Bare // Don't Take My Heart and Put It on a Shelf
Title: Don't Take My Heart and Put It on a Shelf
Author: Sarah
Rating: PG
Words: 1,528
Pairing: Matt/Ivy, Nadia/Matt (both one-sided)
Summary: It's Valentine's Day and both Matt and Nadia's hard work goes unnoticed.
Notes: Title is from the song Shelf by the Jonas Brothers.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bare. Or the lyric in the title.
Matt sat at the desk in his room, a series of scrawled notes on folded loose leaf scattered around the colored paper in front of him. Valentine’s Day was tomorrow and he had to get this right. Over the past few weeks, he had found love notes written in loopy cursive on crinkled lined paper stuffed into his locker. They were signed your secret admirer, but Matt was pretty sure he knew which of his classmates possessed the curly letters.
He borrowed Zack’s art supplies and stole a few pieces of the colored paper from the art department in order to create the perfect card. As he signed his name with the dark red Crayola marker, he looked down at his creation, sighing to himself at how very third grade it looked from the outside.
The paper he used for the card was pink. With the stolen red construction paper, he had cut out a heart and glued it on the front. Using the red marker, he wrote “Happy Valentine’s Day” in big letters at the top, and the name of the receiver at the bottom: “Ivy.” He tried to mimic her handwriting as best as he could. He hoped she’d look past how juvenile the front of the card looked and focus more on the words inside, praying she saw them wise beyond his fifteen years. He had a love poem that didn’t rhyme, written in black colored pencil. It was the only way that Matt could think of to express what he felt for Ivy - spoken words just wouldn’t cut it, and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t come out coherently anyway.
“Well, it’s going to have to work,” he said to himself, gathering the unused supplies and putting them away. He tucked his card into his backpack so that he could deliver it before fourth period, the only class he and Ivy had together.
*
Nadia sat at her computer chair, her cello propped up against her legs as she focused on playing the right notes in the perfect melody.
“Are you going to stop that awful racket anytime soon?” Ivy asked from her bed. “I’m trying to study.”
“What awful racket?” Nadia asked. “All I hear is beautiful music.”
“Ugh, fine,” Ivy snapped her book shut and stormed out the door towards the study room at the end of the hall.
Smiling to herself, Nadia continued dragging her bow across the strings of the cello. Every few moments, she’d stop to scribble a sequence of notes onto her blank sheet music paper. She played what she had a few times, her body rocking back and forth gently as she played the rhythm. In the middle of her fourth run through, she stopped when she heard the door open.
“I’d like to go to bed now,” Ivy said, tossing her book into her backpack, “so could you please play somewhere else?”
“I’m done anyway,” Nadia replied coolly, standing up to return her cello to its proper place against the wall. She tucked the sheet music into a Hallmark card and sealed the envelope. She didn’t dare write the name of the recipient on it until right before she gave it to him. She’d be mortified if anyone knew her secret crush - especially if that someone that might find out would be Ivy.
“Is that a Valentine?” Ivy asked, curiosity building in her voice. “Who’s it for?” She was sitting up in her bed with a smile on her face, the covers in a pile on her lap.
“None of your business,” Nadia snapped, picking up her toothbrush as she headed to the bathroom to prepare for bed.
“Why do you hate me?” she asked in reply. As far as Ivy knew, she had only ever been nice to her roommate. Well, that was until Nadia decided to be mean to her. She wanted to get along -after all, they were stuck with each other for four years. The first year had been brutal, and although the second was almost over, Ivy wanted to make sure the third and fourth weren’t as bad.
“What’s to love?” Nadia asked, shutting the door behind her.
*
Matt stood outside his history class, eagerly looking around the hallway as he waited for the bell to ring. Carefully hidden between his textbook and notebook sat the card he made for Ivy. He clutched his books tightly to his chest as he anxiously waited for her to arrive at the classroom.
At last, the bell rang and students began to fill the halls. Amidst the chatter and noise of a St. Cecilia’s hallway between classes, Matt heard someone say his name.
“Huh?” he turned to his left to face the voice. “Oh hey, Nadia.”
“You okay? You look nervous.”
“I’m fine.”
“Look, Matt,” Nadia began, taking a deep breath. She wasn’t very good at this. “I wanted to--”
Matt, only half listening to Nadia’s words, at last saw what he’d been looking for. “Hold that thought,” he said quickly, “I have to go talk to someone.” He darted across the corridor to where he saw Ivy walking.
“Oh…” Nadia replied, watching him walk away from her. “All right then.” She crossed her arms with a sigh, hugging her books close to her in an attempt to hide the envelope on top of her notebook. Her face fell when she realized that the person Matt wanted to talk to was Ivy. But she stayed, leaning against the wall anyway, to wait for him to come back. She wasn’t sure why, since it seemed pretty obvious her little notes hadn’t done any good. Nadia knew she was just setting herself up for disappointment at this point.
Across the hall, Matt caught up with Ivy. “Hey,” he called, walking beside her.
“Hi, Matt,” she said, her tone friendly.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.” His voice was almost too cheery.
“Thanks,” she replied. With a laugh, she added, “I feel like I’m in third grade or something.”
“Why is that?” He tried to sound interested, but he was afraid it came out a little more eager than he meant it to sound. Was all his hard work in vain if Ivy didn’t even like Valentines?
“During theology class, Jason was handing out those stupid cards that little kids have to bring in to school with them,” she answered. Swinging her backpack around to the front, she pulled out a tiny card. “He gave me, and the rest of our class, Ninja Turtle cards.”
Matt laughed. “I think he was just trying to be funny. Or do you not like Valentines or something?” His voice was a little shaky on the question. He was still afraid of his hard work to go unwanted. But Ivy had been leaving him notes, right?
She laughed. “Oh, it’s not that. I just would rather have one that said something romantic from him, not ‘You’re a great friend.’”
Matt felt his stomach twist into a knot. Any confidence he had in giving Ivy his card was lost. It was clear now that she hadn’t written those letters.
“So did you want to talk to me about something?” Ivy asked as they neared the doorway to history class.
“Oh, uh, no,” he replied. “I just wanted to say hi.”
She laughed. “Well, hi Matt.” She quickened her pace and made it in the door just before the warning bell rang.
As Matt neared the door, he remembered that Nadia was standing outside the classroom. “Hey, sorry about that,” he leaned against the wall. “I’ve been getting these letters stuffed in my locker from some secret admirer and I thought it was Ivy. I guess it was crazy to think she liked me, huh?”
Nadia shrugged.
“Oh, sorry,” he began. “You probably don’t care. It just sucks when you like someone so much and to them, you’re barely a blip on their radar screen.” He sighed, his rejected heart pounding loudly in his chest.
“It’s utter heartbreak,” Nadia replied, disguising her voice with her very best attempt at sarcasm. But it really wasn’t too hard to take that tone anymore, as it was almost her natural voice at this point.
“So, you were saying?” he referred back to their previous conversation before Ivy arrived.
She sighed. “I forgot what I was going to say. Make your hopeless love-rendezvous shorter next time, okay?” She forced a laugh at the end.
Matt laughed. His sounded a bit more genuine than Nadia’s. “Well, that was the warning bell,” he turned to head into class.
“Yeah,” Nadia replied, watching Matt walk in before her. She reached her hand on top of her books, crumbling the card with the music inside with one hand. She stood in the doorway watching Matt take his seat in the front of the second row. He looked up at her, meeting her eyes with a confused expression on his face. She threw the crumbled paper into the trash can by the door before trudging past him to her seat in the back of the room.
Matt looked away, glaring daggers at the notebook on his desk, as everything clicked inside his head.
Author: Sarah
Rating: PG
Words: 1,528
Pairing: Matt/Ivy, Nadia/Matt (both one-sided)
Summary: It's Valentine's Day and both Matt and Nadia's hard work goes unnoticed.
Notes: Title is from the song Shelf by the Jonas Brothers.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bare. Or the lyric in the title.
Matt sat at the desk in his room, a series of scrawled notes on folded loose leaf scattered around the colored paper in front of him. Valentine’s Day was tomorrow and he had to get this right. Over the past few weeks, he had found love notes written in loopy cursive on crinkled lined paper stuffed into his locker. They were signed your secret admirer, but Matt was pretty sure he knew which of his classmates possessed the curly letters.
He borrowed Zack’s art supplies and stole a few pieces of the colored paper from the art department in order to create the perfect card. As he signed his name with the dark red Crayola marker, he looked down at his creation, sighing to himself at how very third grade it looked from the outside.
The paper he used for the card was pink. With the stolen red construction paper, he had cut out a heart and glued it on the front. Using the red marker, he wrote “Happy Valentine’s Day” in big letters at the top, and the name of the receiver at the bottom: “Ivy.” He tried to mimic her handwriting as best as he could. He hoped she’d look past how juvenile the front of the card looked and focus more on the words inside, praying she saw them wise beyond his fifteen years. He had a love poem that didn’t rhyme, written in black colored pencil. It was the only way that Matt could think of to express what he felt for Ivy - spoken words just wouldn’t cut it, and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t come out coherently anyway.
“Well, it’s going to have to work,” he said to himself, gathering the unused supplies and putting them away. He tucked his card into his backpack so that he could deliver it before fourth period, the only class he and Ivy had together.
*
Nadia sat at her computer chair, her cello propped up against her legs as she focused on playing the right notes in the perfect melody.
“Are you going to stop that awful racket anytime soon?” Ivy asked from her bed. “I’m trying to study.”
“What awful racket?” Nadia asked. “All I hear is beautiful music.”
“Ugh, fine,” Ivy snapped her book shut and stormed out the door towards the study room at the end of the hall.
Smiling to herself, Nadia continued dragging her bow across the strings of the cello. Every few moments, she’d stop to scribble a sequence of notes onto her blank sheet music paper. She played what she had a few times, her body rocking back and forth gently as she played the rhythm. In the middle of her fourth run through, she stopped when she heard the door open.
“I’d like to go to bed now,” Ivy said, tossing her book into her backpack, “so could you please play somewhere else?”
“I’m done anyway,” Nadia replied coolly, standing up to return her cello to its proper place against the wall. She tucked the sheet music into a Hallmark card and sealed the envelope. She didn’t dare write the name of the recipient on it until right before she gave it to him. She’d be mortified if anyone knew her secret crush - especially if that someone that might find out would be Ivy.
“Is that a Valentine?” Ivy asked, curiosity building in her voice. “Who’s it for?” She was sitting up in her bed with a smile on her face, the covers in a pile on her lap.
“None of your business,” Nadia snapped, picking up her toothbrush as she headed to the bathroom to prepare for bed.
“Why do you hate me?” she asked in reply. As far as Ivy knew, she had only ever been nice to her roommate. Well, that was until Nadia decided to be mean to her. She wanted to get along -after all, they were stuck with each other for four years. The first year had been brutal, and although the second was almost over, Ivy wanted to make sure the third and fourth weren’t as bad.
“What’s to love?” Nadia asked, shutting the door behind her.
*
Matt stood outside his history class, eagerly looking around the hallway as he waited for the bell to ring. Carefully hidden between his textbook and notebook sat the card he made for Ivy. He clutched his books tightly to his chest as he anxiously waited for her to arrive at the classroom.
At last, the bell rang and students began to fill the halls. Amidst the chatter and noise of a St. Cecilia’s hallway between classes, Matt heard someone say his name.
“Huh?” he turned to his left to face the voice. “Oh hey, Nadia.”
“You okay? You look nervous.”
“I’m fine.”
“Look, Matt,” Nadia began, taking a deep breath. She wasn’t very good at this. “I wanted to--”
Matt, only half listening to Nadia’s words, at last saw what he’d been looking for. “Hold that thought,” he said quickly, “I have to go talk to someone.” He darted across the corridor to where he saw Ivy walking.
“Oh…” Nadia replied, watching him walk away from her. “All right then.” She crossed her arms with a sigh, hugging her books close to her in an attempt to hide the envelope on top of her notebook. Her face fell when she realized that the person Matt wanted to talk to was Ivy. But she stayed, leaning against the wall anyway, to wait for him to come back. She wasn’t sure why, since it seemed pretty obvious her little notes hadn’t done any good. Nadia knew she was just setting herself up for disappointment at this point.
Across the hall, Matt caught up with Ivy. “Hey,” he called, walking beside her.
“Hi, Matt,” she said, her tone friendly.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.” His voice was almost too cheery.
“Thanks,” she replied. With a laugh, she added, “I feel like I’m in third grade or something.”
“Why is that?” He tried to sound interested, but he was afraid it came out a little more eager than he meant it to sound. Was all his hard work in vain if Ivy didn’t even like Valentines?
“During theology class, Jason was handing out those stupid cards that little kids have to bring in to school with them,” she answered. Swinging her backpack around to the front, she pulled out a tiny card. “He gave me, and the rest of our class, Ninja Turtle cards.”
Matt laughed. “I think he was just trying to be funny. Or do you not like Valentines or something?” His voice was a little shaky on the question. He was still afraid of his hard work to go unwanted. But Ivy had been leaving him notes, right?
She laughed. “Oh, it’s not that. I just would rather have one that said something romantic from him, not ‘You’re a great friend.’”
Matt felt his stomach twist into a knot. Any confidence he had in giving Ivy his card was lost. It was clear now that she hadn’t written those letters.
“So did you want to talk to me about something?” Ivy asked as they neared the doorway to history class.
“Oh, uh, no,” he replied. “I just wanted to say hi.”
She laughed. “Well, hi Matt.” She quickened her pace and made it in the door just before the warning bell rang.
As Matt neared the door, he remembered that Nadia was standing outside the classroom. “Hey, sorry about that,” he leaned against the wall. “I’ve been getting these letters stuffed in my locker from some secret admirer and I thought it was Ivy. I guess it was crazy to think she liked me, huh?”
Nadia shrugged.
“Oh, sorry,” he began. “You probably don’t care. It just sucks when you like someone so much and to them, you’re barely a blip on their radar screen.” He sighed, his rejected heart pounding loudly in his chest.
“It’s utter heartbreak,” Nadia replied, disguising her voice with her very best attempt at sarcasm. But it really wasn’t too hard to take that tone anymore, as it was almost her natural voice at this point.
“So, you were saying?” he referred back to their previous conversation before Ivy arrived.
She sighed. “I forgot what I was going to say. Make your hopeless love-rendezvous shorter next time, okay?” She forced a laugh at the end.
Matt laughed. His sounded a bit more genuine than Nadia’s. “Well, that was the warning bell,” he turned to head into class.
“Yeah,” Nadia replied, watching Matt walk in before her. She reached her hand on top of her books, crumbling the card with the music inside with one hand. She stood in the doorway watching Matt take his seat in the front of the second row. He looked up at her, meeting her eyes with a confused expression on his face. She threw the crumbled paper into the trash can by the door before trudging past him to her seat in the back of the room.
Matt looked away, glaring daggers at the notebook on his desk, as everything clicked inside his head.