Dinner Dilemma

As we ate through all the great food my Mum had cooked, I couldn't help but glance at Matt occasionally. He still hadn't mentioned anything about this morning. Was he doing me a favour? Or was he just waiting for the perfect moment to relate the anecdote?

For some reason, my Mum kept glancing at the two of us as if we were about to sneak off or something. Of course, she knew that I had considered myself 'in love' with Matt once upon a time, but I never told her about him rejecting me. It was too personal. And embarrassing. I felt like saying to her, come on Mum, I had a crush on the guy three years ago. He made it clear he wasn't interested. I'm over it. I'm sixteen. I'm mature enough to handle myself.

But she obviously didn't think so. I suppose the fact that we were sitting as far away from each other wasn't reassuring enough. Okay, I admit it. Matt had tried to sit close to me but I pretended not to hear and ended up between Mr Aaron and my Dad.

As you can imagine, the conversation wasn't exactly riveting.

But I was glad. Here, between two boring adults, I was safe. I didn't have to feel the fluttering of my rib cage or recall my unpleasant memories of him.

"Mel, come join us," Stacy said with a yawn, wandering over. "Trust me, listening to those two yap on about football is not interesting."

"Why don't you take Stacy up to your room, Melissa? It'll give you a chance to catch up," my Mum interrupted tactfully, probably noticing my hesitation, or more likely wanting to keep me away from Matt. What is it with Mums and vibes?

I nodded gratefully and took Stacy upstairs; suddenly glad to be away from the noise.

"You've changed everything!" she exclaimed as she entered. "I swear I remember this room being bigger."

I laughed. "Yeah, maybe that was 'cause we were a lot smaller."

"Maybe," she said, plonking herself down onto my bed. I sat down too; glad to take off my shoes for a while.

She started prattling on about their old house and how she was so happy to be back here. I let her talk, and then told her about some of my other friends.

"Pam is totally crazy. Last year, our college threw a Christmas party and she dared me to go up to this fit guy from her Psychology class and smack him on his ass, right in front of everyone!"

"Oh my God! Did you do it?" Stacy asked, completely agog.

"I had to. It's not like I had a choice. So I thought, ok, what's the best way to do this and not lose face? Pam was so sure I wouldn't do it, and I almost backed out as well but then all my friends bet me five pounds each if I went through with the dare. I was like, why not? I'd be getting twenty five pounds!"

"So, go on. Did you just go straight up to him or what?" she asked impatiently.

"Well, yeah. He was standing with his back towards me so I just walked up to him and walloped him."

Stacy was laughing so hard, her face turned red. "Oh my God! I would be so embarrassed!"

"Trust me, I was. He turned around, looking like he was going to beat me to pulp or something, but then I just pretended it was all a big mistake. 'I thought you were Steve, my big brother,' I said to him and he actually believed me!"

We were both giggling uncontrollably now.

"I felt mean afterwards, but then everyone had to cough up the twenty five pounds promised to me, so it wasn't so bad. I got the guy a drink as my way of apology for embarrassing him in front of everyone."

Stacy smiled, stretching against my pillow. "You know, it feels like I didn't even move from here."

I nodded, and then said, "I missed you Stacy."

"I missed you too Mel."

"I'm going to a party tomorrow with Pam. Want to come? It'll be a good way to meet everyone again," I said.

"Nah, I think I'll give it a miss. I am just so tired, and I've got loads of stuff to unpack yet."

"So when do youjoin us at college?" I asked.

"Next week," she replied, before confessing, "I actually feel nervous."

"There's nothing to feel nervous about," I consoled her. "I'm willing to bet you'll get along with everyone straight away and knowing you, you'll be snapping up a boyfriend too."

"Oh, shut up," she laughed. "Have you got a boyfriend yet?"

"Well, I've got a date," I replied cautiously.

"Really? Who is he? What does he look like?"

"Yeah, he's taking me to the party tomorrow. His name's Andrew Mason and he's one of the hottest guys from our college."

"Oh, you lucky thing," she said enviously. "So come on, how many relationships have you had since I moved?"

I didn't even have to think about it. "None."

"None?" she repeated, incredulous. "How can you have none? It's not like no one fancies you."

I laughed. "The right guy just hasn't come along yet. I mean, it's not as if I haven't been on dates, but there's hardly ever been a second date with the same guy."

"You are so fussy," she said, shaking her head. "I went out with a guy called Marcus last year. We lasted six months."

I let out a low whistle. "Wow. So what happened? Why'd you break up?"

She shrugged. "He was a jerk. I caught him snogging with a friend of mine."

"Shit," I said. "Some friend she turned out to be."

"Well, it was actually a 'he'."

"What? You're saying that Marcus was gay?"

She nodded and we were both laughing our heads off when Derek and Matt came upstairs.

Matt rolled his eyes when he saw us, and Derek looked at me, his eyes glinting evilly.

"Everyone's finished eating. Remember you promised Stacy and Matt that you'd take them for ice cream, Melissa?" he said pointedly.

But before I could say anything, Stacy said, "I am so full Mel. I'm sorry. Can we take a rain check on that?"

I nodded, relieved.

Later, as the Aarons bid their goodbyes, Matt took me to one side and said, "Don't forget you promised me ice cream."

"I promised both you and Stacy ice cream," I clarified.

He nodded and turned to go but stopped mid way. "Oh and by the way Mel, whenever you've got a free moment, I'd like to talk to you about something."

"Oh?" I asked, folding my arms.

"Yeah. In fact, why don't you come on over tomorrow sometime?"

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked suspiciously.

He glanced at my Mum who was busy talking to Mrs Aaron, before replying vaguely, "Just something you and I need to sort out."

"Well, I don't know about tomorrow. I'm going to a party." I mentally slapped myself. Why did I tell him that?

"Oh really? I might see you there then."

I smiled uneasily. Please don't let him come to the party, I prayed. How awkward would that be?

He suddenly enveloped me in a full body hug, ignoring my protests.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I hissed so Mum or Dad wouldn't hear.

"Come to my place tomorrow to talk," he said instead and pulled back with a smirk, before walking off.

As if, I thought to myself, my whole body tingling.

Finally, they left and we went back inside.

"You and Matthew seem to be getting along rather well," Dad observed.

I shrugged. Yeah, we're getting along great, Dad. Just great.