Not so short a chapter after all... :)

I'd like to remind my most impatient readers (understand: horny Mattophiles...) that the summary was: how Jade and Matt are going to bound. Not 'Jade and Matt's sexy adventures' LOL.

BUT, don't worry, I've heard you and I've considered what you've said. I've thought my story through, this last few days, and I've found a way to make things go just a tiny bit quicker.
You know when you imagine your story in your head it's really easy, just like watching a movie. But when you have to actually write it...it can take ages to go to the point. I hope you can understand that :)

THIS IS JUST ANOTHER DAY, LET'S DO THE THINGS WE NORMALLY DO (5/5) When you came in, the air went out.

*JADE'S P.O.V.*

On the same day, around 5 pm...

One of the good things about not having Matt or, more occasionally, Jack under my feet was that I could smoke in peace.

I was half-sitting on the wrought iron fence of one of our living-room windows and my back was leaning against the frame. I was probably bending a little bit too much over the edge, but this was something I'd always enjoyed. The flat was on the third floor and from this height the people in the street were looking quite small. They could see me, of course, but they still appeared to be no taller than my cigarette.

I suddenly heard a disdainful snort behind me and my head swiveled around to look at Emily, who was sprawling on the couch, not far from the window.

"What a bunch of bullshit..." she said as she shook her head. She'd been browsing through a 'female magazine' for some time now.

She glanced up at me and chuckled a bit when she saw the amused look on my face. "What? It's true! Check this out: 'how to get tan without tanning', 'how to make the people around you believe that you're slim'...really for this one I can only think of brain washing or distorting glasses..."

I'd just taken a drag on my cig and her last remark made me half-giggle, half-choke.

She kept on goin., "How to keep your man at home..."

I arched an eyebrow. "Er...sequester him in the basement?" I hazarded.

She laid the magazine on her lap and faked intense reflection. "Mmmm... Yes, that might work. Or else you could make him wear a leash. Or even better, more modern, those shock collars for dog that activate when they cross a certain perimeter..."

We'd both managed to remain relatively serious till now, but the shock collars were too much and we burst out giggling.

My relationship with Emily had considerably improved when she had learnt that I had rejected Matt's advances. And when he had begun collecting girls like stamps, she had stopped flirting with him. She didn't want to be used and then chucked like mere trash, and that was to her credit. Although he might have been a bit more gracious with her.

Both of us felt that the other still had a soft spot for Matt, but instead of making us rivals, it sort of brought us closer.

Now, she was extremely naive and she sometimes could act like an annoying spoiled kid, but I'd found that, when she wanted to, she could be very pleasant company.

After I'd crushed my cigarette's butt end in an ashtray, I came to sit next to her. We kept on having small talk for a little while, criticizing this or that, this model's big nose, that one's horrible make-up... We especially spat our venom on some thick wedge shoes that we found particularly hideous.

"...The latest tendency in shoes, everyone will be wearing them this summer so don't forget to buy your own pair! Preferably in red or white..."

Emily interrupted my out loud reading. "Pfff! 'Everyone', my arse! I certainly won't be wearing these horrors!"

As soon as she'd finished her sentence, the front door was thrown open by a very cheerful looking Charlenne, making Emily and me startle. Charlenne's arms were overloaded with shopping bags and a giant grin was plastered on her face.

"Oh my God. You've GOT to suss him out," she threw excitedly at us as she carelessly dropped all her bags on the floor.

Emily and I exchanged a look of confusion while Charlenne began rummaging in a wicker trunk we had in our living-room and where we'd put many various thingummies.

I cleared my throat. "Hum, Charlenne? What are you do-"

"Oh my...Charlenne, what are you wearing on your feet? !" Emily cut in.

I glanced at Charlenne's shoes and noticed that they were bright red...thick wedge...

'Oops'.

Charlenne looked down at her feet and her face broke into a huge smile again. "Yeah, they're so pretty, huh? ! Just bought them today." Then she resumed ransacking the trunk. "Where the hell are those binos? !"

"Those what?" I asked.

"You know, Dom's binoculars! He used to spy on the neighbours with them."

Yes, I remembered that. What a voyeur... "I think they're in his room but...what do you need them for? Do you suddenly want to spy on the neighbours too?"

"Not on the neighbours," she answered as she disappeared into Dom's bedroom, "but on a guy," she finished from afar. The binoculars must have been within easy reach, because she triumphantly came back with them no more than thirty seconds later.

Emily sighed. "On a guy? What guy? Charlenne, could you please stop distilling information and go straight to the point for once?"

Charlenne posted herself behind the window's fence and started snooping down on the street with the binoculars. "Well, there's this mysterious, gorgeous dish at Harry's bar just opposite the street right now. He was on the terrace when I walked by and I think he was trying to chat the new waitress up. I'm pretty sure I've never seen him before... I mean, I would never have forgotten such a perfect arse..." She looked up from the binos for a second and mouthed 'heavenly' to us before going back to her thorough inspection of the street below.

Call us 'salacious' if you want to, but we didn't need to hear anything more. In a blink of an eye Emily and I were standing on each side of Charlenne, trying to snatch the binos out of her hands.

"RAH! Wait a sec, for Christ's sake!" Charlenne scolded, clinging at the binos. "First, I have to find him and then I'd like to get a good look at his face. I couldn't see it clearly but my 'radar' tells me that it's bound to be just as tasty as his butt...oh, there he is!"

As soon as I'd heard 'there he is' I'd snapped the binoculars and I started spying on the crowd myself. "Where? !"

At first Charlenne complained about my stealing, but I was quickly forgiven. After all, it was because of her appetizing description that Emily and I'd gotten so girlishly hyper. "Just by the main door, he's chatting with Harry!" Charlenne over-excitedly squealed. "Oh my God, what if he's our new neighbour?" she added more to herself than anything else.

I rolled the focus wheel until it suited my eyesight and then looked for Harry. I quickly found him, it wasn't so hard, considering that he was more than 6 feet tall... And indeed, he was talking to someone. I narrowed my eyes and, without realising it, bit my bottom lip, as I was engrossed in discovering this new and- apparently- gorgeous sideshow.

"Can you see him?" Charlenne asked. "He's wearing black pants and a black shirt too, with white collar and cuffs..."

"Yeah, I see him."

'Wait... I know this shirt. And I know this silhouette and this butt. And that messy hair, even though...'

The mystery man shifted and I could steal a glance at his profile. My intuition was confirmed. I looked up from the binos and stared at Charlenne.

She quickly nodded for no particular reason. "So? What do you think? !"

I was slightly frowning and the way I was staring at her could probably lead her to think that I was seriously doubting her mental health.

"Charlenne..." I started to say as if I was speaking to a very young child, "it's Matt."

Emily burst out laughing. Charlenne goggled at me, her face a mask of pure horror. "WHAT? !" she squealed as she nabbed the binos back. "No, that's not possible! That can't be Matt!"

"Let me...let me see..." Emily tried to say between two attacks of the giggles.

After a few seconds Charlenne draw the binoculars away from her face again. "Jesus Christ...you're...you're right!"

Emily claimed the binos then. When Charlenne turned to me, she was redder than I thought a human face could ever be. She seemed to be extremely embarrassed for having said all those nice things about Matt's rear end.

"But- but-...since when is his hair black? !" she asked me, still on squealing mode.

I had to concentrate a lot not to burst out laughing just like Emily had done a minute before. "Since today. He said he was going to Jimmy's. Don't you remember?"

At the same time that I said that, I heard Emily's comments on the other side of Charlenne. "God, he's so hot when he's all in black..." she almost moaned.

Charlenne was still scarlet, verging on purple. "No, I don't remember that! Why am I always the last one to know about-"

She was interrupted by a vehement: "Oh, shit!" coming from Emily.

Charlenne and I glanced worryingly at her. "What is it?" I asked.

"I...I think he's seen us!" Emily wavered.

I immediately looked down at Matt. He was still on the other side of the street, and he was waiting for a break into the flow of vehicles in order to cross through. He was staring ahead.

"No, I don't think so..." I started to say. But just when I did, and just when Matt stepped out onto the zebra crossing, he clearly glanced up. Straight at us.

"Shit!" the three of us exclaimed in a perfect chorus.

We pushed ourselves away from the window, almost stumbling on the coffee table in our incoherent escape.

"Here, that's yours!" Emily rushed while she flung the binos to Charlenne, as if they'd burnt her.

"What? ! No sodding way!" Charlenne replied before handing them to me.

I almost let out 'get lost' but I reconsidered at the last second. "I don't think so, it was you who dug them out!" I told her as I gave her and the binos a wide berth.

"Wait," she said, "let's calm down. Maybe we're just overreacting. I mean, for all we know he's going to his apartment. Why should he be coming up here?"

"Oh, you know him!" Emily answered. "He's spending more time in Dom's bedroom than in his own!"

I nodded. "She's right..."

Charlenne huffed and headed towards the front door. "Well, I guess there's just one way to know," she mumbled. She opened the door and disappeared in the hallway.

She came back rushing in about three seconds later. She closed the door again and leaned against it with wide eyes.

"So?" I asked.

She just hurried into Dom's bedroom. "Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit ..."

I guessed that meant Matt was climbing up the stairs right now. Emily jumped on the couch and grabbed the magazine again. I personally dived into the fridge as I suddenly craved a homemade sandwich.

Our reaction was pretty foolish. We should have stayed near the window, with the binoculars. We should have nonchalantly told Matt that we were spying on hot guys in the street. On any hot guy. He probably would have bought it. But acting as embarrassed as we did, as if we'd just been caught redhanded, I felt like 'GUILTY' was written in bold letters on my forehead.

Charlenne came back from Dom's bedroom at the exact same time that Matt stepped into the flat. She picked up her bags and said "Hey, Matt," on a merry tone when she passed him in the lobby. I tried to concentrate on the little piece of bread in my hands.

"Er...hey..." he slowly answered as if he got suspicious of something all of a sudden.

Charlenne began to cheerily whistle while she unpacked all the stuff she'd bought earlier. She was overdoing it. He was going to figure it out...

Suddenly Charlenne whistling faded. And I noticed Emily's page flicking had stopped as well. What the hell was going on? !

I bit in my bread and I looked up with some apprehension, and I joined them in their frozen state. I probably was the one who looked the most ridiculous, with my toast still partly in my mouth and the butter on my fingers...

He must have done something more than just dyeing his hair. He looked just...so bloody gorgeous.

I had to force myself to properly chew and swallow or else I would have started drooling.

His ebony hair highlighted his amazing eyes like crazy... Truly with his high cheekbones and piercing gaze...he could have been modelling. Okay, maybe he was a bit short but he was just so...so...I don't know, so freaking hot...

'What? ! What are you talking about? This is Matt. Don't you remember? Stop staring at him!'

Ah. The 'Saint' Part Of Me. I hadn't heard from her for a long time. Actually...when was the last time I had really looked at him? Yeah...I guess that had been a long time ago too.

"Eeerrr...is there something wrong with my face or...?" Matt ventured on an uneasy tone.

'What? Your face's perfect, angel...'

Thank God, that sentence had only remained on 'thoughts level'. Matt kept glancing at Charlenne, Emily and I in turn. I realised that the three of us must have been staring at him for more than a good minute now, hence the awkwardness in the air.

I coughed and it woke up the two other girls in the room.

"Huh? Of course not..." was Charlenne's answer and "not at all" was Emily's. I just settled for adding another unnecessary coat of butter between the bread and ham slices.

Matt was frowning with suspicion whilst he slowly walked towards the kitchen counter as if he was in the middle of a minefield. He opened the fridge's door behind me and I heard him uncap some sparkling beverage's bottle, before he came to sit next to me.

I couldn't help stealing a glance at him while I was licking my fingers clean. His forehead was still deeply furrowed.

"You're not planning to play some sick trick on me, are you?" he asked, sounding a bit worried.

I chuckled a tiny bit too hysterically. "Where did you get that from?" I said just when Emily gabbled something like: "we have better things to do really..."

"Yeah, really Matt, we're grown-ups..." Charlenne added.

'...Are we?'

Matt finally seemed to relax as he leaned against the counter and took a sip of his drink.

"You girls are definitely weird," he stated after a minute.

He'd said it on a tone that seemed to imply that this was something he'd been suspecting for a long time...and that we had just given him the confirmation.

title: 'Let's Do The Things We Normally Do' - Dido + 'Bad Things' - Jace Everett

"I know there's something that you're dying to tell me"

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This chapter has been proofread and edited by Cranberriez.