Once again, Mathew caught Jessica drinking another Budweiser. He shook his head as he laid his blazer down on the stool.
He opened another beer as well and took his seat next to her.
No words were exchanged between the two. Yet, it seemed that a million words had already been exchanged.
“…There was a new girl at work,” Jessica admitted.
“Is that so…”
“She just moved from Bluewater.”
“So, she must have a lot of experience.”
“She does. She’s so smart…She has a master’s in what she does…And, the interesting part is that she grew up in Desiderata.”
“Oh?”
“And, I thought you’d know her since you two come from the same place…”
“Maybe I do.”
“What’s even more interesting is that she went to your same high school.”
That sparked his interest. He glanced at her. “Really?”
“But, she has to be younger than the both of us.”
“Oh.”
Jessica drank some more. “Well, want some pizza? I’m too lazy to cook.”
“Sure. Hawaiian pizza.”
“I hate Hawaiian. Let’s get the Supreme one.”
“But, I want something sweet.”
Jessica annoyingly sighed. “No way. I’m pregnant, so I should get what I want.”
At the mini-mart, Mathew was once again ordering his roast beef. The girl—Susie—smiled.
“Mathew, you always have the same thing,” she admitted while adding the extra squirt of mustard.
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t get any better than that.” He accepted the sandwich a few moments later and headed out. As he was heading out, someone was heading in: a dark haired, blue eyed, young woman. Her height matched his astounding six feet and her scent smelled like the new collection from Dior.
She was good looking; but the way she dressed led way to the fact that she must’ve been some corporate drone or saleswoman of some sort.
They passed each other a look and she flicked a smile at him. The ironic part of her smile was that she had a piercing on her lip and it was draped in the red lipstick of Cover Girl.
She made way for the chips’ aisle, and he shot her another look. And, she deserved it. There were barely enough good-looking young women in Pleasantview.
Almost each morning, around six in the morning, Mathew would go to Pleasantview High to walk around the track with a few of his friends: John Burb and Lance Fitzroy.
“How’s Jessica doing?” John asked.
“…She’s fine.”
Lance nodded. “Tell her to lay off the booze. At work, I caught her stealing some Bud Light.” He took a glance towards the tennis courts. “Hey, that’s new.”
The other two men looked towards where he was looking.
The jutting machine was spitting out tennis balls to someone who hit them with a strong speed.
“She has nice skin,” John admitted.
His friends looked at him.
“When you’ve been married this long with two daughters, it’s pretty much impossible to not judge a woman by her appearance. And, I’m saying she’s got to be late twenties with a nice body to top it off.”
“Honestly, I can’t believe this guy still lives with his wife and says she is the only one who will turn him on.”
As they trekked closer to the tennis courts, the woman turned around to wipe off some sweat and get some water. Mathew instantly recognized her as the good-looking lady from the mini-mart.
“She’s a new face,” Lance admitted. “I haven’t seen her around.”
“Jess says you got a new employee.”
“But the new girl at work is…isn’t good looking.” Lance took in another eyeful of the tennis girl. “I wonder who she is…”
“I met her at the mini-mart last night.”
“I bet she’s single,” Lance admitted. “Only single women get things from a mini-mart.”
“That’s terrible logic.” John nodded more to himself than to his friends.
As they passed the tennis court, the woman stopped hitting and quickly joined in walking. She trotted behind them.
“She’s following us,” John whispered.
“She’s just having a walk. Cooling off,” Lance replied.
Suddenly, the girl was right next to Mathew, and he was surprised.
“Excuse me, you look familiar,” she admitted.
“M-me?” Mathew asked.
She looked at him, curiosity in her eyes. “N-no. You, sir. Aren’t you Lance Fitzroy?”
“Uh, yeah.”
She smiled, the piercing she had glistening with her smile. “Do you remember me? We were in Harrison’s English major at Browne’s Academy! I lived two houses down from you!”
A confused look lined Lance’s brow.
“I’m Emily Hessen’s sister, Olivia!”
Lance’s brow raised. “Oh my god…” he whispered. “Olivia? Olivia!”
They hugged as if they hadn’t seen each other in a long time…well, they hadn’t seen each other in a long time.
“Guys, this is Olivia Hessen; an old friend. We took the same class together in college.”
“You guys were neighbors?” Mathew asked. “You’re from Desiderata Valley?”
“You too?” Olivia asked.
“Y-yeah!”
“Oh goodie,” John sighed. “It’s a reunion…”
“Does that mean you went to Desiderata Valley High?”
“Of course. I mean, everyone did…”
An old spark of curiosity emerged from Mathew’s gut. Could she have been the one? Her appearance seemed just like that freshman in his old art class… “W-what year did you graduate?”
“Hey, Mat, that seems a little too personal,” John admitted.
“I graduated in 2000.” The way she said it was very nonchalant.
With quick addition, Mathew instantly knew that she graduated the same year as that freshman from so many years ago.
“How about you?”
“Ninety-six,” Mathew admitted.
A ponderous look came onto her face. “My sister graduated in ninety six.”
How could Jessica tell him? It had been bothering her from the day she found out. She wanted to tell him, but if she did, she would jeopardize everything. No, she couldn’t tell him at all.
She couldn’t tell him that she had been taking out large sums of money from their savings. For what reason? Personal reasons. Such as her gambling fee and her drinking fee.
She looked at her flat stomach. Years ago, she would’ve been ecstatic to know that her womb was sprouting. But, she knew that she couldn’t say no to her pleasures…to her carnal desires.
She was an earthy girl—meaning, she loved the things that were worldly.
She couldn’t help but follow her friends every time they asked her to go to Downtown Bluewater. She couldn’t help but say yes every time they asked her to go to an office party.
And, she couldn’t understand why Mathew wasn’t the same as she was: a party-person. At first, when they had started dating, he was totally into partying and everything…well, that was in college…
But, he shouldn’t have changed that much. Actually, he could’ve. Look at her—years ago, she would’ve been ecstatic to have this baby and all; now, she already wanted it out.
When she had first found out about her first miscarriage, she was ready to die. And, she almost did it—if she hadn’t met Mortimer Goth. He saved her—and even offered her a job.
Good. She was already about to quit the other one because it was too demanding.
On her second miscarriage, she wasn’t as devastated—but, she was still pretty devastated. By the third one, it seemed that she had labeled herself as reckless and thought that it was better off to expect a miscarriage whenever she got pregnant.
It was around during this time that she had the miscarriages…So, she wondered how she was still pregnant.
And, it kind of scared her to realize t hat she was still pregnant. Actually, she wanted this one to be a miscarriage; she actually began to pray for it to be one.
Because, she was very unsure of whom the actual father was.
“I still can’t believe that that was Olivia…” Lance reminisced. “God, she’s still the same! And, I thought that Julien Cooke had remained the same!”
Before leaving, Lance and Olivia caught up to catch up on personal things. They had about ten minutes before Lance promised to see her again.
“She’s a teacher.” Lance got into the car with John and Mathew. “She’s actually teaching at Pleasantview High. She’s an AP English Literature teacher.”
A memory crossed Mathew’s eyes.
“She just got transferred from Veronaville; actually, they said she was promoted. She was teaching at The Capp Private Institute. Isn’t that one of the really genius schools?”
John nodded. “Number three in the country’s top ten.”
“Yeah, anyways, she said that she transferred colleges to VSC for her last years. I knew she was smart; I didn’t know that she was that smart. If I knew, I should’ve dated her then, instead of fantasizing about her sister Emily.” Lance smiled. “God, Olivia Hessen.”
Mathew stared out the window. All the clues matched up—so, was she really the one? Was she really that freshman from so long ago?
“You’ve been pretty quiet, Mathew…Something wrong?” John noted.
“No, nothing.”
“Hey, let’s get dinner together, guys. Maybe I’ll invite Olivia and you should bring your families.”
“…Are you trying to hook up with Olivia, Lance?”
“Well, she is a smart woman, and that’s a turn on for me.”
Mathew looked at him. “I never knew that you were interested in deep conversations and AP English…”
“Well, that’s why I majored in English. And, she also has a pretty face. But, damn, I don’t remember her being that pretty in college…I even think she had a bad case of acne…”
“People change,” John admitted as he turned a corner and parked in front of Lance’s company. “And, they continue to change. Nothing remains the same.”
Lance grabbed his bags. “Yeah, I guess…So, are we on for tonight?”
“I don’t know…”
“I think Jess has something to eat already.”
“Well, if we’re on, just call me. See you later.” Lance shut the door and walked inside.
John looked at Mathew. “He’s still a little kid. I don’t even know why I hang out with you guys…”
Mathew laughed. “Well, try finding two guys like us, and then we’ll talk.”
During lunch break, John decided that they should all go out for dinner; it seemed like a good idea. Plus, when was the last time that Jennifer got out of the house?
But, Mathew wasn’t exactly as happy about going. “It seems like a really bad idea. Plus, that girl…well…”
John smirked. “Something wrong about her?”
“I-I feel kind of uncomfortable around her.”
A text message came for John. After reading it, he didn’t reply but closed his phone. He sighed and placed his folded hands on the table. “…Well, I guess then there’s no dinner.”
“Huh?”
“Lance tried calling this Olivia and she said that she would be too busy grading papers or something like that.”
“…I guess that’s too bad.”
“It is. Now, I’m the one who has to do the dishes after dinner. God, and there’s a game tonight…”
“Have Lucy do them. Or Amber.”
“Lucky me, Lucy has a piano practice and Amber has soccer practice.”
Mathew chuckled. “That’s what you get for wanting Amber to be athletic and Lucy to be musical.”
“Mat, when you have kids, you’ll understand. I want what’s best for them.”
Mathew wasn’t a stranger to this talk. “I know, I know.” He heard it ever since he got married—but it started getting more frequent and frequent the last couple of years.
“Trust me, though, it’ll be worth it when you see them succeed.” John smiled. “I think you’re going to be a good family man…You just look like it.”
“Thanks.”
As John drifted onto what was going on in cubicle six and cubicle twenty-nine, Mathew kept thinking about the unborn child that Jessica was having. Was it really going to prove that he was a great family man? Just the thought of being a father completely scared him. What if he wasn’t a good father? What if the baby didn’t like him, or worse, what if the baby blamed his troubles on Mathew? Like what he did with his own father?
It was not a secret that Mathew had been raised in a tough, military like, broken home. After the birth of his youngest brother—Jared—his mother was quick to leave the family. From what he heard from his grandparents, his mother and father always seemed to hate each other. It was kind of a wonder how they stayed together until Mathew was seven, and Mathew’s oldest sister—Joanne—was twelve. They had been together for nearly fifteen years before heading their separate ways—in all, they had four children.
His father was a marine, and he raised his children with an iron fist. Their mother was the one to leave, so she left them with him. She didn’t come back until Joanne got married—which was only about seven years ago.
When Mathew first saw her, he didn’t even believe that she was his mother. And, he hated her for it. But, more than ever, he hated his father for it. He understood why his mother left—it was because of his father. He blamed his father for keeping his mother away, and that’s probably why he hasn’t even called his father after Joanne’s wedding.
Now, as he realized it, what if he became his father and his child would isolate him like what he was doing to his father?
For some odd reason, he wanted to hear his father’s voice…to at least hear his opinion about his child, or maybe for some advice on how to change diapers…
After placing his order of his usual roast beef, Mathew couldn’t help but notice the guy that was sitting at table five. The guy just stared at Susie, like she was a TV or something.
The guy was Dirk Dreamer, if Mathew remembered correctly. He lived almost next door to Dirk, and he instantly remembered the problems that the family was having. Yes, John was complaining about the Dreamer family—since his wife was Darren Dreamer’s wife’s best friend.
Deciding on not caring, he walked to the chips’ section. Everyday—ever since he decided that the roast beef sandwich at the mini mart was worth whatever the price was—he had chosen potato chips to accommodate that…well, sour cream and onion potato chips.
Reaching out for the chips, his hand grabbed the same bag that a slightly tanned hand with red lacquered nail polish had reached for.
He looked at the owner of the hand, and his heart nearly stopped. “M-Miss Hessen!”
“Oh, hello.” She smiled. “It’s you…” She must’ve forgotten his name, and her forgetfulness was well written on her face.
“I-it’s Mathew. Mathew Picaso…I-I was with Lance this morning.”
“Oh! Oh, Mr. Picaso! I’m sorry…It’s been a long day and I just want to get home with my dinner.”
“So, you like this mini mart? I thought I saw you yesterday…”
“Yep, I just discovered its wonders yesterday. Before this, I had to go to that super expensive restaurant on Main Street.”
“That place is a rip off. Well, all the places on Main Street are a rip off…” He smiled when she put the sour cream and onion in her basket. “You like that?”
“I sure do.”
Susie called out for roast beef.
To his surprise, Olivia followed him. “Roast beef as well?” he asked.
She blushed. “Is something wrong with beef?”
“No, no, it’s just that, you like the same things as I do…”
“…Then, don’t tell me you also got a Sprite?”
“I would’ve of.” He reached into his basket and pulled out a Bud Light. “If I didn’t have this.”
“Touché. I would’ve gotten Bud Light if I didn’t have classes tomorrow…” She turned to Susie. “So, is this one mine or his?”
“His.” She handed the first sandwich to Mathew. “And, luckily, I just finished yours as well, Miss Hessen.” She handed her the sandwich. “See you tomorrow, Miss Hessen.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow morning.”
Mathew followed her outside. “One of your students, I’m thinking.”
“Yep, smart one too. She’s accepted into VSC.”
“…Aren’t you from VSC?”
“Yep, so you know it’s a good school. It’s great for everything—I, though, especially like their medical program. I’m thinking that Sunsanee is going for the medical program.”
“Wow, that’s a hard name…”
“What? Sunsanee?” She kept repeating it. “There’s nothing hard about it. People just assume that it’s hard, because there are too many letters. Actually, it’s not hard at all.”
“…Did Lance call?”
“Yeah. About dinner.”
“So, you didn’t want to go?”
“I’m a teacher…An AP and an honors teacher. I really don’t have time for myself, and I barely eat dinner.” As she said so, she pulled up her sandwich. “So, I don’t think I can go out and have a casual dinner with friends.”
“But, you should go. Sometime. It would be good—Lance is just trying to be friendly and introduce you to some friends.”
“I appreciate that he’s doing this. Maybe, over some break—oh, Thanksgiving break is coming up, so maybe then.” She sighed. “It’s kind of hard to face Lance, because he’s always been interested in my sister, Emily. It brings back…interesting memories.”
Mathew nodded. He couldn’t exactly agree, but he did see Emily Hessen a few times back, and she was one who looked like could be the start of interesting memories. “Well, at least you don’t have Lance. Hey, I’m here. I know where you’ve come from, and I probably know more than Lance anyways. We could be friends.”
“What are you saying?”
“What?”
“Aren’t you and I already friends?”
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