TITLE: Tell the Truth
Sometimes it's just so hard to be the real me.
He really had me going. Matt could have been an actor.
Taylor shook her head at the thought before taking a sip of red wine as she stirred the colorful array of vegetables in the pan. As her gaze spanned the modern penthouse she lived in, she could not help but feel a wave of sadness. She was supposed to be planning her wedding right now. Instead of cooking a meal for one she was supposed to be shopping for wedding dresses and meeting with a wedding co-ordinator to plan a spectacular wedding that the whole of San Francisco would talk about for months. Instead she stood here, alone, wondering how pathetic she was to fall for a line from a man who didn't have a single genuine emotion in his body when it came to women.
Eli had hurt her deeply. She had been deluding herself into believing that the man who had proposed to her only a month and a half ago loved her so much that he didn't want to subject her to a life of wondering when the next crazy hallucination would hit him, or possibly the aneurism in his brain would kill him. Instead she had found out the truth the other night, he hadn't truly loved her at all.
And in the light of that truth, she threw herself at Matt Dowd. 'The Dowd' as he liked to call himself that. She laughed out loud at that mannerism that she had chalked up as security blanket. Actually she had believed that the whole personna that he belied at work was some kind of personal wall to keep anyone from getting close. When he had spoke of his father abandoning him when he was a child, Taylor could have sworn that had been real. She could hear the pain his voice. As she turned off the burner and served herself a portion of the stirfry she was making, Taylor couldn't believe she was actually that gullible. Couldn't she tell the difference between the truth and a lie? "Apparently not," she scoffed at herself.
She had after all fallen into bed with the man. And now she had to deal with the fallout. Matt had suddenly developed a sudden interest in her, Eli was ranting about her sleeping with a colleague, and her father thought he had a right to put his two cents in as well. "How did I get into this mess?"
Sinking into the soft, cushy leather chair, Taylor flipped on the tv and tried to forget about everything. She didn't want to think about going into work tomorrow. Part of her was regretting her choice to join her father's firm. It had brought nothing but complications to her life.
&
"And how are you doing this fine morning, Taylor?"
Taylor looked up to see Matt settling himself comfortably into one of her chairs. Closing her eyes she groaned, "What do you want now?" She thought she had made it very clear that she did not want to date him. It had been one drunken night and that there was nothing between them.
"Oh, you know what The Dowd wants," he smirked, as his fingers drummed a beat against the wood armrests.
"I thought we agreed that you weren't going to do this?" she said, arching one eyebrow. "That you had accepted that that isn't going to happen again."
"What made you think about that?" he asked, feigning curiosity. "I was actually talking about Watson vs Larson."
Taylor shook her head. She knew very well that wasn't why he was in her office. But if he was going to play this game, he was going to learn very fast that she could it play it just as well as he could. "Well, what about the case?" she said, ignoring his previous question. "I'm assigned to the case and you're not." She smiled condescendingly.
"Well I thought you could do with a second," he offered, leaning forward. "It is a high profile case and I talked this over with your father and he approves."
"Since when would my father let you anywhere near me after that stunt you pulled?"
"It goes with my legal expertise," he grinned, getting up from the chair. "I'm very good at arguing my case."
"That and?"
"And well, I told him that I wouldn't try to 'merge' with his daughter."
"Oh really?" She couldn't help but chuckle at his last comment. "I'm sure that made him very happy."
"I'm sure you're pleased to hear that as well," he replied, cocking his head. "Though I think deep down you're a little disappointed."
"Oh yes," she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "It cuts right here." She pressed her hand over her heart.
"So are you going to let me second?"
"Depends," Taylor hesitated, eyeing Matt suspiciously. "How serious you are about not trying to 'merge' with Daughter Inc." Her father told her every excrutiating detail of that awkward conversation. Part of her had been kind of amused.
"I'll...," Matt paused by the entrance to her office, "grab my stuff from my office and meet you back here."
As she watched him walk out the door, Taylor wondered if that had actually been an answer. Taylor was beginning to learn that with Matt, she was better off getting things in writing when it came to him. A verbal agreement didn't necessarily mean anything.
&
"I'm going to pass out," Taylor groaned, as she stared at the mounds of paperwork stacked up on both sides of her. Grabbing the take-out container containing the sweet and sour pork, she nabbed a gooey piece and popped it into her mouth. "Have you had it?"
"Close," Matt nodded, as he grabbed the container with the rice noodles. "But then, The Dowd is known for his stamina."
Taylor looked at him out of the corner of her eye and then laughed out loud. It was 11 o'clock and she had been at the office for over 15 hours and almost anything seemed funny when she was this tired. "I really don't even understand talking about yourself in third person," she said, waving her chopsticks in the air. "You do realize that it sounds ridiculous?"
"The Dowd is aware how people react to it," he acknowledged with a shrug. "Doesn't disregard the fact that it's true. You have to admit it."
"Not this again," she groaned, getting up from her chair and grabbing her briefcase. "I thought we agreed that you'd get to second chair if you didn't bring that up again?"
"Mm, nope," he shook his head, "I don't recall that."
"And that's another reason not to get involved with you," she muttered. "You're such a lawyer." Walking around her desk, she stood in front of Matt who had his legs propped up on another chair.
"Leaving so soon?" He looked up at her, not moving a muscle.
"C'mon Matt," she sighed, nudging his legs with her knee. "We've got an early morning ahead of us."
He still would not budge.
Taylor shrugged. He asked for it. She kicked the leg of the chair from underneath him, causing his legs to drop and the rest of him to slip to the ground. "Hey," he pouted.
"I asked nicely."
"You didn't not ask at all," he argued, picking himself up off the ground and following her out of her office. "Had you asked, I would have gladly moved for you. I'm chivalrous like that you know?"
"Oh right," she scoffed at that idea, "I'm sure all of the women you've slept with would describe you as chivalrous."
"And just what are you saying?"
Taylor pressed the down button to the elevator and then spun to face Matt. "You pretended your father was dead and then lied to me about it so that I'd sleep with you," she stated matter-of-factly. "Do you really think that's the definition of chivalrous?"
"I never said that it was true," he countered, "you just assumed. And as I recall, I was not the one who made the first move."
"And that's another thing," she said, pointing at him. "A chivalrous man would have seen how drunk I was and not taken advantage of me."
"Are you kidding?" He gave her the once over. "A chivalrous man would even have a hard time saying no to that."
"If that's supposed to be a form of flattery," she said, as the elevator door opened. "Then I hate to tell you..."
"It's telling the truth," he said, following her into the elevator. "And I recall you berating me on that fact that I don't do it enough several days ago."
"Matt," she sighed, turning and looking him straight in the eye. "You do know that we won't work?"
"And I disagree," he answered matter-of-factly, taking a step closer. "I think that we work very well together." With that, he leaned in and kissed her.