A much needed drink

As soon as I got off the phone with Josh I texted Matt to see if he wanted to meet up for a late drink.  I needed to talk to someone and it helped that he was impartial because he didn’t really know Katelyn other than meeting her on the weekend. Also, he had obviously dealt with this kind of thing before with his mom so I wanted to know what he thought.

He answered me almost right away saying he could really use a drink himself, so we decided to meet at Guinness for a night cap. I got there before Matt so I ordered a glass of red wine while I waited.

He got there less than 10 minutes later and ordered a scotch, neat.  

“Starting on the hard stuff already, eh? Rough day?” I asked lightly.

“Yeah, it was an interesting one, that’s for sure…” He answered just as the waitress brought his drink over. “But I’m happy you texted me, I had fun the other night and everything but I feel like I didn’t get a chance to talk to you much” He said with a smile. My stomach immediately started doing somersaults and I tried to use some super human powers to stop it.  

I noticed he was one of those people whose eyes changed when he smiled. They almost twinkled (cliché I know, but if you saw him, you would agree) and he expressed a lot of emotions through his eyes.

“So what made your day interesting?” I asked as I gulped a big sip of my wine. After the conversation I had with Josh, I needed about 6 glasses of wine but figured 1 would be a good start.

“Just hectic and non-stop, but I don’t want to bother you with my crap, how was this morning with Katelyn, did you guys talk about last night at all?” he asked with concern in his eyes.

I sighed heavily “No, I didn’t want to ruin the weekend and I wanted to talk to Josh so I just called him after work…” I trailed off.

“What did he have to say about everything?”

I spilled everything to him that Josh had told me, and he cringed here and there as I spoke. I think hearing about everything hit home for him and reminded him of his childhood and the days he spent dealing with his mom.

“She definitely needs help and she’s lucky to have people who care a lot about her to want to help her, so no matter what don’t feel like you’ve done anything wrong, okay?”

He must have read the confusion on my face and continued, “I just know that when people are in denial about having a problem like this, they get angry at the ones they love and the ones who try to help them. You are doing the right thing Sarah, so I just don’t want you to feel like you’ve done something wrong for talking to her boyfriend about her without her knowing.”

He reached out to hold my hand and we just sat there for a bit. It felt so nice being able to have a comfortable silence with someone.

“So what’s the next step?” He asked me.

“Well this weekend is a total right off. I have the football game with Aleah on Saturday and then we’re all doing a girls night later on so I’m thinking maybe next weekend I’ll make a trip up to see her and then go from there. I know her parents really well and I would feel like such a teenager going to them but if she won’t listen and denies there’s a problem then that’s my only choice.”

“That’s probably a good idea, you’ll get a better idea of what’s going on if you go and visit her. On a lighter note, I think I’m going to the game as well so I might have to steal you away for a bit to join me for a watered down keg beer.” He said with a small laugh.

I giggled “Of course we’ll have to have a watered down beer together, it’s a must when you’re tailgating! Are you a big football fan?” I asked.

“Not really, I mean I like it but don’t really follow any teams or anything. I love the atmosphere of any game though, so I figured I would check it out. I’ve always been more of a hockey guy. I played all my life and I’m a total diehard Kings fan” He replied.

“Please tell me your one of those guys whose bedroom is still decked out in hockey memorabilia?” I asked while I laughed.

Without missing a beat he answered, “You’ll just have to see for yourself, won’t you?” and winked.

Well well well, maybe he didn’t want to put off the physical stuff as long as I thought.

I tried to act nonchalant (which means I probably looked like I was trying WAY too hard to make it look as if I wasn’t trying at all) “I’ll be waiting for my invitation then” I said back and smiled.

Just then our waitress walked over to the table “Sorry guys, we gotta close early tonight, we just had a pipe burst downstairs in our storage room so we have one of those 24 hour crews coming to work on it.” She explained.

I was bummed when she said this, I was hoping to spend some more time with Matt and 1 glass of wine was not enough to comfort me after the weekend with Katelyn.

“Well I think we both need a few more of these” Matt said as he shook his empty scotch glass, “Why don’t we pay up and can head over to my place?”  

I swear this guy could read minds. Or I was just very obvious with my body language.

“That sounds perfect!” I said enthusiastically. “I’ll just leave my car here, I’ve done it a few times before and they don’t seem to mind.”

We made our way into his truck and started heading over to his place.

“You okay with Merlot? I think it’s the only red I have at home but there’s a liquor store by my house so we can stop and get something” He asked as we merged onto the highway.

I laughed, “I’m on a student budget, so I’m not picky when it comes to booze. I usually go for the cheapest bottle I can find” I admitted.

He started laughing, “Nothing wrong with cheap wine, just gotta drink more of it so you don’t realize that you’re drinking the cheap stuff”

When we pulled into the driveway of Matt’s house, I was pleasantly surprised. I had expected him to be living in one of the student housing subdivisions like most of the other people who lived off campus, but we pulled up to a beautiful house with at least an acre worth of property.

“Wow! This is amazing!” I said to him as he put the truck in park.

“Thanks! I’ve never been a fan of living right in the city, I like having a bit more openness.”

He gave me a tour once we got in. It wasn’t a huge house, but a decent size and decorated beautifully.

We walked into the basement, and it was exactly what you would think of when you hear the phrase “man cave”. He wasn’t kidding when he said he was a diehard Kings fan. It looked like a mini hockey hall of fame dedicated to the L.A Kings.

“Wow, this is insane!” I said as he handed me a glass of wine.

“Yeah, I’ve been collecting this stuff since I was a kid” he said.

We sat on the couch and he browsed through Netflix and we decided to watch “Superbad” since I hadn’t watched it in a while and we both said we were big Seth Rogan fans.

We spent the next 2 hours alternating between laughing, talking, and telling stories and some heavy make out sessions (and a little below the belt touching). It was so much fun to be able to hang out and let loose around him.

Eventually, I could feel my eye lids closing and knew I needed to get some sleep. Since we had both been drinking, I didn’t want him to drive me so I said I would call a cab.

“Don’t be silly, that’s a waste. I can drop you off to your car in the morning if you wanna stay over…” He said.

I was exhausted and wasn’t crazy about taking cabs at night by myself, so I agreed.

“Yeah good call, I’d probably fall asleep in the cab anyways” I joked.

He pulled me on top of him so I was straddling him on the couch. “We wouldn’t want that now would we?”

He pulled me in for a deep kiss as he ran his fingers through my hair before finally pulling away.

“Alright let’s find you something to sleep in” He said as he held my hand and we walked upstairs to his bedroom.

He went into his drawer and grabbed a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt.

“Sorry about the size, I think you might be a tad smaller than me” He said with a smile as he handed me the clothes.

“Don’t worry, this works. Thanks!” I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him lightly.

I got changed in the bathroom and came back in to his room.

“I can stay in the spare room if you’re more comfortable that way” He said.

“No no it’s okay...” I replied.

I knew we were both way too tired to do any fooling around, and I also knew that Matt didn’t want to rush sex so I was completely comfortable with just sharing a bed and not actually “sleeping together”.

We climbed into bed and he pulled me into him so he was spooning me.

"I have to say, I could get used to this” he whispered into my ear and I felt my cheeks grow warm and smiled.

“Me too” I whispered back.

He kissed me on the shoulder and said “Goodnight beautiful” just as I drifted off to sleep.