Ridiculous: Mattory

8: What Are Your Intentions?

Mallory

I don't envy Matt, who will likely spend the next three hours being grilled about our relationship. I'm certain I'll be grilled, too, but at least everyone in the car with me already knew.

I miss him as soon as I step into the car, though I'm pleased to at least have the front seat.

"So, you wanted me to yourselves?" I say conversationally as we pull out of the parking lot.

"Yes, we did," Natalie says. "As much as I'm sure you'd have preferred to spend the trip home cuddling—" I interrupt her with a snort of laughter, "we have some very serious questions for you."

"Have at it," I tell them.

"Mallory," Stephen says solemnly. "What are your intentions with Matt?"

I can't hide a laugh. "Funny, guys." It isn't until Natalie turns and gives me a look that I abruptly stop chuckling.

"Mal, we're serious," Whitney says, and I spin to look at her, suddenly feeling spotlighted. I paste on a smile, trying to hide the nerves that have suddenly fallen upon me.

"Look, Mal," Natalie says. "Matt's been in love with you for approximately forever—"

"He has?" I interrupt, surprised.

"Seriously?" Stephen says. "How did you not know that?"

I sigh. "Well, I didn't."

"Anyways," Natalie says. "What we're trying to say here, is that you're our friend, and Matt's our friend, and we just don't want anybody to get hurt with this."

"I would never hurt him," I say vehemently.

"Can I say something?" Whitney asks. "Look, I think you and Matt are awesome together. I'm pretty sure we've all wanted you to get together for years. Why do you think Mattory started in the first place?" She pauses, giving me a moment to digest that statement. I put it on the back burner to think about later when she speaks again. "Just tread lightly, yeah? We don't want to lose one of you if something happens."

I lean back in my seat, pondering. "Do you think that I'm playing around with him?" I ask quietly. "Because I'm not."

"No one said that," Natalie says.

"No, but are you going to sit there and tell me that not one of you thought it?" Their silence tells me all I need to know, and I sigh heavily. "Look, I'll admit I've been with a lot of different men over the years. Now—I'm only going to say this once, so listen up—I'll tell you right now that yes, I'm the kind of girl who wants four kids and a dog and a house with a white picket fence someday. I've been through a lot of guys who don't want that, or who don't want that with me, or who are just plain jerks." My last boyfriend Luke pops into my head, firmly in the last category. "And I'm starting to wonder if the one I've been waiting for has been right here staring me in the face this whole time."

There's a long pause. "So, in the language of Mallory, does that translate to 'I'm madly in love with him'?" Whitney asks.

I chuckle dryly. "Dunno yet."

~~~

It's after five o'clock when Natalie drops me off at my apartment. I dump my luggage in my bedroom without preamble—I'll deal with the laundry tomorrow—and immediately trade out my heavy turtleneck and tight jeans for a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. I'm starting to get hungry, but not enough that I feel like making the effort to go to my kitchen and scrounge something together. Instead, I flop on the couch, turning the channel on to something mindless.