I Love My Brother's Best Friend

Chapter 6 ~ Comfort

*Isabelle's POV*

A loud clap of thunder awoke me from my 'sleep', more like deathly unconsciousness. I found myself in an empty bed in a familiar room that I hadn't been in for years. The cable box clock read '2:09' and judging by the darkness outside, I concluded that it was the early hours of the morning. The en-suite bathroom door was open and none of the lights were on so I found myself to be alone. I crawled off of the bed and noticed that someone changed me into an oversized, or at least for me, t-shirt, which I was grateful for seeing as I was previously dressed in tight skinny jeans and a dressy top. I ungracefully rolled myself off of the bed and onto my feet.

As I quietly made my way downstairs, I noticed the lights on in the kitchen. When I looked in through the doorway, I saw a shirtless back leaned over the counter doing paperwork.

"You know, I thought dancers were supposed to be graceful and not make any noise when they walk," a voice pierced the silence that covered the house.

It was then that all of the memories from last night started rushing back to me. The terrifying phone call that I got when I was at a benefit dinner, my brother in the hospital, the horrific rainstorm, the Marine coming in with all of the paperwork, and then, Matty.

Matty pulling me into his arms and letting me cry my heart out. Matty picking me up from my light sleep and bringing me to the truck that I drove to the hospital,  which he then drove us both home. And then Matty bringing us up to his room because I begged him not to leave me alone.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the boy, or really man now, that I have known all of my life finally turned around from his seat at the kitchen table and looked at me with concern once he noticed my frozen position. I began walking towards him after I came to my senses and I looked down at the paperwork spread across the table. I realized that it was the paperwork that the Marine at the hospital handed me last night.

"You know, I could've done this in the morning," I mimicked back to him," but thank you for doing it because it probably would've taken me hours to do it anyway," I said more quietly. But to be honest, I probably would have been able to whiz through it if it wasn't for my emotional state. The problem would have been trying to do the paperwork without crying and freaking myself out about the whole situation.

As if reading my mind, Matty mumbled under his breathe "Yea, I'm sure."

Then, in an instant, two hands gently grabbed my hips and tugged on them slightly so I fell onto their owner's lap, which successfully resulted in me sort-of straddling Matty's lap.

"Come on Belle, you gotta give me some credit. And plus, anyone with eyes could see that you didn't want to do that paperwork," he whispered into my ear and shivers rippled through my spine. Although, I guess he took that as I sign of coldness and pulled me closer, if that was even possible, to his extremely warm body. "And I also know you well enough to say that you could go for some crying and cliche movies right about now. Not to toot my own horn, but I am pretty good at getting you through these shitty times."

This caused a sarcastic reply to fly out of my mouth. "Well then, Mr. Know-it-all, why don't you make that happen then, because, as you probably know, I don't want to get up right now and walk to the bed and set up the movies myself."

He was taken back by the sudden witty reply and took a few moments before a smirk formed on his face, "Well I can understand why you wouldn't want to get up from this position," he said with a wink before continuing, "so I guess I have to carry you BACK to bed and then set everything else up myself, just for you." he said over-dramatically.

It was then my turn to be taken back, as I had forgotten the fact that I was comfortably sitting and practically straddling his lap, which then, of course, caused my face to turn an unbelievable dark shade of lovey rose-red.

A strong arm then went to my back as another one went under my knees and successfully carried me up to the bed that I had vacated 10 minutes earlier. He gently set me down onto his king-sized bed and turned on the t.v. and switching on Demand before heading back downstairs to retrieve the snacks. I started flipping through the movies and started to get side-tracked by my thoughts. I thought about how in the kitchen, Matty was able to completely change my mood.

I was so deep in thoughts by the time he came make upstairs that I didn't see or hear him come in. "What are you thinking about this time?" I jumped slightly out of surprise, but it was big enough for him to notice.

"Nothing, don't worry about it," I replied, although he still gave me a wary look, not buying it. "So...movies?" I said trying to change the subject. He caught on to my desperate attempt and sat down next to me and for the next few hours we watched movies, ate ice cream, cried and laughed until we couldn't anymore, and suppressed our negative thoughts, as we couldn't really do anything about them at three in the morning. At some point, we fell asleep during 'Titanic' with our legs tangled and my head on his chest and his arms wrapped protectively around me.

And it was, if not the best, one of the best nights, or rather mornings, of sleep that I ever had.