Sorry this one took so long coming, but I'm really in love with how it turned out! Thanks so very very much for all of the amazing reviews, too! Enjoy the next chapter, guys :D
It wasn't blinding sunlight that woke Audrey the next day. To her pleased surprise, actually, all traces of the sun were blotted out with heavy purple storm clouds, and rain hailed the city with crashes of lighting for show. She lolled to her side, holding the blankets snuggled up to her chin, and let her eyes soak up the flashes of lighting that diminished into the rain like dried dirt would soak up the downpour. And she was suddenly grateful that in all of her side-tracked adventures, she had forgotten drapes. With a soft sigh, she rested her head into the pillow, and a straggling thought drifted, no, crawled into her mind. What could Matt… be doing? She bit down on her lip and furrowed her brow in mild agitation. A better question is why the fuck should you care what he does? She tossed onto her back and pushed the sheet away from her face, slapping her arms to her sides. But her head still tuned slowly to the wide open window, and her eyes still scanned the skyline, and her mind still wondered which of the buildings in this crowded city did he reside in.
And she was mentally slapping herself over the head with a blunt, heavy object every time his face came to the back of her eyelids. With a heave of breathe, Audrey flopped to her other side, facing away from the window and the city that held Matt somewhere inside itself. Her eyes rolled with a slight distaste for herself, accompanied by a subtle pout on her mouth. She knew that had she sat back and asked herself "Audrey, why are you so hung up on this boy?" that no answer would have occurred to her. The only thing she knew for certain was that something had happened there between them, and she would not be satisfied unless she heard him admit it.
Unless he looked her square in the eyes and said something along the lines of "Audrey, I know you know that there's something here, and you know that I know that it is no longer a deniable fact, so just kiss me, you fool and –"
Her imagination shot itself in the foot and fell dead silent.
With a quiet groan of conviction, she threw the covers off of herself, and marched to the bathroom, grabbing a box of crackers from under the desk along the way. She chewed with a new purpose, turning on the water and taking her time undressing. Words tangled and stumbled over themselves as they ran to get themselves in an order she could use, but as she stepped under the spray, any sentences that made sense were washed away like soap bubbles.
Why was it that someone with such a big mouth and oh, so many opinions could now come up with nothing intelligible to say? Audrey ground her teeth together and washed her hair. She did have the hope that upon opening his door to see her there, he would be the one to say something first. In which case, she could respond accordingly and carry the conversation from the top of her head. But what if she met silence? What if he just looked her over with those cold eyes and shut the door on her?
Audrey reached out of the shower and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around herself and stepping into the steam-filled room. She released a breath she hadn't realized had locked into her chest.
It wasn't like she enjoyed feeling a fool over a stupid boy that picked on her and laughed at her when she was a kid. Every time Audrey met his eyes, the ones that looked back at her were the same kid that had snickered from behind his handheld, and she detested the way she felt when he smiled at her. Just one corner of his mouth lifting to her gave her the urge to collapse in a way that would feel like flying. Pulling on a pair of gray sweat pants and a loose fitting black t-shirt that was so stretched from use that it fell over her shoulder, Audrey shuffled her hands through her wet, curling hair and tried again to configure her thoughts to a row. Again, she came up with nothing.
She looked into the fogged glass of the bathrooms mirror, concluding that her hair was a hopeless case, as anything she could try to do would be wiped out by the rain. Her clouded reflection was almost asking itself if he ever thought about her. She turned off the light and grabbed a long sweater from the floor that didn't look like it had been heaped with a mass of others. She tugged it over her shoulders and kicked on a pair of shoes that didn't need tying, in hopes that the faster she got out there and on her way, the less time she'd have to chicken out and the sooner she would demand answers. A scarf was sitting on her side table, and in hopes of looking a little more put together, she wrapped it loosely around her neck. Leaving Near's complex was a blur of plain walls, and before it registered, Audrey had stepped outside into the pouring rain. The overcast sky had driven everyone indoors, and if someone had asked her just then on her life what the day was, she would have died on the spot. All she knew as she stood under the downpour was that it was across the street and a left or two to Matt's complex. And she began to walk.
Her hands shoved into her pockets for the pack of cigarettes that were always burrowed somewhere inside, and when her fingers stumbled over the carton, she released a breath of relief. The wind and rain made lighting the cancer stick slightly difficult, but after a few clicks and blanks, the flame was flicked to life and she lit her cigarette with a deep drag. Her footsteps were wet and hollow echoes off of the surrounding buildings. She turned a corner.
Lungful after lungful of nicotine did nothing for her nerves. The slaps of her shoes seemed to grow louder. The noise settled heavily in her bones. She walked a little faster.
Another corner; his building was in sight. Audrey moved quickly, blindly across the empty streets, putting the cigarette to her lips to pull the smoke in again. Unseeing, her hands pulled at the door. It was heavier than she recalled. She stepped inside.
Stairs. Step after step, twist after turn, one long hallway leading to another. Numbers, blurring together and fading out. 713. 713, 713, 713.
Knock? Yes, knock. Hands have lost most feeling; the knock is more of a soft tap. Silence on the other side of the door. Hesitation. Hand lifts weakly and balls to a loose fist. Taps a little harder on the door, only to be met with more silence. Body feels heavy, eyes begin to blur out of focus, hand lands on the doorknob. Grip is subpar, but a slight turn leaves the door ajar.
Is it proper to just walk in? The thick darkness is seeping into the hallway, far more inviting that the dimmed fluorescent lights of the hallway. A quiet step forward, numbed fingers pushing at the door, neck craning and eyes straining. Silence.
A rustle of sheets, a quick moment of clarity, followed by the urge to turn and run.
"Who the fuck is that?"
A groggy voice cuts through the darkness to Audrey's ears, and her own voice fails in responsiveness. Matt watches the silhouette of a small body topped with curly hair from his bed across the way, sitting up to repeat the question. He rubs sleep from his eyes and slides his legs out of the sheets, setting his feet to the floor.
Audrey sees him stand up. Her feet don't receive the message to leave as quickly as they can.
He walks over the cold wooden floor, scratching at the back of his neck and shaking up his hair. She sees him move down the single step, off of his plat-formed bed, and down past the futon and his television. He's suddenly right in front of her, an arm reaching past her face to the wall behind her. A light clicked on. Audrey didn't even want to think of her expression.
He's standing there, towering over her. Without a shirt. A shudder rolled through her veins; she fought it off. Matt leaned one arm around her, against the door frame. He titled his head, his dark eyes bearing into Audrey's, which she imagined must have been the size of quarters. "What… time is it?" He sighed through the question. Audrey shook her head and spoke. It came out quiet, and a little too fast. "I-I don't know. I just woke up."
He kept his eyes trained to hers and moved his other arm to shut the door behind them, now standing with her trapped between his two arms. His shoulders hunched at his posture, and his head leaned right in front of hers. Audrey's eyes flitted around the barricade his body had made. And now, in her glorious moment of aghast silence, with Matt leaning over her, eyes piercing for some form of an explanation, she found that yet again, her brain came up with nothing.
So she simply stood there, shuffling her feet slightly and gnawing at her bottom lip.
"Audrey, why are you here?"
When his voice came out, it wasn't agitated, just tired, and it occurred to her then that she had just woke him up at a time of day that even she didn't know. She cleared her throat, dragging her eyes up to flightily meet his. "I.. I'm sorry, I j-"
Her words cut off to a small sigh and her hand reached behind her back for the doorknob, but in the instant Matt realized she would try to make her escape, he put on hand on each of her slender shoulders and swiftly pulled her further into the room, leaving her hand flailing for nothing. She stumbled to a stop in front of him. Matt crossed his arms over his bare chest loosely with an expectant look on his face. "You're not gonna break into my apartment at…" his eyes moved to an illuminated wall clock that she hadn't noticed before, "at not even five in the morning, wake me up and then not even tell me why you came here like this. And for God's sakes, Audrey, you're soaking wet." His last remark almost sounded concerned, with the way he punctuated it with such exasperation. He dropped into the discolored futon, the expectant expression never flickering away from his face. Audrey took in the sight of him in that second; face tilted to the side, arms crossed limply, dark hair falling haphazardly from sleep, and never once did his eyes move from hers, no matter where she tried to look.
With a sigh, Audrey shrugged out of her sweater and unwound her scarf. She sat beside him with one leg folded underneath herself and her hands wringing each other out in her lap.