I DO NOT OWN DEN BROTHER. Summary Continued: Not everything is what it seems, and the line between dream and reality is hair thin. Couples: Alex/Matisse, Matisse/OC

I got the inspiration for this right after I watched the movie, and I was so excited to write it! This chapter is just an introduction. I hope you like it!

8/14/10

Stung

Perfect timing, the most sarcastic statement of the day. The day was nowhere near over, but Alex Pearson wished it was. After a whole lot of encouragement from the girls of Bumblebee Troop 57, he'd found himself on Matisse Burrows' doorstep. He'd been there before, but always with a smile on his face. This time, worry washed over him. He could just tell something was wrong.

She'd left early that morning. To live with two of her aunts. In New York City. Matisse was gone, and she hadn't said one word about it to anyone.

All she left behind was a note, and a feeling of emptiness Alex tried to swallow. It was a simple, quick goodbye… but it wasn't painless. Not for anybody. The words stung. I just can't do this anymore.

Alex could barely stand it. The person who wrote that note wasn't the girl he knew. Was that why she left? Did Matisse feel like she lost herself? All the questions that filled Alex's mind went unanswered, and the drive home seemed to go on for miles.

Emily felt his pain. She couldn't understand how it could have happened either. The day before, everything was perfectly imperfect, with conversations about the hockey game, cookies and Go-For-Its, laughs woven in between each one. And now everything felt like it was falling apart.

The Pearson siblings saw a rough week ahead of them, but they weren't the only ones.

"What kind of name is Matisse?" It wasn't the warmest of greetings, but it went ignored. By Matisse, at least. Others at her new school seemed like they couldn't wait to respond. "A stupid one." She ignored that too, along with the hollow laughter that followed.

When the weekend came, which seemed to take forever, Matisse found a job. She hadn't exactly done that on purpose, but she toke her random stroke of luck as a good sign. It didn't really bring a smile to her face, but she hoped her aunts would feel differently about the job offer.

"They want you to model?" Marna wasn't sure she heard her niece right, especially over the sound of the blender and vacuum cleaner going at the same time. Matisse nodded slowly, thinking a definite 'no' was coming. "It's a modeling agency."

"Do they let you eat?" Marna rolled her eyes at her younger sister's question. "Eat?" Matisse repeated, confused. "You know, a normal, reasonable diet." Matisse gave another nod. "Then go for it!" Hearing that phrase, Matisse gulped. "Think about this, Sol." Marna advised. He sister mimicked her, annoyed. Then, she said: "You've gotta let the girl have some fun, Mar." Soli walked into the kitchen and stood at the counter next to her sister.

Now two were waiting for a thumbs up on the modeling job.

Marna considered it, with a sigh. "We could use the money." Soli reminded her. "Please?" Matisse added, not sure why. Money was all she had thought about when she was offered the job, she still didn't think she would actually enjoy it. "Oh, alright." Soli was practically jumping for joy, which made her seem like a teenager, not a twenty-seven-year-old woman.

Marna wasn't done talking. She pointed a stern finger in her niece's direction. "But keep a level head. You know right from wrong, and don't let yourself forget it. Or you can say goodbye to that job." Matisse put on a smile and turned on her heel, headed toward the guest room. "Trust me." She mumbled. "I'm not in it for the glamour." Then, remembering something, she spoke up, but she didn't turn around. "Be careful. Aunt Soli's idea of multi-tasking might make us blow a fuse."

Alex wasn't trying to forget about Matisse, but he knew that forgetting how much it hurt not to have her around wouldn't be so bad.

He was never good at dealing with any kind of loss.

He tried to forget about that and focus on his schoolwork, but the second he got to class and sat down, he found another distraction.

It landed right on his desk. "Good morning to you too, Goose." He greeted sarcastically, not even glancing at what had been placed right in front of him. "Sorry." His best friend said with a sigh. "But I thought this was a little more important." "What makes you think I would want to look at… Real Ravish magazine?"

"Nothing." He admitted. "Except for the person on the cover." At those words, Alex took a second look. Sure enough, the thought he had a second before doing so was proven true. It was almost like she was staring right back at him. Except Matisse didn't look the same sporting fashions from the RR clothing line, she looked like a total stranger. And she was all the way in New York.

Another thought entered Alex's mind. He just had to ask. "You spent four dollars on this magazine just to show me the cover?" Goose shrugged innocently in reply. "It's what best friends do." For the first time in over two weeks, Alex laughed. Goose smiled, he couldn't stand having his best friend be practically stunned to silence for that long.

"Am I supposed to keep it?" Alex asked. "That would be kind of obsessive." Goose told him without hesitation, which got another laugh out of him. "Thanks." Goose shook his head. "It's what best friends do." He repeated. When he said that, he couldn't help looking at the magazine, knowing Matisse needed friends more than anything at the moment.

What no one knew was that she was about to run into some friends very soon, along with some trouble...

It took me so long to come up with Aunt Soli's name and the name of the modeling agency, since everything I orignally picked was already taken. I'm working on chapters for my other stories, some of them are almost finished. So sorry for taking so long.

Thanks for reading, please review!