CHAPTER 4: JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS
"So, um, how old are you?" Matt asked as he sat down next to her on the couch.
"I'm...14." Lori said reluctantly.
"I'm 15." he told her.
"Cool." was all she said before she pulled up the lever that reclined her seat. She reclined all the way and leaned her head back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling.
"You really hate me don't you?" Matt asked inching towards her, just a little.
"Why the hell would you think that I hate you?" Lori asked in complete shock. She sat up and looked at him, which made her seat slide quickly into the original position that it was in. "To be honest.......it's just the opposite."
"What do you mean, it's just the opposite?" He eyed her.
"Come on Matt. Don't play dumb. I KNOW YOU KNOW." she said emphasizing the last part.
"You like me?" he asked.
"Close......." she said simply.
"CLOSE?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Either you know or you don't. I'm not gonna say what I'm feeling. It doesn't matter anyway." she told him.
"You really think that your feelings don't matter?" Matt asked surprised.
"They never have before so why should they matter now?"
"I dunno." he shrugged. "It could change things."
"Telling people my feelings won't change anything. They don't care."
"I'm not other people....I'm me. Sure I may act like I don't care, but....you know that's just part of my tough- don't care personality."
"All guys have your personality then, but most of them just don't give a fuck."
"I'm not all guys. I'm 1 out of like a million or whatever it is." Matt said looking at her.
Lori looked over at him and didn't say anything. She knew he was right and she knew that was why she loved him with all her heart. She was just too scared to tell him how she felt.
"Why are you staring at me like that? It's staring to weird me out." he told her.
"'Cuz ....I knew this was a bad idea. I had an instinct and I went against it. This is my problem."
"I think you like me."
"I definitely don't."
"Then why were you looking at me like you were in love with me?"
"Just shuddup."
"Why are you playing it cool? Why can't you just tell me?"
"Because I don't know you. You don't know me. And I'm not saying anything 'cuz it's not true."
"So, what's not true? The fact that you love me?"
"Matt, shuddup. Please." she pleaded. "Just leave me the hell alone."
"Give me one good reason."
"I hate you."
"You don't know me." he mocked. "So how can you hate me?"
"Matt, please, just shuddup."
"No. I won't shuddup. I want you to talk to me."
"Well, I don't want to talk to you."
"You are so difficult." Matt shook his head.
"I'm not difficult. I just really do NOT want to talk to you right now."
With that she got up and left the den and went upstairs to the guest room that she was staying in. She turned on the radio to Radio Disney and flopped down on the bed. She closed her eyes and fell asleep while Matt went back into the living room.
"Did Lorr come in here?
"No. She didn't come in here." Chris replied.
"Why? What's going on?" Frankie asked looking at him.
"She looked at me like she loved me and I asked her why she looked at me that way and she just.....she wouldn't give me an answer. She said that she didn't want to talk to me. She's playing it cool..she's pretending as if she didn't look at me that way. I just wanna know what's going on."
"I think I should go talk to her." Jessica said.
"She's so difficult to understand."
"Sure, she's a little..you know...difficult, but she's still cool and everything. It's going to take her a while to open up, Matt. She did just meet you today. I don't blame her for not telling you why she was looking at you the way she was. It would have embarrassed me if I did something like that. Just...don't go jumping to conclusions about her. Get to know her." Jessica said before she fled out of the room.
"Did she really look at you that way?" Frankie asked surprised.
"I could have sworn that she did, but maybe I was just imagining it." Matt said sounding confused.
"You probably just want a girl to look at you the way your ex did. It was just a couple days ago that you broke things off with her." Greg said thoughtfully. "You're probably looking at Lori, but seeing your ex-girlfriend."
"Only difference is.....she's NOT like my ex-girlfriend." Matt told him. "And you actually think I'm looking at Lori and seeing my ex-girlfriend?"
"You said that you could have sworn that you saw Lori look at you like she loved you, but you also said that maybe you were just imagining it." Chris explained.
Chapter 5