Matt walked into the small cafe and quickly spotted his colleagues. as he walked over to the table, he heard Alesha's tinkling laughter as she chastised Ronnie for stealing one of her chips.
He was excited and knowing everyone was in good spirits only fostered his already chipper mood.
As soon as Matt sat down in the only empty seat at the table, right next to James, directly across from Ronnie, he snatched 2 chips off of Ronnie's own plate and stuffed them into his mouth fast, with a wide grin. it only grew wider when he heard Ronnie's loud grumbling.
" Hey guys, guess what? we've all been invited to a fancy dress party!"
They all stopped mid-chew or chuckle, and stared at him with none too friendly looks.
" what in the world are you on about, Devlin?" James asked warily.
" yea, Matt, what are you playing at? We're not at Uni anymore, in case you couldn't tell" Ronnie threw in as he continued devouring his burger.
Matt forged on with his campaign to convince them " well its this girl I'm seeing, she's having a party for her birthday, and I promised I'd bring some of my friends so here we are, and I know you guys will show your support and come in full costume" He beamed around the table, trying to ignore the withering gazes he recieved instead.
Alesha broke the tense silence, with a quiet "you're seeing someone?, you never mentioned this before?" she made the question sound inquisitive but not demanding. she didn't sound jealous at all. She was proud of herself for that. She was always very good at playing it cool when she needed to.
Ronnie and James stayed silent, looking from Alesha's face to Matt's, to read any hidden emotions behind this interaction. Sadly neither party, gave much away.
Matt beckoned the waitress before answering nonchalantly. " yea we've been dating nearly 3 months now. I thought I told Ronnie about her?"
Ronnie looked aghast and quickly seperated himself from the situation " oh no,mate, i don't think you did. I think I would have remembered some epic news like that"
James quickly deflected the question back to Matt, once he saw the look in Alesha's eyes. He knew She had a crush on Matt, and he suspected at one point atleast, that Matt felt the same way. " So Matt, why invite us? no offense, but I don't think anyone of us looks like the Fancy Dress type?" he said neutrally.
"speak for yourself, Mate, I definitely know how to party " Ronnie interrupted with a rueful look in his eye. Alesha giggled in spite of herself.
" seriously though, James is right. I think you should bring your other friends to the party" she said mimicking James' neutral tone.
Matt sighed " listen, I think we all need to let loose and have a bit of fun, and to be honest, you guys are some of my closest friends. also it would be such a laugh, just think about it"
Ronnie caved first saying " well if you're going to give us those puppy dog eyes, How could I refuse. Just blame yourself if I embarass you with my Superman costume".
laughing James followed saying " well I MUST see that, so I'm in as well" Matt smiled beatifically at his 2 friends before looking expectantly at Alesha. If she said yes he knew, Natalie wouldn't take much to convince Natalie.
Ronnie nudged her with his elbow, before giving her a pleading look. She sighed and said "FINE, me too then" in an exasperated tone. Matt was over the moon! " great, its next friday" He chirped happily as the waitress came to take his order.
Later as Alesha walked back to the office with James, she mused over why she felt the way she did upon hearing that Matt was dating someone else. He never asked her out, and she wasn't expecting him too. so why did she feel that twinge of jealousy?
James broke into her thoughts, answering the question as if he could read her mind. " I bet you assumed that he'd always be there, unattached until you both realized you were meant for each other and took it from there."
She turned and looked at him with a bemused expression, " I think you're spot on , James" she replied quietly. she was in partial shock at Jame's astute observation of her feelings for Matt. Her mind went blank trying to think of something else to add. Jame's smiled sadly at her, before letting the silence resume.
The next day, Alesha recieved a call from Ronnie, which was sort of unusual, but not unheard of.
" Morning Ronnie, what can I do for you?" Alesha said smiling slightly into the phone.
" Hey 'Lesh, listen Matt's a twit, don't take it to heart. but back to whats more important, what are YOU wearing to the part-ay?" was Ronnie's response.
Alesha cringed and giggled at the same time at Ronnie's attempt at sounding "cool". He probably even thought the word was still "Hip".
" Could you never use that word again, Ron? " she laughingly replied. " yea yea, stop stalling, I'm thinking we could go as Doctor Who and his companion. James and Natalie, can go as Daleks" He said in a conspiring tone.
Alesha barely contained herself before answering " Ronnie, I think you've finally lost the plot. now get off the phone and get back to work."
"Fine i'm going but, I really think we should do a themed look" was the last thing Alesha heard before she hung up on the Detective.
She shook her head, while still chuckling to herself as she typed in a google search for fancy dress ideas.
Alesha and the gang were in extremely high spirits the night of the party. They couldn't stop giggling when they looked at each other in full regalia.
Ronnie was right, the themed look really suited them all. Even the less enthused like Natalie.
James barely contained his glee at the idea of a completely immature night out with his friends.
They rang the buzzer at the address Matt had given them. Nerves started to hit but as soon as they saw Matt in his Spiderman costume, they knew they made the right decison.
The look on his face made it all worth it.
" THE POWERRANGERS" was all he could get out before he nearly collapsed in laughter.
" you should talk, Spidey" Alesha replied happily.
" So where's the girl?" Ronnie blurted out out, they all held their breath as they waited for Matt to point her out.
A tall statuesque redhead dressed as the exotic dancer's answer to Catwoman, strutted towards their now silent group.
" bleedin' hell, she's a supermodel" whispered Natalie to her friends, she looked down to see Alesha's hand clutching her arm, she put her other hand over Alesha's and squeezed back in consolation.
James gripped Alesha's remaining hand in moral support as well,so he wasn't at all surprised when he heard Alesha announce loudly
" I think I need a drink".
" AGREED" Ronnie yelled loudly, knowing fully well he wasn't going to have anything alchoholic, but they all understood the sentiment.
Amber seemd a lovely girl in her right. bur she was must have just recently gotten out of Uni because she seemed extremely young in her mannerisms.
Alesha flinched as Amber possesively pulled Matt into an impromptu kiss for no reason at all. and they all cringed when she attempted to wow them with her newly acquired french language skills.
" good grief, where did he find her? "Natalie lamented as the couple walked off to greet some more guests.
" oh come on, she's not so bad" Alesha said kindly. as the others stared at her in shock.
" okay fine , yes she's a bit vapid, but we're not here to interview her, he already chose her. we are here to DANCE!" she yelled the last part as she pulled James and Natalie unto the dance floor with her, Natalie grabbing Ronnie as he tried to skulk off.
They danced their socks off to Kelly Rowland's "Commander", then Natalie and Ronnie nearly broke their hips gyrating to Kylie Minogue's " Better than today".
James and Alesha were dying of laughter watching them, it was the funniest thing they ever saw.
Matt hardly turned around when he caught Alesha and Ronnie freaking out to Flo Rida's "Low" together. his face broke out into the widest grin anyone ever saw. Why didn't he have his camera for this?
The evening was going well with James and Natalie's shrieky rendition of Joan Jett's " Touch Me There" as Alesha and Ronnie cheered them on.
Matt was dying to join his friends, but Amber kept him glued to her side.
That didn't stop him from staring at them from afar, his eyes kept wandering back to the pink ranger also known as Alesha, he smiled to himself at that thought. He could barely take his eyes off of her, she seemed to love every song that played. she danced with such wild abandon that Matt wished he could join her.
His thoughts only got sidetracked when he noticed Ronnie trying to straighten out his costume in least gentlemanly way possible. Who in the world thought Ronnie would look great in spandex as the Red Power Ranger? he shook his head in amusement.
He finally decided he was going to go get a dance in with his work mates, so he excused himself from Amber's surprisingly strong clutches. and wandered over to the team, as he got there " Marry you " by Bruno Mars started up.
Alesha and Natalie pulled him into the group dance with them , and the guys laughed and took turns twirling the 2 women around.
When Alesha arrived in his arms, her cheeks flushed with pure elation, Matt felt his heart skip. and something deep within him recognized her. he didn't understand where the feeling came from, but it felt right.
and when he spun her around and held her close, swaying to the music, that they both sang along loudly and terribly too, he felt truly happy.
James, Ronnie and Natalie nearly screamed in delight seeing their teams 2 youngest members looking so good together, that they didn't notice the storm approaching.
As the song started winding down, Alesha turned to dance with James but instead found herself being confronted by a very cranky looking, Amber who practically screeched in her face " get away from him you little tramp"
Alesha confused and startled said " sorry? what?"
" I said get away from him, look at yourself, grinding against him like a cat in heat" Amber blundered on aggressively.
Alesha thinking maybe she was just like an angry drunk or something responded honestly " grinding on him? its not like we were dancing to "Sex therapy or whatever"
and with the stroke of luck that you couldn't make up, that very song started. Alesha couldn't help but giggle at the irony. Ronnie and Natalie didn't try to hide their laughter, while James didn't even notice anyone was talking.
He was too busy actually grinding on the sluttieset Robot ever.
Amber however, was not amused.
Alesha sensing this diplomatically announced " lets just enjoy the party, Amber. we're all having fun! lets not ruin it with petty adolescent behavior, oops, too late" She smiled a sappy condescending smile at Amber.
Amber's face turned an even brighter shade of red as she geared up to berate Alesha some more, but Matt stopped her in her tracks " Amber, take it easy. its a party, people tend to dance together" He said as he rolled his eyes. This didn't help anything in the least.
Amber glared at him before turning back to Alesha. " just apologize, Shortstuff and stay away from MY man. and then Maybe, you can stay at my party ok? she spat out meanly.
Alesha still buzzed from all those tequila shots she,Natalie and James had, realized Amber needed to be taken down a notch. " Listen, gigantor, just back off. I've known Matt alot longer than you have and If Matt wants to dance with me, He can. your party isn't all that anyway. also you look like a hooker" she said before smiling sweetly,if slightly drunkenly, at her.
If looks could kill, Amber would've been on a murder charge.
Natalie briefly thought she might have had to seperate them.
However Amber didn't make a move towards Alesha instead she just looked Alesha up and down before she saying "you know what? you don't even matter, because He chose ME!" with as much hate in her voice as she could muster.
Alesha struck silent with the cruel reality, let out a noise that sounded alot like a choked cry, that she didn't even know she was capable of.
Matt realized then, that enough was enough. " Amber, guess what? we're through. you can't talk to people like that, especially not my friends, and most of all, not Alesha" he said coldly.
He barely looked at her again, before taking Alesha's hand in his and turning to face her, taking note of her tear filled eyes " hey, I'm really sorry about what she said. I don't even know what I saw in her, please don't cry" He said softly as a lone teardrop slid down her cheek. He gently wiped it away as quickly as it fell.
Alesha looked up at him, her mind clouded with confusion and slightly inebriated hope.
While Natalie and Ronnie, forcibly turned James around to see what was going to happen next. Natalie slurring in a loud whisper to them both "look I think they're gonna kiss, shhhhhh"
Matt leaned down and gently kissed the pleasantly surprised Alesha.
Amber looked on disgusted and infuriated before saying " Oh, just get the hell out of my flat" and stormed off.
Natalie yelled after her " Thanks for inviting us, we had a GREAT TIME!"
Ronnie and James burst out laughing.
Matt and Alesha still hadn't stopped kissing even when they were ushered out of the door.