Part ONE

---This is super short and uneventful, I know, but I wanted to get something up and got a later start than I had planned because even though my Math was super quick, the boys have colds AND Eli has three top teeth coming in so he was super fussy and didn't fall asleep until 10. Part 2 will be up tomorrow, probably later - look for something around 11PM-12AM est time tomorrow---

I had expected Matt and I to go out to breakfast, so imagine my surprise when I walked down the stairs the next day to find that he had cooked. Pancakes, fruit, sausage, and bacon.

“Wow. Trying to make it really hard for me to go back, huh?” I asked, stealing a sausage link and biting into it.

“That’s the plan.” He said, setting down a carton of orange juice in front of me. “How was the date?”

The question caught me off guard. I figured we wouldn’t talk about it.

“Isn’t that kind of awkward for you to hear about?” I asked, reaching for the carton to pour myself a class.

“Of course it is. But, it’s also awkward to ignore. You’re sitting there knowing I’m thinking about it, wondering when or if I’m going to drop the bomb and ask, I’m sitting here knowing you know I’m thinking about it, wondering how it really went, and wondering if I should ask. So, it’s just better to get it out in the open, get it over with.”

“Good point I guess.” I said. Still, I stalled by taking a long drink of juice, trying to figure out what to say to him, how much information to divulge. “It was… Nice.”

“Oh, come on El. That’s just adding insult to injury, don’t make me drag it out of you.”

I laughed. “This is weird! I don’t know what to say. It was good. At first it was a little weird. Then we both loosened up a little and it got easier. But, I’m still not sure it was a date.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know…” I said trailing off.

“Ella.” He whined, drawing out the a on the end.

“You seem awfully invested in this.” I countered, taking a bite of my food.

“I’m just afraid if we don’t do this, work through the awkwardness, that it’ll always be there, you know? I want to stay your friend.”

“Fine. He didn’t kiss me at the end. I asked him to come in and watch a movie or something and he said no. It was just weird. Maybe I considered it a date and he just considered it trying to re-new our friendship.” I shrugged.

“Well. That is weird. Do you guys have plans again?”

I nodded. “Tonight. Some people are coming over. He said he’d stop by.”

“Well. I mean that’s promising, right?” Suddenly Matt stood. “I’m not so hungry. I’m going to go for a run.”

“Oh… I thought we were going to hang?”

“I’ll be around tonight.” He said over his shoulder and he walked out the door.

And then I was a little mad. It was clear that Matt cut things short because it had hurt to hear about Drew. And I understood that. I remembered how bad I felt watching Drew with his girlfriends or hearing Jason talk about Kayla. But, I also didn’t push for details when I was uncomfortable. It seemed unfair to push and push and then bail.

“Well. He didn’t yell at you.” I mumbled to myself. “It’s just going to take some time.”