A/N: (Feel free to skip my useless rambling) Welcome and happy Monday to you all!So instead of being a patriotic American and watching the Olympics in my free time I decided to write this for you. ;) Hope ya'll are happy! (Besides, I'm annoyed that there was barely anything related to WHO in the opening ceremony. I mean, Mary Poppins defeating Voldemort, but no Doctor? Britain, are you drunk?) Anyway, I'm done with my personal rant. Hope you enjoy this chapter and have a wonderful next couple of days until I see you all again ;) Don't forget to tell me how I did, yell at me for ranting in my author's note, or just say hi. I'm only human, I love to hear from my readers! (Don't we all?)
14
Where Ever You Like
He was going to do it. He was going to work up the necessary pluck and tell Alex that he was now single and ask her if she wanted to go out sometime. He was. He seriously was.
Matt kept trying to convince himself of that as he drove into work that morning. Alex had felt infinitely better the night before, and he'd texted her this morning the check up on her. She'd replied in all of her smiley-faced glory that she was feeling just chipper and would be returning to work today. Matt had tried to hide the obvious excitement at that, but it was nearly impossible. After all, he got to come to work and flirt with the most attractive woman on earth all day, did it get much better than that?
He chuckled softly, pulling into a parking space and pocketing his car-keys. Today ought to be quite… interesting. They were filming the first couple of scenes in The Pandorica Opens, and Matt had heard some spoilers. Spoilers like Jenna putting Alex in a Cleopatra outfit. He giggled. Oh god, why was he giggling?
It was just that- thinking about Alex in a Cleopatra outfit was so bizarre. How were they planning on fixing her hair? He hoped that they weren't going to straighten it. He loved her hair. He loved the way it was mad and untamed and wild and gorgeous, just like her. He loved how big and curly and utterly bouncy it was. Matt thought that if he could, he would spend an entire afternoon with her on a couch, just lazily running his fingers through her hair. He'd stay there with her, twisting curls and spirals around his fingers, pulling at them gently just to watch, fascinated, as they sprang back into place. His fingers would graze the back of her neck. She would shiver. Their eyes would meet and he'd give her a smile, and she'd grin demurely back, one hand resting on his chest…
He was daydreaming again. Matt realized this chiefly because he tripped over the curb. He hadn't even noticed his legs were moving on automatic in one direction while his mind and heart were going off by themselves. If this was any indication for how the day would be going, they'd be having a lot of retakes.
Pushing the doors open to the set, he made a beeline for the coffee-pot. He whisked Alex's Dalek mug off of the hanger (she wouldn't mind, anyway), and filled it with the fragrant liquid. Then, he slowly ambled over to where Karen and Arthur were reviewing their lines.
"Morning." He said, grinning as he sat down, "How is everybody?"
"Excellent!" Karen replied with a smile, "Did you see the script?" Matt raised an eyebrow at her. They'd done a read-through… that slowly registered in Karen's mind and she blinked, "Oh! Wait. Stupid question. Never mind." She bounced a bit in her chair, leaning forward, "I get to meet mini-me!"
Matt laughed, "I get to wear a fez!"
"Oh shut up, Alex shoots the fez like, two seconds after you've got it." Karen reminded him, sipping on her coffee.
Matt huffed, "Don't remind me."
"I get to-" Arthur began. He then paused, not remembering if there was anything cool he got to do. He flipped through the script, and his face fell, "Die. Again?"
Karen punched him gently in the arm, "Oh cheer up, dying is very… important… isn't it Matt?" She nudged Matt for support.
Matt nodded seriously, trying to encourage his friend, "Oh yes, you know, who else would die if it weren't for you? I mean, we can't kill Amy off, because Kazza's job would be over, and we can't kill the Doctor, because- obviously- he'd regenerate and then my job would be over, and the same with Kingston."
"And yet Steven still finds ways to kill me off without my job being over." Arthur muttered around his mug. He would not be placated it seemed. Matt couldn't blame him. It seemed every other important episode Rory was dying of something. What had the character ever done to Moffat to warrant being killed that many times over?
Matt swirled his coffee around in his cup and then heard the door to the set swing open. He looked up, and there was Alex, looking absolutely gorgeous as ever. Matt wouldn't admit it, but his mouth was watering slightly as she sashayed up, that wonderfully ridiculous head of hair bouncing. Her clothes today brought out those matchless eyes, her figure was absolutely smashingly defined in them, and she had Matt absolutely dumbstruck. One would never know she'd looked like death warmed over the day before. Though, of course, he'd never tell her that!
"What did I miss?" She said cheerily as she sat down. When she glanced Matt's way, she said in a scolding tone, "Matt, that's my mug."
"I'm borrowing it." Matt replied, "As payback."
"I wasn't aware there was payback for yesterday." She replied, quirking an eyebrow.
Of course, there wasn't, they both knew that. But they enjoyed bickering far too much. "Of course there is."
"What happened yesterday, hm?" Karen asked, leaning her chin on her fist as she stared at the two.
"Um…" Matt scratched his cheek.
Alex waved it off, "Matt simply came over and watched Salome for me while I was sick, was all." She didn't mention half of what had gone on that day. Had it simply been that unimportant? No, Matt chided himself, he was being insecure. Alex wasn't like that. He knew she'd appreciated it, and he was happy he could have helped her out a bit. "So, what did I miss?" She repeated, effectively changing the subject.
"Oh, we were just discussing our…" Karen searched for the word, "The cool things we get to do this episode."
"Ah! Well, I get to dress up as Cleopatra." Alex said, settling back in her chair and grinning with a maddeningly smug look on her face.
"-and shoot the fez." Matt muttered dejectedly.
Arthur groused, "See, why does she get to do two awesome things when I just get to die?" He wadded up a piece of paper and tossed it into the nearby bin.
"Because she's Steven's favorite." Karen said matter-of-factly.
"Yep." Alex replied with mock-superiority dripping from her voice. She glanced at Arthur, "Don't look so down about it. Steven doesn't hate you, he just likes to think of killing you in various, evil ways." She grinned at him and batted her eyelashes.
Arthur huffed, still pretending to be annoyed, "You know, most actors only have one bloody death scene! But no, I land the job where I'm dying left and right, and still come back for an encore!"
Matt leaned back in his chair, "Oh, don't worry, one of these days Rory'll die for real."
His friend rolled his eyes, "Thanks, I feel so much better now."
"Welcome!" Matt grinned cheekily.
Filming had gone well. They were just about to pack up for the day. Matt was wiping his makeup off, Arthur was headed to his trailer to watch Iron Man with Karen, and Alex was still around somewhere. Which meant he could still borrow her sometime. His heart was fluttering, a small band of rabid monkeys had made their home in his stomach, and he felt like he was going absolutely stark raving mad. This shouldn't be this hard! Yet, he still felt like he was the tall geek in high school that was asking the prettiest girl around to be his girlfriend. Actually, wait… no, strike that. Matt swallowed. He wasn't going to ask that. He was just going to casually let her know he was open.
Matt blinked. Would that be awkward? Yes, yes it definitely would be. Considering the fact that letting her know that he was open would be hinting at the fact that he wanted to be with her, and he was pretty sure that this conversation would probably consist of him informing Alex he was available and then prolonged stares, nods, and so-yeah's. Matt grimaced. This really wasn't going to be so easy after all. Maybe he should just… take her to dinner? No, but that was like a date, and they weren't ready for datey-things. The only trouble was, he couldn't think of anything they could do that wouldn't be datey, that would somehow have a conversation that involved him telling her he was nonchalantly available, and not be awkward. The closest he could get was a conversation in the parking lot, and that wasn't necessary free of… well…awkwardness.
Knowing Alex and him, if it did end up being awkward, they'd probably just laugh it off and get over it. But he still just felt this strange aversion to telling her. What would happen? How would she react? What would she think? Was he being to forward? Matt huffed and stared at himself in the mirror. This whole getting-started-in-a-relationship business was terribly difficult…
Finally, he turned on his heel and walked over to where Alex was. Alex looked up at him from where she was bent over her bag, hunting for something.
"Hey! You heading out for the night?"
"Actually-" Oh to hell with it, "Do you want to go out for a walk through town?" Oh that sounded dodgy, "You know, Kaz and Arthur are watching Ironman and I'm not invited- so… I figured we-?"
There was a fond smile playing at the corners of Alex's mouth as she looked at him, "Sure, I mean, let me see if Cailen minds staying a bit later-"
Matt's heart sped as she fished out her phone. "Oh! Yeah, sure." Please be yes, please be yes.
Alex quickly texted Cailen as Matt watched intently, on edge. Cailen was quick to reply. Alex looked up at him and grinned brightly, "She doesn't mind!"
Matt tried to hide how stupidly happy he was, "Brilliant!"
Alex shouldered her bag, "So, where to, Smith?"
"Anywhere you'd like, Kingston."