’t want your money! And for what? So I can go handle this and get out of your hair?”
“That’s not what I said! And I’m not an asshole—you just popped up out of nowhere at my house—”
“Well, I’m not ready to decide yet anyway,” Leyla interrupted.
“But like I said, I thought you should know that I’m walking around carrying your baby.
” She paused. It sounded like she might be crying.
“You know, when I met you, you seemed like such a nice guy. I thought you’d be different.
But you’re just like every other piece of shit guy out there. ”
“I’m sorry. You just show up here to drop a bomb on me like this? And then, you have the audacity to come at me for not being sweet about it? My girlfriend is in the house,” he seethed. “I never even told her about us.”
“Of course not. I mean, why would you, right? I meant nothing to you,” Leyla retorted, dripping with sarcasm.
“You were a one-night stand!”
“Well, I didn’t know that at the time! You’re the one who disappeared and never called!”
“Listen, I’m sorry. You’re a beautiful girl and I’m sure you’re very nice under normal circumstances. But I’m with someone else. I’ll do the right thing by you. If you need money, I’ll give you money.”
“I don’t care about the money, Matt!”
“Then I’ll ask you again—what do you want from me?” he yelled.
“Nothing! Forget it!” I heard the sound of Leyla’s wedges as she stomped off the deck.
“What?” he asked, incredulous.
“I just wanted you to know so I wouldn’t have to feel like I was in this alone!
” she shouted. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe this is more than just an inconvenience for me? This is my body! My life! Not to mention, my livelihood! I’ve waited forever for a role in a movie, and of course this happens just as it looks like I might get my break.
” She heaves an agitated sigh into the night air. "You don't understand."
“I do, actually,” Matt said, his voice returning to a more normal decibel. “I do understand what it feels like to finally feel like your life has a direction and then to have it all go to shit without any notice. You’d be surprised.” I hear him sigh. “I’m sorry.”
“So that’s it. I wanted to tell you, and now you know.” Footsteps followed, and a car door opened.
“Okay. When do you think you’ll decide?”
“I don’t know. After Hollywood, probably. I’ll let you know.”
“Okay. Good luck. On your trip.”
“Yeah, thanks.” She slammed the door shut.
I heard the car start. The tires spun over the gravel. Moments later, the sound was gone, disappearing out the gate and down the road, Leyla heading back to wherever she came from.
The silence hit me like a wave.
It took longer than it should have for Matt to come back inside the house. When he finally opened the front door, he looked surprised to see me on the floor, leaning against his washing machine with the lights off.
“You heard all that, huh?”
I nodded.
Matt stepped toward me, crouching down to look at me in the darkness.
“What happened?” I asked, trying not to panic.
Matt hung his head, then put a curled fist up against his forehead. “I was an idiot.”
“When?” My voice cracked.
“It was a few nights before you got here. I was nervous, Taylor.”
“About what?”
“Seeing you. I went out. Got drunk. Too drunk. And I was an asshole.”
“Wait. You were nervous about seeing me, so you slept with some girl you just met?”
He inhaled deeply. “I wasn’t just nervous. I was terrified. I was scared you might not want anything to do with me. So I went out, trying to get that all out of my mind. I met her, and honestly, I wasn’t thinking. It was just a hookup. A one-night thing. Haven’t you ever had a one-night stand?”
I shook my head no.
“Well, I’m sorry. I’m being completely honest. She was hot, and she was flirting with me, and it made me feel better. And I’d had too much to drink.” He winced at the memory. “She came home with me. And then…”
“You got her pregnant.”
“Maybe. I still don’t know if I believe that I’m the only person she’s ever done that with.”
“Why, Matt? Is sleeping with girls you just met a thing you do?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s not.”
“Then, I would take her at her word. Imagine what that must have been like for her? Coming here? Finding you with me?”
He nodded. “I guess.”
I let out a sigh. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. I guess just wait, for now.”
“How long ago was it?”
He dug his phone out of his pocket. Swiping through the calendar, he counted. “Nine weeks or so, I think?”
I shook my head at the realization that just nine weeks ago, Matt was putting his hands, his lips all over that girl in the same bed I now slept in every night. I swallowed. “Then she’ll have to make a decision soon.”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
Matt sat down on the floor next to me. He pulled his knees into his chest and rested his head on them. “Fuck,” he whispered.
I put my hand on his shoulder.
“I’m so sorry,” he mumbled.
So many feelings collided in my head, I couldn’t respond.
Then, there on the floor, in the darkness, Matt Thompson began to cry.