Matt

"Matthew, did you lose your innocence last night?" The following morning after Addison's party, I awoke in her bed to her jamming her pointy finger into my clavicle as she crouched in front of me.

I cracked one eye open to see her green eyes sparkling while she looked at me. Smirking, she nodded in the direction of Vanessa curled up in a ball beside me, passed out and bundled up in my sweatshirt. I glanced down at my near-naked body, thankfully still wrapped securely in a towel. "Oh geesus," I muttered sitting up. "Here we go."

Addison moved to have a seat beside me on the mattress. "You may as well just fess up," she whispered. "If you don't tell me the truth then you'll know I'll easily be able to find out from her. Is that what you want Matt?" No. Neither option was ideal. However, nothing happened so there wasn't anything to admit.

I sighed as I crossed the room to tug on my t-shirt which was now wrinkled from having dried in a crumpled heap. "It's not what it looks like," I replied being careful to avoid eye contact with Addison's prying gaze. So maybe it had almost been what it looked like.

As I gathered up the rest of my clothes, my sights fell on Vanessa still sound asleep and it had me wondering just how far she had been planning to take things had I not insisted she changed out of her wet dress. Had she not been so intoxicated.

I blew out a breath. The whole thing had me questioning why she had even done it in the first place. She had mentioned that she was tired of Addison being the only one to get to have all the fun. Was she looking for someone of her own to explore with? Even still, why did she choose me? She had plenty of options she could have gone with. I was certain Kurt Whitman would have readily accepted an invite up to Addison's bedroom had she asked.

Was it just because we were close? Vanessa was painfully shy and even with alcohol to boost her confidence level; she was still unlikely to mess around with somebody she barely even knew. I tried to retain my chill that she had gone after me of all people but couldn't help but be a little excited by it. Ok, a lot excited by it. Maybe there was an attraction on her end after all.

Smiling to myself, I gazed at her peacefully snoozing away underneath the covers. There was a little flutter in my stomach as I realized all the things she did to my heart. However, as quickly as those tender feelings washed over me, they pulled away just as fast like some kind of a lovesick wave. Her words from last night echoed throughout my brain and all the butterflies that had been there only moments before quickly dispersed. "I want someone intellectually stimulating." Well, everybody knew that Matt Jones was certainly no intellectual scholar. I cringed remembering how I had made a total fool out of myself in history class. Bear arms? Really? Why had I said that?

I scowled at Addison as she tossed a pillow at me, pulling me back into the present. "I'm disappointed by this news, Matthew. I was getting all amped up thinking that I had scored myself the latest juicy gossip."

Rolling my eyes, I shut the bathroom door behind me so I could change into my jeans. "Sorry to let you down," I shouted sarcastically through to the other side.

Addison didn't respond until I emerged fully dressed and slightly uncomfortable from the stiffness of the way my pants had air-dried. Sitting down on the carpet, I began tugging on my socks and boots. She leaned over from her place at the vanity and gave me a pat on the cheek. "Don't fret my virginal little flower. It will happen for you one day."

I glared up at her. She just had to take it there, didn't she? "Well, Addie, I'm fine with things the way they are. Not everyone prefers to spread themselves around as you do."

Her mouth fell open as she dropped the bottle of lotion she had been getting ready to squirt into the palm of her hands. "I ought to smack you for that implication, Matthew. For your information, I'm actually still a-" She pressed her lips shut in a tight line and began vigorously rubbing the sickly sweet-fragranced moisturizer over her skin.

A slow smile spread across my face as I raised my eyebrows. Now it was my time to get to have some fun with her for once. "Go on, Addie. For my information, you're still a what? Still an annoying, nosey, pushy girl that everybody wants to run away from? Don't withhold gossip on me now."

She looked down as she began combing through her hair with a paddle brush. "If there was ever a moment I regret inviting you to sit with us at lunch, it's this moment right here."

Leaning over, I pinched her cheek before whispering in her ear. "Why Addison Miller, you aren't still a virgin are you?"

Her emerald eyes flashed as she walloped me in the face with her brush. Despite the pain of the bristles hitting my skin, I couldn't help but chuckle. Karma's a bitch and this time, her name wasn't Addison. "Shut up, Matthew," she yelled. "You have no right to pass judgment."

I pressed my palms to either side of my face letting out an exaggerated gasp. "O M G. The popular girl can't score." Laughing so hard I could barely manage to get the words out, I clasped her on the shoulder. "It all makes sense now. That's why you adorn yourself in all that makeup and colors. So you can attract a mate. That's how they do it in the wild you know."

She narrowed her eyes as she chucked the lotion at me. Catching it with one hand, I gave her a broad grin. This was fun. "Yup, you caught me." She swiveled in her chair, giving me a once over. "At least now we have our answer as to why you haven't slept with anybody yet. In nature, it's supposed to be the male that's the vibrant, showy one." She shook her head as she made a tsking sound. "Not a single color to be found anywhere on you." Then giving a pointed look in Vanessa's direction, she smiled. "All those potential mates just passing you right on by."

I could feel a flush creeping up my neck and I busied myself tying up my shoelaces. "Maybe I would just rather be alone," I muttered. I worked on my boots in silence but sensed that she was still staring at me. "What," I asked with an edge to my voice.

She tilted her head sideways as she studied me. "Oh, nothing. I've just never seen your hair in its natural state before."

I scoffed. "That's funny because I've never seen your face in its natural state before either."

She leaned forward to do something that I could only describe as petting me before she made her eyes wide and whispered, "Oh my gosh, it's fluffy. I'm so used to it feeling crispy and leaving a sticky residue all over my fingers."

Reaching up, I pressed my fingers against her bare lips. "Oh my gosh, they're pink. I'm so used to them feeling waxy and leaving a red smear all over my face."

She rolled her eyes. "You know, Matthew. I'm really not sure why you feel the need to wear all that product. You should have confidence that you're beautiful just the way God made you."

I gave a pointed look in the direction of her vanity top littered with lipstick, eye shadow palettes, and fake lashes. "And you should have confidence that you're pretty just the way Satan made you."

Addison's eyes suddenly flicked over to Vanessa as she stirred on the bed. Pushing back the covers, she groaned loudly before sitting up and massaging her temples. "Good morning, V. Welcome back from the dead. Wild night?"

***

Vanessa

I could feel Addison's gaze on me as I rubbed at my eyes. My head was throbbing and my body was heavy with grogginess. I felt like I could have slept for another twelve hours but forced myself awake. I knew it had been an eventful night but my hazy memory refused to fill in the details on what exactly had made it so.

Stretching, I let out a yawn as my sights fell on Matt. He was watching me intently from where he was sitting on the ground. His hair hung in his face just above his eyes and I realized this was the first time I had ever seen it dry and not styled. Without being slicked back with gel, it looked soft and wasn't as dark as it normally was. It was actually lighter in color than I had realized with soft brown streaking throughout.

He looked irresistible and I wanted nothing more than to slide off the bed, tackle him back onto the carpet, and assault him with kisses. Yes, that's exactly what I had wanted to do...until the gaps in what I could recall from last night suddenly began filling themselves in.

Bursts of mental images of me pushing Matt down onto the bed and good god, straddling him lit up my brain like an explosion of mortifying fireworks. Then all I wanted to do was race from the room and keep on running until I reached "the spot" where the ground tapered off into a cliff before throwing myself off the edge. I didn't think that was too much of an overreaction.

I covered my face with my hands so he wouldn't see my burning cheeks as the visions looped through my head. Why did I have to be like this? If Addison had done that, she would have laughed with glee as she regaled me with the tale the next day. Nope. All I could do was cringe and wonder if it were possible to die of humiliation.

I desperately tried to avoid eye contact with him as I looked around the room pretending as if the previous evening had never occurred. Matt stood up brushing his hands off on his jeans and blew out a breath. "Well, I'm headed out. V, you want a ride home, or are you going to hang back with Addison for a bit?"

I glanced over at her and she looked back at me with a curious expression on her face before a light of understanding dawned in her eyes. It was the expression that read, "You need girl talk, don't you?" She cleared her throat. "I can bring you home later, V if you want to crash here and get another five hours of sleep."

Nodding my head, I picked at a piece of lint on the comforter that I had been snuggled up under with Matt only just an hour before. "Yea, sure, I think I'll stay here." No way could I possibly face being alone with him until I had figured out a way to erase all his memories. I bit my lip, praying that he would just leave already.

He shrugged. "Ok. I'm off then." He slid on his jacket, pausing as his eyes settled on me. "I guess you can just give me back my hoodie whenever." My heart started beating triple the speed and that was the moment I realized that I would be perfectly alright with never having to see him again.

I sputtered out a jumbled mess of words that was a mix between sure thing and you got it. "You got thing." Kill me now.

He furrowed his brows at me before shrugging again. "Um...I'll see you two Monday then."

As he disappeared through the door, I flopped myself back onto the bed and covered my face with a pillow, screaming into it. "Why am I such an awkward dork," I exclaimed.

Addison laughed as she joined me on the mattress. "V, relax. You were fine." She studied me, raising one eyebrow slightly. "Unless there's way more to the story that you're not telling me?"

"Tonight, I'm going to find out what it's like to have someone at my mercy." Oh yea, there was definitely more. I lifted one shoulder. "No, not really." Some things were just too embarrassing for even a best friend to be made privy to.

She threw one arm around my shoulder as she pulled me in for a hug. "Damn," she muttered. "I was really hoping that between that saucy dress you were wearing and the vodka that there would have been some kind of action between the two of you."

Closing my eyes, I snuggled into her embrace. Me too, Addison. Me too.

A/N Next update 02/25. I swear it's finally Junior Prom.