AFTERMATH [until dawn]

Chapter Seventeen

MATT

"Fuck you!" Emily shouted and slammed her palm onto the table.

"C'mon, Em..." Matt tried to calm his girlfriend down, but she quickly interrupted again.

"No!" Emily turned and faced Mike with a furious expression on her face. "He did NOT just win the fourth game of Uno in a row!"

Mike, on the other side of the table, was cackling with joy at his ex-girlfriend's reaction. In his hand, he held his final card like a trophy, waving it in Emily's face. She slapped his hand away, snarling in annoyance.

"I told you, Em. He's really THAT good." Jessica said from the side, giggling as she watched the scene unfold, wrapped in a heavy blanket with a cup of tea in her hand.

"Hell yeah, I'm THAT good. You all heard her!" Mike exclaimed loudly, raising his eyebrows at Emily. She threw a cushion at him in response.

"Maybe we should, ah, take a break from the game for a while?" Matt suggested, and took Emily's cards out of her hand before anything bad happened to them. "Wonder how Chris, Ash, and Sam are doing, anyway." He tried to change the topic.

"Oh, I'm sure they're fine," Mike said as he stacked the Uno cards into one neat pile before putting them away. "Can't believe they left so early in the morning, and none of us heard them!"

"That's Sam, I guess." Emily reached over and took the cup of tea out of a surprised Jessica's hands, enjoying a long sip before giving it back to the blonde girl. "Thanks, Jess—and yeah you're right, Michael. I'm sure they're doing great."

"What do you think they'll find there, though?" Matt asked, a little worried. What if they risk their lives going back up that cursed mountain and find nothing but... Wendigos? "A cure? Does that even exist?"

"What if the old man was lying to us?" Jessica added.

Emily and Mike exchanged exasperated glances. Matt suddenly recognized the startling resemblance between the personalities of the ex-couple. They're both such smart people. Brave, too... No wonder they were attracted to each other.

"There's no reason he would lie to us—unless he's insane, of course." Emily explained in a calm voice.

"Exactly," Mike continued her sentence for her. "He seemed to actually pity us as well—you guys don't have to be that suspicious, you know."

"We're just worried for our friends..." Jessica mumbled from the side, giving Mike puppy-dog eyes. Smiling, Mike moved over and engulfed her in a hug, whispering some reassuring words that made Jessica smile. Emily rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, but she turned to Matt with a smile. Matt raised his eyebrows and opened his arms. Emily, laughing, simply shrugged and joined his embrace as well.

It was a peaceful morning in Jessica's little room. For once, the sky wasn't cloudy—bright, warm rays of sunlight shone through the small window on the side of the room. The central heating had been on throughout the entire night, making the air in the room warm and stuffy. Emily had woken up earlier than everyone else and made mugs of warm coffee for everyone, and it's scent was refreshing. Everything seemed fine, but Matt couldn't help but feel a little guilty for enjoying the peace and quiet.

We're here chatting and enjoying coffee, he thought sadly. While Sam, Chris, and Ashley are out there risking their lives, looking for a way to save OUR friend. It's incredible. Matt glanced out the window. I could never find the courage to go back to the Mountain. Not for a third time. How could they possibly—

"Hey," Emily snapped her fingers in front of Matt's face. "Come back to Earth please, mister."

"Huh?" Matt saw that his friends were watching him weirdly. "Sorry, did I miss something?"

"No, you were in outer space, man." Mike's arm was around Jessica's shoulders. He patted her randomly, earning weird looks from his girlfriend. "What's on your mind? Worrying about our brave, wonderful friends again?"

"You guys know me too well," Matt smiled shyly and shrugged. They're not wrong.

"Hey, Matt," Jessica reached over and patted Matt's knee reassuringly. "Everything's going to be alright. Don't worry about them too much, yeah?"

"I know, I know..." Matt grinned and waved his hands dismissively. "You guys don't have to baby me, you know. I'm not that...Um..." He struggled to find the word to describe himself.

"Cute?" Emily asked with raised eyebrows.

Mike guffawed from the other side of the sofa, coughing up coffee in the process.

"Stop embarrassing me, Em!" Matt complained, feeling uncomfortable as his other friends laughed. Emily smiled and shrugged, like she wasn't sorry at all.

"You guys make a great couple." Mike said casually, cleaning coffee off himself.

"I know," Emily said in her usual dismissive way, before realizing what Mike—her ex-boyfriend—had just said. Her eyes widened at the realization. "I mean, um..."

Matt wasn't sure what to say in response to the awkward exchange between the exes, and neither did Jessica, apparently. The room lapsed into silence as all four friends tried to figure out something to say.

"Okay," Mike finally said decisively, setting his coffee onto the table. "Let's get this out of the way, once and for all. I know this—"  He gestured at the group of four seated together. "is awkward, and I understand why. Em and I used to date, then I dumped her for her best friend—Sorry Em, but it's true—and you two stop being friends, then Em finds a new boyfriend in good ol' Matt here, and I don't like it, then he sees Em and I hugging and gets mad, and we fight, and nobody is happy, then we go through a whole fucking horror story on the mountain, we all make it out, Matt and Jess become best friends, Em and I forgive each other, but—" He paused to inhale dramatically. "Things are still weird and that needs to stop."

Emily rolled her eyes, miffed at his comment about dumping her. Jessica's eyebrows were furrowed as she tried to think through Mike's long, continuous speech. Matt himself was trying to process Mike's words as quickly as he could.

"Did you just sum up our relationship history in one sentence?" Matt finally questioned.

"A run-on sentence, but a sentence nonetheless," Emily interjected.

"Yes, I did," Mike seemed quite proud. "In a run—whatever she said."

A brief pause, as everyone contemplated what to say.

"He's right, though," Jessica finally concluded. "It's... Interesting, how the four of us were brought together like this. It's like the world wants us to sort our issues out—and we should do it!"

It was surprising, as Matt thought Jessica didn't have much to discuss with anyone—besides Emily, perhaps.

"Fate?" Emily muttered. "More like the four of us were too scared to volunteer to help our friends, but okay..."

"C'mon, Emily," Jessica rolled her eyes, exasperated by her friend's tone. "Can you please stop with the negativity once in a while? We're all stressed because Sam, Chris, and Ash are away, and we just want to distract ourselves a little and become closer... Is that a problem for you? We just want to talk to each other, that's all."

"Who the fuck do you think you are? My therapist?" Emily scoffed, but her annoyance had visibly decreased. She sighed and allowed a small smile to appear on her face. "Never mind, never mind... It's been a rough day, that's all. Sorry, Jess."

"I'm used to it," Jessica answered with a small smile of her own, shrugging casually. Mike and Matt exchanged confused glances at Emily's sudden calmness and Jessica's nonchalance.

No wonder they used to be best friends, Matt thought, intrigued. Their personalities are so different, yet they fit together well. They're practically polar opposites... But they compliment each other so well, they make such a powerful team.

"Well," Matt bit his lip nervously, unsure of what to say. "I guess if we want to sort out our issues..." He took a deep breath and turned to Mike. "What you did to Emily—breaking up with her—really hurt her. I could tell. I know she probably used me as rebound at first but—" He shook his head at Emily, silencing her protests. "I really care for her, Mike. And I still remember, last year, when I saw you guys hugging... I was worried she would go back to you."

Matt nervously glanced at his girlfriend for her reaction—her eyes were surprisingly kind and she nodded in encouragement. He turned to face her.

"I guess, deep down, I always thought I wasn't good enough for you." Matt finally admitted. "I mean, look at Michael Munroe there—class president, smart as hell, everyone's into him! How could I possibly compete with that? I know I'm not as smart as him. I don't have his courage or his charisma, or even his good looks." Matt refused to meet anyone's eyes and stared down at the floor. "I just don't want to lose you to anyone else, Emily..." His voice trailed off as he glanced warily at Emily.

"I really, really love you. So much. And..." Matt held his head in his hands as he continued. "Ah, I'm rambling, I don't know what I'm saying, sorry..."

"Matt," Emily said. Her voice was full of... Something Matt had never heard in her. "C'mere." He looked up and saw that she had opened her arms, gesturing at him to hug her. He let her embrace him in silence, as Mike and Jessica glanced at each other with grins.

"Look," Emily whispered in his ear. "That was..." She paused for a second. "You were really honest and it means a lot to me. You're right. I did see you as a form of rebound at first. I missed Mike a lot. But after a while, especially after last year on the Mountain, I realized that I cared for you. A lot. Much more than I cared for Mike by then. You're right, there are things that Mike has that you maybe won't ever be able to compete with—but you have a big heart. You, Matthew Taylor, are the kindest person I know. You are full of positivity, you try to comfort everyone... You make me feel safe." She smiled kindly. "Hell, I think you're exactly what I need."

Exactly what she needs, Matt repeated the phrase in his mind. Me?

"Yes, you, Matt." Emily reassured him, as if she heard his question in his head somehow. "And I... I lo—" She hesitated and hurriedly continued. "I care about you too. Much more than I ever thought I could care about anyone."

"Okay, I hate to break this up, but this is getting way too cheesy for me." Mike interrupted, only half-joking. He met Matt's eyes and mouthed "proud of you, man".

"Yeah," Matt laughed nervously. "Sorry about that." He squeezed Emily's hand. "We can talk later, on our own."

Emily glanced at him and seemed to make a decision about something. She looked at Jessica, who had been watching the scene with interest for a while.

"Jess..." Emily began uncertainly. "I just wanted to say that I'm happy for you and Mike. We've had our differences and fought about this, but... You're my best friend and I love you." She laughed. "I can't believe we let some stupid guy get in between our friendship at one point."

"Oh yeah!" Jessica giggled. "We did, didn't we?"

"It was stupid," Emily continued. "But I really am grateful you're in my life. You keep me in check and your liveliness and excitement in doing almost everything is infectious, and I just..." She blushed as she realized she was rambling cliché movie lines. "I just love you. Yeah. That's all." Evidently, she wasn't good at the sentimental things yet.

"Aw, Em!" Jessica grinned happily. "I love you too. You're like a sister to me, honestly, and I don't know where I would be without you."

Emily smiled, relieved at her friend's positive reply. She settled back into her seat on the couch comfortably.

"Well, now I've sorted out all my issues with everyone in the room. Mike, you remember our talk from earlier, yeah?" She asked pointedly.

"Yep," Mike nodded. "We're all good."

"Looks like the only pair that's gotta figure their shit out is you guys," Emily gestured at Mike and Matt. "My two exes." She smirked at the realization.

Matt turned and looked at Mike reluctantly, and saw his friend do the same.

"You heard what I said earlier, yeah?" Matt questioned nervously. "I, uh, don't really want to repeat it."

"Yeah, man, I get it." Mike paused. "Sorry, I guess I was kind of a dick."

"Yeah, you were." Matt replied without thinking and quickly realized his bluntness. "Wait, I mean—I didn't mean it that way, I—"

"Don't worry about it, it's fine." Mike dismissed it with a small grin.

The silence was awkward.

"I'm not going to tell you I love you, if that's what you're waiting for." Matt declared.

"If you thought I had some sentimental shit to say..." Mike smiled. "I don't. So don't worry about it."

More silence.

"Jesus fuck," Emily groaned from the side. "You guys are horrible at this. That was one of the most painfully awkward conversations I have ever heard." She glared at the men in the room. "Just hug or something and say you've forgiven each other, okay? It's not that hard."

Mike shrugged.

"Okay." Mike got up and went over to where Matt was sitting. Matt stood up as well—and the two men embraced awkwardly, Matt patting Mike on the back because he was unsure of what to do or say in this situation.

They heard the sharp click of an iPhone camera and quickly jumped apart. Matt saw Jessica and Emily trying their best to hold in laughter, phones in hand.

"Did you just fucking—" Mike fake-snatched the phone from his girlfriend, who was laughing as she tried to hide it from him.

"This is going to be everywhere! Don't even bother, Michael." Emily addressed Mike, already typing on her phone at the speed of light. "If only the WiFi here wasn't so slow...

"Thank god you don't have fast internet," Mike muttered under his breath, sitting onto the sofa. Emily and Jess were typing away, smiling to themselves as they posted the picture of the two guys awkwardly hugging onto every social media platform they had. He peeked at Matt with a defeated smile. "We good though, man?"

"Yeah," Matt responded with a smile, feeling genuinely happy and safe in the little room, after having gotten all past conflicts and disagreements out of the way. "Of course."

The exchange caused Matt to temporarily forget about the trio who had set off to Blackwood Mountain earlier. His worries had ceased for now—but what the group of four didn't realize was how soon disaster would strike, and how it would destroy the peace and tranquillity they enjoyed in Jessica's room at the moment.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Finally! I've updated! I'm so sorry about the big gap!

This is sort of a transition chapter focused on character development—I can't wait to get back to Sam, Chris, and Ashley on the mountain soon :) So much action is coming and I'm so excited for you to read it!

Thank you so much for your continuous support on this story. I've recently discovered Detroit: Become Human and already have ideas for a story about that game? Would you guys read it if I wrote one?

Of course, I'd finish Aftermath first.

Anyway, thank you SO MUCH for reading! Vote and comment if you'd like :) I love you all so much!