Shampoo (53 page)

“
Including resist.
That’s so fucking hot.”

“
Matt!”

“
What?”

“
I don’t know! This
naughty side of you…” I trailed off.

“
Is it making you
hot?”

“
Yes!”

“
Karina…”

“
Matt?”

“
I want
you.”

I couldn’t speak then. But I
stayed in his arms looking up at him.

“
I’ve brought your
presents,” he said, as a change of topic.

“
Ooh, I’ve got yours
too.”

“
Should we open them
then?”

We unwrapped them sitting on my
bed. First of all, I unwrapped the most perfectly wrapped
present

(“Your mum wrapped these, didn’t
she?” I asked, to Matt’s laughter),

and it was the ‘How Stella Got Her
Groove Back’ cd soundtrack, which he knows I’ve been dying for,
since we went to the movies and saw it. Every time he gets in the
car with me, I go, “Fuck I wish I had the ‘How Stella Got Her
Groove Back’ cd.”

(I seriously do)

I was stoked with that present
alone, but there was more.

A beautiful pink frame and pen,
THEN I looked in the gift bag and saw a love heart box at the
bottom

(cue hives)

and I just died. It was a
beautiful heart necklace with pink stones.

Oh God, I love it so
much.

I hugged him. He hugged me back.
Still, we didn’t kiss.

I gave him his present, which I
was really nervous about, cause I drove myself absolutely batty
trying to find him the perfect present, last-minute
shopping.

I didn’t even shop for Evvy, but
for Matt I spent hours ducking in and out of shops and pulling my
hair out.

It’s either really, really
brilliant, or the Worst Present Ever.

I couldn’t tell by Matt’s
reaction.

It’s a giant piece of metal wall
art, shaped as a fish.

(Matt is obsessed with
fishing)

I thought when he gets his own
place, he could have it in a man cave area.

“
You hate it,” I
surmised, looking at his face. I really couldn’t tell
though.

“
No, I love it,” he
grinned.

(damn it, I still can’t
tell)

So then the day was FULL –
Christmas morning at Cruz’s, and breakfast with Cruz, Maria and
Dad…then I drove Matt and I up to Nanna and Grandpa’s

(listening to Stella the whole
way),

and we had Christmas Day
there.

Uncle Terry and all the kids were
there, and Keith and Denise and my other two cousins.

Uncle Keith wanted to know if I
was robbing banks.

(cause of my VN)

I drank all day.

(it is an Almeroth Christmas after
all)

Matt drove us back to Cruz’s in
the late arvo, cause that’s what we always do on Christmas – start
at Cruz’s, day at Nanna’s, and finish at Cruz’s.

Normally we’re all so full and hot
we can’t move, we just sit around, groaning. That’s what happened
this Christmas, too.

(on ya, Aussie Christmas!! Always
too fucking hot to deal)

Sparks flew between Matt and I,
every time we touched.

SIGH.

Still, Matt crashed on my couch
Christmas night and I slept in my bed.

Boxing Day I had to be up early,
and say goodbye to Matt

(sigh. I hate that I want to be
near him at all times now. I mean, that just kind of snuck up on me
and happened!!),

and pick Jules up, and we drove
down the coast.

(finally, my beloved Gold
Coast!)

We went shopping at Pac Fair, then
frolicked in the surf and sunbaked at Miami.

(I love Miami, like I love
Surfers, Mermaid Beach, Broadbeach, Labrador, Kirra…)

Julia rang Lachie from the beach
on her mobile, and I was dying to know WHAT THE FUCK, but, again,
my politeness stopped me.

I was under the assumption what
happened with Jules and Lach was a one off, but she spoke to him,
AND CALLED HIM, like he was a BOYFRIEND.

Jules handed me the phone to speak
to him, so I had a quick chat, thinking Lach was MY friend!! Not
Julia’s!!

Not sure how I feel about Jules
and him being so buddy-buddy.

All was forgotten as Jules and I
did our usual all you can eat contest with pizza that we always
do.

(we tied at 8 pieces
each)

While we were at Pizza Hut at
Miami, Matt rang on Julia’s phone, asking for me, and my heart
leapt

(Jules pretended her pizza was
Matt, and made kissy faces at it),

and Matt informed me to, “Stay
put! We’re almost down there. We’ll meet you at the beach at
Phillips Park.”

So Jules and I drove to Phillips
Park, after stuffing the last of the pizza in our faces and gulping
the jug of Coke. They hadn’t arrived yet, so Jules and I plonked
down in the sand to wait for them.

Matt arrived with his friend
Andrew (Freddie Prinze Jnr’s twin) and Gemma and their friend
Jaime, all whom I’d met a few times now, but Julia hadn’t met any
of them yet.

I had spent ALL DAY trying to
convince Jules and myself

(more myself)

that I don’t want a relationship,
Matt needs to give me my freedom, blah blah, any other excuse I
could think off…

Then Jules took one
look at my face when I’d spotted Matt and went, “Oh SURE, K. You
have so fallen for him.”

I tried to deny it. “What?
What!!”

“
It is ALL over your
face.”

“
Funny. That’s what
Matt says, too.”

She laughed. “You are in so much
trouble here.”

I am, aren’t I????

So all of us frolicked in the
water, and I stole Matt’s bogey board and insisted Julia drag me
around on it.

(was SO FUN!!)

By 4pm, dark storm clouds were
rolling in from out at sea

(it was totally gorgeous, the air
change as the storm rolled in…I love being down the coast for
storms. It’s magical),

and since we WEREN’T staying down
there, it became a mad dash to get back to Brisbane before the
storm hit.

I dropped Jules off

(since she wanted to pretty up.
She’s already STUNNING, so I don’t know what she was talking
about)

then madly drove home, got
showered and prettied up myself

(but I need to),

just as Jules, Matt, Andrew and
Gemma rocked up at mine.

We’d planned on going to the
Speedway, but the storm broke and it was absolutely pissing
down.

Dicey Riley’s at Garden City it
was, and I offered to drive so Matt could drink with his
mates

(see?? See Everard!! World’s Best
Girlfriend here)

…
plus I just really
wanted to drive Matt’s Commodore and saw my opportunity.

Andrew was impressed with my
flooring skills.

(Matt’s just used to it now. He
doesn’t even blink)

“
This is fucking crazy.
Especially in the rain! I’ve never seen a girl BE such a hoon
before,” while his girlfriend screamed and Julia found Jesus and
started praying.

“
Karina fucking floors
it everywhere,” was Matt’s calm response. “Why let a little MONSOON
stop you, hey babe?”

I laughed madly while I drove
madly.

“
This car’s got so much
more guts than mine,” I declared, slowing down in the pretence of
calm, then roaring off again to much squeals and laughs. “I FUCKING
LOVE IT!!” I screamed. “I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!”

I go a bit crazy behind the wheel
of a Commodore. I don’t know if you’ve noticed.

Sure doesn’t happen in my sister’s
Festiva. You just can’t do anything cool with that car.

(and you know, Diary, how many
times I crashed her Honda Civic. Day I got my license.
Crash!!)

So they all drank at Dicey’s, then
we saw the 7.30pm session of ‘Little Nicky’ and AARGH!!!! Matt just
smelled so fucking good next to me, I just wanted to SIT on
him.

He leaned in real close to
me

(and I died…you know what? I die a
lot around Matt),

and held his hand out.

I pretended to have no idea what
he was on about, but I knew. “What?” I asked innocently.

“
Give me your hand,
Karina.”

“
What??
Ahhh…”

“
Karina.” God, his eyes
burned into me. “Give me your hand.”

Ugh. I hate how he’s gotten all
authorative and sexy on me. Makes it so much harder to
resist.

I could feel it coming off him in
waves – he was done with the nice guy, sensitive of my

(fucked upness)

issues routine.

He was moving in and getting all
bossy and taking over.

(hot!)

Damn it!

Matt’s hand was still out. He was
still giving me those eye burns. I gave in

(after scratching my
neck)

–
I put my hand in
his.

Julia, Andrew and Gemma all
cheered.

Gee, is everyone in on
this??

After feeling myself flip out at
holding his hand

(what am I gonna be like when it
gets to the hold his penis stage!!!!!!!!!),

I soon relaxed and found it pure
heaven. I wanted more. I wanted more of him.

I gripped his hand tighter. Matt
looked down at me. “You okay there?”

I stared into his eyes. I couldn’t
speak.

He leaned in, even closer, and
leant his forehead against mine. “It’ll be okay, Karina. I
promise.”

Oh God. I love him.

After the movie, we headed to Lone
Star at Springwood, and had a delicious meal there.

I can’t believe I was so wrong
about Gemma.

(ages ago, when Matt brought her
as his date to the Opening Night…wait, did Matt do that to make me
jealous??? Must ask him)

She’s so lovely and
fun.

Jules and I stuck together like
glue, giggling over everything together, doing our usual go off at
random moments together to laugh about something.

When Jules and I are together,
it’s just us. We’re in our own goofy world together.

I LOVE HER!!!

After dinner, I drove us all back
to Matt’s. His family had already left for their annual holiday, so
we had the house (mansion) to ourselves.

We played cards and drank. We
played this drinking game Andrew invented where every time you
lost, you had to take a shot.

I lost severely.

Matt had his chair pulled almost
right behind me, and he was leaning over my shoulder, helping me
play

(obviously not very
well!),

and touching me, my hair,
constantly.

I knew I was gone then. Not drunk
gone

(although I was),

but LOVE GONE.

My defences were down.

Matt is so affectionate and
loving. Everything I’ve always wanted.

Everything I’ve wanted Evvy to be
for so long.

I’m terrified of being someone’s
girlfriend again, terrified of being HIS girlfriend. And not out of
fear of him, but fear of how into this we both are.

It’s all romance and rainbows at
the beginning.

But never at the end.

At 4am, Matt finally announced,
“That’s it, I’m going to bed.” He stood up and held out his hand.
“Karina, you’re coming with me.”

“
I am?” I squeaked. I’d
hoped I wasn’t sleeping in the den again, PRAYED to be in bed with
Matt, but now the time was here, I could feel the hives
again.

(hurts to scratch with the
permanent sunburn I have)

Matt pulled me out of my seat, and
dragged/carried me upstairs. I just FELL into his bed, I was so
exhausted by this time.

Matt fell onto me, and wrapped me
in his arms.

I JUST DIED.

“
Matt?”

“
Hmm?” My back was to
him and he had his arms around me.

“
I love being in your
arms.”