CHAPTER 10: Tru Confessions
Lori gave Greg the rest of the directions to the bowling alley in Dover, New Hampshire and Matt rested his head back on the seat and closed his eyes. He started moving around, resting his head on her shoulder then he ended up burying his head in her chest with his arm around her, holding her hand. She looked down at him and tried really hard not to smile. She couldn't start acting like an idiot now; she had to be normal and act cool. Besides, if she freaked out or did something extravagant it might give Matt the impression that she was into him, which she very well was. All the songs that she sang earlier were about him. He just didn't know it.
"Somebody's making themselves comfortable Lorr." Greg said when he saw the two cuddling in the back seat.
"He's sleeping. He doesn't know what he's doing." Lori told him.
"I'm sure he does." Greg muttered. "He likes you. It's obvious."
"On the way down
I saw you
And you saved me
From myself
And I won't forget
The way you loved me
On the way down
I almost fell right through
But I held onto you." Matt sang out loud as he wrapped his arms around her torso.
A shiver ran down her spine at the sudden touch of him and she closed her eyes and said, "This can't be happening."
"On the way down
I saw you
And you saved me
From myself
And I won't forget
The way you loved me
On the way down
I almost fell right through
But I held onto you." Matt repeated again.
Lori opened her eyes when she heard him singing "On The Way Down" by Ryan Cabrera and she, once again, tried hard not to smile. Matt felt her heart beating and he could feel her breathing. He smiled and breathed her in. She was wearing Hawaiian Ginger perfume and her semi-long blonde hair smelled of Pantene Pro-V, her favorite shampoo. Slowly, she put her arm around him and ran her hand down his back. Matt curled up into a little ball as he got closer to her and he held her even tighter than before.
"OK you two. We're here." Greg said. As he turned around he was in complete shock at the sight that was right in front of his eyes. Matt was curled into up into a little ball, his arms around her and his head was buried in her chest. He looked at Lori, who was looking down at him. It was obvious to him that she was in complete shock too.
"Matt." Lori softly whispered in his ear. "We're at the bowling alley."
"MATT! WAKE UP! IF YOU WANT TO CUDDLE WITH LORR YOU CAN DO THAT LATER!" Greg said loudly after about 3 minutes.
Matt slowly opened his eyes and he glanced up at Lori, who was still looking at him. When he realized he had his arms around her, he moved away and pretended like nothing happened by playing it off. "OK. I'm up." he said. What the hell am I doing? a confused Matt asked. His inner voice told him, You like her Matt. It's so obvious. He looked over at Lori who was resting her head back against the seat, obviously in deep thought, when he heard her blurt out, "This is a dream. I'm gonna wake up any minute now."
"You're not dreaming Lori." he told her.
"I really hate being called Lori." she thought out loud.
"What do you want me to call you?" Matt asked.
"Call me whatever you want." she blurted out.
"I can call you whatever I want?" He repeated hoping he had heard her right.
"Yeah, within reason." Lori said. She looked over at him and said, "And don't get any ideas either. You can't call me a bitch or a whore or anything else."
"I wouldn't call you any of those names." he assured her. He thought for a minute and the words from "On The Way Down" played over and over again in his mind. On the way down
I saw you
And you saved me
From myself
And I won't forget
The way you loved me
On the way down
I almost fell right through
But I held onto you.
"You got me hooked on that Ryan Cabrera song."
"It's a good song." She laughed.
"Yeah. I guess it is." Matt admitted. "I had this weird dream that I was singing part of it and I was holding you."
"It wasn't a dream." she said quietly.
"It wasn't?" He eyed her.
"No. You were sleeping and you sang the chorus out loud twice and the first time you sang it you put your arms around me." she told him in a whisper. "Then when you woke up you acted like nothing happened."
"You played it off." she added.
"Nothing did happen though." He pointed out.
"You held me in your arms Matt, and you want to say nothing happened?" she asked in complete shock and disappointment. "You have no idea what I felt when you held me." A single tear fell from her eye. "You really have no idea." She shook her head in a disapproving way and said, "You have no fuckin' clue."
Matt stared at her and asked, "You want to tell me what you felt?"
"No. I don't." She turned away from him.
"Come on. Don't do that. Tell me." Matt put his hand on her shoulder and tried to get her to face him, but no matter how hard he tried, she wouldn't budge.
"Don't touch me." she snapped.
"Please?" he begged. Nervously, he removed his hand from her shoulder and took her hand, hoping and praying she wouldn't flip out on him. She didn't flip out on him. She just let go of his hand and folded her arms firmly across her chest.
A couple seconds later she faced front and put her hands on the seat. When Matt took her hand, lacing his fingers with hers, she didn't let go of his hand. "You want to tell me what you felt Lorr?"
"What are you talking about?" she asked playing dumb.
"I'm talking about what you said earlier. You said that I didn't have a clue." Matt reminded her. "You said you felt something when I held you."
She looked over at him and said, "I did."
"What'd you feel?" He looked at her and waited patiently for an answer.
"I dunno. I know it's probably gonna sound crazy, weird and out there, but I felt love." she spilled.
"You did?" he asked surprised.
"I've had two boyfriends and one of those relationships only lasted for 3 days and the other one lasted for about a month....neither of the guys paid attention to me and I just...I've never had a guy hold me before....I felt something when you did. It's hard to explain." Lori admitted. "I felt safe in your arms." she said in a serious tone. Lori hoped that he would take her seriously and not think that she was like every other girl that he's met.
"Why didn't they pay attention to you?" he asked trying to play it cool. She felt safe in my arms? Does she like me and just too scared to say anything? he asked himself.
"I don't talk that much and I didn't really feel comfortable around them. I didn't know anything about them. I knew nothing. I just...dunno. I was young and stupid." Lori explained.
"If you didn't feel comfortable around them, why did you go out with them?" he asked.
"My first boyfriend...I was desperate and my friends pressured me into it by saying that we would look cute together and my second boyfriend....I just thought he was hot." she said shyly. "I was a sophomore when I went out with my first boyfriend and I was a junior when I went out with my second boyfriend."
"I went out with a Chris poser too because I was young, naive and gullable." she added. "That went on for about a half a year...another reason why my grades dropped. That was when I was in 9th or 10th grade. That was when I had a MAJOR crush on Chris."
"You went out with a Chris poser?" The expression on his face was priceless.
"I told you I was young, naive and gullable." Lori shrugged. "Or just a complete and total dumbass."
"A Chris poser? You met that creep online?" Matt eyed her.
"Don't give me the third degree." Lori told him.
"I'm not giving you the third degree. I'm just in shock that you would....never mind." He turned away from her.
"You're just in shock that I would what?" she asked.
He turned his head in her direction and then his body. "You know it's not safe to date online, right?" he asked.
"I know and you're not my dad." she said sounding annoyed.
"I know. I just don't want anything like that to happen to a fan." Matt blurted out before he could stop himself.
"Is that what I am? Am I just a fan to you?" She asked in horror.
"Well, for your information, Matt, I'm a real girl..with real feelings...and I'm not just a fan." she said. "Just like you're not just 'Matt from Dream Street'. I may like your music and everything, but there's more to me than being one of your fuckin' fans."
Chapter 11