This wasn’t him, this wasn’t where he had meant to be, and this wasn’t what he wanted. Could he survive? Could he make it through, deal with his problems? He wasn’t so sure this time, he wasn’t sure.
“Matt, are you ok buddy?” a voice queried. Matt shook his head, blowing off the feeling of being far, far away, “oh, yeah I’m ok.” The other person in the car looked back out the window. He studied her; her hands were folded in her lap, quaintly. She looked out onto the plains, the open plains that rolled on for days. Her hand moved to her chin and she rested her head on it. He tried to draw his eyes back to the window, but he couldn’t. Eventually he was able to, but he couldn’t stop thinking of her. He looked forward and stopped all of his thinking. He pictured the lines he had just seen; he drew her over and over in his mind.
“What were you thinking about? When you almost drove off the road…” she left the last word a little breathy, almost seductively. Matt breathed in and sighed out, “just stuff.” He couldn’t admit to her what he was really thinking, that wouldn’t be good at all. She knew he didn’t want to talk about it, and that he wouldn’t admit to it unless she really bugged him. Carefully grabbing the CD holder she placed one in to play. She looked to Matt’s face for approval, but never gained it; he just looked straight ahead, cloudy-eyed. She went back to looking out her window and raised her feet to her chest. Cuddled in her seat, she fell fast asleep.
“Katie. Katie…Katie, wake up!” Katie woke up to Matt holding her shoulder and keeping her in the car, seeing as the passenger side door was open. “Where are we?” Katie groggily asked. Matt smiled, “we’re at the hotel for tonight. I should have let you sleep I’m sorry.” Katie squinted and put her feet on the ground, “no I’m glad you woke me up, I’m hungry.” She stepped out onto her feet and started walking back to the trunk of Matt’s car. Matt looked at her and only smiled, she opened the trunk and didn’t see any bags. Peeking around the trunk she asked Matt, “did we remember luggage?” Matt chuckled, “I brought it in already, I didn’t want to wake you up, so I moved your stuff in.” Katie stood for a second with the trunk still open, “thanks, did you grab my backpack too?” Matt began to walk back into the room and spoke over his shoulder, “yeah, I did.” Katie followed behind and walked in to find a surprisingly nice hotel, “how much did you say this cost?” Matt looked back at her from his suitcase, “don’t worry about it.” Katie explored the room a bit more; Matt had already taken the liberty of setting up the CD player and all of their entertainment stuff. She walked back over to Matt and plopped down on his bed. Matt picked up another one of his shirts from his bag and placed it in the drawer and then spoke, “so are we eating in or out tonight?” Katie fell back on to the bed, “ I think I’d like to go out, in fact I have an idea.” Katie promptly got off of the bed and walked out the front of the room. Matt paid some attention to this, but forgot about it, finished packing and turned on the TV. Katie knocked on the front door; Matt courteously got up and opened it for her. “Ta da,” she exclaimed as he opened the door. Matt looked happy, but uninterested. Katie pursued this reaction, “come on big boy, don’t you want a night on the town?”
Katie followed Matt back to his bed where she sat on the end, in his view of the TV. “Come on, Matt. I asked the guy at the front desk the name of a nice restaurant, and a fun club.” Katie began top pout at Matt. Matt gave up on trying to avoid her in order to watch the TV, “why do you want to go?” Katie looked up a the ceiling, as if uninterested by his question, but she still responded. “I’m in the mood to dress up, you know get all purdy and then we can go dancing.” Matt sighed, “ok let’s go.” Katie froze, “I don’t want to go unless you really want to.” Katie has always been a sensitive gal, Matt thought. “No, I want to go, I could use a little trip out.” Katie jumped up and let out a little shreik of joy, “yay! Well let’s get ready, I’m gonna go get my dress on.” Katie opened the bag on her bed and pulled out a bundle of cloth. Carefully holding the wad she made it to the bathroom. When she had closed the door Matt stood up and walked over to his dress shirts which were hanging in the closet.
After picking through a bit he came across a stunningly blue one. He removed the cotton polo he had on at the moment and replaced it with his nice button down shirt. Using the glass of water he had gotten earlier he wet his hair and began to shape his fuzzy mane. After a bit of water he gave up and moved onto gel, which worked perfectly. He had just finished as she walked out of the bathroom, in a stunning outfit. Matt tried not to let Katie on that he was so interested and entrigued by this outfit. It was a black skirt, a bit below the knee and it was fitted to the hips, flared out at the bottom. There was a silence, although not an awkward one. Matt interrupted it, “well are you ready to go?“ Katie nodded yes and walked passed Matt and towards the back door. She paused as Matt called to her in a sweet, low pitched tone, “you look great tonight.” She turned around and he looked at his shoes. She smiled faintly and walked back towards him, “thank you. Now let’s go, I have the directions.”
“The food is so delicious,” Katie commented over a mouth of pasta. Matt stared back at his trout, “it’s looking at me.” Matt began to laugh and Katie joined in. Katie looked around at the other tables and then leaned in towards Matt, “this is so not my scene. Your parents are all over these things, but not mine. I’ve never been to a nice restaurant, they even took my coat!” Matt laughed at her, “Katie, you’re hilarious.” Katie took another bite, but she took one so large that much f it overflowed her mouth and she had to suck it in. Matt leaned back in his chair, almost as if he was hiding. Katie chewed this time and resumed the conversation, “Matt, do you feel comfortable in places like this?”
[To be continued…]