'Matt?' came Karen's unmistakable shout through the door. Alex scrambled to her feet and turned different ways, looking for somewhere to hide. 'You didn't lock it?' whispered Matt, panicking.
'No, I didn't exactly plan to shag you in here' she responded sarcastically. 'I need to hide somewhere. Can you lock the door behind you so I can stay in here til she's gone?'
'Yeah, kay. I'll knock when she's gone'. He wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Alex locked it. 'Matt, are you in there?'
'Yes Karen, I'm coming to the door now'. Alex pressed her ear to the door. She heard Karen apologise for disturbing him in the bathroom. 'Alex is having a shower in there' she froze at those words.
'And you were in there too? That's a bit friendly' Karen sounded suspicious.
No, when she knocked on my door I'd just come out of the shower, she told me her hot water wasn't working so I offered her the use of mine. She's just about to get in I think'
He was such a convincing liar. Karen accpeted it without further question. 'So are you coming down for dinner?' she asked.
'I didn't think it was for another hour or two yet?'
'Well we're planning on drinking before I think so I'm gonna head down in half an hour. You joining?'
'Yeah definitely. I'll get dressed and presentable then I'll be down' she could hear the smile in his voice.
'Cool. Tell Alex too, yeah? Haven't even spoken to her much today, she's been quiet' Karen said in a quieter voice so Alex wouldn't hear. Alex turned the shower on so they'd think she couldn't hear, then returned to press her ear to the door.
'Yeah I thought that' Matt replied.
'We'll feed her lots of wine tonight so she's more chatty!' Karen suggested sneakily.
'Good plan, Kaz' he replied.
-Alex hurried into the shower and washed herself more quickly than usual. Matt knocked on the door. 'Alex, Karen's gone. You can open the door now'
'I'm in the shower, I'll be out in a couple of minutes' she replied.
Five minutes later, she stood in Matt's bedroom wrapped in a towel. There was a moment of silence between them as he raked his eyes over her. She pretended to be annoyed, rolling her eyes and sighing heavily. 'Honestly, you wouldn't have thought we'd been naked together in your bathroom several minutes ago, would you?' she teased.
'Not my fault you're so damn sexy. God, Kingston, have I ever told you how amazing your curves are?'
'Matthew...'
'No, seriously, woman. They're mindblowing!'
'Matt, you can stop with the compliments. It's not part of the deal'
'Ugh, you make this whole thing sound so sordid'
'Well as we said, it's just sex. And only if we both feel like it. And we'll stop whenever we want to, simple. Ok?'
'Is it really that simple though? What about any feeli-'
'No, Matt. No feelings. None whatsoever. And definitely no heavy flirting in front of the crew. No touching in public, no nothing, ok?' she was sounding stressed now.
'Alex, are you ok?' he stepped closer and moved to hug her. He hesitated at first but when she showed no signs of stopping him he enveloped her in his arms. She hugged him back and they stood like that for a few minutes.
Alex suddenly realised she was letting underlying suspicion take over and broke away from him, clearing her throat.
'I'll see you at dinner' she said casually, leaving hurriedly.
Walking to her own room, she mentally slapped herself for letting herself hug him back. They needed to set down some ground rules for definite. Maybe write them down or something, keep a record anyway.
She put more thought than usual when choosing an outfit for dinner, and it wasn't until she was trying on a third outfit that she sighed in annoyance and whispered 'oh, pull yourself together, woman'.
She finally made it to the bar, half an hour before they were due to eat.
After checking his watch at what he considered an acceptable level of subtlety, Matt sighed with relief when Alex finally walked into the hotel restaurant. She was wearing a pale blue curve-hugging knee-length dress that already had Matt mentally proclaiming his fascinated love for her curves again.
She sat at the furthest point from him, but didn't leave his face ungraced by her eyes.
'Alex!' exclaimed Karen, hugging her. 'How are you? Are you less tired now?'
'Yes, I'm ok thank you' Alex smiled back.
'What you been doing? Did Matt give you the message? Oh and how was the shower?' she giggled.
'Oh yes, the shower was great thanks, my room is annoying me I have to admit! No air conditioning and now no hot water!'
'Ugh, that's rough! Have you told reception?'
Alex started to get up. 'I might go now actually, while I remember. Oh and yes I got the message, Matt told me when I got out of the shower'
'You two are pretty close then, hmm?' Karen whispered.
'Well, we're good friends, I count myself lucky to have his friendship. And shower for the time being' she said lightly, putting her acting skills to invaluable use.
'But do you not...?'
'What?' Alex asked, shaking her head slightly, acting convincingly confused.
'Ya know... more than friends?' She could tell Karen was excited and only just holding back bombarding her with questions. However she knew she needed to put her off the scent.
'With Matt?' she smiled and chuckled. 'Ah, no dear, he's too young for me and besides, I'm sort of seeing someone else, don't tell anyone though please, it hasn't been long and there's no way we'll be going public any time soon'
Karen seemed thrilled with the convincing lie. Alex didn't like having to lie to people but as this was serious and she and Matt didn't want anyone even guessing about the situation between them (especially as it had only begun the day before).
'Ah that's great! What's his name? Can I know?' she grinned expectantly.
'Afraid not' she responded. 'I promised him I wouldn't even tell people his name'
'Ooh! Is he famous?'
'No, but I've been friends with him for years and he's made it clear how much he'd hate any kind of media attention' Alex luckily had one of her good friends in mind by now.
'Ah, ok' Karen nodded sympathetically. 'It is pretty hard to avoid the press, even doing normal stuff like shopping'
'I know!' Alex agreed wholeheartedly. 'And being older than you, dear, I know how annoying it is. That's why I hardly go out anywhere when I'm in London. I mean, I don't mind being photographed as long as I look ok but it's when it happens three or four days in a row it just gets so annoying!'
'Ugh. I've got all that to come then?'
'Indeed you have' Alex remembered the room issue that needed to be sorted as soon as possible. 'I'm going to tell reception about my room before we eat' she told Karen, and made her way out of the restaurant.
He'd watched her talking to Karen in her uniquely animated way. He'd decided that he quite liked the way her voice went when she became more and more involved in a conversation. Her voice in general was lovely...
'Stop those sentimental thoughts, you sap' he mentally instructed himself. He needed to stop those thoughts before they got him in trouble.
He definitely needed some clarification from Alex as to the rules of their situation. Was that the right word, 'situation'? 'Agreement' sounded formal, 'relationship' was misleading and 'affair' sounded too sordid.
He would go to her room later to ask her.
Once she'd conversed with the receptionist, Alex walked back to the table where she sat beside Arthur and Stephen.
'Alright Alex?' Arthur asked.
'Yes thanks. Just been and told reception that my air conditioning and hot water isn't working in my room, they're going to have it fixed by tomorrow evening' she explained her brief absence.
'That's a pain' Arthur sympathised. 'You seemed kind of quiet earlier, are you ok?'
Alex panicked inwardly at how much attention the rest of the crew paid her. 'Yes thank you. I had very few hours sleep last night so I had very little energy this morning. Sorry I didn't chat to you on the way to filming'
'Its ok. I just hope your air con gets fixed, it's only just bearable with it on' he smiled kindly.
'I know. How are you anyway?'
'Yeah, good. Really enjoying this filming if I'm honest. I think its great that we've expanded to filming out here. Makes it easier to immerse yourself in the character, don't you find?'
'I do!' Alex agreed, leaning closer. 'I'm finding it even more interesting acting as River out here, there's only so much imagination to go with a green screen'
'Definitely. The fans are going to love it as well, they'll love the scenery and the atmosphere is going to be great' Alex loved how enthusiastic Arthur was about his role. There were some actors who only got involved when they had to, but luckily he wasn't one of them. This was one of the many reasons why Alex counted herself very lucky to be involved in Doctor Who.
After a joke-filled meal they all headed to the bar. Karen obviously hadn't forgotten her mission to get information out of Alex and passed her a massive glass of rosé wine with what she must have considered subtlety.
Alex drank two glasses and felt tipsy after those so politely declined any more. Karen didn't approve of this choice and poured her another glass anyway. It was just the two women, Matt, Arthur and Stephen left sitting around a table now.
'So Alex' Matt suddenly addressed her. 'What's this I hear from Karen about a new bloke?'
Karen elbowed him and hissed her annoyance. Matt looked Alex in the eye and she gave him a grateful look. 'Oh, it's nothing official. Just seeing someone' she replied.
'Ah right. Been seeing him long?' When she thought about it, he didn't actually know whether she was seeing anyone or not. 'About six months. It's not a full on relationship, he's been my friend for over ten years now and we talked about making it something more a couple of times' she answered casually. Matt pulled his phone out and replied to her answer with 'Cool'.
She wasn't surprised when her phone buzzed in her bag. She left it a couple of minutes before checking it. The message from Matt read 'you had better be making that up, Kingston. My room, 10:30?'
She replied with 'ok' and chatted to Stephen about the following day's filming for a while.
By half past ten they were all back in their rooms, needing relatively early nights. Alex looked through the peephole in her door to make sure there was no one around before tiptoeing out and knocking quietly on Matt's door.
She was grabbed and pressed against the wall and had precisely two seconds to look at Matt before his lips were on hers and they were kissing with abandon, running their hands over each other. She'd left her dress on from dinner as she'd known he would like it. When they broke apart he panted for a few seconds before speaking. 'You had better not be seeing anyone' he growled. She chastised herself for the feeling in her lower abdomen in reaction to his hint of possessiveness.
'And what if I was?'
'Well -'
'Because it wouldn't matter, would it Matt?'
'Why?'
Alex sighed and stepped away from him. 'We need to lay down ground rules right now'
'I agree' he replied. They sat on the bed side by side.
'Ok... my rules are that if either of us starts seeing someone else, this stops'
'yep. Agreed.'
'This is just sex. It can't be anything other. So no dates, no doing nice things for each other, just meeting at hotels or each other's flats, ok?'
'Ok. So we'll still talk though?'
'Yes, of course Matt' she replied sincerely. 'We're friends. It's just the other bit that we'll keep secret'
'Ok. And er, hypothetically, what if one of us develops feelings for the other?' he asked innocently.
'That can't happen, Matt' she shook her head. 'This has to be just sex or nothing. I know I'm being dramatic about it but I really can't get hurt by a man again, ok?'
'I understand, Alex' and from the look in his eyes she knew he was being sincere.
'Ok. Any rules you want to lay down?'
'We only do it when both of us want to. We delete any texts we send to each other and that we receive. Karen goes through my phone too much for my liking anyway and she'd definitely find out'
'Ok'
'What about when you're in LA?'
'Well obviously I'll be there for a couple of months at a time'
'Ok. So, um, the sex, can we have phone sex?'
She chuckled. 'If we both want to, I don't see why not. As long as we delete any traces of it'
He grinned. 'I'm glad we've had this talk'
'So am I' she returned his smile. 'Now, where were we?'
Sorry its taken me so long to update. Reviews welcome as always :)
