Matt & Lotta - On Juan Corrida and Lies...
Lotta was actually humming a merry little tune the next morning as she went about her routine. She slept in and had a hot shower and even had plenty time for breakfast before she had to leave for the office. Everything was going right for the first time since the earthquake. She hadn't even burned herself straightening her hair, which was something that was borderline ritual for her.
Grinning and still humming her jaunty tune, she made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. It was a fine day for french toast.
Matt couldn't miss Cora on her way to the kitchen. He had spent the entire night in his study, watching movie after movie until he had finally come to something. And it wasn't even at Juan's dressing room like he had expected. It was in the actor's house. Matt stood up from the couch and walked slowly out of his study and towards the kitchen.
Even with her cheerful humming, his face remained completely blank. Stopping in the kitchen's doorway, the actor crossed his arms over his chest and looked straight at her.
Hearing Matt approaching the kitchen, Cora stopped in her quest for breakfast-makings and spun around to face him.
"Good morning, my dear Matt-" Her grin disappeared at the sight of him. He looked as though he hadn't slept and something was clearly bothering him. "What's wrong?"
Matt opened his mouth but realized he really had no idea what to say. Things always came so easy to him when it involved talking, but...
He averted his eyes quickly, trying to think of something to say.
She recognized his not saying anything as a very bad sign right away. "What is it, my dear? Please, talk to me."
Matt glanced up to meet her eyes before he turned and walked out of the kitchen.
Happy thoughts and good mood gone, Cora followed him as far as the kitchen door. She wasn't sure if he would want her going after him or if he wanted to be left alone; she had never seen him like this. She kept her eyes on him from the doorway, biting her lip.
"...my dear?"
Matt glanced over his shoulder, still hobbling away towards his study before he motioned with a small tilt of his head for her to follow him.
She nodded and followed him to the study silently.
Matt moved into the study, leaving the door behind him open wide. Standing behind the couch, he motioned for her to sit down.
The big-screened LCD television in front of them was off.
Fully expecting some brand of horrible news (perhaps he hadn't found that contract he had told her about?), Cora sat down.
Matt leaned over her, the locket around his neck bumping into her shoulder before he straightened up with remote in his hand. With one press of the button the television was on and a press after that started up the tape that showed Cora at Juan's house, hanging out with Juan and Louie like it was something she did frequently.
Not able to watch it again, three times was enough, Matt leaned over again, head in hands.
Cora's first thought was, ...Matt has cameras inside Juan's house?!
It took her a moment to realize she was watching a tape of herself visiting him. So that was it. Matt knew she had lied to him. But she had no idea what he wanted from her now. An apology? An explanation? She knew Matt really wasn't one to listen to excuses, or much of anything when he was upset.
She frowned and looked to the floor, waiting for some kind of cue from him.
Matt didn't even know if the video was still playing or not as he continued to just stare into his own hands.
After another minute or two, he peeked through his fingers at her.
Cora bit down on her lip, still totally unsure of what to do or say. "...so this is why...you're upset."
Matt nodded slowly, uncovering his face.
"I figured you would be...when you found out."
"When I found out? So...you expected me to?”
"I knew you would. I was planning on telling you myself...but you got ahead of me, apparently. I should have figured..."
"..." Matt straightened up, eyeing her. "Why did you lie to me? You know how paranoid and untrusting I am of people in the first place."
Cora felt dwarfed by Matt and almost reflexively slouched forward a little. "You pretty much just answered your own question. I was afraid I would tell you...and you'd get angry and push me away."
The slouch made him take a step backwards as he clicked the television off. "How long have you been seeing him?"
She glanced up at the blank screen, relieved to see he had finally turned it off. "I first met him...that day you took me to see Ms. Leroux. That morning. Briefly."
"...How does one go about meeting Juan Corrida?"
"...you call him and ask him to meet with you. If he agrees...there you go."
"......................"
"You know... I figured out I was wrong, about him kicking Choker. I had to apologize."
"You had to...apologize?" The eye under his bang of hair twitches. No one should ever apologize to Juan.
She nodded. "That's what I think. If you wrong someone, you should do what you can to right it. And apologizing was the best I could do."
Matt glanced up to meet her gaze, his head tilting to the side. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I...didn't think it was that big of a deal, at first. Just meet him, apologize, and go on my way. But then, he started asking me questions and things kept going... I didn't know what you would do if I told you. I was afraid...I might lose you. I wasn't sure what I should do..."
Matt's eyes quickly narrowed. He had been doing very well in just listening to her until now. "So you decided to LIE to me instead? Really, Cora? Because befriending my rival behind my back wasn't bad enough, then you go and lie about it?"
She flinched, having to force herself to not shrink away from him. "It...was a stupid thing to do... I just...I didn't want you to find out, but I knew you would, I guess I thought I could do something... Find something on Juan to use but..." Cora shook her head.
"...Really? You wanted to find dirt on him? For me?"
"Well...kinda. It would've gone to the Gab eventually but I would've told you about it first... But It didn't work out that way."
"And why not?" Matt was at least interested in seeing what she had to say or what she had found out.
"...pretty much all I found was that he has questionable taste in friends. And I couldn't do anything with that."
"...I have more dirt on him than that."
"I daresay you see and talk to him more than I have. I may have met him a while ago, but I've only seen him..." She tilted her head, thinking. "Three times. And talked on the phone with him...four, I think."
"...................." Not even carrying about controling his temper, the actor's visible eye twitched and he crossed his arms, glancing away from her angrily.
Cora let out a soft, frustrated sigh, knowing nothing she had to say would really appease him now. "...for whatever it's worth, Juan and I aren't really friends."
"Then why have you been talking to him so much?"
"... Grafter."
"I knew it."
"... He was convenient."
"HA!" His voice came out a little louder than he had expected. "Of course he was..."
His sudden laugh made her jump. "Scoff all you like, but he was. He was going to try to do something whether I was on board or not."
"And so you let him, that little lying bastard help you while you wouldn't let me do anything! After I almost got arrested for you! My entire career was almost destroyed! If I didn't know Edgeworth, I would be out of a job now."
She crossed her arms and kept her gaze fixed on the floor. "That's...that's not how I thought things would go... I didn't want you to get involved for that exact reason. I'd been drinking when I told you where to find Grafter... I wasn't thinking straight, I just thought of you putting him in his place an'... I wouldn't've cared that much if something happened to Juan or Louie. I didn't want anything to happen to you..."
Matt shook his head. "No..."
Cora chanced a look at Matt, confused. "No..?"
"You talked to him about me. Didn't you?" It sounded more like an acusation than a question.
In a flash, her arms were uncrossed and her back was straight again, and she was all but glaring at the actor. "What!? No!!"
Her anger only encouraged the actor that he was on the right track. "Oh...I see. I get it. Fuck." Matt shook his head again, moving to the couch to rest his hands on the back of the cushions. "I'm a complete idiot...."
"My dear, I never said a word to Juan about you! He doesn't even know that I know you!"
"You already lied to me once, Cora, I would highly doubt you wouldn't be against doing it a second time. Or hell! Maybe this is waay past the second time. How many are we up to now?"
"....do you really want to know?"
"Yes."
She thought for a moment, and nodded. "You know about Juan. Cora is my middle name. I lost our bet last winter on purpose. I was the informant behind those articles about Grafter. At the cocktail party- Well, after it, I was faking sleeptalking to mess with you- but what I said was true. And later when we were about to make cookies, and you were teasing me about it? I faked that little lapse in memory too... I didn't have it in me to keep teasing you back... And Sparow Leroux was the most condescending, curt woman I've ever met."
"..." Matt closed his eyes. The overload of information was too much for him. He could barely manage to blurt anything out. "So what is that? Ten? Fifteen times?"
Flinching away from him, she tried to go over what she said and count them, while praying that she had remembered everything. She answered him in a quiet voice, "...eight."
"..." His voice hardened considerably. "Eight."
"Eight."
"Is that all you have to say?"
"... For whatever it's worth, I never lied to you without a reason. I know some things, like with Juan, I really shouldn't have, but as I said... I didn't know what to do. I was scared. ...I apologize."
He couldn't take it. His head and leg were aching, he could barely keep his eyes awake, and now she was apologizing!. He grunted out a quick reply. "I can't deal with this right now. Nothing is making sense at all. I need my meds. I need to sleep..."
Cora's eyes widened. "You didn't take your-... Where are they? I'll get them for you."
His expression softened from the offer...or the headache. One of the two. "I can get them fine..."
"My dear, please, let them get them for you. I know how much a broken leg hurts..."
Matt reached out to steady himself by gripping the back of the couch. "Fine. In the cupboard above the oven."
She rushed out of the room and into the kitchen, straight to the cupboard. After retrieving the bottle of medicine, she quickly filled a glass with water, and went straight back into the study.
She stood in front of Matt, offering him the bottle and glass.
"..." Feeling very uneasy by her enthusasim, he grabbed the bottle and after opening it and taking two pills, handed it back to her, taking the glass filled with water. He downed the glass quickly enough, his head feeling a little clearer already.
"Thanks..."
She nodded. "You're welcome... Do you need anything else, my dear?"
"I think I just need some rest now."
"You'll be alright if I head up to the office for a while?"
"...Yeah." Matt took a step closer to her, motioning to the door behind her. He wasn't that good at maneuvering in his cast yet.
Taking that as a cue for her to leave the study, Cora walked back into the living room, leaving the door open for Matt.
She felt...awkward. She could usually tell what Matt wanted or how he felt, but now she had no idea... Would asking him something be too much for him to handle?... Well. she had to know.
"Oh, that reminds me... Have you had a chance to look for that contract yet?"
Matt exited his study, making sure to lock the door behind him before pocketing the key. It almost took him a moment to remember what she was talking about. He raised an eyebrow before it finally hit him.
"Oh...Not yet." That was another thing he'd have to do before long.
Cora was quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "I can stall this for a day or two, maybe three, if we're lucky. But after that, I'll have to do...something..."
"I'll find it after I take a small nap. Give me an hour and I'll be looking for it till I find it."
"Will you call me when you do?"
"...Sure thing. Right away." Matt glanced over his shoulder at his study door, wondering if it would just be quicker to look for it now.
Cora saw his look back at the study. "It doesn't have to get done now, or even today, tomorrow's fine... But I need to know when you find it. That's the important thing, second to finding it."
He looked back at her. "Why is timing so important?"
"I...don't want to be there when this all goes down. If they find out I told you while I'm still on staff... I'll be in seriously deep shit."
"Ah...I get it. Well, you'll be the first person I tell."
"Thank you... I..." She glanced around the room. "I suppose I should be getting up to the office...or Breslin'll be calling, asking where I am..."
He nodded. "Okay." He really wasn't sure how to say anything else.
Cora nodded and went upstairs to the guestroom and picked up her purse, making sure the movie was tucked inside. She returned downstairs and made for the front door.
"If you need anything, you've got my number... I'll see you later, my dear Matt."
"Right. Later." Without waiting for her to leave, the pain meds already taking a toll on him, he moved up the stairs and into his room. He absentmindedly locked the door behind him before climbing into bed. He was asleep within minutes.
She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she left.
What a time for everything to blow up in her face...