Braver Than I Used to Be

Chapter Nine

Matthew looked at Maggie, he clearly wanted her to go away. I didn't blame him, she was very annoying. "Maggie, I've accepted it already. Ray has accepted it and we are fine. When you care about someone and want to be with them, for them, you don't try to take away what makes them happy. They are two halves of a whole person. For the three months I have dated her, whenever you were with Ray, all she did was miss him. I just tried to distract her so she wasn't sad. They are happier when they are together, she is happier, and that's all I care about."

People were staring at us again, but not as much as earlier. People kept moving but tried to listen to what we were saying. Maggie was as loud as can be but Matthew was calm and soft spoken. I was annoyed, but I wasn't yelling like she was.

"When he was with me, he was perfectly fine! I was trying to help him! This always together thing is not normal!"

Matthew looked over at me, "Rita, what was that you said before? Don't speak on things you don't understand?"

"Yup, those were the words. Maggie, we have to get to class. You need to accept that you were broken up with. Sorry it was via a text, but it wasn't going to work."

Maggie looked over to Ray, "Really, not one word from you! What you fight her battles and she has your arguments?"

Ray looked as if he was bored. "Yes Maggie, that is how it works. Because she will say things nicely, where I would tell you that you drove me crazy. I couldn't take another dinner that you insisted I take you out to. And all you did was gossip about every person in the school, including my own sister. Is that what you wanted to hear? That I couldn't stand you and how you tried to separate me from the only person I care about. If it weren't for the fact that I was having sex with you, we wouldn't have lasted as long as we did."

"Go to hell you bastard." Maggie mumbled and walked off.

I looked at Ray, "Don't look at me like that, she asked for it." He said without even looking at me. "But good teamwork guys. High five!"

Matthew and I repeated the words high five to him and rolled our eyes.

"I actually have to get to class, so I will see you next period." Matthew gave me a quick kiss and then I was alone with Ray.

"So, I want you know that it makes me really happy that I don't have keep him a secret from you anymore. And I'm even happier that you guys don't hate each other."

"You do know the real reason we got into that fight, right?"

"He told me what he suspected. Something about him liking me or something, I don't remember."

"Yeah, something like that, but the reason I accept him now, aside from your feelings, is all those years ago, when guys would talk about you, they would say some raunchy things, that I didn't approve of. But he never did, he actually didn't like when the other guys talked about you in that way. It was the fact that he was crazy about you that bothered me. I thought there was no way his intentions were good. I refused to believe it after the things I heard the other guys say. I thought maybe he said other things when I wasn't there to overhear. I guess I was still scared because of what I knew that you didn't know. I did tell him and everyone that would talk about you that you were no more than their friend. It was a mess, but now, I learned that he wasn't doing what I thought he was. I have never heard anyone tell me that he has said one dirty or bad thing about you, ever. And I get told some pretty crazy things. Ever since Junior High his feelings have been loyal to you despite any short relationships he has had."

We were at my class standing by the door and the bell rang. "Well thank you for telling me, only took you four years. But he is good, I like him, a lot."