When he first saw her, she wasn't alone.
His older cousin, Francis, was with her; he was known for being able to charm any woman in to his bedroom which immediately sent Matthew in to a hopeless daze.
He couldn't look away from her though even as she laughed at something Francis had said, and then went on to her hide her laugh with a rosy red face.
Matthew did manage to see her shove Francis away and curse him out just a matter of moments later when he try to advance things along a tiny bit quicker.
She turned away from Francis with a defiant skip that had Matthew struggling to catch his breath at her beauty.
The next time that he saw her, she was with Alfred, Matthew's twin, arguing over whether tea or coffee were better; Alfred would exclaim later on that he'd won the argument, but by the looks of it, she still had the upper hand even against him.
Matthew would see her again at the library he worked at, she was lost in the realm of a Harry Potter book, and the enchanting look on her face that expressed all of the emotions that enveloped her sent from the book, caught Matthew's breath and eyes.
It would be a different kind of day when he'd see her again, it was on a day where Matthew was swamped with school work and barely even had time to glance up from his textbook.
She was there just a few tables away, studying rather than reading just for pleasure; her tea cup rested by her side as if it belonged there.
Matthew looked down at his own work and couldn't help the way his mind wandered to her and her work; was she studying for a class that she was taking or was she reading whatever it was for a job of hers?
Matthew didn't have a right to know since he didn't really know her, so he turned back to his own work.
On a different day, Matthew finally found time to ask his older, twin brother about the girl that he kept seeing.
His response was that "She is just a girl."
Matthew didn't bother asking Alfred any other questions at that.
His curiosity and intrigue in her were not sated by his brother's words though he didn't really expect to cross paths with the girl again.
When he saw her next, her hair was down from it's usual pigtails, and her green eyes somehow still stood as beacons as she approached him for the first time.
Her only questions were where some textbooks were in the library that Matthew worked at; he helped her out though he wondered if she ever noticed him like how he noticed her.
She immersed herself in to the textbooks as if undergoing a mission of some sort, so Matthew left with only a few hundred glances back towards her.
He didn't see her again at the library for a while after that though he finally found time to talk to Francis from where he sat at the little cafe that Matthew frequented for studying.
"How's medicine going for you?" Francis had asked shortly after he'd found himself a seat by his younger cousin.
"Good. It's a lot to study for." Matthew muttered as he glanced down at his books somewhat shyly as he knew that studying always helped.
"I'm glad that you're doing well with it." Francis smiled kindly at his younger cousin, and Matthew suddenly remembered his very own question to ask the other.
"Who is the girl that I saw you with the other week? You, two, were arguing, and she stormed off, victorious." Matthew asked somewhat nervously prepared for any sort of response that Francis could give to this question.
"She is Alice Kirkland." Francis smiled at that, "She definitely is an interesting one."
"Alice Kirkland?" Matthew asked; the name didn't ring a bell at all to him, but the way it rolled off of the tongue seemed to fit with the mysterious woman that managed to easily capture Matthew's attention.
"Remember Alistair? That's his little sister." Francis answered with ease.
"I remember him. I didn't know he had a sister." Matthew muttered in wonder.
"They don't get along well at all." Francis smiled easily at his younger cousin.
"That explains why she never came up." Matthew noticed her come in, glare at their table though really only at Francis, and move towards the free table the farthest from them which due to some of the crowding at this time of day wasn't very far at all.
Francis said his goodbyes then and hugged his younger cousin before he turned to leave,
Matthew smiled faintly as he looked over at her, Alice Kirkland.
She was still an interesting sort of woman, and one that seemed to constantly catch Matthew's eyes, distracting himself further from whatever he was doing.
When he saw her at the college that he went to, he grew startled as by whatever odds, she happened to attend the same university as him.
Her eyes flickered towards him in surprise at catching sight of him yet again, and she walked closer towards him as if to start a conversation with him.
"You're everywhere, aren't you?" Alice spoke then, and Matthew's eyes were drawn in wonder at the woman standing before him.
"I-I guess." Matthew's face flushed redder than he'd ever remembered it to have done before.
"What are you studying to be here?" Alice asked him now as she fell in to step easily by him as if names weren't her current main concern; they still seemed to remain strangers in that regard.
"I'm studying to be a doctor." Matthew still hadn't determined what type of doctor that he should be, so he was looped in to many classes and even shared a few with a couple other confused Medical students.
"I didn't realize that." Alice's voice softened in her genuine surprise and curiosity.
Matthew blushed, realizing that that could be taken as praise of some sort.
"Sh-shouldn't we learn each other's names first?" He asked nervously, noticing suddenly that neither of them had introduced themselves to each other.
"You're Alfred's twin brother, right? Your name would be Matthew?" She still asked though Matthew found himself blushing darker at realizing that she'd more than likely asked about him and that she easily remembered his name once she'd learned it.
"Yeah, and you're Alice, right?" He found himself stuttering faintly over this turn of the conversation even though he'd changed the topic to this one.
Alice smiled faintly, obviously pleased with his memory as well.
"I am." The way that she said it coupled with the upturn of her chin expressed a sort of pride in her name and blew Matthew's mind all at once.
"So what are you studying?" Matthew was curious as he definitely knew that she had to be a student here as well.
"Education. I haven't picked a subject or grade to teach though." Alice's smile became soft and prideful all at once when she spoke of teaching; there was a passion beneath the green depths of her eyes as she spoke up now about her decided major.
"You'll make a wonderful teacher." Matthew couldn't help himself nor stop himself when the words spilled from his lips with ease; he couldn't answer how he knew that as he just knew.
She was clearly smart, confident, and passionate about her chosen career, and Matthew figured that that was how he knew that she'd do well when she did become a teacher.
"Thank you." The faintest of pinks adorned her cheeks as she answered him softly and kindly as if genuinely surprised and pleased that a stranger knew that she'd do well.
"You're welcome." Matthew's face matched more of a darker shade of red as he answered nervously with quite a few stutters falling upon his speech.
Alice walked with him towards his class as if they'd previously arranged this before she left his side with a faint "goodbye" and promptly left the school as her classes for the day had already ended.
Matthew found that Alice was still a distraction for him even when she wasn't right there in his line of vision as he now replayed the whole, brief conversation in his head and thought of her and how she behaved near him.
Even her blush despite how miniscule it was stuck to his mind.
She truly was just as beautiful as she was enchanting and mysterious; his mind became plagued with thoughts of her even when he tried to sleep.
When he saw her again, Alice was sitting down on one of the soft and plushy chairs that the library that Matthew worked at had around.
It was an early Saturday morning; one of the library's slowest times and days since few woke up early and ventured over to the library though there Alice was with a fantasy novel in hand, spending her moments and times locked away in a fascinating book that held her attention more than Matthew figured he ever would.
Matthew couldn't resist taking a seat by her side for just a few moments of tranquil and quiet break time between stacking shelves upon shelves of books during his Saturday morning.
The Canadian born man made sure not to attempt to read over her shoulder or to interrupt her quiet reading time, and Matthew wished not for the first time that he'd have enough time to leisurely read a book of his own for the time being.
He sighed and stood back up to resume working before he gets caught and in trouble.
Matthew wanders back towards his cart filled to the rim with books to deliver those to their respective spots before it became afternoon, and several students of various ages rushed in to make sure that they finished their homework before the really crowded Sunday after that.
The American raised Canadian walked the aisles in search of particularly numbered and alphabetized sections to store the books back in to.
Matthew sighed as he finally finished up in time to have a sufficiently long, lunch break as he'd saved a few extra minutes for said break by working quickly and efficiently.
He smiled as he sat down just outside of the libraru to eat the lunch that he'd packed earlier just for such an occasion.
Matthew was further startled by Alice, who had decided before him to take a seat of her own on the steps of the library; she was not reading much to Matthew's surprise.
Alice sat comfortably on the step as she stared out far past the library, lost in her own thoughts.
"Hello." Matthew began the conversation for once though he hoped that he hadn't pulled her mind away from extremely deep musings that could occupy the mind for days perhaps years if not interrupted by some aspect of life.
"Hello." Alice responded with ease, and Matthew couldn't help by make sure that he hadn't disappointed her by speaking up just moments before; she didn't seem particularly bothered by the sudden conversation much to Matthew's relief.
"How are you today?" Matthew asked quietly as he now began to eat his lunch though he did so kind of nervously as he spoke to her as well.
"I'm fine, and you?" Alice didn't seem to have more to contribute in terms of how she was, but yet her eyes expressed a curiosity that she now tried to hide.
"Me too." Matthew knew of nothing else to say as everyone had always told him never to talk of the weather during a conversation such as this.
"I'm a little surprised at how different you and your brother are." Alice spoke up again as she addressed Matthew like this.
"We are pretty different, aren't we? We are somewhat similar as well." Matthew smiled faintly as he thought of it; sometimes others thought of him and Alfred as night and day of sorts meaning that they were viewed as two completely different people, making others wonder how personality wise they were related.
"You are." Alice shrugged and smiled as she watched the other person sitting beside her.
"Alistair doesn't seem all that similar to you either." Matthew really hoped that he didn't just cross a boundary with her that would make her want to leave this step and never look back as if it had burned her.
"He and I are very different." Alice answered him with a carefully guarded expression.
"I'm sorry if I brought up something that I shouldn't have." Matthew apologized right away as he didn't want to hurt her in anyway.
"No, it's fine." Alice truly didn't mind too much as it happened to be a conversation that came up enough for her to be fairly used to it as many compared her with her older siblings in an attempt to either state a positive or a negative difference; it happened often enough with her being the youngest child of many older ones.
"I'm glad that it's fine." Matthew muttered as he recalled that Francis had stated that Alistair didn't really care for his sister, and he figured that that was a very mutual thing on Alice's part as well.
"Why wouldn't I be fine with that?" Alice asked him as if unfazed by the previous topic.
"I just didn't want you to be uncomfortable in case you and your brother weren't all that fond of each other." Matthew muttered only realizing dimly that he spoke half out of defense of himself.
"Alright." Alice smiled as if amused by the reaction that she'd caused in the other and turned away to survey her surroundings again as if to find something fascinating there.
Matthew shyly went back to eat his lunch though his nerves may have shown much more clearly than he'd be comfortable with on his face.
The conversation didn't pick back up after that while they sat on the steps as Matthew's lunch break ended shortly after that.
Matthew worried that he genuinely upset her enough to not ever see her again yet time would prove that that was not the case.
Alice happened to share a class with him during the next semester though since it was a required class regardless of major, it wasn't too much of a surprise for them.
Matthew was definitely still surprised when he saw her move in to sit next to him.
Before he could question why she'd done so when they'd nearly fought the last time that they'd talked, class had began, so he had to wait until later.
The day after that, Matthew finally managed to get a word in before the teacher entered the classroom to start class up.
"Hi." It was a half mumbled, single syllable word, but at least it was something.
"Hello." Alice smiled faintly as if in amusement as she glanced over at him with eyes that seemed to just twinkle slightly though it was enough to embarrass Matthew and make his face flush.
"I was wondering why you'd chosen to sit by me yesterday when we nearly fought last time." Matthew had started off with a more than slightly nervous few words though he grew soon enough to a bit more calmly spoken words, and Matthew's face slowly went from bright red to lighter variants of that particular color.
"I like you." It wasn't spoken like she had a crush on him, but rather that she liked him as a person while that shouldn't be enough to flame back up his face, it was.
"I-I like you too." When Matthew spoke it, it held that deeper meaning towards it as it tacked on the crush equilvalent on to the already liking the individual as a person.
Alice's face started to brighten to a light pink as it had once before though this time it was a few shades darker, but she didn't get a chance to respond as the professor walked in to the room to start up the class.
She waited though for Matthew once class had ended, so that she could respond to the previous statement.
"Do you want to take a walk with me?" For the first time since Matthew'd known her, she seemed nervous.
"Yes." Matthew muttered in reply as he took to following her out of the college as it had been both of the students' last class of the day.
His hand looped with Alice's as if it belonged there with her smaller hand pressed up against his arm, and her painted fingernails brushing almost to the point of hurting him though not quite there out of a nervous kind of feeling.
Matthew smiled happily as he walked arm in arm with her through the court yard and slowly away from the college.
It was that day with the sun shining down with a sort of joy on them when they exchanged phone numbers, and that day would lead to their first date when right before hand, Matthew would ask Alice out for the first time with a nervousness that he hadn't known he'd possessed.
When their first date ended walking that same court yard that had helped get them closer to dating, Matthew would ask quietly and politely for a kiss which he'd receive under the largest and possibly the healthiest tree in the school yard.
Years could pass so simply and quickly in a positive bliss yet time never meant that Matthew would ever cease being fascinated by the woman beside him; he still found her the most intriguing woman and person that he'd met even after all of this time.
I like you would eventually become a heartfelt I love you.
Even now, that phrase filled their hearts up with a wonderful warmth and a sweet hope.