The Thursday night traffic was sparse, and we arrived back at the hotel before 1:00 AM. As we were going up in the elevator, Matty suddenly turned to me and asked, "Are you tired, or do you  want to hang out for a bit?"

"What? I thought you didn't want to go out because you were tired?" I asked in confusion.

"I never said that. I didn't want to go out because those girls were horrible, and most of the people we meet when we go out to those kinds of places are like them, and I have better things to do with my time." He took a deep breath.

"I'm good, wide awake, actually, and we can sleep in tomorrow morning, so yeah, let's hang out. Your room or mine?" I responded.

"Um, yours," Matty said happily, so we went two doors down to my room. We chatted about the show and the dinner as I changed into my pajamas in the bathroom and washed my face. I came out, freshly scrubbed, and Matty took one look at me and smiled in a funny way.

I looked down at myself. "What? You don't like the Clippers?" It was my favorite jersey, certainly modest by anyone's standards; it came down nearly to my knees.

"No, it's not that, it's just, with your face all washed and everything, you look like a wee bairn—a little kid," he explained.

"I know what 'wee bairn' means," I said as I sat down on the sofa next to him. "I've seen Trainspotting, you know."

"Do you even know how much I love that you didn't say Braveheart?" he said to me.

"Oh, I've seen that one, too," I assured him. "I love movies. You name it, I've seen it.

"Hey, Matty," I said as I sat down with a glass of wine from the mini-fridge. I tucked one leg under me so I could sit facing him.

"Yes, Tink," he returned with a smile.

"Am I imagining it, or have things been a little off between us the past couple days?"

He swallowed. "Wow, you can be blunt when you want to."

I sighed. "So I'm not imagining it, then."

He looked out the window at the city and didn't say anything.

"Matty, why?" I thought back over the past few days. After all, I'd actually only known him for a week. Granted, it had been a time-intensive week, where we'd been in each other's presence nearly constantly, but still. What could possibly have gone wrong? Especially when he'd chosen to come back here with me, to my room, rather than go out to a nightclub with the people he was closest to in the whole world? Could this have something to do with the hand holding in the car? Oh no.

He took a deep breath, as if he was going to say something, then he closed his mouth. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Wow, this was serious. Please don't let this be about me.

"Matty, please. You're starting to scare me. What? You obviously wanted to get me alone so you could talk to me about something. So here we are, all alone, don't lose your nerve now; talk to me." I took another swallow of wine.

He took another deep breath. "Okay. I want to talk to you about something. I want to ask you something, actually. And it's embarrassing, because I know it's none of my business, but not knowing is killing me. I'm actually losing sleep not knowing, so I'm just going to ask you. If you don't want to answer me, if you want to tell me to sod off, I'll go back to my room, I'll understand completely. Okay?" He looked everywhere but at me, took another deep breath, and finally, he looked me in the eye, and I was surprised at the pain I saw in his dark blue ones.

"Okay, Matty. Okay." I put the wine glass on the table, scooted closer to him, and took both of his hands in mine. He returned my grip with a firmness that was almost painful. He seemed to realize this, and relaxed his hold a bit.

He looked down, blinked a few times, then looked back up at me. Don't be about me. Not about me.

"Tink,"—he took another deep breath—"are you sleeping with Theo?"

Just like the first time we met, for a moment, my brain refused to wrap around the words he'd said. I just stared at him.

"Tinker Bell," he said, in obvious agony, "answer me, please."

I tried to pull my hands from his, but he wouldn't let them go.

"No," he said. "Not until you say. Please say, Tink."

"Matty," I said in a soft voice. "Why would you ask that? Why would you even think that?"

Incredibly, a tear caught in his lashes, and rather than release one of my hands and wipe it away, he blinked rapidly until it spilled over and ran down his cheek. "So you're saying no?"

"Of course I'm saying no!" I continued in a quiet, shocked voice. "I just met him last week! I hardly know him." I tried again to pull my hands away, and this time he let them go.

"Besides, he's off at a night club right now with some Japanese bimbo with dyed blue hair! Would he be doing that if he were doing me?" I didn't mean for the words come out with quite so much venom, but Matty was in such a state that he didn't notice.

He roughly wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand, and his relief was palpable.

"Now you have to answer me, okay?" I continued gently. "I'm asking you again why you'd think that. What on earth did I say to make you think such a thing?" I stopped as a new thought occurred to me. "Or did Teddy say something?"

"No, he didn't say anything," Matty said quietly. "You didn't say anything, either."

"Then was it something I did?" I pressed.

"Sort of." He wouldn't look at me again.

"What?" My voice was incredulous.

'"It's both of you." He just sounded tired now. "Almost from the day we met you, there's been this energy between you two. I've kind of asked Geth about it. I didn't ask Ro; he doesn't notice anything, he's such a little kid," Matty sniffed and smiled, "you know?"

"I know," I smiled back.

"Anyway, Gethin said with Theo it's hard to tell because he has that effect on everyone around him, but that first night, in the car, I saw him doing something with his arm around you, and at the restaurant, I saw him nearly clobber Geth when he though he'd hurt you, and lots of times since, just little things. And then on Tuesday, on the bus, I was going to the toilet, and I saw you two sleeping, and the way he was holding you in his arms, and you were letting him, you guys were sleeping so close together, you looked like lovers—"

"Letting him? Matty, I was unconscious. Ronan drugged me! You know that. And as far as sleeping close together, you know how narrow those seats are, I could have fallen off—"

Matty was shaking his head. "I know what I saw. It was more than that. There's something between you two."

"And you just automatically assume it's sex?" I gasped.

"With Theo, that's usually what it is," Matty said grimly.

"Wow, Matthew, I never pegged you for a cynic," I said, picking up my wine glass again.

"Not a cynic, just a realist," he shot back. "You don't know him like I do, that's all. Don't misunderstand me. I love Theo, I do, like a brother, probably more than my real sibling, if I'm being honest. But I know what he's like, and I know how he relates to women."

"Well, not this one, okay?" I put my hand on his arm. "Okay?"

"Yeah." He looked at me. "And I'm really sorry I lost it like that. Which brings me to the second part of what I wanted to say."

I took another swallow of my wine and realized my glass was empty. Fuck. Maybe I should've called downstairs for a big bottle. "There's more?" I refilled my glass.

"I'm afraid so." He smiled. "This isn't easy for me either, you know. In fact, I don't think I could be getting through it if I hadn't had so much to drink earlier. Dutch courage and all that. So I'd better do it quickly, before the rest of the drink fades away."

"Okay. Hit me with it." I gazed at him. At least he wasn't crying anymore.

"I think I'm falling in love with you." He said this in the same way he might have said, "I think I'm having eggs for breakfast tomorrow morning." He looked at me and waited to see my response.

I definitely should have ordered a bigger bottle. I drained the glass in one swallow and set it on the table. Well, at least it was out there. But it was worse than I thought. Love. Oh my god.

"Oh, Matty. I don't know what to say. You have to give me a minute." I took a deep breath.

"Well, there's really no need for you to say anything, I guess, unless you want to say you feel the same way?" He looked at me hopefully.

"Matty, I—" I didn't know how to continue. "I'm not the sort of person who can just jump into something like that. Like I said about Teddy, I've only known you for a week..." I spread my hands out in a helpless gesture.

He sighed. "I know. But I've only known you for a week, too. And I know myself well enough to know how I feel. I've never met anyone like you. On the road, you only meet two types of women, tarts and fans, and both are unavailable in different sorts of ways.

"I kind of figured you knew. I mean, I haven't exactly been subtle, have I?" He smiled at me.

"My point is I know what I'm feeling for you is real, and it's growing every day." He took my hand. "And I'm really shy, and terrible at expressing myself, so I wanted to get it out in the open as soon as possible, because I know, I know, that something is going on with you and Theo, too, at least on Theo's end, and I'm pretty sure that once he makes his feelings known, I won't stand a chance.

"If you're telling me you feel nothing for Theo, well, that's good news for me, because it means I've still got a chance, but if what I've been seeing for the last week is real, then I'm done for, it's all over, because what I've been seeing is mutual. I see how you look at him, and I saw you together on the bus." How I looked at Teddy? I knew I was feeling things I'd never felt before, but I'd thought I was doing a good job of hiding them.

Matty scooted closer to me, looking at me with those eyes like sapphires. "I'm not a mean person, and I never held a grudge in my life. If you have feelings for Theo, I'll wish you good luck and be on my way, and I'll mean it, I really will. But I've never seen him in a relationship that lasted more than a few weeks. So be careful, that's all I'm saying, okay?"

"Matty, there's nothing between Teddy and me—"

He put a finger to my lips, silencing me. "Not yet. That's all I'm saying. I just wanted to make my feelings clear, so you'd have all the information if you ever needed to make a decision, that's all. Okay?"

I nodded, and he took his finger away.

Just as I was opening my mouth to say who knows what, there was a terrific knocking at my door.

I looked at my watch. "It's not even 2:30. They couldn't be back yet."

I opened the door, and Teddy came bursting through, smiling and looking around. "Hello, Miss Foster, Matty. I thought you two might still be up."

"What are you doing back so soon?" I asked, following him back into the room.

"Those awful girls were all over us in the car before we even got there, trying to undress us; I think the one with the orange hair actually got Ronan's trousers off," he said with a laugh as he sat down on the sofa next to Matty.

"How you doing, mate?" he asked, slapping him on the leg.

"I'm fine," Matty responded resignedly.

"Seriously, man, what's wrong?" Teddy hooked Matty around the neck and kissed the top of his head.

"Nothing. Get off me! God!" But Matty was laughing, his mood restored.

"Where are Ronan and Geth?" I asked, sitting cross-legged on my bed. "Did they stay at the club?"

"No, that's what I'm saying. We didn't even make it in. They attacked us in the car. It was kind of gross. We got them off us, Ro got his trousers back on, we dropped them at the club, then came straight back." Teddy shrugged.

"Really? You didn't even let them blow you?" Matty asked. "That's odd."

"Did you see them?" Teddy looked at him. "Who knows what kind of diseases they had?"

This conversation was making me uncomfortable, and Matty, at least, knew it, I could tell. He had led it in this direction on purpose.

Teddy hadn't looked in my direction at all, but if he didn't want to see me, why had he come to my room? He just kept looking at Matty.

"So where are Ronan and Geth?" I asked again.

"They went to bed," Teddy said. "I wasn't sleepy, so I thought I'd see what you two were up to. And here we all are." He looked over at me for the first time, and I couldn't read his expression at all. Relief, mixed with curiosity, mixed with...something else. Shame? He hadn't done anything, had he?

"Yes, well, you two are going to have to go to bed too, or at least go to your rooms, because I'm tired," I lied. My head was in turmoil. I needed to think, and having them in my room—together no less—wasn't helping at all.

They both rose immediately, apologizing for keeping me up, and I felt a fleeting guilt for taking advantage of their good manners to kick them out so ungraciously. They both kissed me good night on my cheek and exited, and I pondered my strange situation as I got in bed.

Two guys whose names I hadn't known a week ago, one who was supposedly falling in love with me, one whom I was...what? I didn't know.

My phone lit up with a text.

"Stood in hall outside your rm. Let me in?"

I went and opened the door, blinking in the dim hallway light, and stood aside to let him in.