Page 91 of Pucking Your Best Friend

Matt narrowed his eyes and leaned forward further while something bitter and unpleasant flooded his previously warm chest.

xx Clemens.

Did people still write kisses in an X shape? Hadn’t that been abolished along with bell-bottoms? And why was Clemens contacting her at all? Maddie had said that things with her ex-boyfriend had ended badly. So, why the hell was she still be in contact with him?

“Oh, can we order food now? I’m starving,” Maddie asked, interrupting his thoughts as she emerged from the bathroom and hurried into the kitchen. Unfortunately, she was no longer completely naked. Instead, she was wearing one of his shirts that reached down to her thighs. He would have to persuade her to wear exclusively his jersey or nothing at all. Anything else didn’t seem right to him.

“Yeah, sure,” he replied, his eyes still fixed on the message. “Thai?”

“Always. But if you put Babybel in your curry again, I might have to kill you. In the name of all Thai people and food lovers.”

He felt a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He leaned back again. It didn’t matter. Clemens was some guy from her past. She could be in contact with him. It didn’t bother him.

Another message came in, though.

We can also talk on the phone again. I’d like to know how you’re doing. Sunday evening maybe xx

His jaw cracked loudly and his back flexed so hard that he wouldn’t be surprised if he pulled a muscle.

Okay, fuck, it bothered him that the two of them were obviously talking on the phone regularly.

“Are you okay?” Maddie asked, placing two glasses of water next to the telltale cell phone.

“Sure,” he uttered.

“Are you sure?” she frowned. “You growled.”

He took the glass of water she handed him and sipped it before doing what he always did when he was with Maddie: He was honest. It was surprisingly easy to tell the truth when you were with someone who had never made you feel bad, with whom you had always been open on principle because, in friendships, you could say everything you might keep to yourself in relationships.

“Okay, I have to confess something. My peripheral vision is so good that I accidentally read two messages on your phone from…”

He didn’t get a chance to finish because Maddie was reaching for her phone and staring at the screen. She blinked at Clemens’ words for a few seconds and then let out a satisfying, disdainful snort. “He’s not serious. Did he seriously expect me to RSVP?”

“It seems so,” Matt said innocently. She didn’t seem happy about it, which he took that as a good sign.

“He’s actually a nice guy on the surface, but kind of a jerk deep down,” she said hesitantly, glancing skeptically at Matt. “And those messages were the reason you were growling?”

He grimaced. “My throat was sore.”

She laughed. “You’re sweet when you’re jealous,” she whispered and kissed him gently on the cheek. “It was ages ago. But if it makes you feel better…”

I can’t make it. Not on your wedding day or Sunday evening. I’m at a hockey game on both days. All the luck in the world to you, she hastily typed on her phone and hit send, then waved the screen in Matt’s face. “There. See? Done,” she said and smiled broadly. “Because hockey is more important than he is.”

Matt’s mouth twitched. Okay, it was sweet of her to put it that way, but…it didn’t feel like it was over. Quite the opposite. He felt like he’d cracked open the lid of a huge barrel containing some floating smelly stuff.

Honesty. They worked because of their honesty.

“Okay, Maddie, I have to ask,” he said impatiently. “Who exactly is Clemens and what happened? For weeks you’ve been giving me unsatisfying tidbits that are slowly but surely eating me up inside. Because, seriously, I didn’t even know that an ex-boyfriend existed until a month ago, while you probably have all the names and possibly even the phone numbers of all the women I’ve been with in the last year.”

Maddie pursed her lips. “Always a good idea to remind the half-naked woman in front of you how many notches your bedpost has.”

“Youset me up with half of them,” he reminded her, stunned.

"Yeah, yeah,” she replied angrily, waving it off. “I’m not always the brightest bulb in the chandelier either, okay? As for Clemens… There’s not much to tell. He was my only serious boyfriend. Although, in his opinion, he wasn’t my boyfriend at all.”

He frowned, irritated. “What do you mean?”

Maddie shifted restlessly on the couch, gave him an uncertain look, and then focused on the glass of water in her hand. “It’skind of embarrassing. I was so stupid back then that I don’t like telling the story.”

---