(49) Gooey Ooey

Hello, all! So I'm doing something a little bit different with this chapter in honor of reaching 5,000 reads!

I decided to write this chapter from Theo's point of view. I hope you all enjoy and let me know if you would like another chapter from Theo!

Thanks, and happy reading!

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Theo treaded up the stairs, regretting making this decision but also knowing it was for the best.

Makennah deserved the best.

At the top of the stairs in the Sinclair household which felt like a second home to him, Theo peeked around the corner up the stairs to the attic where Makennah's room was. Unsurprisingly, the dim blue television light flashed underneath the door. Specifically, he hadn't texted her before he came over because he wasn't there to hang out with her.

Just before he was about to knock on the door and enter Matt's room, Makennah's door flew open and she hopped down their stairs.

The second he saw her, his mouth instantly and irresistibly lifted into an uncontrollable smile that he felt down in his heart and soul. Realizing that someone blocked her path in the hallway, Makennah raised her head and made eye contact with him. She returned his smile, slowing her steps and jumping off the bottom stair onto the verandah where he stood.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" She asked, tucking her blond hair behind her ears how she always did.

For a second, Theo froze in place, taking in the sight of her. She was so beautiful and she didn't even know it. Her natural beauty radiated from within. Although he just saw her at school that day, he missed the captivating view of her. He could watch her blond wavy hair swing over her shoulders and back all day long. He could stare into those beautiful eyes and watch them sparkle when she laughed. He could imagine himself kissing her endlessly, an urge he would eventually give into.

Theo realized that he was staring, caught up in her beauty, cleared his throat. "Um, I'm just here to see Matt. We're hanging out tonight."

Makennah licked her lips and unknowingly drew his attention down to her bubblegum pink kissable lips and once again he was thinking of locking lips with her. She was way too damn distracting. "Oh, that sounds fun. I didn't know you were coming over."

Of it's own accord, his hand raised to finger her hair. Her gaze cast downward shyly how she sometimes did whenever he touched her. Seeing her reminded him exactly of why he was doing what he was doing. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" He whispered for he didn't want Matt to overhear their conversation in the hallway.

She nodded. "I'm just going to get some popcorn. You guys want anything?"

Better that she not interrupt. "No, but thank you." Quickly, Theo glanced over his shoulder towards Matt's closed bedroom door. Brazenly, Theo curled his hand behind her neck, drew her into his arms, and laid a heavy quick kiss on her plump lips. A little dazed, Makennah giggled, eyes closed, glowing from the aftermath of their kiss.

That was all it took to cheer him up. He wanted to see her smile like that after every single kiss every single day in public and in private. She deserved to be kissed publicly. Often.

"Snacks," she whispered, sighing against his chest.

"Snacks," he repeated. "Go. Oh!" He stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Breakfast tomorrow?"

Makennah quirked her head. "Breakfast? Are you sure?" What she meant was...how would they get away with that?

Well he was about to take care of that. "Just say yes." He smirked and tried to charm her with his good looks. It usually worked.

Biting her lip, she nodded.

"Snacks," He whispered to remind her.

He enjoyed watching her walk away and knowing he made her smile and laugh all in a short few stolen moments together. Taking a deep breath, Theo let himself into Matt's room, kicked off his shoes, and slung his jacket over the desk chair where the lonely lamp lit the room other than the illumination from the television.

"Hey, man," Matt greeted him. He didn't look up from the screen where he was blazing down combats with bullets.

"What's up?" Theo asked as he plopped down on the couch and reached for a controller.

Matt paused the video game. "Let me add you."

Theo lost track of time with Matt as they warred in dilapidated cities, forgotten warehouses, war-torn villages in the desert, and snowy mountainsides. Theo forgot how easy it was to lose himself in the game and let go of the stress on his mind. Plus, he and Matt were killing it as a team. They always did.

"Hell," Matt quietly cursed again, sticking his tongue in his cheek and clicking the buttons rapidly on his controller.

In the haze of gunfire, Theo almost forgot his objective. Nevertheless, he wasn't leaving without getting the answer he needed.

"So," Theo started cautiously.

Matt glanced sideways at him. "So...what?"

So he plunged in head first. "I like Makennah."

For several elongated seconds, Matt and Theo sat in silence, save the clicking of buttons and muted gunfire on the video game. Mentally, Theo pretended he hadn't said anything at all. Maybe Matt planned on ignoring his statement altogether.

Theo decided not to overthink it.

Finally, Matt said, "I know."

Theo wasn't sure where to take that. "You know?"

Matt nodded, eyes trained on the tv. "Yeah. Question is, how long? Cause at the soccer field, I told you both how weird it would be."

Theo remembered that moment acutely. It was what made him back off from Makennah. It simultaneously also made him realize how much he didn't want to live his life without her. "Well...I guess since we met."

"At the mall? Since you met?" Matt turned to look at him and consequently died in the game. Theo kept playing as if nothing happened.

Theo nodded. "Pretty much."

"You liked her when you met her? She barely talked," Matt mentioned, rejoining the game.

But he wasn't lying. Yeah, she barely talked but it was so easy to ruffle her feathers. From the moment he met her, he knew he wanted to get to know her, figure out what made her tick, made her laugh, and made her mad.

Fortunately, she let him do all of those things. Makennah let him in. And he accepted every piece of her.

He liked her so much after that first day that he kept those pictures of her in his phone. Now that they were closer, obviously in-like, he set his phone background to the picture of her in the dressing room when he caught her off guard. She was radiant and sexy.

"Believe it or not, yeah," he said quietly. Theo probably didn't even realize how much he liked her. But it was a lot.

"Does she like you?" Matt asked.

Theo recalled the conversation he shared with Makennah when she informed him that Matt knew they liked each other.

"You know she does," Theo commented with a smirk.

Matt resumes his Stoney face of silence. Theo didn't mind. He figured he was processing. At the end of the day, he came here for Matt's permission to officially date Makennah and make her his girlfriend.

His girlfriend.

He hadn't seriously dated or invested so much time and emotions into one person since Rebekah. Theo figured he would be scared to plunge all in; however, Makennah didn't scare him at all. He had seen the good, bad, and ugly and he still wanted it all. Above all, Theo just wanted to keep showing Makennah how special she was and how she really deserved to be treated.

Speaking of....

"I never really thanked you for beating that dude's face in," Theo said. "So thank you."

Matt sneered. "No thanks needed. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. You know about him?"

Theo nodded even though Matt focused solely on the video game. He didn't wanna spill the beans on Makennah's past, but Theo knew that Makennah's secrets and past were safe with Matt. Matt never snitched. "Little bit."

"He done that before?" Matt asked.

"Hunted her down? I'm not sure. Put his hands on her? Yeah."

"She been through a lot?" Matt asked, alluding to more than abusive ex boyfriends.

Theo thought about prancing into meth labs confidently and hunting down Makennah's mother through the hood to find her with a wanted criminal. "Yeah."

"So she tells you stuff." It was a statement. Not a question.

Theo nodded. More than he ever expected. Makennah compared to a flower. The petals protected the precious center - her heart. But once he started peeling off the beautiful petals, it was easy to keep going. And it was easier to see the center. And it was easy to keep knocking down her walls to know all of her secrets.

"Can I tell you a secret that you cannot spill? Especially to Makennah?" It was so serious that Matt pauses the game and turned to look at him. He gazed at him with raised eyebrows expecting sworn privacy.

Well he wasn't gonna turn that down. "Yeah. I won't tell her."

Matt rested the controller on the coffee table and propped up his elbows on his knees. "My parents say us all down and asked us what we thought about making Makennah a permanent fixture in our family. They want to legally make themselves Makennah's permanent legal guardians. They wouldn't adopt her but her mother wouldn't have any rights. She be stripped of her parental rights and unable to petition the state to get custody back ever again."

Theo raised his eyebrows. He was not expecting that in any, way, shape, or form. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he wouldn't have to be fearful of Makennah ever leaving. She would be here. Be with him. Be with the Sinclair's. Be a Sinclair.

"Wow. That's big news. What did you guys say?"

Matt twirled a pen between his fingers, focusing his attention on that single action. "We all voted yes. Ya know...when my parents told us they were considering fostering, we all said no. Each and every one of us hated the idea. We didn't want strangers here. We thought...." Matt rolled his eyes, comparing their expectations to reality. "We thought that we would get paired with some little annoying kid who wouldn't fit in and would just cause a bunch of trouble. And we definitely never figured it would be a girl." Matt laughed. "Makennah is all the good things we never expected. She fits right in, ya know. And we can't...I can't imagine not having her here anymore."

Theo could relate. But he didn't expect this many sympathetic feelings from Matt. "I was really pissed at you two for medaling in my business with Cass. At first, she especially had no place to be doing any of that...spying on me and her. I pushed her away because of it. But she proved to be loyal. To me. To us. To this family. I denied it for so long but Mack helped me see the truth of what was really going on. She's my friend. My sister. I'd do anything for her."

Theo didn't completely understand what Matt meant about all that Cassandra stuff so he would have to ask Kennah later. "She is a Sinclair. I can't ever imagine her leaving."

Matt picked the controller back up, tucking his heart back under his sleeve. Matt was always the intuitive kind hearted friend, going out on a limb to help anyone especially the people he loved. It was his most admirable trait. It's also what made Matt the best friend Theo ever had. "Anyway...I say all that to say...if you hurt her, I'll punch you in the nut sack. If you break her heart, I'll be obligated to hit you with my car. If you even think about having sex with her, I'll castrate you."

Well that third option was already longgg gone.

"Matt."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm dead serious. I don't wanna see you kiss or hold hands or be gooey ooey. She's my sister."

"Gooey ooey?" Theo snickered. "Please define."

Matt smacked him on the arm. "I'm serious."

"Does that mean I have your permission to date her?" Theo asked light heartedly. This had gone better than expected.

"Sure. With no kissing or hand holding or gooey ooey."

Theo's heart burst in his chest. Makennah. All his. In public. He really did get to have his cake and eat it too. "Bro..."

Theo was about to tell him that Matt was delusional if he thought Theo and Makennah would date but never do those things. However, Matt cut him off. "Let me live in oblivion please."

Theo dropped it. Matt probably wouldn't be very happy if he knew they already kissed.

A lot.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I've decided that a sequel for Matt is definitely in store.

Hopefully this chapter sparked your interest and have you better insight into Matt's character and personality. In the near future, keep your eyes peeled for Matt's story!!

Xoxo

W. Carolina