My Heart's in Alabama

2 - Kiersten

After one too many "no, you hang ups", Matt gets drawn away from the phone by another round of boxes that were delivered to his door. Unwillingly, we both hang up, this time for real.

I push the red "end call" button and look down at the picture of me and Matty on my lock screen. I lock eyes with Matt's picture and smile, pretending for a second that I'm smiling at him for real and he's smiling back at me.

The moment passes quickly. My screen fades to black and his voice, his picture, and his presence are back in Louisiana.

I let the sadness linger only briefly. Then it's time to buck up and get on with my day. I take a deep breath, shove my phone in my pocket, and head to the lake to reconnect with Teddy and the girls.

But when I get over there, it's just Teddy. Whitney and Bridgette are nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd the girls go?"

"Went to fix their faces or somethin'. The eye stuff, I dunno."

"Eyeshadow?"

Teddy thinks for a second then shakes his head.

"Nah, not that one. Mm...Mac...?"

"Mascara?"

"Yup," he says with a snap of fingers. "That's the one."

"Geez, Teddy, after spending so much time with the two of them, I'd have thought you would have learned a little something," I tease.

"I mean, I learned how to wash her fake tan outta my pillow case, does that count?"

Teddy smirks and gives me an oh-so-subtle "wink-wink, nudge-nudge." I swear, the amount of eye-rolling I do around these boys is gonna cause me to go blind.

"What ever happened to "I don't kiss and tell?' I thought you were a gentleman."

Teddy hangs his head knowing he misstepped and quickly changes the subject to get himself out of the hot seat.

"Hey, where'd you wander off to just now?"

My cheeks flush at the question. I don't know why it embarrasses me. I guess I'm still not used to this whole "having a boyfriend" thing. Liking boys, dating, secret romantic phone calls, it's all new to me. Being boy-crazy was always Whitney and Bridgette's thing. Now that it's me, I'm a little unsure how to handle the attention that comes with it.

"Matt called," I admit shyly.

"Ooohh."

Teddy's face lights up with a smile and I just know I'm the one that's in for it now. I guess I deserve it after all the shit we gave him when he and Bridgette were sneaking around.

"Your boy rang you up and you went running, huh?"

I cover my face with my hands and then give Teddy a playful shove on the shoulder.

"I haven't talked to him in days, okay?"

"Days?" Teddy says, jaw dropping. "Do I seriously gotta get on him about not calling you enough already?"

"No, no," I quickly correct. "He's good. We text all the time. He's busy unpacking and getting settled, that's all."

Teddy gives me the eye - or more like he gives Matt the eye.

"You sure?"

"Yes, definitely. He's good, I promise."

"All right, well, he'll figure it out if he knows what's good for him."

I give Teddy a smile. It's good to know through all the grief he gives me, he still has my back.

"Teddy!" Whitney calls out, disrupting the moment.

"Jesus," Teddy mutters under his breath. "What does she want now?"

At first he shakes his head and ignores her, but Whitney is not one to be ignored.

"Hello, Earth to Theodore!"

"What?!"

I shouldn't, but I can't help but to giggle to myself. The tumultuous love-hate dynamic between those two never ceases to entertain me. It's like watching a Chihuahua and a Boxer go at it at the dog park.

"Can you bring Bridgette her lip gloss? She needs to reapply."

"Lip gloss?" Teddy mumbles.

Utterly confused, but unable to deny the request, Teddy starts rummaging through Bridgette's bag. He digs around for a bit before he pulls out a small tube of shiny pink liquid lipstick. Ooo, so close.

"This?"

Whitney perches her sunglasses on her head and squints.

"No, no, not that. That's the lipstick. She needs the lip gloss."

"What the hell's the difference?"

I should help him. I know I should help him, but, not gonna lie, this is kind of funny.

"Well, gee Teddy, I don't know. Couldn't possibly be that Lip Gloss tends to be glossy, could it?"

Teddy clenches his jaw, exhales deeply through his nose, and gets right back to digging. He takes this one out, takes that one out, tosses this, tosses that. For all his trouble, he's still no closer to finding it.

After a solid 45 seconds of increasingly frantic looking, I can't take it any longer and I take pity on the poor boy. Without much more than one look, I pull out her signature Cotton Candy Stardust Lip Gloss.

"I think you're the one that needs to figure it out," I say and place it in his hand.

"Shoot," he chuckles. "Don't I know it."

Teddy shakes his head at the simplicity of what he was missing. All that struggle for a three inch tube of sparkly blue and pink goop. He smiles as he clutches it in his hands and jumps up to run it to his girl.

"Thanks, Kiers," he says with a tip of hat. "Say hi to Matty Boy for me, will ya?"

"I will," I promise, but Teddy is already halfway to the house.

"Next time I get a chance," I say softly, this time to myself.

Teddy and Whitney disappear into the house, leaving me all by myself. I tuck my knees to my chest and look out at the water. As I sit there, I wonder when I'll get to talk to Matt again.

Soon, I hope.

If not, I might have to sic Teddy on him.

Although after the exchange I just witnessed, I'd probably have better luck with the Chihuahua than the Boxer.