More than friends? Chapter 2.

The next day she woke up with a funny feeling in her stomach. She hadn't slept well, tossing and turning all night. She new it was stupid, but she couldn't stop thinking about how she'd reacted with Matt at the elevator. It was nothing, she tried to convince herself, but didn't quite succeed. What was going on? They had a perfect working relationship. Yes, they did go out to Sloan's sometimes, but that was always the whole team together. She didn't want to ruin anything by having an office romance. Listening to her own mind wandering, she could have kicked herself. Office romance? Their hands had touched briefly and now she was already thinking of a ROMANCE? It hadn't meant anything. It COULDN'T mean anything!

An hour later she arrived at CNU, took the elevator up and walked in to the big open office. Cheryl, Frank and Matt were talking and when she walked in Matt looked up and gave her his usual big smile. She felt so relieved, she got distracted for a moment and almost tripped over a chair. That smile was how Matt always greeted her in the morning. Grinning from ear to ear ready to crack a joke or tease her about something. Thank god! – maybe everything was alright and he wasn't going to bring up the "incident" last night.

They had a busy day and thankfully she was kept busy and distracted from thinking too much about Matt.

It wasn't until late that afternoon, when she was confronted by Lia, that it all came back.

…"You've been very quiet today. Are you alright, Emily?" – Lia asked, her head tilted to one side and her eyebrows giving her a worried expression.

Lia had become a great friend. When Emily started working at CNU, Lia had helped her get into things and had been really nice to her. They saw eachother outside the office too. Their favourite passtime was a girly video night, where they usually missed the plot of the film completely because they were talking about past boyfriends, their home towns and life in general. It only took Emily a moment before she decided to confide in her. She needed to talk to someone. Everyone else had gone home so they wouldn't be disturbed.

…"well…" – she started, looking down. – "something happened last night…With Matt"

It wasn't easy saying it. She didn't really know what actually happened and she didn't want to sound stupid. But Lia looked at her patiently as if saying "Go on, I'm listening".

Emily pulled herself together and continued.

…"This is gonna sound really stupid. I mean, it's probably nothing…"

She paused for a moment before going on.

…"when Matt and I left last night…"

How was she going to say this so it made sense?

..."Well, we were standing by the elevator and we both went to push the button when we accidentally touched eachother"

She looked up and saw Lia smiling at her, nodding.

…"Yes, and?" – Lia said, not really understanding the problem.

Frustrated, Emily got up from her chair and started pacing.

…"AND!?" – she said, her voice in a high pitch. – "I don't know how to feel about it. I'm so confused. I have never thought of Matt as anything but a work partner and friend, but…" She paused and took a deep breath.

…"I felt SOMETHING and now I just don't know what to do about it. I should probably just leave it alone, Matt didn't even comment on it today, so it obviously didn't mean anything to him."

Now Lia was laughing.

…"Oh Emily, you are a bit stupid sometimes" – Lia said shaking her head and smiling. – "Maybe you haven't noticed, but Matt is crazy about you. Don't think I haven't noticed how he looks at you"

Emily was speechless. Crazy about her? No, he couldn't be, she would have noticed. She knew they had great chemistry, but it was strictly platonic.

Lia was looking at her bewildered expression trying not to laugh too much. Then she sighed and said:

…"Come on, Em. Don't worry so much. Take it as it comes, you deserve a great guy in your life, and Matt is certainly a great guy" – she looked pensive for a moment and added. "not my type though, so he's all yours"

Emily couldn't help laughing at that last comment. She shook her head, smiling. Lia was the best. No one could bring things into perspective like Lia. She always looked on the bright side and talking to her had definitely made Emily feel much better.

"Lets go get dinner", Lia said, "And talk some more about this crush of yours" Her face lit up in delight of the possibility of some romance.