Title: "All it Takes is This"

Author: Veritas Found

Rating: T / PG-13 / Teen

Characters/Pairings: Christie Leroux x Matt Green

Summary: All it would take was one text, and she'd be running right back to him.

Disclaimer: Dramacon and all respective properties are © Svetlana Chmakova. Megan D. (Veritas Found) does not, has never, nor will ever own Dramacon.

Author's Note/Warnings: Set during the beginning of Vol. 3. Spoiler-free as long as you're current.

"All it Takes is This"

Just one look and I can hear a bell ring

One more look and I forget everything, oh

Mama mia, here I go again!

My my, how can I resist ya?

Mama mia, does it show again?

My my, just how much I've missed ya'!

"Mama Mia" - ABBA

It was stupid. She was stupid. Ridiculous. Absurd. Insane, even.

…but none of that stopped her from running off the moment her phone beeped.

After everything last year, after his barbs and jerkiness the past month, it should be the last thing she'd ever consider, humoring him like this. After their history, she should be running in the opposite direction – not towards him. After all, history always repeats itself and all that, right? How was she to know he wasn't here with another new girlfriend or something?

Because he would have told you, her shoulder angel said.

Because he's hot and you don't care, the angel's counterpart added.

Both were true, but neither dismissed the fact: he was a jerk – an ass, even – and she…should not be doing this. She should not be this happy, this eager to see him. She should not want to run to him, should not want him to hold her, should not…should not…should not. She was stupid. Ridiculous. Absurd. Insane.

But all it took was one little text, one little line a handful of words long, and off she went.

i want to see you

She wanted to see him. God, how she wanted to see him – and it wasn't desperate, it was just…desperate. And pathetic, but…damn it, this could be their year to work out. This could…but it wouldn't, she knew – and that was exactly why she shouldn't be running to him now. Because they were them, and rules were rules. History would repeat, and she'd find herself crying her heart out at the end of this con and hating him more than ever.

And damn it all, she'd be right back here next year, running to him again because she was such a glutton for punishment. She hated him, but she loved him, and all it took was that one little text – that one little defenseless admission and she flipped again for him, completely out of her depth, head-over-heels for this jerk (Ass, her shoulder devil coughed) she barely knew.

So she kept running, all the way to the dealer's room – where she paused only a moment to catch her breath. Hunched over, she didn't dare look up; chances were, he'd be right there in front of her grinning with some smartassed remark about how she couldn't stay away (she couldn't). But it wasn't because she was chicken, this not-looking-up thing; she just needed to catch her breath. Right. And compose herself. So she didn't look quite so desperate.

You will anyway, her little angel said.

He started it – he's the one who said he wanted to see us! the devil snapped.

'Now or never,' she thought, pushing herself away from the wall. She mussed her hair, running both hands through it in attempt to get the unkempt mop at least semi-presentable. And then she was off again, the image of Calm, Cool, and CollectedTM, still kicking herself all the way for being so weak. No willpower, she'd once said, and she was proving it all over again as she looked around the room, scanning the booths and faces for that familiar scowl.

She shouldn't be doing this. It ran over and over in her mind, an unbidden mantra as she searched the faces. She shouldn't be doing this. She shouldn't be doing this. She shouldn't be…

…but they were friends, weren't they? And friends liked to see each other, and friends looked for each other, and friends…yes. She was looking for her friend, that was all. It would be good to see her friend again.

They were friends.

Just friends.

Just. Friends.

And as she past another row of stacked boxes and saw the familiar D'elusion booth, saw Sandra and Greta and his turned back, the thought went straight out the proverbial window right along with her back-flipping heart.

'Just friends' my ass, her shoulder-devil grinned, even as the shoulder angel gave her a worried, lip-biting look. But for once she didn't listen to her consciences, just smiled and watched as he helped Sandra set up the booth, feeling her heart slip a little further away from her with every breath.

Here we go again, the shoulder devil sighed, smiling as her little eyes locked on Matt.

Totally gone, the angel agreed, breathing her own dreamy sigh.

One text and she was running to his side.

One look and she was completely gone for him.

One more look, one smile from him, and that was all it took to realize she would never be able to shake him. She loved him, plain and simple, and even if he drove her completely insane, left her absolutely heart-broken…

All it would take was one text, and she'd be running right back to him.

Mama mia, her angel smiled, sighing slightly as she joined the oogling – and then a familiar blonde stepped into the picture, and the world came screeching to a halt as her heart stopped back-flipping long enough to freeze and shatter.

The devil's mouth dropped, Matt's text still ringing through her mind as they watched them smiling and laughing like…like…like…

Here we go again…