The Rockstar and Me

Chapter 23

"Sneaky, but it won't work on me. At some point in the future we're going on a double date with them. It can't go that bad. I'll get more details from Sophie about their relationship later."

"Fine."

I grin. "Good."

"What are you doing?"

"I just finished wrapping some presents. What about you?"

"I just got done with a photo shoot."

"What for?"

"A magazine."

"Mason, have you heard anything from Matthew?" I ask and set my flowers on my desk then plop down on my bed.

"I talked to him after all of that stuff with Sadie happened and I called him last week to see how he's doing, but not anything since. I guess I'll see him at Christmas. Why?"

"I'm just worried about him, I guess. I feel bad about how things turned out between him and Sadie. I know he would have been sad too."

"It will be okay." Mason assures.

"Sadie has been looking at everything in a positive way so she doesn't get upset again. She thinks that all of that may have happened for some reason. I don't even know how Matthew has been coping with it." I ramble.

"It's going to be okay, Em."

"Mom, we're heading out!" I call as Ian and I are getting our shoes and coats on.

"Okay, be safe!" She says from the kitchen.

We go outside and to my car. I crank the heat after I get in and start it up. Ian and I wanted a little break from going through all of the gifts all of our family got us. It's the thirtieth and we just haven't felt like going through them yet. It's not a huge load of presents but it's enough to need a little break.

I park in the little cafe parking lot and we both get out. Ian limps in after me. We order, pay, and wait to get our drinks. The man behind the counter hands us our drinks. We thank him and look for a table to sit at.

In a booth across the room, Matthew is sitting alone while looking out of the big window he's next to. Matthew looks away from the window and sees me. I smile and wave at him. I make my way over to where he's sitting and let Ian hop after me.

"Hey Matthew." I greet.

"Hi. You guys want to sit?"

"Sure." I say and slide in the seat across from him and Ian follows.

"How are you?" I question.

"I'm okay. You?"

"I'm good. What are you up to?"

"I just got back from visiting family for Christmas and I wanted to get out of the house. I'm starting to pack up because I'm leaving in a couple days."

"Oh yeah. You're leaving for football training or something like that pretty soon. Good luck with that." I say genuinely.

"Thanks."

The awkward silence comes. I don't know what else to say, I'm not very good at holding a conversation.

Matthew sighs. "Do you ever feel bad about something you know you can't take back?"

"Of course, all the time. Then I think of something that could be way worse. If that doesn't help then I try to do something that I can maybe do better. I try to think of ways that I can help make it better, if something I do feel bad about happens." I answer.