Page 51 of Pucking Matt
“I’m not…lying.” He laughs. “I questioned if taking this job might end up with me in a dumpster and you in prison.”
My jaw drops.
He waves his hand at me. “I’m only kidding.” He tilts his head, eyes grazing over my face. “Friends?”
He’s hesitant as he says it. I swallow the pride on my tongue.
“Friends?” I ask. “You want to be friends with me? Even though you just said I would––” I whisper, “Murder you?”
He nods with a smile.
I search around the room for any sign that I shouldn’t agree to this. I look at the front door, waiting for someone to walk in. Nothing. I nod. “Okay. Friends.”
He glances down at the ground and then his eyes drag to mine. “Cool.”
Amber: He thought he would end up in a dumpster when he started working with me. He asked to be my friend, I agreed. And then we didn’t talk for the rest of the shift.
Riley: Maybe that’s all he needed
Amber: What? Be my friend and then turn into a ball of awkwardness?
Riley: To move on from it
Amber: Yeah
Riley: You hate him still, don’t you?
A part of me wants to jump up and scream it to the world, but the more time I spend with him, the more I’m having a hard time with the idea of hating him. Actually, yes. My idea of him has slowly shifted, causing what I’ve known to change, and now I don’t exactly hate him. Hate is a strong word. I used to know how it felt, down to my bones, how hating him felt like, and this isn’t it.
Amber: That era is over.
I huff, typing out my real feelings.
Amber: He’s kinda growing on me
Riley: Wow, that’s a first. You always hold a grudge
Amber: Why does everyone say that? I don’t hold grudges, I just learn my lesson the first time
Riley: So did you learn it with Matt?
Amber: With him, it was me with the problem. It’s clearly been me this entire time, besides the time he declared war because I was using his friend to get to him. See, I’m the problem. I don’t think he ever was
Riley: So, now you don’t have a problem anymore because you guys are friends?
Amber: We made a truce tonight, and then it got awkward. We don’t know how to be friends.
Riley: Maybe you can do the same things you guys did when you hated each other, but now do that as friends.
Riley: Didn’t you guys play pranks on each other?
Amber: He still has the sticker on his truck. The one that says honk if you love dick. He said all the freshmen honk their horns at him (laughing emoji, laughing emoji, laughing emoji)
Amber: He squirted mustard on me today
Riley: Omg. It sounds like he’s flirting with you
Amber: I don’t know. I feel like if we’re friends or enemies, he would be squirting me with the damn mustard either way.
