Chapter Forty Four - Making A Connection

I stared out of Matt's window, watching him march down his driveway while Rebecca cheerfully pranced behind him like a puppy. Once they left in his car, I leaned my back against the wall for a few seconds before making my way back to my house.

While crossing the street, I froze in my tracks at the sight of Sean's car pulling up. He rolled the window down. His eyes were fixed on me, and a little frown was sitting on his lips. "Were you just at Matt's house?"

"Oh! I was...just saying hi."

Why didn't I just tell him that I had gone to ask Matt why he had punched Sean? Why did I have to lie?

"Oh?"

"But he was already late for practice, and I didn't wanna hold him back, so I made it quick. Besides, Rebecca was there, and you know she's not a huge fan of me."

That seemed to have somehow cheered him up as he stepped out with a smile. As he began to round the front of his car, I began to tense up. But all he did was open the passenger door for me. "You just reminded me I'm running late for practice too. Let's go?"

"Can I just go and grab my backpack real quick? I'm sorry!"

Without giving him a chance to respond, I sprinted inside my house and ran upstairs.

"Breakfast?" Mrs. Brooke appeared out of the kitchen as I dashed down the stairs with my things.

"No! I'm late."

She looked disappointed. "Wait here." She quickly headed back and, within a minute, stepped out with a lunchbox and juice box, and I was reminded of the time I had asked Matt for a ride in exchange for my avocado toast.

I smiled while collecting the items. You know how you're going about your day, and suddenly, out of nowhere, a wave of emotions comes crashing down, and everything feels like shit? That's how I was suddenly feeling about a damn lunchbox.

"Rebekah?" Mrs. Brooke raised a brow. "Aren't you getting late?"

"Right! Right! See you after school." I frantically made my way out to Sean's car. He was still holding the door with an adorable smile.

Look at that, Becks. Everything you've wanted for almost a year is right in front of you, and it's yours. Why the hell aren't you happy now?

"Thanks," I muttered to him while sliding into the passenger seat.

*****

"Gosh! This is worse than middle school." Meera shook her head as Matt and I crossed each other in the hallway without a word. The moment his eyes had fallen on me, I'd looked away, assuming he'd done the same.

"I know, right?" Cheryl frowned.

"We're not even saying anything. How is this worse than middle school?" I rolled my eyes.

"When you guys fought in middle school, it was like I hate you. Fuck you kind of fight. Now there's this tension between you guys and it's like I hate you so much but I also wanna fuck you kind of fight."

"What?" I glowered at Meera. "I don't wanna—"

"Yeah, whatever you say," she scoffed.

"You don't think we saw you shooting glares at Rebecca when she kept throwing herself at Matt after practice?" Cheryl smirked. "Not to mention, it happened while Sean was talking to you. Your prince charming barely had your attention. We're not blind, Becks."

"T-that's not true. I was listening to Sean, all ears."

"Oh yeah? What did he say his cousin was pursuing at college?" They stopped walking for a supposed interrogation as they passed looks, waiting for my answer.

I cleared my throat. "Um mechanics? Engineering...something like that."

They smirked at each other before Cheryl revealed, "Sean never talked about any cousin, Becks."

I bit down on my tongue, shaking my head at myself. "I'm sorry it's just Matt's got me so distracted lately. Not because I wanna fuck him, okay? Things were good between us after so many years and now...it's sad, really."

"Just talk to him. Whatever it is." Meera sighed.

"I think we're beyond that. We're probably just not capable of being civil to each other for long. Maybe our little bonding or whatever it was has run its course." I shrugged.

"Have I ever told how annoying I find your ability to give up on things so easily?" Her eyes narrowed.

"No?" I perked a brow, confused.

"Well, I am telling you now. You're talking like a middle schooler who's unfriending someone just because they didn't give you the bigger chocolate share. Come on, Becks. Talk it out."

"It's not like I haven't tried, Meera. You don't know what talking to him is like. It only gets worse."

"Fine." She raised her hands in surrender. "I'm not gonna talk about something I know so little about. I just saw how distracted you were because of him and thought my two cents would help."

I smiled slightly. "You know they always do."

"There you are!" someone shouted, causing the three of us to look ahead and find Parker waving at me. "I've been looking for you, Becks."

"Hey, Parker. What's up?"

He did not reply to that. Instead, with a little smirk, he walked past me, and when he was a few feet away, he said over his shoulder, "Follow me."

I exchanged a look with Meera and Cheryl, expecting them to be just as baffled as me but when they shrugged at me, I smelled something fishy.

"Come on, Becks," Parker called again, cutting off my impending interrogation and making me follow after him but not before I'd grabbed my friends to trail along with me.

"Where are we going, Parker?"

"You're gonna find out," he sang almost like a lullaby, weirding me out.

I stopped in my tracks the moment I noticed he was headed towards Matt, who, for a change, did not have Rebecca clung onto his arm like her life depended on it.

He was talking to his football teammates when he saw us and his brows pulled together. With a quick nod and 'catch you guys later', he ended the conversation with them and advanced towards us, cutting me a glance while asking Parker, "what's going on?"

"Come here, Becks." Parker motioned me around him to come forward. I threw him a subtle glare as I neared him. What the hell are you doing, Parker?

"Now..." He looked between us like he was going to scold us. "What the hell is wrong with you two?"

I felt my face heat up slightly while Matt's eyes flashed with irritation at Parker.

"Can we not do this right now?" I muttered.

"We are doing this right now. I don't know what made you guys lock horns again but we're sorting things out. If you're both not mature enough to do it on your own, I'll do it for you."

"No, you won't," Matt retorted. "This has nothing to do with you."

"I don't think so. You know the challenge means something to all of us, right? How can you guys do this?" His eyes held disappointment as he looked between us.

"Parker, I'm sorry but I told you I can't—" I cut myself off from saying I couldn't train with Matt anymore. It would've been much easier if he wasn't standing right there and suddenly watching me like he was daring me to finish that.

"Can't what?" Matt finally demanded.

"I can't train with him," I declared to Parker but kept my eyes on him, adding stubbornly, "I won't."

His jaw hardened and he snapped his eyes to Parker while taking a step back. "Are we done?"

"We're not!" In a desperate attempt to stop him, Parker grabbed his hand, then he grabbed mine and just stared at us, slipping into an awkward silence. Why was he holding our hands like the three of us were about to run into the wind together?

After a moment of Matt and I exchanging confused yet stubborn looks, he finally opened his mouth, asking in a calm voice, "Parker, man, what are you doing?"

"I..." His brows furrowed pensively until he blinked and said with resolve, "I'm doing this the old-fashioned way."

"Doing what?" Matt let out an exasperated breath.

"We look like a bunch of idiots—" I started but was cut off.

"Shh. I'm making a connection." He shut his eyes slowly and dramatically, bringing our hands together to the point where our palms were touching.

This guy was joking.

I looked back at my friends and they were holding back their laughs. Honestly, if I wasn't the one stuck in this situation, I'd be doing the same.

And despite being mad at Matt, I wanted to laugh at his face. He had on his signature 'I'm so done with you' look where he just pressed his lips together and stared at the other person without any humour.

"What crap—"

"Just talk you two," Parker cut him off in an exaggeratedly soothing voice, almost a whisper.

"Talk?" Matt scoffed. "You don't know how pointless that is when it comes to her."

My jaw dropped.

"What a coincidence! That's exactly what I said about him," I retorted, aiming my words at Parker. "But he's right. You know why? Because he's so full of himself he can't even see when he's wrong so he could just fucking apologize and get it over with."

His eyes narrowed. "I haven't said anything that makes me owe her an apology. And when I did, I made sure I gave her one. It's not my fault she's too self-absorbed to accept it."

"Self-absorbed?" I gasped.

He pursed his lips. "You see how she just ignored all that and picked the one thing that could make this worse?"

"Oh, did I miss the part where you're trying to make it any better?" I snapped. "Nope. Because it doesn't exist."

Eyes flashing with anger, he took a step towards me. "All I've been trying to do for a while is fix things."

"Was that before or after you started avoiding me and called me pathetic? Isn't that why we fought in the first place?"

"Your problem, Andrews..." he spoke in a dangerously low voice as he took another step forward. "...is that you don't know when you need to leave someone alone or shut up."

"Screw you, Williams," I uttered. "You can't twist your words and make me believe I'm wrong here."

He shook his head to himself and the next time his eyes met mine, I saw something different behind all that aggression. His eyes had turned soft. "I can't keep doing this, Rebekah. Not with you. Specifically, not with you."

What did he mean by that? Did he not want to keep fighting with me because it hurt him because I meant something to him or was I simply not worth his time? WHAT DID HE MEAN?

"You don't even listen to me. Not really," he continued.

"I'd listen to you if you said something that made sense. How can you just say to my face that it's not going to work between me and—"

That's when I felt it.

Something soft curling around my wrist. And then, a click.

My eyes shifted to find my hand cuffed to Matt's in one of those fancy pink feathered handcuffs. Our heads snapped up to each other and our eyes widened at the same time. He looked just as surprised as me as he glared at Parker. "What the fuck?"

"Parker, what the hell?" I gasped.

Parker had a slow grin forming on his lips as he took a few steps back, eyeing us both as if admiring his artwork. "I can't believe I actually did it."

"I swear to God," Matt started in all seriousness, eyes murderous as he advanced towards him, dragging me along. It was my right hand cuffed to his left. "You better get us out of these now!" he snapped.

"No can do. Sorry, bud."

"Parker," he warned.

"Jeez! Okay relax! It was just a joke." He laughed but neither Matt nor I found any humour in the situation. "I only need you guys to sort things out. Do that and you're free."

"No. You get us out of these cuffs right away. We were talking anyway so we're already halfway there," I bargained.

He pouted.

"You heard her," Matt snapped.

He flapped his lips. "Okay. You simply click them open."

"Oh, thank God!" That was our cue to frantically unlock the cuffs at the same time, but we both failed and stared at Parker.

He eyed the cuffs weirdly. "What's wrong?"

"It is not clicking open. That's what's wrong." Matt glared at him. "Give us the key!"

"Key..." he trailed off, then shrugged. "I don't have a key."

I was more worried about Matt punching Parker across the face at the moment than getting out of the handcuffs. I watched as his fists clenched beside him angrily, and if looks could kill, Parker would've been six feet under right then.

Worst case scenario, Matt would've probably thrown me across with his punch if he'd decided to use his left hand. Thank God he was a righty.

"Where did you find these?" he demanded in an unexpectedly calm tone, looking down at our hands with a frown like he recognized the cuffs.

"I stole them from your room." Parker grinned, which was followed by a cough. "Borrowed, I mean."

My lips twisted into a grimace as I threw a look at Matt. "These are yours?"

"They were a gift from Rebecca."

"Ew!" I groaned out loud, disgusted by the item around my wrist. "Get me the hell out of these, Parker, please."

"I've never used them," Matt cleared.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

It did make me feel a whole lot better.

He rolled his eyes before asking Parker, "so you didn't find any key in the drawer?"

"Nope."

"It's still gotta be somewhere in there."

"Maybe." He shrugged.

"But for now," Meera started. "...it looks like you're both stuck like that until school's over." She batted her lashes at us and that's when I noticed how cheerful her and Cheryl looked.

"You both were in on this?" I asked in disbelief and Meera winked at Parker.

"Unbelievable," I said under my breath.

"It was supposed to be a joke, Becks. None of us had any idea about the key," Cheryl said.

I looked down at my hand with a sigh.

"It's okay!" Parker assured us. "We'll go back to Matt's house after school, find the key and sort this out."

"No! We are going to my house after school," Matt motioned between me and himself, a scowl sitting on his face as he looked at Parker. "You better not be around me when I'm free of these."

"That's a fair point." He nodded, visibly swallowing as he took a step back with a toothy grin and waved us goodbye. "Have fun, y'all. See you soon."

"Buh-bye." My friends reeled away in a similar manner, leaving us both standing and simmering there in silence.

"I have to get to class," I finally said and started to walk away, hoping he would follow but I was stopped by the tug at my wrist.

"So do I." And he started dragging me in the opposite direction.

"What? No! I can't miss class," I argued.

"Neither can I."

"Wait! You can't do this. This is not fair. Besides, I can't go to your class. Sean's gonna be there."

He stopped walking and turned around with a raised brow. "So?"

"He can't see this." I lifted both our hands.

"I don't care and I'm not missing my classes over what your precious Sean thinks."

"Wait! You're right. But I can't miss mine either. We should take classes alternately."

He thought for a second and nodded. "We start with mine."

Holding back a curse, I grumbled, "okay."

*****

"Mr. Williams?" Our heads jerked up at the teacher's voice, who had a brow perked at Matt. "You're not in this class."

We'd already explained the situation too many times and this time, Matt simply raised his hand in the air, causing mine to lift with his. There were a few gasps among the students, the loudest from the second row in the front.

It was from Rebecca. She was eyeing the handcuffs with big eyes, then her face turned red as her murderous eyes fell on me.

I could only smirk at her, turning to Matt. He wasn't even paying attention to her, just had a bored look on his face as the teacher narrowed her eyes at us.

"I promise this is not what it looks like," I started explaining, but she seemed least interested all of a sudden as she started distributing the tests.

"Whatever this is, seeing that he's a senior, if I find him helping you on this test, I'll immediately give you an F. Hope you understand," she spoke nonchalantly while passing the papers.

"I don't need his help," I replied confidently, cutting a glance at him. His eyes fell on me briefly before he looked ahead again, rolling them once.

I received my paper and started reading the questions. Man! I really should've studied harder.

As I began solving the math problems, Matt let his left hand loose, so it followed my right wherever it went. For some deranged reason, I wanted to smile at that. But that urge slowly subsided as I solved my test further. The teacher doesn't need to catch me cheating to give me an F on this.

I was halfway through when a particular someone scoffed next to me at my paper.

I could feel my face turning red with embarrassment and anger. The last thing I wanted was him knowing how dumb I was at Math.

"Shut up," I whisper yelled at him when he scoffed a second time. "You're distracting me. If you're not gonna help me, shut up."

"If you want my help, just ask," he muttered.

"I'm good."

"Suit yourself." He stretched and folded his free hand behind his head and leaned back into his seat lazily, looking around.

"Psst, hey!" came a voice from behind. "Don't just sit there like a dummy. How often do you get a chance like this to become a hero? Help me on this test."

Matt didn't even have to turn around to know who it was as he rolled his eyes. It was Aiden, staring at Matt with expectant puppy eyes. "Please."

"Sure, little bro. Why don't you buzz off?"

My jaw dropped at his response. Why was I even surprised anymore?

"I knew it," Aiden scoffed, "I was never expecting help from you. I'm done with my test, by the way."

"Good for you," he responded nonchalantly, too focused on something on his right.

"You really wanna give number 3 another look," he said to Kimberly who was busy writing her answers. She lifted her glasses and looked up to make sure he was talking to her.

With a little frown, she looked down at her paper and gasped slightly, mouthing with big eyes, "saved my perfect score. I love you."

Matt winked at her and she went back to correcting whatever he'd told her.

"Chop chop, Becks. As good as it is, looking at my face won't buy you more time," he said without looking at me, folding his free arm on the table.

"You're unbelievable," I said under my breath and started scribbling down on my paper. Five minutes later, the bell rang and the teacher started collecting the tests. I handed mine with a heavy heart.

"I'm getting a B," Meera said from behind and I totally envied her.

"I might get an A." Cheryl smiled brightly. "How was yours, Becks?"

"It was okay." I gave a cool shrug.

Matt scoffed again.

I threw him a glare. "Shut up."

*****

"How's your day going?" Parker asked with a bright face. He was standing at a safe distance from our table, his fingers steepled together in front of him like a host. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I wanna punch you in the face," Matt answered while biting into his apple.

"What is it with you and punching people in the face these days?" I narrowed my eyes.

"People are really testing my patience." He cut a glance at Parker who gave another toothy grin and slowly backed away, saying, "awesome! See you guys around."

"Come on, buddy." Mack chuckled. "It's not that bad being cuffed to our Becks here. She barely causes any trouble. A good kid." He leaned forward and patted me on the head.

"Is anyone going to acknowledge the fact that I'm cuffed to Matt as well? This isn't a party." I raised our hands.

"Tell me about it," Matt said, taking another bite of his apple.

"Please. I'm the one who's being dragged along so you can high five or fist bump every guy in sight. Would it kill you to not greet the entire school for a day?"

"It's not my fault I'm popular. You're just jealous because you don't have a social life." He shrugged.

"I do have a social life. My friends are limited but real. I bet half the people you meet don't even know your name."

"Everyone knows my name, Becks. Like I said, you're just jealous."

With narrowed eyes, I opened my mouth to argue but was distracted at the sight of Rebecca walking up to us.

"Matt, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure."

"Alone?"

"Not possible." He lifted our hands.

"Right. About that." She pressed her lips together, scowling at the handcuffs. "What the hell is going on?"

"It's a long story," he replied uninterestedly. As much as I enjoyed watching her suffer because of me, a part of me felt bad for her. Matt was way more than a 'casual fuck' to her. Anyone could tell that.

How could he be so indifferent towards someone's feelings? Did he not feel anything at all?

"How long are you supposed to be stuck with her?" She crossed her arms.

"Until after school."

"Can I see you in the evening? I can come by." Her eyes were so hopeful and there were times when I wanted to smack some sense into her despite not getting along with her. I wanted her to find that self-respect she'd buried somewhere deep down.

"Sure. Evening's great." Matt nodded.

I found myself a little annoyed. So, they were going to meet up at his house in the evening and then what? Spend the night together again?

What the hell, Becks? None of your business.

Rebecca's eyes lit up and she bent over to throw her arms around him and peck his cheek. "I'll see you tonight, baby."

I realized I was staring when Matt's eyes fell on me and I quickly looked away.

"Sure."

I rolled my eyes. My friends caught that and exchanged smirks, making me blush under their obvious judgement.

I cleared my throat and got up. "Be right back." I'd taken two steps before feeling the tug at my wrist and stumbling back, remembering that I was bounded. I groaned. "Come on! I have to use the bathroom. How am I supposed to do that now?"

"Ask Parker." Matt smiled sarcastically. "Or these two here."

"I really, really have to use the bathroom."

"Really? Can't you wait for...a couple of hours?" He raised one side of his mouth.

"No."

He sighed and got up. "I'm going to kill Parker."

"I'm gonna help you." I started to walk towards the exit until I noticed a few students around us staring at our hands. People had been staring since morning but the cafeteria was the broadcast point. "Hey, Mack! Can I borrow your jacket for a while?"

"Sure." He shrugged it off and handed it to me. I threw it over our hands to hide the cuffs. "Much better now."

"Come on." I pulled Matt out of the cafeteria, taking long strides to make it to the bathroom quickly.

"Hey, man!"

Another tug at my wrist and I was spun around by my fast momentum, almost bumping into Matt. He'd stopped walking. I followed his gaze furiously to find a guy walking up to him, holding his fist out. He was a senior, probably his classmate.

With an innocent shrug at me, Matt returned his fist bump, greeting back, "hey, Bob! How's it going?"

"Great. Nice touchdown in the practice today. You gotta teach me how you made it past Chris. That was smooth."

"Sure thing."

He must've felt my glare as he looked over at me, back at Matt and then nodded awkwardly. "You look busy. Catch you lat—"

"Wait a minute," Matt called and I tilted my head to give him a glare but he didn't even notice that. "You think you could help me catch up with math? I skipped it today."

"Sure thing, bro."

"And also, if you see Chris, tell him—"

"You have a phone and so does Chris," I cut him off, voice coming out a little desperate. "Tell him yourself. I really think we should go, Matt."

I could see his pesky little smile and the glint in his eyes as he nodded at me. "Of course."

"Sorry we're in a rush. Bye. Nice seeing you," I said to Bob before I dragged Matt down the corridor again in urgency.

"Easy there. Or are you that excited to have me alone in the bathroom?"

Despite the urgency of the situation, his words managed to make me blush.

"Bite me, Williams."

I pushed open the bathroom door. Two girls were inside and when they saw us, their eyes grew big. I saw Matt pass them a mischievous smile through the mirror and stopped walking, turning to him.

"Can you stop making this more awkward for me?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything." He shrugged innocently.

My gaze snapped to the girls watching us with interest and I snapped, "get out."

"Jeez!" I heard Matt say as they scurried past us and I threw him another glare.

Then I dragged him over to a stall and closed the door until the handcuffs stopped it. With my other hand, I held it in place and took in a deep breath.

"You can't see me, can you?" I asked.

"There's literally a door between us."

"You won't try to come in?"

There was a pause.

"That's the last thing I wanna do right now, believe me."

"Do you have your earphones?"

"Yes."

"Put them on and play a song."

"What?"

"Just do it, please," I groaned in desperation, shifting from one foot to another. "Now!"

"Fine!"

I heard some shuffling, then after a moment, he asked, "What song do you want me to listen to?"

"I don't fucking care, Williams. Any song, okay? Just loud enough. Now!"

"Okay!" I could almost hear his chuckle. "Done!"

"Done? Can you hear me?"

No response.

I let out a breath and got down to my business and finally walked out in relief. Matt followed me to the sinks to let me wash my hands. "You can take off those earphones now."

He could easily tell I was saying something through the mirror but he chose to completely ignore it as he looked away.

"Or not, asshole," I said loudly with a smile.

He removed his earphones. "You said something?"

I spun around and since we were very close thanks to the cuffs, our bodies brushed against each other's. The little chain would've allowed him to move back an inch but he did not. I could feel my hips pressing into the sink behind me as I looked up at him.

"No." I swallowed. "I'd like to though. But you're not gonna like it."

"Wouldn't be the first time. So, go ahead."

I bit down at my lip. Now that I wasn't blinded by the pressing urge to pee, I could resume my train of thoughts from earlier. His conversation with Rebecca had taken a backseat during my trip to the bathroom.

"I shouldn't." Obviously, I was hesitant.

"Okay then. Let's go."

He took a step back.

"You're playing these back-and-forth games with her."

He raised a brow. "Games?"

"Look, I know you guys have an understanding. She must be really..." I cleared my throat. "...good in bed for you to keep letting her come back but you're always whining about how she trails you like a puppy. How she's clingy. Well, can you blame her? You've left the door ajar. Either shut it or open it."

I had a feeling I was going to regret saying anything. It was totally uncalled for. It was his life. He hadn't asked me for any advice.

An arrogant gleam settled in his eyes. "So, you're talking me into breaking a relationship that doesn't even exist?"

"For you, it doesn't. But it means something to her, okay? You know that."

"Since when do you care about Rebecca's feelings?"

"I don't." I sighed out loud. "I just figured if you could comment on my relationship, I could give you some unsolicited advice on yours. Not like you have an actual relationship. Whatever you call it."

"I call it a fling. A casual fuck. And I like it the way it is."

I swallowed. His deep brown eyes flicked across my face, almost like he was enjoying making me suffer. Yes, I was suffering. It didn't matter if I had a boyfriend. I just couldn't see Matt with Rebecca. What the hell was this?

"Then we have nothing to talk about," I muttered.

He took a step back and held up his hand to point towards the door. "After you."

Just as I expected, the conversation was closed the moment we walked out. But what I didn't expect was a few students outside to look up and stare at us. And I definitely didn't expect Sean to be one of them.

He was standing against the wall like he was waiting for us to come out. Like someone had told him about us and he just wanted to see it for himself.

"Becks?" He blinked in surprise, taking a step forward. "What the hell?"

I'd been so happy when he hadn't shown up for class when I was there with Matt but now it was all in vain.

"Sean." My jaw dropped. "It's not what it looks like."

I removed Mack's jacket, revealing the handcuffs, somehow expecting that to make it any better but that didn't turn out to be the case.

He was furious now. He shook his head at me in disappointment and walked away.

"Wait! Sean!" I wanted to run behind him but someone was still as a stone now. I looked back at Matt.

"If you think I'm running after him, think again."

I'd just have to call Sean and explain later.

With a huff, I started marching back to the cafeteria, thankful that Matt decided to at least follow me there.