you love me?
summary : matt is scared of fucking up his first valentine’s day with jess!— #jessmatt post-canon until dawn! jess has a sister #tw mentions of death, abuse, alcoholism, body dysmorphia, slight nudity, mentions of weed.
• cross posted on ao3!!
matthew taylor rung the riley family’s doorbell holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a gift bag holding a jewelry box with a valentines day card in the other. he waited a beat until he heard footsteps on the other side of the door. jessica’s mother, joan, opened the door for him. “aww are these for my little goldy locs?” she cooed before giving matt a hug. “how are you sweetheart?” she asked, taking the bouquet into her own hands and leading him to the kitchen to grab a vase. their house was ginormous compared to his, granted they had another daughter in college and a guest bedroom. so it made sense considering matt is an only child, his own house seemed huge to others as well, but jess’ house blew his mind every time he stepped inside.
“i’m doing alright mrs. riley.” he smiled politely.
“jeez, don’t make me feel older than i already am matthew! please, call me joan.” she laughed in fake offense.
jess was a lot like her mother, at least the good parts. jess’ “bitch side” came from the trauma of her abusive, now deceased father. he was a drunk, but jess still loved him. everyone went to support jess at his service back in seventh grade, bringing their own families with them. jess didn’t cry until it was just her and emily by his grave. everyone knew after chris asked where the pair were located, sam found them, but her and chris convinced everyone to not bother them, and causing everyone to agree simultaneously out of respect.
anyways, back to the present.
“sorry, joan, i’m just nervous.. do you think she’ll like the flowers?” matt said nervously.
“they look expensive, so i’d say so!” she smiled, “plus it came from you matthew, she cares about you deeply. she’ll love them no matter what.” she put her hand on his shoulder. he put his own on hers before saying a quiet thank you.
“okay! let’s get these bad boys in some water!” she removed her hand and scanned her cabinets for the perfect vase, “do you want red, white or pink?”
“pink would be excellent mrs-“ she raised an eyebrow at him, “joan” he smiled, feeling his nerves lessen as he scratched the back of his neck smiling. he always felt welcomed in the riley household. anna-marie always made sex jokes towards the couple to embarrass jess, but she genuinely respected matt enough to smoke her weed outside so he wouldn’t smell like it the next day at practice, so he wouldn’t have smell like it and feel the embarrassment of getting drug tested as an athlete. joan was kind and when she found out matt was the reason jess made it out alive that night.. let’s just say he’s been invited to many family dinners, even with mike in the picture.
he often declined politely back then, respectfully saying it was mainly mike that saved her.
jess dumped mike for matt ironically, just after emily and matt broke up. mike respected her decision and is now a single man that was very obviously into sam now. mike’s a romantic, even though he was a player, so the pressure was on considering it was his and jess’ first valentine’s day together so it had to be perfect.
joan found a curvy, soft pink glass vase and put it on the kitchen counter after filling it about ⅓ of the way with water. she picked up the flowers she took from matt earlier and put them in the vase before saying, “don’t overthink it. i can see the nervousness in your eyes,” smiled, “now, she’s upstairs.. and you look quite dapper matthew. she’ll blush like a schoolgirl.”
she waved him off and he headed up the stairs with the gift bag in his hand. he quietly muttered to himself “she’s gonna love it.”
her door was slightly cracked open.
“jess? you ready?” matt asked from the other side.
the door opened fully and matt was met with jessica in just her bra and panties. matt blushed immediately and started to look away out of respect. until jess grabbed him by the side of his face, pulling him in for a soft kiss.
“hi prince charming. you’ve seen more than this before, don’t act stupid now.” she said now lightly patting his face, “come in!”
“yeah, right, sorry. it’s just, you look more and more beautiful every time. it feels like the first time no matter the situation.” he said as he walked into her primarily pink room. she had a speaker playing ‘i wanna be loved by you’ by marilyn monroe. he put the gift bag on her vanity.
she blushed before pushing matt lightly onto the bed. she stood in front of matt for a second before looking in the mirror.
she scrunched up her face, “ i don’t see it. not anymore.”
matt grabbed her waist.
“look at me, you are the most gorgeous woman i have ever seen in my life. i’m lucky i even got a chance with you.” he said wholeheartedly.
she blushed again, she crossed her arms, “thank you, you dork. i know you hate when i talk bad about myself, but i can’t help it.” she said, brushing his face with the back of her hand.
“i understand, but your ‘flaws’ are so fucking beautiful jess.”
jessica decided she wanted to cuddle before they went out. so she told matt she wanted to lay down briefly. he obliged and they enjoyed each other’s body heat for an unknown period of time.
“i’m glad my sisters at a party, because if she walked in on this she would’ve ruined the moment.” jess whispered as she played with the collar on matts button up.
“yeah, she goes overboard sometimes.” matt chuckled softly.
“let me finish getting ready and then we can go.” jess smiled, before she pryed herself out of matts hold.
he sat up.
“you mean after you get ready and open your gift.” he smiled.
“oh yeah,” she laughed, “the gift before.. the gift.” she winked causing matt to laugh at her antics.
she turned around and pulled a wrapped box out of her closet.
“i got this for you.” she said softly. it was a big fucking box so matt just stared in awe for a second before eventually getting out an, “are you sure?”
jess just laughed and put the box in front of him on her bed. “open it, you’ll love it.” she looked at him in anticipation.
he undid the pink bow and opened up the box and was met with a variety of things, including a jacket saying, “i love my girlfriend!” with a picture of jess in the heart. he laughed at that, “i think this will be my favorite in this box!” he looked up at her, but she nodded indicating at a ‘keep going.’
he dug around some more and the second layer were a pairs of football and sonic socks. the final layer however, made matt tear up a bit.
it was every single picture of him and jess together since they started dating with the final page being a diary entry; god matt looks so cute today! how could emily treat him so poorly? he such a gentleman!! manifesting a break up soon! idc if emily hates me after this tbh. he saved my life and god his ability to make me feel human and normal, no matter how many stares i get in public.. he helps me in so many ways, but i can’t tell mike. i’ll play the long game! manifesting that he’ll be my boyfriend asap - jess.
“you’ve liked me for this long?” matt looked up at jess. she just nodded her head, “why? is that weird?”
he stood up and held her close, “not at all.. i don’t think my gift will top this one.”
they kissed passionately until jess moaned and started to undo his buttons on his shirt.
“not yet my love.” matt smirked and pulled away.
he grabbed the gift bag from her vanity top, “since you clearly aren’t getting dressed soon-“
“i don’t know what to wear.” jess corrected him.
matt laughed, “okay, okay. since you don’t know what to wear, this might help.”
jess took the relatively medium-sized bag and started going through it. it was filled with her favorite candies, a yankee candle, a card and a small jewelry box.
she picked up the card as it read; happy valentine’s day to my favorite person ever! i’m so glad i get to call you my girlfriend, i love you - matt
“i love you?” she turned to him.
she hugged him so tight, it felt like her arms were gonna fall off, “i love you too matt.” she sobbed in his arms bringing them to the floor. she pulled away, mascara running, “i can’t believe our first, i love you, was in card form matthew!” she punched him lightly and smiled, causing him to smile back.
“open the last one, babe.” he smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
so she did and it was a silver necklace with small diamonds flooding through it getting bigger and bigger until it reached the middle where there held a ruby heart.
jessica was shocked, “how did you afford this?”
matt shrugged, “picked up a few extra shifts with my dad.”
she hugged him again.
“my gift feels like nothing now!” she said as matt pulled the both of them up with ease.
“your gift is perfect jess. i love you.” matt blushed, still nervous for her reaction to that phrase.
“i love you too.. can you put this on please?” she said happily.
“shit, yeah!” matt put the necklace on jess, and they stood in front of the mirror together looking incredibly happy. except the mascara part.
“please don’t tell me you made reservations within the next hour?” jess realized.
“we missed ours,” matt shook his head lightly, “but i think a cheap dine-in will cut it.”
jess laughed and started getting dressed, fixing her makeup in the process.
she put on a short, white lacey, strappy, backless dress and some red, short fancy looking heels.
“let’s go to our dine-in my good sir.” she grabbed his hand, “how much do you wanna bet we’ll find ashley and chris there?”
“very likely.”
they left after jess said goodbye to her mother and noticed the flowers.
they got in matts car.
“you’re definitely getting a little more attention tonight..” jess said flirtatiously.
matt blushed, “we’ll see where the night takes us.”
they gave each other a peck on the lips.
“we’re gonna look so stupid.” jess laughed and covered her face in her hands.
“stupidly cute.” matt said as he reversed out of the driveway.
“i hope so!”
