Chapter 10: Love

Julia opened the door to Matt's room that night without knocking, stepping inside and locking it behind her. Matt looked up at the sound, and his mouth was agape as he looked Julia up and down. She was wearing a white bath robe that she was slowly discarding in a slow striptease. Underneath the robe she wasn't wearing anything except a lacy black bra and panties to match.

"Not that I'm complaining but…what are you doing?" Matt wondered. He was sitting in an armchair, his DS open in his hands and a cigarette in his mouth. Julia didn't answer him and instead crossed the room. Matt grinned, but was still inquisitive as to what was going on. Before he could speak again, however, Julia had reached him and took the DS from his hands, placing it on the table beside the chair. She then climbed onto his lap, sitting on his thighs and taking the cigarette from his mouth. She leaned into him and pressed her lips to his roughly, running a hand up his arm to his neck.

"Julia?" Matt managed to ask as she pulled away to put the cigarette out on the table.

"Matt," she breathed as she turned back to him and slid her hands under the jacket vest that he was wearing. "I want you now. No questions." That was good enough for him as she pulled the vest off him, leaving just his red striped shirt before grabbing his face with her hand and bringing his lips back to hers. Matt didn't hesitate now and ran his hands along her thighs, reaching her underwear and tugging them off before sliding his hands up her back to unclasp her bra.

Julia grabbed the edge of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head, grabbing his goggles while she was at it and tossing the whole heap of clothing to the side. His hands returned a moment later to her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. After a moment, she pulled away slightly, breathing heavily against his mouth, which was parted as well.

"Take off your pants," she commanded in a raspy voice before their lips collided again. Matt was instantly reached for the button of his pants when she said this. He unbuttoned them, and Julia was sliding her hands down his body to tug them off.

They were both completely naked in the chair now. The vague thought running through Julia's mind was how she never imagined she'd be having sex in a chair right before Matt entered her quickly.

She arched her back in pleasure as a moan escaped her lips. She then placed her face in the crook of his neck as he continued with the continuous thrusting movement.

Matt grunted into her hair as he could feel her tighten around him. "Oh yeah…"

Soon enough, the two lay in each other's arms breathing heavily and trying to regain their strength. Julia kissed Matt's neck before closing her eyes and laying her forehead against him.

"That was amazing," Julia breathed.

Matt was going to agree when some unwanted voice of a conscience popped into his mind. "Julia, maybe we shouldn't have done this." Julia ran her hand along his chest as she leaned back toward him, kissing his lips before trailing her mouth along his cheek to his neck. Matt had himself under control, clenching his fists at his sides to hold himself back from her as he continued. "We uh...we really shouldn't have done this."

"A little late, don't you think?" Julia whispered in his ear. Matt opened his mouth to explain, but he forgot it quickly when Julia met his lips again, this time a deep kiss that turned him on all over again.

Matt groaned and with all his will power, pushed Julia away gently.

"Julia, I can't..." Matt sighed. "I mean, we can't. Not again."

"Why not?" Julia asked, running her hands back down his chest. "Aren't you having fun?"

"Well yeah," Matt answered easily. "I'm not gonna lie I want you right now..."

"Yeah?" Julia smirked, leaning back towards him.

"...but you're Mello's girl," Matt finished quickly before she could kiss him and make him lose his train of thought again. Julia pulled back and looked Matt straight in the eye.

"I am not his girl," she said sternly.

"Julia..." Matt began.

"Look," she said, cutting him off. "I don't belong to anyone, and I'm sitting here trying to have a little fun with you. Are you honestly going to turn me down?" Julia, possibly the hottest girl he had seen in a long time, was sitting on his lap throwing herself at him, and all he could think about was damn Mello.

"I'm not turning you down," Matt said. "Let me talk to Mello," he continued. "I just want to make sure."

"Matt, I'm telling you there's nothing there."

"I know," Matt sighed. "And I believe you but if Mello has feelings for you then I screwed up big time. Understand? It's just a guy code thing and I wanna ask him how he feels about you before we keep this up."

"Go ahead," Julia grumbled. "He's told me more than once we're lucky we're even friends."

"Yeah," Matt snickered. "But he can be complicated so if it's okay, let's just save this for another time."

"You sure?" she asked, leaning into him so they were inches apart

"Trust me babe," Matt managed to say. "If everything goes the way I hope, you won't be able to walk when I'm through with you." Julia met his lips briefly, tugging on them with her teeth before standing up and putting her undergarments back on. She then wrapped the robe protectively against her body.

"See you tomorrow then," she said before turning toward the door. Matt watched her go before standing up himself, heading to the mirror in the bathroom to see the lipstick smeared on his mouth from Julia.

"You damn moron," he said to his reflection as he turned on the water to wash it off.

"What the hell happened to you?" Mello asked, eyeing her curiously when she entered the room. He really wasn't expecting her to answer, but instead she spoke to him for the first time in three days.

"I was just paying Matt a little visit," she shrugged, heading for the bathroom. Mello's mouth practically fell open at her answer, and he felt himself growing angry. He headed for the door, fists clenched, when he realized this was ridiculous. Julia had been trying to get to him for the past few days, and this was probably just another plan to do just that. She probably wasn't even with Matt a moment ago. No, this was stupid, and he wasn't going to let himself satisfy her by getting upset. Instead he headed over to his bed and lay down, turning out the light. But after about a second of lying there, he stood up and stormed toward the door, closing it behind him.

He reached Matt's room and opened the door. He didn't think Julia was telling the truth, but he just couldn't think of anything else until he found out. He crossed the room for the bathroom, where he heard the sink running, and froze halfway there.

"Matt!" he shouted roughly. Matt poked his head out, which may not have been the best idea because the moment Mello saw him, his anger boiled over. Matt still had lipstick smeared on his face, and his shirt was gone. If that wasn't enough, he was only in his boxers and he had a sort of goofy grin on his face.

"Hey man," Matt said casually. "I'm glad you're here. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"You fucking ass…" Mello growled, throwing himself toward Matt, who dodged him easily and held his hands out in front of him.

"Whoa, calm down," Matt said. "What's the matter with you?"

"Don't fucking play dumb with me!" Mello shouted. "I know what you and Julia were just doing! Hope you had fun because you're dead."

"Hey, hey," Matt said, ducking under Mello's swinging arm and coming out behind him, whipping around to face him. "Relax nothing happened."

"She just walked into my room half-naked and you want me to believe nothing happened?" Mello shouted, throwing a fist toward Matt, who caught it with his hand before it could smash his face. He threw Mello's hand back down and held his own hands out in front of him.

"Alright alright, I'm not gonna say nothing happened," he said, causing Mello to throw a punch again. "But we didn't have sex man, I promise," he finished as he ducked Mello's swing. He hadn't planned on lying to his friend but it was the first thing that came out of his mouth.

The blonde glared at him, fuming, but managed to speak. "You didn't have sex with her?"

"No, I promise," Matt lied. Things were definitely not going the way he had hoped. "Actually that's kinda what I wanted to talk to ya about." Mello was still angry, but he managed to calm down enough to listen. He grabbed the chocolate bar he had in his pocket and bit it fiercely, sitting down on the couch.

"What?" Mello snapped.

Matt grumbled. "I was going to ask you if you had feelings for Julia, cause if not I was gonna go after her, but obviously you do." Matt swaggered across the room and grabbed his cigarettes, whipping one out and lighting it.

"Go after her?" Mello questioned.

"Well sex mostly," Matt shrugged. "I ain't gonna lie. But you know I kinda like her, and having a girl wouldn't be half bad. Maybe it could be something more."

"No," Mello grumbled. "It can't. I don't want you going after her at all." Matt exhaled a stream of smoke that floated toward the ceiling before sighing.

"Yeah, I figured you'd say that," Matt grumbled. "Damn…"

"I'm still pissed that you touched her in the first place," Mello admitted.

"So what, do you like love her or something?" Mello took in a deep breath and nodded, just barely, before standing up, throwing the chocolate bar across the room.

"Damn it!" he yelled. "I try my hardest to push her away and still I end up loving that annoying bitch!" Matt chuckled.

"Yeah that's love man," he shrugged. "I hear that it hits poor fools like you out of nowhere. So you gonna tell her?"

"Hell no," Mello answered. "My first priority is beating Near. She comes second, and until Near's out of the way she doesn't need to know how I feel."

"So lemme get this straight," Matt said, placing his cigarette in his mouth and plopping into his chair. "You love the girl and you say I can't have her, but you're not gonna go after her either? How is that fair?"

"Life's not fair," Mello shrugged. "She's off limits to you. Get over it. Besides even if you're not looking to date her, I'm still the only one who can have sex with her." Matt grabbed the cigarette between his two fingers and pulled it away from him lips, staring at the blonde across from him in disbelief.

"What? You've already done it?" he wondered. "When?"

"Few nights ago," Mello replied coolly. "We were fighting and then it just went from there." Matt brought his cigarette back to his mouth bitterly.

"Well, was she any good?"

"Hell yeah," Mello answered, snapping off a piece of his chocolate bar. "We were both kind of pissed and we weren't exactly being gentle. Best damn night of my life. Don't tell her I said it though. She doesn't need more reason to think we can have a relationship. But damn she was…" Mello trailed off, a slight smirk on his face. Matt grabbed his cigarette and ground it into the ashtray on the coffee table.

"Well, she's supposed to come back here tomorrow. I was sort of hoping you'd deny any feelings and I could pick up where I left off with her. What should I tell her now?"

"It doesn't matter," Mello replied. "Just tell her something. I swear man if you..."

"Will you give me some credit?" Matt grumbled, grinding the stub of his cigarette into a nearby ashtray. "You just told me you love her. I'm not gonna do anything now."

"Good," Mello sighed, standing up to find the chocolate he had tossed aside earlier. He found it and carried it back to the couch with him, snapping off the corner as he went. "Damn, this is the worst night of my life." Matt and Mello both sat in silence. Matt, thinking about how Julia had been using him the whole time and Mello, contemplating how he had landed on this feeling of love.

Julia emerged in the bedroom after taking a shower to see that Mello wasn't there. She grinned to herself, almost certain that she must have pissed him off enough so that he'd want to leave, and crawled into her bed. She pulled the blanket over herself and closed her eyes, thinking over the events of the day. She kind of liked Matt, but she loved Mello. Again she found herself thinking that if Mello didn't hold her heart, maybe Matt would. But it was useless to think about what could have been.

What she did know was that she very well might pick up where she had left off with Matt tomorrow. It seemed to be working in getting Mello's attention. Julia desperately hoped it would drive him to share his feelings, but she figured that if it didn't at least she'd have Matt. He didn't need to know he was her second choice.

As she fell asleep, Julia grew more and more certain that Mello was jealous. And if he was jealous, that meant he felt something for her. Now the only step was getting him to admit it.