The One

🔨 Chapter 2

🔨 Matthew POV

We stand facing each other in shock that the other is here. I haven't been alone with this girl since the night before I left for college. I almost groan with the memory of it. 

She'd been fine all summer long, knowing I was going away. But that night, she just lost it. The tears, the hugging. I almost changed my mind and didn't go. How many times have I wished she didn't talk me out of staying home? She insisted it would be alright, despite how upset she was. But it wasn't alright. Nothing was ever alright again.

I nervously rake my hand back through my hair, "Hank told me I was meeting Marcia..." I can't even finish my thought, I'm so shocked to see her. "I didn't know you were back." It's a small town, how could no one tell me she was back?

My eyes drink her in from top to bottom. She's the prettiest girl you will ever see. Her hair is still long, the thick brown waves hanging loose over her pale pink blouse. She's average height and hasn't grown an inch since high school graduation. She's still thin but she's curved out a bit, more womanly.

I notice the tell tale smudges on her hands that she has been painting or drawing. Her neat short fingernails are natural and I find them refreshing. I get annoyed with the high maintenance girls in town who can't do anything because they might break a fake three inch nail. My perusal rises to her face because it's Prim's eyes that always captivated me. Big bright blue orbs, just a little too big for her face. If I was ever worried about anything, I needed only to look into her beautiful eyes to know everything would be fine. That is, until everything wasn't fine.

Prim opens her mouth to speak a couple times before finally saying, "Marcia told me Hank would be stopping by at ten." Light dawns in her eyes as she realizes what's going on. "Oh! You work for Hank now?" She smiles and I nearly moan from the beauty of it. "You really achieved your dream of becoming a construction manager."

I only ever had one dream and it had nothing to do with construction and everything to do with this girl standing before me. "Yeah." I say it as a nicety.

Her eyes are bright in the way they always were. This look of approval, the genuineness of it brings back all the emotions I ever had for her. How have they never faded over the years? "Your parents must be so proud of you, Matty." I grit my teeth at the nickname. She's the only one that ever called me that.

"Matt." It's a dick move. I regret it the moment it leaves my mouth. After all, I just called her Prim, no one else calls her that. The light fades in her eyes and I feel like an absolute heel. I try to make amends by continuing the conversation. "My parents are proud, yeah. Thanks."

She nods her head but the sparkle doesn't return to her eyes. I've reminded her that there is a chasm between us, that we aren't meeting on good terms. I feel some guilt but honestly, after what she did, we can't just go back to how we were when we were eighteen. We are completely different people now. Or, at least, I am.

She shakes her head like she's trying to clear it out, "I'm so sorry, I'm leaving you here on the porch. Come in, so I can show you what needs to be done."

I step over the threshold into the living room, this house never had an entryway. Everything is exactly how I remember it. The ornate wooden staircase going up to the second floor, mere feet from the front door. The living room to the right with the dining room and kitchen behind. "Whoa, it hasn't changed at all." I can't keep the words in.

Prim smiles knowingly, "I know. After my mom died, my Dad never did a thing to it. The whole thing, Matt..." She lands hard on the 't' making a concerted effort not to add the endearing 'y' on the end. I feel like an ass. "Well, it hasn't changed at all."