Philips (Sequel to De Santa)

Chapter Sixteen

Dad and I ordered Chinese and I ordered what I thought Matt would enjoy and texted him. I told him that I couldn't pick him up because I ran into some problems, but he said he'd be over whenever he could. While we waited, Dad and I decided to hang out around the pool. I changed into my bathing suit, which he quickly made me change right out of. So, I settled for Dad's old pair of shorts he lent me once and a black tank top. After a while of waiting, someone knocked on the front door. "I'll get it," Dad insisted, grunting as he got up out of his lounge chair.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's probably the food."

"Okay, I'll meet you inside." I watched Dad as he walked off into the house before standing up from my own chair. I looked down at my phone, for the millionth time since texting Matt over an hour ago, and let out a sigh at the bland lock screen. No new calls, no new texts. I placed the phone back in my pocket and headed for the back door.

"CHELS!" I heard a faint voice shouting. I quickly looked up and my eyes widened as I saw Matt running towards me.

"Matt?" Without another word, Matt quickly tackled me and we both fell into the pool. As we came up above the water, I could hear Dad cackling from the patio.

"Oh, man," Dad said between laughs. "I wish I had that on camera!"

"It's not funny, Dad!"

"It sure as hell is! You should've seen your face!"

"Yeah? Well, you should see your face because I need a new phone now!" Dad fell silent.

"You're right, that wasn't funny. What the hell, Matt?"

"I'm sorry, Michael, I just couldn't contain myself." Matt smiled.

"Matt, what is going on?" I asked.

"You won't believe who stopped by my house."

"Who?"

"My father!"

"No shit?" I asked, playing dumb. "What did he want?"

"Your talk fucking worked! He came over and apologized for everything! And, on top of that, he's paying for Mom's lawyer, plane ticket, and her medical bills!"

"Seriously?" I smiled.

"Yeah, and that's not all! He's giving me five million dollars!"

"WHAT?" Dad and I exclaimed in unison.

"Yeah, he said it's what he owes me for not being a part of my life all these years. Apparently, he's worth over a hundred million as it is."

"Matt, that's fantastic! Congratulations!" I smiled.

"It's all thanks to you, Chels! I never have to work again in my life! I could kiss you!" Matt paused. "What the hell?" Matt quickly wrapped his arms around me and kissed me, earning a giggle from me.

"Ah, come on, I didn't need to see that," Dad groaned. Matt pulled away from me and smiled, only to hug me once more.

"Thank you so much, Chels, you don't have any idea how much this means to me. I love you so fucking much!" The back yard fell awkwardly silent.

"Oh, jeez, that's the door bell," Dad cleared his throat. "I'm, uh...I'm just gonna go and, uh...take care of that." Dad slowly backed his way into the house and out of sight.

"Chels, I—I love you."

"Matt..." I sighed.

"I-Is there something wrong?"