"I am dressed up because I am not going to let you have a boring Valentine's Day at my stupid meet. You really thought we were just going home and that's it? Give me a little credit here Sydney." I roll my eyes and Matt reaches his hand out to help me up. I take it and he pulls me up, automatically pulling me to his chest.

"Lily did say you were a hopeless romantic," I tease and now it is Matt's turn to roll his eyes at me.

"Yeah yeah whatever, let's cut through the old gym. My car is parked right outside the door there." He pulls me toward the small little old gym. I have seen it once or twice, it's old mostly and filled with supplies. The football team likes to hang out in here before practice and games because there is a door to the boy's locker room. I follow him as he pushes the door open to the dark gym which oddly enough smells really good.

"It's so dark, I am scared to trip," I tell Matt trying to feel around so I don't fall over anything. I am walking in front of him but he has a pretty firm grip on my waist so I know at least if I go down he will catch me.

He lets go and I stop walking and turn around in the dark scared of getting lost. "Ok wait, let me flick the lights on, one second." I hear him walk a little before he flicks the light switch. Instead of gym equipment all over the room there are fairy lights and rose petals. I turn away from Matt and take in the entire room decorated like a scene right out of a movie.

I walk to the middle of the room taking everything in as Matt stands a little to my left letting me process. "You. . . you did all this?"

"I had help," he says while reaching out for my hand. I grab his hand and move toward him, the soft lights reflecting in his beautiful hazel eyes. We stand silently in front of each other for a minute just enjoying the silence.

I finally look up at him and realize he has been watching me this entire time. "Why? We both agreed Valentine's Day is a stupid holiday."

"Because the season is over."

"Well regular season yeah, but you still have States and Nationals," I point out like he forgot. I feel like he keeps saying that but I don't get what he means.

"Barbie just shut up before I throw your desk out a window."

"I'll probably live though, there is a bush under the second floor window." We both laugh as we flash back to the first day we hung out.

Flashback (From Chapter 13)

"If we don't both get 100s tomorrow I am throwing your desk out the window."

"What! Why my desk? Also with me in it?" I crawl to the edge of the bed and look at him in horror.

"Probably with you in it. You should live though; there are bushes under the second floor windows." He rolls over and sits up so we are eye level.

"What a gentleman."

End Flashback

"That seems so long ago," he remarks, smiling fondly at the memory. "Remember our first kiss? God, I thought I had literally died and went to heaven that day."

"It was pretty epic when it comes to first kisses." I think about that roller coaster of a day literally just hours after being the first person Matt ever told about his mom, my mind still reeling for telling me I was worth letting in, and standing in the middle of his room with him in nothing but a towel.

Flashback (From Chapter 27)

I walk into the bedroom and slam into something hard and wet. I yelp as Matt grabs my upper arms, my hands gripping his wet chest.

"Sorry Barbie," Matt says looking down at me.

I don't respond immediately, swept up in his eyes. Finally I speak, asking the question burning in my mind, if I don't now I never will. "Why me?" I ask.

"What?" Matt asks, clearly confused by the question. He makes no move to let go of me and I make no move to pull away. My hands still pressed against his chest, my body against his being the only thing holding the towel around his waist up.

"You said I was worth letting in, why me?" I pry, desperate to know.

He sighs, shaking his head causing his curls to bounce a little. "I tried so hard to fight against it. I thought after that first week of school it would be easy despite how often I saw you. I figured if I kept being rude eventually you'd just hate me and it would be easy to keep you away. But then that night at the party happened and drunk Matt wasn't as strong as sober Matt. You were just so different, I want to be around you all the time."

"Different how?"

"So many girls have tried to change me, they throw themselves at me and let my rude behavior slide because they think for them I will be different. But you, you called me out, you didn't let my shit slide and you didn't throw yourself at me. You were smart, funny, relaxed, a good fighter, fuck you were like me in female form." He smiles, moving his face closer to mine. Both our breathing has picked up now.

I stand up on my tippy-toes, moving closer to his lips. My eyes dart down to them really looking at how full and soft they look. "Why didn't you stop yourself?"

He licks his lip and I unconsciously bite mine watching him. "Trust me, I tried but I couldn't stop myself."

"You couldn't?" At this point his left hand lets go of my arm and snakes around my back, pulling me closer. I push up even closer on my tippy-toes, my hands sliding up his chest to his neck. His right hand moves to my neck and we just hold eye contact, both trying to gauge the situation.

"I can't," he says before closing the distance and pressing his lips to mine.

End Flashback

"I think few things will be able to top Halloween though," I tell him.

"That handcuff trick was really hot, I even impressed myself with that one. Like come on, tell me that wasn't one of the hottest moments of your life!" Matt gives me a look and I can feel my body ignite just thinking about that night.

Flashback (From Chapter 35 - Matt's P.O.V.)

"Well prisoners who are bad must be dealt with...properly."

"How do you do that?" she asks, her hands already playing with my belt in the middle of this room full of people. I come up with a plan quickly, assuming Tom would not be pleased if we started getting undressed in the middle of the dance floor.

I slide my hand into my pocket and then use the key I put in there to undo the handcuffs without her noticing. We keep dancing, her hands still on my belt buckle when I slowly reach up and handcuff her left wrist, then her right.

She gasps as the cold metal hits her wrist but her surprise turns into excitement as she moves her handcuffed hands up my stomach under my shirt.

End Flashback

"That was hot. But I think I like sweet protective Matt better than bad boy Matt."

"How so?" he asks, tilting his head a little.

"Remember the fight at the gym, that night in the parking lot, was it for me? I could tell myself I hate you all I wanted but I was yours from that moment on."

Flashback (From Chapter 9)

"Why are you here Sydney?" He asks in a soft voice.

"You invited me." I say back quietly, my voice still a little shaky.

"I shouldn't have. This isn't a good place for you, it isn't safe." Matt looks at the empty spot again before looking at me and rubbing his neck. I can tell not yelling is new for him.

"I am sorry I distracted you, are you ok?" The cut on his head is still bleeding pretty badly. I can't help the guilt I feel knowing Matt got hurt because of me.

"I am fine. Let me walk you to your car so you can go home." He extends his arm out telling me to lead the way to my car, but instead I walk toward the gym.

End Flashback

"I am so glad I invited you to that fight," he says and I nod feeling my emotions start to get the better of me as we take this trip down memory lane.

"Me too," I manage to choke out but I quickly shut my mouth, blinking quickly to stop myself from tearing up. We have come so far and never did I think the worst summer of my life would end with me literally running into the love of my life.

Matt dips his head down and kisses me softly, his lips pressing against mine feeling like the most natural thing in the world. I can't even remember what it feels like to kiss someone who isn't Matt.

When he finally pulls away he keeps his eyes focused on me. He takes a deep breath before speaking, "You are the most important person in my life. I never, ever thought someone as amazing as you would walk into my life, but then you did. Even the days we weren't talking you were the only person I thought about. You turned my life completely upside down and I wouldn't change a single moment. From the first day of school to this very moment I wouldn't change a single thing because it ended with us here."

I feel a tear break free as Matt moves his hands to either side of my face, brushing his thumb across my cheek. "Matt," I whisper, my bottom lip quivering as he leans his forehead against mine.

"The only thing that could make life better is if you were my girlfriend, so," he pauses and kisses me again before finishing, "Sydney Elizabeth Rider, be my girlfriend?"

In all honestly I probably should have seen this coming but my dumbass didn't, so now I am standing here completely shocked. Like no duh this was the plan, he has been making comments non-stop about how it's the end of the season. Stupid Stupid Sydney. Oh God, wait he is looking at me, why is he looking at me? Shit calm down girl, just calm down! "Babe," he presses starting to look a little nervous.

An answer! Oh my God he wants an answer! "Yes!" I scream finally finding my voice again. Matt instantly picks me up in his arms and swings me around as I giggle joyfully. Matt is my boyfriend. Matthew Nicholas Dean, the school's most notorious bad boy, is my boyfriend, for real.

When Matt finally puts me down he is smiling from ear to ear. The lights are still reflecting off his hazel eyes which look brighter than they did a moment ago. The nerves he has been carrying around the last few days have turned into pure excitement as suddenly the doors burst open and all our friends come rushing it.

"I heard a yes!" Julia yells running over and tackling me into a hug.

"You heard right!" I yell back hugging her, Amanda, and Lily as the guys begin to high five Matt. "So all of you, you were all in on this?"

I look around at everyone as they all nod. Lily, Amanda, Julia, Tom, Tyler, Kyle, Blake, Cory, Kaden, Nash, and Lance all came together to make such an unlikely group. But as Tom and Nash joke about trying to hang the lights and Kyle asks Lance if he still needs a ride home I realize our unlikely group is perfect. Hopefully Matt and I dating means more moments with this group together.

"I am so happy for you both but we need to go," Tyler says, grabbing Amanda's hand. She looks at him confused but he just throws her a wink. "Matt isn't the only romantic one here."

They leave and quickly the room clears out minus Matt, Tom, Lily, and I. "I am going to die alone," Tom whines as Matt pulls me to him and I rest my head against his chest.

"Same bro, maybe I should call Seth."

"No!" we scream in unison, Matt quickly grabbing Lil's phone and deleting his contact which she has open.

Lily pouts as Matt hands her back her phone. "Alright, well you two have fun being alone, I have a girlfriend now so I am going to spend the rest of my Valentine's Day with just her."

Both of them flip us off as we walk hand in hand out of the gym to Matt's car. The second we get into the car I connect my phone and put on "Paradise" by Bazzi. Matt begins singing along without a care in the world, "I'm lookin' forward, ignorin' the past, these are the times that we'll laugh lookin' back, I'm gettin' lucky like coins in the well, goodbye to my haters, I'm wishin' you well! This is my year, man, if you couldn't tell!"

I close my eyes and flashes of my first dream of Matt appear. As the song ends Matt looks at me grabbing my hand. "Did I ever tell you this song was in a dream I had about us?"

"When, you never told me this?" he questions as we pull into the driveway.

"It was the night after the fight, the night after I slept over."

I blush a little as he gives me his famous devilish smile. "Baby, did you have a naughty dream about me?"

"Yes," I tell him, leaning over and kissing his lips before hopping out of the car and walking toward the house, leaving Matt stunned in the car. When he finally comes back down from whatever perverted dreamland he was just in he walks over and opens the front door. He lets Malcolm out while I finally take off my heels.

"Want to order dinner? I was going to originally suggest we go out or I cook but I haven't slept good all week," he admits as I snuggle into his lap. We scroll through Grubhub and decide on Italian food from a place we went to once before. We order a pizza to share and Matt orders shrimp scampi while I go for a classic chicken parm.

"You look really cute baby but let's go change into comfy stuff, come on handsome." I drag Matt's tired body off the couch and upstairs, letting him fall onto his bed as I walk into the closet with my bag and grab us both something comfy. I grab Matt a pair of basketball shorts that make his ass look great and myself a thin white shirt.

I decide to slip on the red bra I got before zipping my dress back up and walking out of the closet to Matt. I put the shirt down on the bed and hand Matt the shorts, "Here are some comfy basketball shorts. Also can you help me get the zipper on this dress?"

"Sure baby." Matt pushes my hair to the side and unzips the dress, kissing the base of my neck as his fingers brush against my skin. I slide the sleeves off my arms and let the dress fall to the ground, listening to Matt take in a sharp breath behind me. "Tease," he whispers as I turn around.

"Who me?" Matt reaches out and runs his finger over the lace underwear. I bite my lip trying to seem unaffected even as the goosebumps slowly raise under his touch. His fingers move up my skin from the waistband of my underwear to the cup of my see-through bra. Matt's eyes are glued to my chest as he pulls the left cup down exposing my boob. Just as I grab for his belt the doorbell rings and Malcolm starts going wild.

"Fuck," Matt groans as he angrily tears his eyes from me. "I'll go get the food," he grumbles, storming downstairs in a huff. I can't help but laugh at his little tantrum as I fix my bra then run to stand at the top of the stairs to wait for him.

"Smells good," I remark as he comes up the stairs blatantly checking me out in my red bra and panties.

"Almost as good as my view," he replies, kissing my head as he walks into the room again. I follow behind him pulling on his white shirt and watching him as he slowly pulls off his pants, unbuttons his shirt, and pulls his shorts on.

We both climb into bed sitting in our normal spots and eat while watching 10 Things I Hate About You. Malcolm lays at the foot of the bed and Matt lets me feed him a few scrapes even though Malcolm isn't supposed to have people food. Apparently according to Nick I am the only person allowed to feed Malcolm people food but duh, I am his mom of course, I can do whatever I want.

After dinner we both exchange chocolates even though it is a little useless since we got each other the same Reese's gift box. We each have a few and snuggle under the blankets. Matt tries to pick things up again but after he yawns twice while kissing me I stop things and promise him we have plenty of time. He gives me an attitude at first, telling me I remind him of stupid Hardin in the stupid lake scene but I just ignore him.

By 11 o'clock he is out cold and snoring quietly. I watch my boyfriend sleep for a few minutes, just appreciating him before snuggling into him and starting to fall asleep with my boyfriend. Did I mention Matt is my boyfriend? Well in case you missed it, Matt is my boyfriend. Holy fuck, he is mine. Fuck off wrestling hoes, this is my boyfriend. . . mine. 

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Awww now if only I didn't like to ruin everything! Buckle in lovies, things are still heating up and someone we thought we left in the past isn't done with our two favorites, but you'll never guess who.