Chapter Two
"He was what?" Natalie asked, flabbergasted "Say that again Ron? I don't believe you."
"Our Matty was kissing Alesha!" The excitement in Ronnie's voice was evident enough, as he gossiped to his boss minutes later in her office.
"Seriously?" a smile was rapidly spreading across Natalie's face "That's brilliant! Took him long enough to make his move."
Ronnie laughed "Shows how much he likes her, otherwise he would have done it years ago!"
Natalie chuckled "So how come I haven't heard you talking to him about this?"
"Because he doesn't know that I know."
"You've lost me" Natalie frowned.
Ronnie sighed "They didn't see me" he rubbed his hands together and chuckled mischievously "Ooo I'm going to wind him right up!"
Natalie laughed but in a pitying kind of way "Oh Ronnie don't, you'll embarrass the poor boy."
"I'm only teasing him" Ronnie grinned from ear to ear "This is going to be fun!"
Natalie rolled her eyes and couldn't help but laugh, knowing there was no stopping Ronnie Brooks.
...
Two days later ...
"So Matty" Ronnie spun around in his chair at his desk to face his partner "Seeing Alesha tomorrow?"
Matt nearly choked on his sandwich "No" he coughed forcibly "No...why, why ... why would I be seeing Alesha? It's Saturday tomorrow."
"No reason" he looked at Matt in concern as he continued to cough "You alright son, didn't mean to startle you."
Matt gave one last cough as he gulped for air "No, it's fine. You didn't."
"Good, because we need you conscious for our CPS meeting in a bit."
"We're going to see Alesha?" Matt perked up considerably at the thought.
"Yeah, and don't forget Jake and Henry too" Ronnie had to stop himself from grinning like a cheshire cat "You're obsessed with that girl, honestly Matty. People will start talking y'know."
"Which people? Has someone said something?" Matt looked genuinely concerned.
Ronnie had to give a surprised laugh "No, calm down sunshine!" He frowned suspiciously "Why, is there something to talk about?"
Matt brushed it off "No, course not, no... no." He could see Ronnie was staring at him, eyebrows raised "No!"
Ronnie laughed "Okay, okay keep your hair on!" He got up off his chair and went to grab his coat "Come on, we'd best be going."
Matt sighed to himself, not knowing how long it would be until he cracked.
...
"She was what?" an astonished Jake and Henry said to Ronnie, whilst Matt and Alesha were outside getting coffee for them all.
"Yeah I'm telling you I saw them, but they don't know that I know."
"So when are you planning on telling them you know?" Jake wondered.
Ronnie looked surprised "Don't be daft, why would I do that?"
Jake and Henry laughed.
Jake then remembered something he had heard earlier.
"Hang on, I remember Alesha was on the phone earlier booking a restaurant reservation for two people at Tony's for tonight."
Ronnie quickly interjected "That's Matt's favourite restaurant!" Ronnie grinned widely, a plan very quickly forming in his mind "Jackpot!"
...
Meanwhile outside the room...
"I'm telling you 'Lesh, Ronnie's acting really weird" Matt was leaning against the desk, his arms folded.
"You've never complained before" Alesha said, cheekily as she stood facing him.
Matt chuckled before saying "No, seriously, he keeps bringing you up in most conversations."
Alesha briefly glanced through the class partition into the room at the boys, before saying quietly to Matt "You don't think he knows do you?"
"No...No, we've been careful" Matt scratched his head "It's probably me over-reacting, if not i'll get it out of him eventually."
Alesha smiled sweetly and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Matt smiled "What was that for?"
Alesha shrugged but continued smiling "Just felt like it."
Matt grinned happily and took the coffees off the desk "Better get this into that lot; otherwise they will start asking more questions."
...
Henry grinned as the youngest members of their team entered the room, coffees in hand "Ah there you two are, took your time with those."
"Yeah, well they are here now" Alesha smiled at her boss "So what are we talking about?"
"Well actually, we've decided to go out for some dinner tonight. Do you two fancy joining us?" Ronnie asked Matt and Alesha.
Matt briefly glanced at Alesha who did the same in return.
"Uh...well I would have but I'm meeting a mate of mine for drinks tonight" Matt was quick to say.
Alesha then piped up "Yeah I'm busy too, I'm already going out for dinner with a friend of mine."
"I thought earlier you said you were just washing your hair?" Jake asked, curiously.
Alesha felt like a deer caught in headlights for a second, before quickly correcting her excuse she had made to Jake earlier this morning.
"Well I was...well I still am, but last minute plans were made."
"Aw that's a shame, now are you sure we can't tempt you?" Henry wondered "You can both bring your friend's along, the more the merrier."
Alesha smiled "That's a lovely gesture Henry, I appreciate that but I can't, not tonight. I'm sorry."
"Yeah same here, but thanks anyway" Matt said, a slight awkwardness now tinged the air, but Matt quickly made it melt away "So, what are the plans for the Weatherstone trial?"
...
On a quiet street near Matt Devlin's house, was Tony's. A quaint Italian restaurant. Cosy summed up the place perfectly; from the atmosphere, the dark wood floors and tables, to the rich red walls complete with some exposed stone. Small groups of people, but mainly couples, were dotted all across the restaurant on this chilly Friday evening, and one of those couples was Matt and Alesha. The former in a smart black suit, the latter being in a halter neck navy blue dress. Their conversation flowing beautifully as they ate their delectable three course meal.
They were just about to have their desserts when the bell above the door of the restaurant rang, signalling the arrival of more customers. Dread instantly filled Matt and Alesha as they heard the voices of Ronnie, Jake and Henry.
"Oh no, no, no!" Alesha said in a quiet panic to Matt, who was seated with his back to them.
"I don't believe this" stressed Matt, not daring to turn around and look "Of all the restaurants in the whole of London they have to pick, they pick this one!"
"Alesha?" Ronnie said enthusiastically, waving at her, as he spotted her from where they were standing waiting to be seated, the three of them made their way over.
Alesha planted a smile onto her face "Hi guys, fancy seeing you here!"
"I know it's..." then Ronnie looked surprised as they came closer and saw who Alesha's dinner companion was "Matt?"
Matt gave a smile "Hi guys."
"You're having dinner together? ... What happened to your earlier plans?" Henry asked, baffled.
"Our plans didn't change" Alesha remained calm, unlike Matt who was looking at her with panic in his eyes "We both said that we were going out with friends, and we're friends" she gestured to Matt sitting opposite her "We do this dinner thing every now and again."
"First we've heard about it" Ronnie frowned "And how come we weren't included in this annual get together?"
"Well..." Alesha was struggling to follow through with her quickly thought up plan "We thought ..."
Matt helped her out "What Alesha's too polite to say is, we see enough of you guys in work, so as Alesha and I are good friends and we don't really see eachother in or outside of work that much, we thought we'd make it a regular thing to meet up, to have a catch up. Plus" he started grinning cheekily "Gives us chance to gossip about all you oldies."
"Oi i'm not that old!" Jake and Ronnie said together, whilst Henry shrugged his shoulders "Fair point."
Matt and Alesha laughed.
"So how come you chose this restaurant to come to?" Alesha had to ask the question.
"Well Matty keeps going on about how the food here is amazing" Ronnie said with Matt's sound of agreement as Ronnie continued "So I suggested it to the guys and here we are." He then looked at Alesha happily "By the way you look lovely."
Alesha blushed "Aww thank-you."
"And you don't scrub up too badly either sunshine" Ronnie clapped his partner on the back "Look he's put aftershave on and everything!" this caused laughter from the group.
Even Matt who admitted "Yeah well I doubt Alesha would like it if I turned up having not showered and made myself presentable."
"No I certainly would not" Alesha giggled.
The waitress then approached them "Gentlemen, your table is ready now if you would care to follow me."
"Thank-you" Henry said kindly "Well I guess we'll see you in work on Monday. Enjoy your meal."
"Thank-you, you too" Alesha said, the pair of them watching the boys walk further into the restaurant. Alesha turned back to Matt and two of them gave a sigh of relief.
"Blimey, that was close!" Alesha ran a hand through her curled hair.
"Well done though, good cover story" Matt praised his date with a grateful smile.
"All that thinking on my feet I do is paying off" Alesha grinned before taking a sip from her red wine.
"It certainly does...and Alesha..."
"Yeah?" Alesha looked at Matt expectantly.
"You do look beautiful tonight."
"Thank-you, you've said it more than enough already" she giggled, embarrassed.
"I can never say it enough" Matt smiled, picking up his own wine glass and offered it up to toast with hers "To us."
"To us" Alesha repeated the words; they clinked their glasses and took a sip, just in time before their desserts arrived at their table.
Matt and Alesha ate their desserts, their behaviour towards eachother becoming slightly more reserved, knowing their work colleagues weren't far and could easily approach them at any time. But thankfully they soon left the restaurant and headed back to Matt's place minutes away, happy in the knowledge that anymore interrogation would be over for the weekend.
Or so they thought.
