Playing with Fire

Chapter 4

“There is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars,” - The Fault In Our Stars, now in theatres!

Chapter 4 

Weekend. 

Or on the other hand, a date with Matthew. Where? Of course, as brilliant and as scintillating as my sweet sweet boyfriend is, we’re going to the mall.

I said yes, because there really was nothing better to do. I had zero friends that I could count on to take me out, and it was such a sin to go out on the weekend with your parents when you were 16. I found myself cringing at how bitchy and petty that thought is.

After three cups of double espressos, I was a bit giddy but nevertheless strong enough to mask the lack of sleep last night. Matthew got in and out of the stores, his eyes quick to snap looks at a good set of clothes. For him. Sometimes, for me. His credit card had been swiped a few times, and a couple of times he offered to let me use his card. I never dared take him up on his offer.

But on the third try, Matthew didn’t give me any time to refuse. He saw me looking at a sparkly blue dress, and he immediately brought it to the counter. The clerk clearly thought that I was a lucky girl, and I lost count of how many times she winked at me as she wrapped the dress. But just before we got out of the store, a girl stormed inside and started yelling before she even reached the counter.

“What the hell happened? I just wore this dress once and already it’s torn apart!”

I cringed as I saw the familiar pixie haircut. I looked at her legs. She had muscley calves and perfect golden skin. I immediately held my breath.

Noelle.

My voice was caught at the back of my throat as I frantically reached for Matthew’s elbow, guiding him to get out from the store, but what waited for us was no better than Noelle, because of course her boyfriend would be outside of the store. Of course Kevin would be here, too.

“Hey, man!” Kevin saw Matthew first. Both of them had been the star of our school’s basketball team when Matthew was a senior. The MPV and the prodigy, that was how other boys called them affectionately. And then, behind the lockers, the pussy-whipper for Kevin and the pussy-whipper for Matthew.

Those were the good days. Those were the days when Kevin had been mine and Matthew had just been the really cool senior who would occasionally smile in my direction.

“Kevin, my man!” Matthew responded back and they did their complicated handshake.

“On a date?” Kevin asked as he glanced at me.

“Yeah,” Matthew brought me closer to him. He craned his neck to see inside the store once more. “That chick is your girl?”

“Noelle. You knew her,” Kevin grinned. “Damn, Matt, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. Why didn’t you tell me that you’re in the city?”

“I’ll just be here for a while, and mostly I’m just hanging with Alea, anyway.”

And then Kevin came up with the worst idea of the century. “Why don’t we have a double date, then?”

The highlight of the day: it wasn’t how I had just gotten two hours of good night sleep. It wasn’t how my boyfriend was more enthusiastic about shopping than me. It was a dinner with the two of the worst people in the world, plus my boyfriend. The bitch, the metrosexual, the other bitch, and the athlete.

Fan-friggin-tastic.

-

“So of course I had to return the dress and ask for my money back. I hardly did anything with that thing and as I slipped it off, it started to unsew itself! It’s crazy!” Noelle still hadn’t stopped talking about her ruined dress. Matthew was the only one listening whole-heartedly, nodding and giving out sound-effects at the appropriate moments.