It was Matty! He was really there outside, leaning up against my door. The only thing that I could even think was a very tiny oh. I did my best to open the door without breaking our gaze.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Yeah", I answered, my voice softer and calmer than I thought possible. He moved in as I stepped aside. He looked completely disheveled with a shirt buttoned wrong, smelling like beer and his hair an actual mess. It honestly might have been the hottest I'd ever seen him. "Why are you here? What about the party?"

"Ah, that's still raging. Wasn't where I wanted to be." He was looking at me, his eyes roaming up and down my body, taking me in. "When you left…I wanted to make sure you were ok and safe".

With a shake of my head, "Don't know about ok, but I'm home safe. Thanks"

"Good, good." He ran a hand through his hair and walked farther into the room as he spoke. He gave me that sign he was nervous before continuing, "Jamie held me up, I couldn't catch up at first."

My throat tightening I replied, "Guess he didn't want me ruining more of the party."

"No! Once he realized I was heading after you, he just wanted to make sure I had a shirt on. Running half naked on a Saturday night, generally not a good plan for avoiding attention from the cops." Matty chuckled. That's when I realized I'd seen that shirt on Jamie earlier tonight. Matty really must have been buttoning in the dark as he walked over. It struck me as ridiculously funny. I laughed and then Matty started to really get going. We both were laughing way harder than we should have, like we'd been parked at the bong. I could almost feel an actual hiss of pressure blowing off between us as the giggles were dying down.

Matty walked over to the bed. "What went down there, what Jamie said, I'm sorry." he paused as he sat himself down. "It was so not the plan", he sighed, running his hands through his hair. He sounded so like a little kid the way it came out, I couldn't help it but chuckle again, just a little.

"You had a plan? I guess it's safe to assume it involved more beer, less fighting"? I folded one leg under me as I sat down next to him. He gave me a half smile and very gently tapped my other leg with his fist.

"Yeah. Too bad we only covered the beer." We smiled at each other while my stomach turned a flip flop or six. He sat up straight, "I was looking to prove I was ok. That I could hang near you, with you, without drama. And, that lasted until exactly the first second I was alone with you."

"Oh I don't know. It took us more than just the first second. I think we hit 15 seconds", I replied with a quirk of a smile. He smiled back at me but then seriousness washed over his face.

"I wasn't expecting to find you there. You looked beautiful." He stopped, the way he was looking at me made my heart skip. I was blushing crimson as he started again. "I'm sorry" he said in a rush, spreading his hands wide. "I'm sorry it went down like that."

"Me too. Hurting Jake, while becoming your infamous side piece was not how I meant to spend this night." I tried to keep my tone light as I answered but it didn't quite work.

Matty leaned in close to me, "Don't get me wrong Jenna. I'm sorry it went down like that but I'm not sorry it's out. I was trying to be the bigger guy, you know. I saw how he's been treating you, how he talks about you. I thought, he's doing it right. So I'll just have to get over it. " He paused for a moment,"You know, I was so amped cause he was right to be pissed. You're his girl. And if I'd just have manned up, maybe you wouldn't be."

As what he was saying hit me, I was almost nervous. "I was, not so sure I can say I am. Not after tonight." I fell backwards on the bed. "I should have told him." He bounced down next to me.

"Maybe. But if it's over, it'd be his loss. And maybe my gain?" He brushed a strand of my hair off my face. I pushed his hand away.

"Whatever this is between us, and I haven't figured that out, doesn't mean I'm just falling back in your arms!" I flushed with a little anger. "I care about Jake. He likes me and never treated me like I was a suicide freak". I didn't say it, but the accusation that Matty did hung between us like a huge neon sign.

"I know, I fucked up, after a while I tried to leave it because you seemed happy." As Matty spoke, it became clear I wasn't the only one a bit angry. "It didn't help that it pissed me off looking at you two. I mean, you moved on in like 10 minutes with my best friend. That hurt, Jenna. He's my best friend. " My anger popped like a bubble. Sounds silly but I'd never let myself consider how fast that formal night went from friends to more than friends. His words earlier tonight about how it'd killed him to watch us kiss were haunting me.

Matty quietly continued, "But tonight, it actually felt good to fight for you. Don't want to hurt my boy. But I've been trying to move on and…Jamie thinks I'm nuts. All these hook ups I walk away from. They're not you."

"You mean those other girls, this past month…" the words came out of me in soft little breaths. Even knowing I'd ended things, it'd hurt to watch him seeming to sleep through the skanky squad. It have actually made diving in with Jake even easier. But if he really didn't? His eyes seemed to be the only thing I could see as he replied, "It's just didn't feel like it does with you. And not just hooking up. Know what I mean?"

I whispered back, "Yes". And screwing up some courage, "I'm sorry. I didn't choose Jake to hurt you. It was supposed to be friends and then...it just seemed easier. It really wasn't my like I was ready to move on in my heart."

With a half-smile, Matty reached out and gently touched my face. "Jenna, hopefully you still feel that way. See, I'm not ready to move on." He tilted his head, "And since I figured that out tonight, I'm going to keep fighting for you." He emphasized that with a silly wiggle of his eyebrows as his smile grew crazy wide.

My heart officially seized control, Matty country was completely at the helm. I leaned up to brush my lips against him. Matty responded by crushing me against him. We just fit back together like two puzzle pieces. The feel of his lips, the weight as he rolled on top of me, my legs spreading as his leg pressed between them, it was perfect, insanely sexy and perfect. As he moved down my neck I gasped, his lips leaving a trail on my skin that seemed to burn. And when he groaned my name? I was soaked and ready right then. My hand slid up under his shirt as his head came back up. I was kissing him back furiously, trying to say with every bit of my body how much I'd missed him. The way he was kissing me back was leaving me feeling almost drunk and spinning. I couldn't think it felt so good. And as his hands followed all over me, he never stopped that insanely talented mouth and those lips. What I'd done with Jake had felt good but it wasn't this. There was an extra something with Matty, there was something else when he touched me. It was like we were fiercely trying to get as close to each other as we could. He slid his hand under my leg, hitching it up a bit. Just the little extra pressure that caused down below as we shifted was enough to make me moan his name.

"Holy shit", he growled out. He lifted up his head to catch my eyes. It was like the moment just hung there forever. We were the entire universe for just that perfect moment. Right up until my head caught up. I was totally going to have sex with him. That's exactly where this was heading! Exactly what I wanted? But what about Jake? How do I do this without making that mess worse? How is that fair? What was running through my mind must have been marching across my face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Matty asked quietly, his hand just touching my cheek.

"Jake, this is really not fair to Jake, or you or me." I mumbled. While my body was sending up a huge veto on stopping, my head and my reluctant heart pushed forward. "I want to, I do, but…this is not good, I mean, with Jake and things hanging out there? I hurt him enough." Closing me eyes I continued, "I can't keep collecting unresolved relationship issues. This is…"

"Not right?" He heaved a huge sigh and rolled off me. He looked over and then pulled me close against his chest. "You're a pain in the ass, J-town. A pain in the ass that's right, but still." As he wrapped me in his arms, he gently kissed the top of my head. With my entire body was still ramped and ready, it was a little close to a pleasant torture. Looking down I could see he was having a similar problem. We both tried to be very still, minimal rubbing for sanity's sake.

He murmured into my hair, "I want you back, Jenna. No undercover, no hiding. No stealing you..." As I lay there wrapped up with him, I wondered if maybe, maybe I didn't short circuit fate, cause you can't. If it's fate, no matter chance or choice, does it always end up steering you the same way? Did my choices just make it harder to get there? I couldn't be sure. But as I lay there wrapped up with Matty, after all the drama of the night, it certainly seemed like fate might not be entirely out to get me.

I was warm. That's the only thing that registered at first. I was awake but my brain didn't know that just yet. I was warm and there was too much light. As I slowly shifted, a few other things came into focus. My feet felt way too heavy, which I eventually realized was because I was still wearing my shoes. I was in a bed but why shoes? My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth with a hideous dry and fuzzy feeling. Thank you, red cup punch. And as I shifted again, I bumped into another body. My eyes flew open; the light causing them to slam shut immediately, my second try was a bit more slowly. There was my Matty, totally passed out! He was next to me, giving the softest little bit of a snore. So many feelings ran through my head, I'm surprised it didn't explode. I'd never seen him asleep before and I couldn't look away. Shock and awe covered most of it, with a tad bit of total embarrassed. I mean, morning breath and bedhead wasn't exactly my most appealing. I'd never woken up next to anyone before. Ok, well, anyone I'd be concerned about kissing.

As I lay there, just taking in the sights, it was so strange. We'd done lots of sleeping together but we'd never done actual sleep together. I know what he looked like naked but this seemed more revealing. His face looked soft without the usual animation of his personality. I couldn't explain exactly what it was, but my heart seemed to beating awfully high up in my chest. In a good way. I tried to shift just a little but it was enough that he moved. With a sniff and a yawn, he opened his eyes. He looked totally confused but it immediately mellowed into a soft smile.

"Good Morning", I said, looking down out of an unexplainable wave of shy. I peeked back up to his huge smile.

"You look real cute in the morning, Hamilton", Matty yawned as he stretched his arms up and then wrapping me close. It was officially the most unexpected morning of my entire life. Yesterday morning was a lifetime ago, and today? I didn't know what fate had in store for me, I just hoped it'd wait long enough for me to brush my teeth.

* Author's note - This was a really hard one to write, I swear those two boys were wrestling over who was going to be at that door. Thank you all so much for the reviews! next chapter should be up soon*