Always Loved You (Mattory)

Courage

Mallory's POV

After Stacey had finished barfing, he invited me over for dinner. Of course I accepted for two reasons. The main one being that Stacey is a great chef and can make the best pasta dish, which is what we're having. The other reason is that I kind of, maybe a little bit wanted to hang out with Matt.

About 30 minutes before dinner, Tori showed up because she was invited too. We showed her the footage from the video and talked about her having a role in season 2 of Freelancers. She talked about this Studio C sketch Jason was writing.

I am happy for Jason, doing what he loves, but I am sad that the ten of us aren't working together anymore, although we are going to put him in Freelancers.

Dinner was delicious and everyone had seconds, not very healthy, but it tasted like heaven in your mouth. The conversation was mostly small talk, mostly laughing over Stacey's incident earlier. Mycroft sat under the table, waiting for someone to drop food. It was mostly Tori, who dropped food on purpose. Adam saw and was not very happy about it, but didn't object either.

Matt was unusually quiet during dinner and I didn't know why he was acting so weird. It seemed he was having an inner monologue and I don't think it was about mono. I think everyone noticed that he was debating something.

"Well, that was amazing Stacey," I said as I took my plate to the sink. "I'll clean up dinner." 

"I'll help," Tori said, jumping up.

"Nonsense, you guys are the guests," Adam said. "Allow me."

"At least let us help," I insisted. The boys agreed.

I was washing the dishes, Tori was drying, and Adam was putting them away.

"What's up with Matt?" Tori asked under her breath, afraid that Matt would hear from the other room. "He's being really weird. Even my jokes couldn't get him to laugh."

"I don't know," Adam whispered. "He was fine earlier, and now he is debating all his life choices or something." We all giggled.

After dinner cleanup, Tori and I headed to leave. She left as I finished gathering up my things. As I was unlocking my car door, I heard the front door open behind me. I turned and saw Matt. He had his hands in his pockets and looked really sheepish, like he was a teenage boy instead of a 37 year old man.

"Hey Matt, what's up?"

'Um... Well, I've been trying to figure out what to say for a while now. But I like you Mal. I don't think I've ever gotten over our breakup. I dated other people, but then we would have to kiss for a sketch and my feelings for you just keep coming back. And with the Freelancers thing, its just I realized how much I want us to be more than friends." He took a breath. "But, more than that, I don't want to ruin what we have as friends and I completely understand if you don't feel the same way. I was maybe wondering if you wanted to go out to eat sometime, not as a date, just as friends because our friendship matters to me even more than becoming something more." He saw the look of disbelief on my face because it immediately became sad. "What am I saying? This is stupid. I'm sorry Mal, I've seen enough movies to know that when someone confesses his love for another, their relationship is never the same. I'm just going to go now."

Matt likes me? How did I never see that, with the way he always blushes when we make eye contact or the way he stutters when he talks to me sometimes.

Do I like him back? He is a nice man and I love our friendship. I called off our relationship because I didn't like him, right? Or was it because I did and was afraid of commitment? I don't know.

"Matt!" I call, he turned around. I walked up to him. "I don't know what I want. But I will go out to lunch with you."

He had such hope and happiness in his eyes, I couldn't help but smile. Then, by some explainable force, I stepped closer to him. He stepped closer to me.

I closed my eyes as our lips touched. His hands went to my cheeks and mine went to his neck. The kiss only lasted a second, it wasn't passionate or needy. It was sweet and loving, and spoke all the words my brain couldn't manage. It was the best kiss I had ever had with anyone.

We pulled away from that short kiss, both our cheeks full of pink color. I smiled and looked at my feet and I know he did the same. 

"Tomorrow, 1 o'clock. Pizza place," He said and I nodded.

I started to turn to my car, when I saw Stacey standing in the doorway. He had a shocked, surprised, happy and confused look on his face. He made a noise that sounded like a little girl that had gotten a puppy for Christmas. 

*A/N* What do you think? I know I am really bad at updating, so I'm sorry for that. You must hate me. Anyways, Please comment and vote if you like it and even comment if you don't because I appreciate feedback. This part of the story I don't really have a plan for. I have planned the last few chapters a lot, but the middle not so much. So, if anyone has any ideas, please share them. Thanks for reading!

Love ya!