Chapter Two

You walked up to the café that you and Matt had agreed to meet at. You felt butterflies in your stomach when you saw that he was already sitting at one of the tables in front of the café, reading something on his phone. Then you mentally shook yourself. This is Matt, you idiot. He's just a friend.

When he looked up and saw you, he smiled and his green eyes lit up. He hugged you, and you felt yourself stiffen at the physical contact. He didn't seem to notice.

"I haven't seen you in months!" He said.

"I'm really sorry, I just-"

"Shh, it's fine. I'm just happy to see you," he said, pulling back from you to look into your eyes.

"Are you ok?" He asked quietly all of a sudden, concern in his eyes. You realized your eyes had filled with tears.

"Yeah. Fine! Just... allergies." You lied, shaking your head slightly as if to clear it and smiling.

Matt gave you a funny look before his face cleared and you both sat down.

"How have you been?" He asked, and you shrugged.

"Fine."

"I haven't heard anything from you. Have you been working or-"

"I've been working." You interrupted. You didn't want him to know about your boyfriend (well, you thought he was your ex, by now) or the way that he'd been abusing you. It was over now.

"Right."

A waitress came over to take you order at that point (thank GOD), interrupting the awkward moment.

Once the waitress had gone back inside the café, you asked Matt what he'd been doing lately. He told you about his latest project, and that kept him talking until your food arrived, with you asking occasional questions. It sounded like it would be a good movie, you thought vaguely. Maybe you could go out and see it. You suddenly smiled when you realized that you were able to do pretty much whatever you wanted now. You could actually HAVE your money when you earned it, instead of your boyfriend taking all of it for himself. You could leave the house whenever you wanted. Once you HAD one.

You realized that you didn't have a place to live anymore.

Oh well, you could look at apartments later. For now, your job payed well enough that you could stay in a hotel for a few days.

Before you knew it, both of you had finished your lunches. You were thinking about going back to your hotel, but Matt suggested that you go for a walk, and you found yourself agreeing.

It was a lovely Sunday afternoon, and as you were walking through the park with Matt you felt so free and happy for the first time in months. You started giggling and then couldn't stop. Matt shook his head, looking at you and smiling.

The afternoon was over too quickly.

Once you were about a block away from your hotel, Matt broke the pleasant silence that you had walked in for a few minutes.

"Can we do this again?"

You shrugged and smiled. "I don't see why not."

A light breeze blew a strand of hair in your face. Matt moved to brush it out of your face, and you flinched.

Matt's eyes were once again filled with concern as he said your name, almost like a question.

"Are you ok?"

You closed your eyes and took deep breaths. You had to think of an excuse. Fast.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." You responded slightly aggressively.

He looked at you sideways. "It looked like you just-" he lifted one of his hands suddenly and then stopped it in midair.

"...flinched." He dropped his hand and closed his eyes for a second after you cringed away from the sudden movement.

The wind seemed to decide at that moment that it wanted to cause as much trouble as possible, because next there was a strong gust of wind that managed to push one of your long sleeves part of the way up your arm, revealing three very obvious bruises.

You tried to pull your sleeve back down to cover your arm. Maybe he won't notice and I can just brush over this... You think desperately.

You hear a sharp intake of breath from Matt.

Shit.

You shake your head, not looking up at Matt's face, and run all the way to your hotel.

You don't hear him following you, so it's a bit of a shock when you get up to your room and he walks up to you while you're fishing around in your pocket for your room key.

Where is it?

"Are you looking for this?" Matt gives you your room key. "It fell out of your pocket the second time you... jumped."

You close your eyes, shaking your head. "I think you should come in."