“We’ve been given a second chance.”

- The Best of Me, coming to theaters this Friday

Chapter 4

Talia Walker

I met him for the next seven nights.

He was extraordinarily weird. Instead of just talking by the river, he brought me to ice cream shops and Brazilian restaurants to taste bizarre food. Sometimes he would grab my hand while we walked together and he kissed my cheek before leaving every night. It proved to me how much of a gentleman he truly was, anyone else would have asked for more.

Thankfully, our daily excursions tired down my family enough so that they collapsed in bed. I snuck out every night, taking notes of the time they fell asleep. Laura once caught me sneaking back in, but I had been ready for a moment like that. I told her I was craving candy and I went downstairs to the lobby, wanting to buy some from the vending machine. Laura’s only response was a complaint about how I forgot her and she fell back asleep, hand on her stomach.

“Let’s play a game,” declared Matthew on our ninth night spent in each other’s company. We were sitting on the roof of the hotel, eating pizza.

I chewed on my slice, waiting for him to continue. A napkin had been tucked in my collar by Matthew, because to him, I was a walking, talking klutz. Maybe it was because at the ice cream shop, I dropped my ice cream cone on my shirt, or when we ate spaghetti, my white shirt ended up looking like it had its own menstruations, in form of tomato sauce.

“Two truths, one lie,” he said, taking a sip of his drink.

Familiar with it due to Youtubers, I said: “You start. What does the winner get?”

“The last slice,” he said, pointing to the beautiful cheese covered pizza.

“Deal.”

He cleared his throat, “I played a small role in Harry Potter. I can play the guitar. I have a crush on you.”

There was another thing about him; he subtly told me that he liked me every night. I never really answered back, just teasing him or telling him a joke. He didn’t seem to mind, but his words festered uncomfortably in my mind.

Did I like him?

“You can’t play the guitar, that’s for sure,” I said, laughing at the memory of him trying to play the ukulele. The store owner kicked him out for his horrible playing. The Harry Potter one was true, he told me about that a few nights ago.

Matthew stared at me with longing and shook his head, “Alright. Your turn.”

“I hate olives. My sister once broke my leg when I was six. I prefer Italian to English.”

He pondered thoughtfully, “The second one’s a lie. Your sister isn’t a devil.”

“The second one was true,” I replied. “She had a little kid’s car and I was sleeping, so by accident, she ran over me.”

His mouth fell, “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I confirmed. “The lie was that I hated olives. ”

“That’s true! You ordered half of the pizza to have olives on it!” he cried out, looking defeated. “My turn. I secretly jam out to One Direction sometimes. I’ve been dying to kiss you for the past week. My favorite subject is arts.”

I did like him.

“The lie is arts! You are a horrible artist!” I shouted, feeling triumph. He wanted to kiss me, he told me that when we were in the river.

He smiled and shook his shoulders as if to say: you’re right! Again!

“I’m ending the game right now,” he proclaimed, “You’re too good for me.”

I laughed and grabbed the last pizza slice, staring at it, contemplating. Deciding on what I should do, I split it in two and gave Matthew the other half.

He gaped, “Oh my God. You gave me your food.”

“Don’t make a big deal about it,” I sighed, taking a bite of the last piece of deliciousness.

“You gave me your food!” he repeated, looking at the pizza and back at me. Surprise was etched all over his features; he looked like a jovial little kid.

“I did,” I smiled.

He leaned over the box of pizza and gave me a kiss on my cheek. Thank God it was dark so that he couldn’t see the way I was madly blushing. I was used to his cheek kisses, but every single time, I turned into a tomato.

“You kiss me because of pizza?” I asked, washing down the taste of the pizza with Seven Up. I wiped my mouth with the napkin on my collar and took it off. Laying on my back, the pillows Matthew brought made me comfortable.

He soon joined me and we looked up at the stars. “I would take any opportunity to kiss you, or your cheek.”

I stayed silent and enjoyed the view above. The sky was clear, except for a few stars, lighting up the sky. The moon was half full, taking on the full job of providing night light.

“Talia?”

“Yeah?”

“I like you a lot.”

I smiled, “I know.”

“Matt?” I said this time, gathering my courage in two hands.

“Hm?”

“I like you a lot too, you doofus.”

“What does doofus mean?” he asked, puzzled.

I switched my position and leaned on the pillows with my elbows, watching Matthew. “It means that you’re a cute idiot.”

“I can deal with that, doofus,” he replied, sporting a euphoric expression on his face.

Contrary to what I thought would happen, I was the one to lean down and kiss him. He smiled into the kiss, obliging. My hair was falling on his face, but I hoped he didn’t care.

This was unlike any other kiss I had gotten, this made me genuinely happy. Celebrations were making my heartbeat explode, I momentarily forgot how to breathe and the only feel in my body was the one where Matthew’s lips were.

I pulled away, “Are you disappointed that you lost the power over the first kiss?”

“I’ll be okay,” he mumbled, grabbing my face close for another kiss.

I wanted the moment to last forever.

“Talia?!” cried out a voice I knew too well.

Apparently, Fate had other plans.

I broke away form Matthew and sat up, eyes widening at the person in front of me. Wrinkles of fatigue were sprawled against her features, but the disappointment and anger she held in her eyes frightened me to a point of no return. Her blonde hair was messily falling onto her shoulders, like she had just woken up.

“Talia? Oh my God, it’s you,” she gasped, putting a hand on her mouth.

There was shuffled behind me, but I couldn’t move. It felt like my feet had been hammered to the ground with shame.

“That’s what you’ve been doing,” she said, almost to herself.

Matthew appeared next to me, “Laura, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

“You know my name? How much time have you two spent with each other? Oh God, I don’t even want to know! Did you have sex? You probably did!”

“Laura!” I chimed in, “Stop it! We didn’t do anything.”

“Leave,” she said, gritting her teeth. “I don’t know what your name is, but if you don’t get out of my sight, I will murder you.”

Matthew gave me a look and I fervently nodded. He rushed away, leaving the pillows and two sisters to speak for the first time in a week.

“Let me explain,” I started, holding up a hand.

“Explain what exactly?” she yelled, taking a step towards me. “The fact that you’ve been sneaking out on the family vacation to meet some foreign boy? The fact that you’ve been lying to all of us, especially me? I thought we were closer than that!”

“We are! Laura, I swear, we are! You’ve just been moody and hormonal and I just didn’t want to add a burden to yours.”

She kept her gaze onto me and I could feel the fury fading away. “You should have told me. You’re more than my sister; you’re supposed to be my friend!”

A pang hit my chest at her words. It was veracity to say that I hadn’t been a very good sister to her lately. She was clearly going through a tough time, with Carlo and the baby. Being hurt by someone you loved hurt more than anything in the world.

She put her hands over her head, as if to block a headache out. She walked towards me and sat on the pillows, hugging her watermelon of a stomach.

“Laura?” I sat next to her, hearing sniffles.

She refused to look at me but directed her eyes to beyond the hotel. There was a distant look in her eyes, as if she had lost an irreplaceable of herself. For the first time in a while, I saw my own sister break down. Tears fell down her face endlessly and she let out sobs hard enough to break my heart over and over again.

“What happened?” I questioned softly, aware that this wasn’t about me or Matthew anymore.

“Carlo. He wants a divorce.”

She glanced down at her wedding ring and cried even harder, soaking her pajamas with tears. I felt my heart clench in anger at her husband and at sadness for her.

If only he knew how much she loved him.

Two sisters sat together at 1 am, as one cried for loss of love and the other played the role of the older sister for once.