Chapter 38
I awoke with a jump. I breathed heavily and was covered in tiny droplets of a cold sweat. I blinked, letting my eyes get used to the darkness. First I moved my hands. My fingertips came down over Matt's body as he lay there soundly sleeping. I then turned my head and looked at the red numbers on the clock that sat on my dresser. It read 3:30 AM. I blinked my fuzzy eyes again, to make sure I had read the correct time. My eyes moved again slowly through the darkness. Suddenly I came across two more sleeping bodies, Jeff and Amy. Amy was propped up in one of the plastic lawn chairs that had been outside my door. She slept peacefully, her red hair pulled up into a high ponytail. My eyes then studied Jeff. He was also sleeping in a chair. His body was slouched in the chair until the nape of his neck touched the back of his chair. Then his feet were propped up on top of the bed. His arms were folded over his chest that was moving up and down from his rhythmic breathing.
Suddenly Amy stirred in her sleep and awoke with a start as the hand and arm that were holding up her head had slipped off the arm of the chair. She rubbed her eyes and smiled at me, as she saw that I was awake. I gave her a little wave back. Amy then motioned with her head to the door. I nodded, knowing that she wanted to talk with me outside. I carefully sat up and removed Matt's arms from around my waist. I slowly slid off of him and stood to my feet. I followed Amy out doors as we closed the door behind us.
"Maria, I want to talk with you..." she started out. She took a deep breath and slowly continued. "I don't even know where to start..." she tried again. "Matthew loves you, but you must understand that we have a job to do. We may not always like it, but we have to do it." Amy said, avoiding my eyes.
"Amy, I'm not upset about that, I am upset because you kissed each other backstage last night. That wasn't part of the script at all, I just don't understand..." my voice trailed off as I turned away with more tears in my eyes.
"Oh I didn't know you knew. Jeff and I came in and you two were sleeping, so we thought that you two were just exhausted and needed a good night's rest." Amy replied.
"Yes, we were exhausted from arguing with each other...how could you?" I managed to squeak out.
"Maria, it wasn't planned. It didn't mean anything to either of us, it was just out of frustration with this whole thing. This whole kiss is driving the four of us apart..." she said.
"Yes, further and further. And now that you have gone even further with it, I just want to pack my bags and head back home." I told her. "Did you tell Jeff about this yet?" I asked, suddenly.
"...No...I haven't." She replied, still looking the other direction.
"I can't imagine how his heart is going to break when you tell him. He loves you with all of his heart how could you do that to him?" I asked, turning to look at her with tear stained cheeks.
"Maria, I didn't do it, Matt kissed me. I do love Jeff, it all happened so fast, I can't explain it."
"Amy, you kissed him back. I saw the whole thing. I don't know what to do, anymore. Matt sparked feelings inside of me that I never knew I had before. I love him so much, but how can we be together if I can't trust him?" I asked.
"If you truly love him as much as you say you do, then you will not runaway from this, but you will work through it. Maria, I honestly love Jeff, he has been my soul mate since the beginning, I just didn't realize it until a little while ago. I am scared too. I don't want to loose Jeff, not when we have come this far. But if we love each other like we say we do, then we too, will make it through this." Amy said.
"Make it through what?" Jeff suddenly popped his head through the wooden door. Amy gave me a sad look then looked back up at Jeff.
"Jeff I need to tell you something, but its not good news. Please come take a seat." she motioned for Jeff to take a seat on the chair Amy and I had been propping our feet on.
"What's going on here?" Jeff's usual smile was replaced with a grave look.
"Do you want me to stay or go?" I asked quietly.
"Stay. Jeff, this is hard for me to say, but I am not going to lie about it. Last night when the match was finished, Matt and I got into an argument over this whole kiss ordeal and suddenly out of confusion, Matt kissed me." Amy said with a shaky voice. "Jeff, I am soo sorry. I don't know what came over us." She turned her face away from Jeff's.
I kept my eyes on him. He turned almost green and looked sick to his stomach. He swallowed hard with tears in his eyes. He didn't even blink. It looked as if Amy had just sucked the life right out of him.
"Maria, please tell me she is kidding..." He managed to say.
"No, she is not. I saw it for myself last night." I replied sadly.
"Hey, guys, what's going on out here?" Matt came from behind through the squeaky door. He was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawned tiredly.
Without a word Jeff rose to his feet and nailed Matt in the eye with his fist. Matt hadn't been expecting the blow and fell to the ground holding his eye and moaning in pain. Jeff then preceded past Matt to his own hotel room and slammed the door behind himself. Amy and I panicked not knowing what to do. Amy regained herself and scrambled to help Matt up. I looked from Matt and Amy back to Jeff's closed door, not knowing where to head.
"Maria, you go talk to Jeff, I'll take care of Matt." Amy instructed me.
I nodded and hurried to Jeff's door. I didn't even bother knocking, I just let myself in. As I entered Jeff lay on his bed with his back to me in a crumpled mess. I took a deep breath and stepped into the room, closing the door behind myself.
"Jeff, its Maria, do you want to talk ?" I asked, taking a seat on the edge of his bed.
"No." he said flatly.
"Fine, I'll just take a seat on this bed, and when you're ready to talk, you let me know." I replied, stretching out on Matt's bed, resting my arms behind my head.
"Is Matt all right?" Jeff asked after a few moments of silence.
"He should be fine. Why are you concerned, I thought you wanted to kill him?" I asked staring blankly at the wood paneled ceiling.
"Yeah I am pretty pissed off, but he's still my brother, I just hope I didn't do any permanent damage." Jeff replied.
"He will probably have a black and blue eye for a few days, but he'll survive." I stated.
Chapter 39
Chapter 37