Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter :-)


I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE (9/9) Now go and get her

*DOM'S P.O.V.*

When we entered Matt's apartment, I could really appreciate Charlenne and Emily's work. The main room had been cleared off of furniture except for several tables lined up against the walls where all sort of appetizers, drinks, glasses and Champagne flutes were disposed on. The speakers were in place, the computers ready to launch the playlists... The only thing that was still missing were the guests. And I knew that my flat was in the same shape right now.

"They really did work their arses off," Matt commented as he closed the door behind Tom.

The three of us were alone in the flat, Chris, Kathy, Alex and Lise had gone to the non-Dimies one. They were now probably talking about 'couple-y' things. I hoped that this apartment wouldn't be deserted though, because the aim was to navigate between the two of them. Our neighbours would most likely go nuts because of the commotions in the hall ways and staircases...but the whole lot of us- sixty, if everybody was coming- wouldn't fit in one apartment, so they'd have to deal with it.

"It surely wasn't so hard," I asserted, knowing I was talking in bad faith. "Just a few trinkets to hide away, chips to put in bowls," I kept going, picking up a couple of the said chips. "How hard can it be?"

Tom interfered. "There's no Charlenne here to piss off Dom, don't be a dick. They did more than us."

I would have protested, if my mouth hadn't been filled with crunched chips.

"And what exactly did you do by the way?" Matt wondered, throwing his keys in a sort of plate placed on a shelf near the door.

"Waiting, mostly, for my part," Tom sighed. "Ordering everyone around for Dom's."

I choked with my chips. I hadn't been ordering, I'd been managing! Without me, they'd never have been coordinated enough to make it all work!

With watery eyes I tried to defend myself but only succeeded in coughing after Tom who'd just disappeared in his bedroom.

While I poured myself a drink and worked on getting my breath back, Matt smirked at me, as if he approved Tom, and headed towards his own bedroom. I slowly took calming gulp after calming gulp until I'd drained the glass. And then I followed.

When I stepped into his room, Matt'd already stripped out of his T-shirt and was actively rummaging through his closet.

"The black ones," I said, my voice still a bit cracky, before flopping backwards on his bed.

He stopped for an instant. "Are you here to groom me?" he asked. I noticed a hint of annoyance in his voice but I saw from the corner of my eye that he slung the exact clothes I'd been thinking about over his shoulder.

I turned my head to the side to look at him and gave him a smug smile. "Someone has to."

He half-rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm taking a shower," he answered, setting off for the bathroom, "And I'd prefer you didn't follow me as far as in the tub, if you see what I mean."

"As you wish!" I sent after him, knowing he'd heard me before closing the bathroom's door, which was opposite his bedroom.

I fiddled with the hem of my shirt while I waited, staring past the ceiling, hearing but not listening to the sound of water running in the background. I was replaying in my head what I wanted to tell him, how I wanted to say it, trying to anticipate his replies and reactions. The problem was that the imaginary Matt in my head always responded differently each time. As much as I knew Matt, he was, by nature, unpredictable. So trying to foresee his behaviour was close to impossible. Already a dozen possible scenarios were buzzing around my brain, each more baffling than the last...

I worked myself up so much so that when he opened the bathroom's door again I didn't even noticed. I was completely lost to my thoughts and was almost biting my nails.

I suddenly heard the distinctive squeaky sound of a towel being rubbed against a foggy mirror and it brought my attention back to the present. A heavy sigh escaped my lips and I forced my fingers away from my mouth. There was no need to get so anxious... Why was I that anxious? I wasn't sure. And it wasn't just nervousness, but also...guilt.

I propped myself up on my elbows and cast a look across the corridor. The bathroom's door was ajar and from what I could glimpse, Matt was topless again and currently shaving himself. After another minute spent nibbling nervously at my bottom lip, I got to my feet and crossed the corridor. I leaned against the bathroom's threshold and pushed the door open with two fingers.

He peeked at me only once in the mirror but said nothing and kept on shaving without hurry.

"So..." I eventually started.

"So...?" he returned me on the same tone.

I shifted against the doorframe. "How are you enjoying your day so far?"

He snuck a glance at me again and a faint smile tilted his lips. "If you're talking about the fact that my friends bought me a freaking car for my birthday...and the fact that tonight I'll be playing in the hypest nightclub of one of the best party cities in Europe... Then so far I'm enjoying it thoroughly," he answered, his smile turning radiant.

I couldn't help grinning back. First because it warmed my heart to see him like that and second because it reminded me that I, myself, would be playing at the Blue fucking Spirit as well tonight. "Good," I happily replied.

Then we fell silent again. He shaved, I stood. And we remained so until I finally found the courage to say: "And what about my personal gift?"

He cocked a single brow at me, still through the mirror. "And that'd be...?"

I tittered nervously as if the answer was obvious but couldn't face him anymore. And so I fixed a dent in the wooden doorframe in front of me when I replied. "Well Jade of course."

He froze in my peripheral vision.

'Uh-oh...'

My eyes flickered to him on their own accord. He was staring incredulously at my reflection, his right hand holding his razor in mid air, utterly still.

I cleared my throat and started to withdraw into the corridor but I hadn't made it two steps forwards when he called me back.

"Howard."

Uh-oh again. I knew I was in trouble when he called me by my last name and when he used that tone of voice. I shut my eyes and couldn't help grimacing, already regretting my words. Nevertheless I took a step back, leaned backwards, and cast a look in the bathroom with a clear, innocent 'yeeeees?' in my eyes.

I met his real eyes this time, not their reflection, since he'd turned his head to the side. And these two icy irises didn't look really happy. Crap, I had to fall on 'angry Matt'. All the indisputable replies and arguments I had elaborated disappeared in a cloud of smoke. I found myself unprepared and uneasy.

Matt pointed at the floor. "Come back in here. Now."

There was no arguing with that. I sighed but shuffled into room once again, thud my back against the wall near the door, folded my arms and stared at my feet.

For a long moment he said nothing, did nothing. Except watching me. That I could tell without having to look at him. When he moved again I didn't dare glance up. I heard water running in the sink again for a minute, until it stopped with a last gurgle coming from the plughole. Then Matt pulled on the towel that hung on the wall rack next to me, to pat dry his cheeks surely, before putting on his long-sleeved T-shirt.

And then he was still again. He'd finished what he'd been doing and now there was nothing that could justify any delay in talking to each other.

I forced myself to drag my gaze up to his face. His hands were leaning against the sink and he was looking down into the void.

'Why does he look so resentful? I thought that was what he wanted...'

"Listen-" I started. But he cut me off right away.

"No, you listen. What happened to: 'oh Matt, you've got to get over her'," he said bitingly, his tone of voice changing subtly sanctimonious when he quote me. "'She's never going to leave her boyfriend,'" he went on, "'you've got to let her go', et cetera, et cetera..."

The bitterness in his voice hit me hard, and that was it. All of a sudden I knew exactly why he was angry and why I felt guilty.

I unfolded my arms. "Look, I'm really sorry..." I tried to apologize further but he interrupted me again.

"And what about all the innuendos about her and Jack, when you kept reminding me that she wasn't free?"

"Matt..."

"Do you really think that you made me a favour? On the contrary, now I know that Jade was with me today not because she wanted to, but because you told her to!"

"Will you just shut up and let me speak? !" I exclaimed as I pushed myself away from the wall.

My words rang in the room, loud enough to silence him. He huffed through his nose but turned and leaned his butt against the edge of the sink this time, waiting for me to talk, with an unmistakeable look of irritation on his face.

I took a deep breath and tried to marshal my thoughts. "Look, I can't say that what I did at the time was a stupid thing," I engaged, trying for a reasonable tone of voice. "It was the right thing to do," I kept going, sounding more confident than I felt. "The problem is that when I told you that... I was implying that it was possible for you to let her go. And...well, apparently it's not."

He now looked more tired than angry as he dragged a hand over his face. "What are you saying?" he sighed.

Damn, how could I make him understand? I wracked my brain for a way to explain exactly what I meant and how I felt about all this...

When I finally spoke again, I'd started pacing around the small room without realising it. "It's like... Like, you're in some sort of dangerous arena... Like you've been in it for two years..." If I'd glanced at the dubious look on his face right in that instant, I would have nipped my little metaphor in the bud immediately. But I hadn't, so I went on. "And I feel as if I've confiscated all your weapons, kicked your butt, and said 'now find the exit and get out'. The trouble is, you never found your way out of it. And I think you never truly wanted to find it..."

'Christ, what have I gotten myself into...'

I fumbled for my next words. "And... And... I feel guilty about what I've done," I admited. "I can't stand to see you struggle helplessly any longer. I want to help you. I want to make up for the ill advices I gave you... I want to give you back some means of defence."

When I finished my sentence I was standing next to the bathtub, staring at the white tiles on the wall, my hands on my hips. I exhaled and turned my head slightly to the side to cast a look at him.

He definitely didn't seem angry anymore. Nor tired. I couldn't say if it really was forgiveness glistening in his eyes, but it was something close to it. It felt like he was sizing me up in fact, seeing me with new eyes.

"In short," I resumed, "I think I've accepted the fact that you're convinced she's the love of your life," he opened his mouth to reply to the word 'love', but I didn't give him enough time to do so, "therefore I'm gonna give you a shot with her, and then you'll be able to move on, with or without her."

I held my breath and waited for an answer. His eyes had grown distant as if he was pondering it all.

In the background, I heard the doorbell rang. A couple of seconds later, Tom greeted our first guests. They were four or five maybe, some voices I recognised, some I didn't. I moved over to the bathroom door and closed it, our guests would have to wait a sec. When I turned around and slumped my back against the door I realised that Matt was gazing at me again.

"I liked the image," he said on a neutral tone.

"Thanks, I'm proud of it."

Another silent minute passed between us before he broke it.

"What do you mean, you're gonna give me a 'shot' with her?" he wondered, curiosity laced in his voice.

"Well I already have, in a way. I gave you half a day alone with her... Now it's up to you to continue along the same lines."

"But what about him?" he asked, his features clouding at the mention.

I knew who he meant, he didn't need to clarify it. "Don't worry about that. You're still free of him for a few hours."

He frowned. "How do you know that?"

"I just know it," I stated. "Don't look at me like that," I added when his unconvinced frown turned suspicious. "I didn't bury his corpse in someone's back garden... Just trust me for once."

"Okay," he sighed, dropping it. Then he started to draw imaginary lines and patterns against the cold porcelain of the sink with his forefinger. "But what would you have me do?"

The doorbell rang again.

"Oh come on, Matt! Since when do I have to give you lessons about how to pick up a girl?"

"But she's not like other girls!" he exclaimed, stilling his finger and shifting his blue eyes to mine.

"Why? Because she's in a relationship?"

"No!" he snapped, his face scrunching in annoyance again.

"Then why?"

He huffed and left the sink alone in order to sit on the edge of the tub. "You wouldn't understand," he grumbled. "You've never been... You've never been in..."

"In love?"

Again, that word seemed to trouble him.

"In...my situation."

It suddenly occured to me that he might have never said it out loud. Despite how obvious it was, he'd never said 'I love her'. Not to me at least; not in those words. And if he hadn't told me, then who else? I couldn't believe that he might still be kidding himself into thinking it wasn't love. As if it was just some sort of huge crush...

I didn't try to push him further though, there were more pressing matters to attend to. Now wasn't really the best time to have a rant at him about expressing one's feelings and all that jazz. Or maybe it was... No, even if that was a big string to pull, it'd have to wait a bit.

"I think you should just be yourself," I told him, joining him on the tub's edge. "I mean, your real self. You have to try and see her only as a girl," I said.

'And not the girl...'

"'Cause it won't sort itself out you know," I remarked. "How did it go so far?" I added when he remained silent.

"It was...awkward at first," he answered, keeping his eyes fixed on his hands. "Then the tension loosened up a bit. Thanks to her, mainly." Then, out of the blue, a quiet ironic chuckle escaped his lips. "But I suppose it was you who told her to try and put me at ease. So what value does it have..."

"Hey, you can be angry at me as much as you want for pushing her into this without asking you first. I know it cheeses you off when I do things behind your back, to say the least. But when I saw you two by the coffee shop earlier..." my voice trailed off as the memory sprang to the front of my mind. Nearly holding hands... Exchanging smiles of complicity... And that puzzling bouquet.

"Yes?" he asked impatiently after a moment.

It nudged me back to reality. I took a few seconds to really examine his face. Behind the residual annoyance and resentfulness he felt, I could see how much he trusted me, how much he counted on me and how he was hanging on my every word. I had to be careful.

"Matt, if I'm telling you all this right now... It's because I really think you stand a chance. I'm rooting for you and her."

His eyes lit up when I said that, but he waited for me to continue.

"I mean, it is so patent I don't understand why none of her friends- none of her girlfriends- haven't told her anything about it yet," I went on. "Surely you must have felt it, how she changes, how happy she is when she's by your side..."

His gaze faltered. "I don't know," he muttered. "I can never be sure with Jade. It's always one minute yes, and then no, then yes, then no... And it just makes me come back for more. I love it. God, I'm such a masochist," he said with wide eyes as if the realisation only just hit him.

I chuckled breathlessly. "That you are..."

And he gave me a sad smile in return. "What can I say? She's my kryptonite."

I hummed in agreement, suddenly glad not to be infatuated with anyone. It was just far too convoluted a feeling for me.

Suddenly the noise coming from the living room considerably increased in volume as the sound of new people greeting each other drifted into the bathroom.

Matt gazed at the door. "I should probably go out there..."

"Yep," I confirmed, standing up.

He lazily got to his feet as well and stepped closer to the door. At the same time, music started playing in the apartment. Not too loud, so that people could still chat comfortably without having to raise their voice. He turned the doorknob but then stopped and seemed to hesitate. He spoke before I could ask him what was wrong.

"Thank you."

His tone puzzled me. It had sounded so...serious in a way. There had been much more meaning in these two words than when he'd thanked me earlier, in front of the others.

"For what exactly?" I asked, unable to keep the uncertainty out of my voice.

He shrugged slightly and then let the door swing open. "For giving me the best day of my life," he said to me over his shoulder as he headed into the living room, leaving me planted on the spot.

I stared dumbfounded after him; he had me in stitches. The best day of his life? Had I really achieved that? And how could he be sure anyway? The day was still young...

Some girl I'd already met once or twice- one of Lise's chum- wandered through the corridor and asked me if she could use the bathroom.

"Um, yeah, sure," I vaguely answered before going after Matt.

My fear that this apartment would be deserted happened to be unfounded. The main room had filled up quite a bit. I tried to find the glass I'd used when I'd been almost choking to death because of Tom, but I couldn't dig it out. So I just sauntered over to the tables and took a new one as my eyes darted around the room.

Matt was talking with a small group of people; he was playing his role of host well enough but I knew that what he wanted above all else was to sail off to the other flat. And at some point- rather rapidly in fact- he effectively managed to wear away. But I hadn't really let him out of my sight all this time and I followed him through the front door, which we left open, since more people would surely come and go.

"Coming along?" he rushed while he hopped down the stairs. Now that he didn't have to behave himself in front of his guests, he was a real a bunble of nerves, bouncing down the steps.

"Yes," I said, trying to catch up with him. "And I wanted to ask you-"

"What?"

"What's with the roses?"

He halted in his tracks then and mysteriously smiled to himself. "Oh. That."

END OF THE SECOND PART


Yep, end of the second part. We passed some major point here. But there won't be any leap in time.

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

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"don't keep it to yourself"

title: 'Thank You' - Dido + 'Hey Jude' - The Beatles