Fallen

“Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!” Val called out from the other side of the wall while she played tic-tac-toe with Cash and Car. “And the winner is, Carson Jay O’Neil for the third time in a row!” “No fair!” Cash’s little voice whined out loud, “Let’s try again.” “I won fair and square,” I heard my son exclaim to his best friend with a giggle. “You suck!” “Car, language,” I scolded him as I walked into the living room of Val’s home. My son looked up at me with a smile and I stuck my tongue out at him before taking a seat on the floor next to him. I pulled him into my lap and squeezed him tight in my arms, “I’m going to wash your mouth out with soap if you say one more bad thing.” Cash giggled from beside me as Carson pouted in my arms. Val rolled her eyes at her son’s behavior, “I heard he had quite the conversation with Kenzie at school last week.” I shook my head with a laugh, “He couldn’t have called a better child that word. You know, part of me was proud of him and wanted to give him a high five, but then there was that mother part of me that was saying scold him and take away his favorite action figures.” “Matt seemed pretty proud of him, too,” Val added. “Any word from the devil herself? Have the two of you talked about her at all?” “Nope and nope,” I shrugged my shoulders. “He seems to push her away whenever she comes close, so I haven’t pried him for information. I’m taking him standing up to Brandon last month as reality that we are moving in the direction of being a couple. I know he’s been so busy with the album and getting it ready for release, so the last thing I want to do is add more stress onto his heavy shoulders.” Val nodded, “I just hope he grows some balls and actually ASKS you to be his girlfriend, rather than just call you his girlfriend. You know? It’s not official until it is officially official. You’ve got all your stars aligned. The guy just needs to ask you.” She was right, but as of right now Matt and I were taking things day by day. I couldn’t complain about the way our relationship had formed to be. It was as if we were a couple, in fact he called me his girlfriend constantly and introduced me to people as his girlfriend. We still spent a good amount of time together each week. We were having phenomenal sex. He was headed in the right direction with all of my constant pushing for him to adopt a dog since River asked me to do so. Things were slowly working their way there. It was hard with the album and the baby boom at the zoo, but we were getting there. “Well, maybe tonight is the night?” I asked, my voice picking up and sounding hopeful. “We haven’t had time to just the two of us in a while. At least not as a date night, so maybe we’ll talk about it.” “I hope so,” Val smiled and stood up. “Boys, let’s let Liv get herself all pretty while we go eat some dinner.” Cash hopped up and Carson jumped off my lap, following Val into the kitchen. I got up and turned around to see River sitting on the couch, engulfed in a video game on the television. I smiled at him as I walked over, taking a seat next to him. He pulled the headset off his head and turned to face me, pausing the game and setting his hazel-eyes on my face. “I think I’m making a breakthrough with the puppy situation. I will report back to you after I talk to your dad again tonight. We might be going to visit the shelter on Saturday when I get off work,” I smiled at the now seven-year-old who was staring at me. A dimpled grin broke out on River’s face, almost identical to his fathers. He threw his small arms around my torso and hugged me hard, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am so excited!” “He hasn’t said yes yet, but you are welcome,” I laughed as the young boy pulled himself away from me and straightened out his shirt. He was in that phase where he thought he was too cool to show a lot of emotion. I knew it was driving Val crazy, but when it came to the whole idea of a puppy he was very emotional. “I know you are with your mom this weekend, but if he says yes to going to the shelter, I’ll see if we can bring you along. How’s that sound?” “That sounds great. I hope he says yes,” River beamed. “You’re the best dad’s girlfriend ever,” he added before setting the headset back on and bring his attention back to his video game. Once again I found myself thankful that Val allowed me to get ready for a date with her ex-husband in her guest bedroom. Jason was grilling chicken for the boys while Val entertained them, giving me time to myself. Matt hand’t given me a dress code for tonight, so I assumed it would be fairly casual. We did fancy once, and it didn’t end up well. I managed to spill wine all down the front of me, and he dripped steak sauce on his nice, light grey button up. We wouldn’t be doing fancy again unless it was absolutely necessary. I finished straightening my hair, then ran my fingers through it to give it a more messy appearance, and applied one more coat of mascara to my eyelashes. I went pretty basic with my make up as well, just a bit of concealer under my eyes to hide the tiredness from long nights at work, some blush, mascara and beige eyeshadow. Chapstick slid across my lips as I looked over myself in the mirror; happy with the way the grey tank top flowed nicely over the waistband of my jeans. I was taken out of my thoughts as the guest room door opened, revealing Matt’s head through the crack. He smiled at me, his dimples sinking into his cheeks, “You ready to go?” “Yeah, just let me get my shoes on,” I smiled back at him and slipped my flip flops on my feet, then grabbed my purse. As I stepped out of the room he pulled me in for a kiss, his hazel eyes meeting my brown ones momentarily before our lips connected. I pulled away from him and leaned into the doorframe, running my eyes down his body and taking in his outfit of choice. He had on sneakers, jeans and a plain black shirt. That backwards hat was on his head, hiding the hair that he was growing a little longer than usual. My eyes went back to his face, fixating on his dimples and plump, pink lips. If I stared any longer, I’d probably start drooling. “You kids behave tonight,” Val called to us from down the hallway. “Use protection.” “I think we’re past that,” Matt talked to his ex-wife with a laugh. “But thanks, Mom.” Val tossed her head back in laughter, “Remember back when you were afraid to cum inside someone? Because it’s just… so much… I’m so sorry, Liv. I should’ve warned you.” “She’s granted me the title of the creampie king,” Matt smirked, earning a smack on the arm from me. I whacked him twice with a mortified expression on my face, “You were never supposed to repeat that! I was drunk!” “You said it on video, in front of Johnny. I am not to blame here,” he quickly said back, trying to redeem himself. Val was bursting in laughter as the scene unfolded in front of her. “Have I mentioned how much I really love you two together? I should go into match-making business. Don’t you think?” “Val! Dinner is ready!” Jason called out to his wife. “Go have a good night together, creampie king and queen,” Val winked before heading in the direction of her kitchen. I followed Matt out their front door and into his truck, locking my car doors on the way and tossing the keys into my purse. He closed the passenger side door behind me as I got in, then climbed into the driver side and started up the engine. As if it was routine now, his left hand held onto the steering wheel, pulling us out of the neighborhood, while his right found home on my thigh, resting gently with his fingers intwined with my own. We made small talk on the drive out of Huntington and into Newport, with some singing along to old Motley Crue songs in between as they played through his truck’s stereo. When we got to the restaurant, he made sure to climb out of his side and practically run over to mine, opening my door up as I unbuckled my seat belt. I laughed as I hopped down out of his lifted vehicle, “This is some serious chivalry tonight, Sanders. You feeling okay?” “Very funny,” he chuckled and slid his arm around my waist, pressing the lock key to his truck before sliding his own keys into my purse. We headed toward the restaurant down the road, leaving the fairly empty parking lot for a Thursday evening, “You look extra beautiful tonight, Liv.” “I’m nearly certain you’ve seen me more beautiful than this, but thank you for the compliment. You don’t look too bad yourself, even with that stupid hat on your head,” I teased as I slid my hand into his back pocket. “I thought you were embracing your curls?” “I took a nap before I came to get you and the bed head was unreal,” he admitted as we neared the restaurant. He grabbed the glass door, pulling it open and ushering me in front of him. His hand now found its place on my lower back as he smiled at the hostess in front of us, “Reservation for Sanders.” The hostess grabbed two menus and smiled, mainly in my direction, then looked back up to Matt’s eyes, “Right this way.” She led us to a table on the screened-in deck, which only had a couple other filled tables out here. “Is this seat okay?” “This is great, thank you,” I answered while looking out at the crystal-clear sky and water, taking in the sound of the band playing inside of the restaurant that seemed to drown out a bit by the crashing waves on shore. “Your server will be with you shortly. Have a great evening,” the hostess smiled while pouring water in a glass for each of us, then went bouncing back into the restaurant to seat the next group of patrons. Matt sat across from me, pulling his hat from his head and running his tattooed hand through his curling locks. He placed the hat back on his head after slicking his hair off his forehead, then picked up his menu, “I won’t judge you if you order the crab mac and cheese.” “How’d you know I was looking at that,” I laughed. “Because I’m a mind reader. I obviously picked this restaurant for the sole fact that you can order an adult-version of mac and cheese without any judgement or regret,” he placed his menu on the table and grinned in my direction. “Don’t eat your fill, though. We’re going out for ice cream after this.” I rolled my eyes, “You are such a dad.” “I don’t know whether to be offended or proud of that statement,” he chuckled then turned his attention to the waitress who was asking for our drink orders. “Whatever your best riesling is, thank you.” “You’re drinking wine tonight?” I raised an eyebrow in his direction, causing the waitress to laugh. “Chivalry, wine, ice cream… would I be mistaken if you had something up your sleeve?” Matt’s dimples sat proudly in his cheeks, “You’ll just have to wait and find out.” Our giggling waitress came back with what had to be an expensive riesling, as it was a bottle I’ve never seen before in my life. The taste was incredible, like a sweet apple. Matt took it upon himself to order both of our dishes on his own, him getting a medium-rare steak and lobster, while I got the crab mac-and-cheese and a house salad. As we ate our meals and drank our expensive bottle of wine, we talked about the upcoming plans for releasing Avenged Sevenfold’s new album. They were going to be dropping a single tomorrow, called The Stage, and hadn’t told anyone about it other than their record company, of course. Matt was excited, yet nervous, about the way the fans would react to a surprise song that was so different from their last studio album. After dinner, we headed out of the restaurant hand-in-hand and walked down the boardwalk to grab the ice cream that Matt promised me. He settled on two scoops of raspberry cheesecake ice cream in a cone, while I got my favorite, plain old strawberry. We decided to head down the boardwalk and find a bench to sit on that overlooked the sunset on the ocean. The arm that wasn’t holding Matt’s ice cream cone was draped over my shoulders, pulling me into his side while he licked the creamy goodness, his hazel eyes squinting at the sun. “Liv,” he said lowly, adjusting his gaze onto the side of my face. “Yeah?” I turned to look up at him, licking the melting strawberry liquid off of my bottom lip. He laughed lightly at my messy action and squeezed my shoulder with his free hand, “These last six months I’ve been home, getting to know you and Car, have been the best times I’ve had in the last two years. I know I’ve been calling you my girlfriend for a while now, but I’ve never actually asked because I suck as a man. So, will you officially be mine?” “I thought you’d never ask!” I laughed and leaned forward, planting my lips on his in a firm kiss. “Absolutely, Matt. Absolutely.”

Notes