Matt & Lotta - Some Time Apart
Lotta pulled up to Engarde Mansion again, like she had so many times in the past couple of days, and parked. But this time, she left the engine running. She wouldn't be long. She just needed to get her stuff.
She rushed up to the front door, hoping to get this over with quickly, and stepped inside. Now, where's Matt?...
Hearing the front door open, Matt walked out of the kitchen to greet his house guest. With a glass of water in one hand, he leaned against the doorframe and raised said glass up to her. "Hey."
At the sight of Matt, an image from the movie she had seen flew unbidden to the front of Cora's mind. Her face flushed red and she glanced to the side, her arms crossing loosely. "Hello, my dear..."
"..." Raising an eyebrow, the actor eventually shrugged. There was no reason to question such a silly action. "Nice day at the office...?"
"...aside from having to talk about pornography with my boss? Not...too bad, I guess. B-but speaking of that...." She glanced up at him, very careful to avoid looking below his chest. "I...kinda need to stay somewhere else for a while...if that's alright..."
With an eyebrow still raised, Matt shook his head. "Why would I have a problem with that? I'm not forcing you to stay here." He brought the glass to his lips and took a quick sip before adding, "Probably a good idea, anyway."
"I...didn't want to sound ungrateful, or anything. It's just-" She gave her head a small shake. she wasn't about to tell him that she kept picturing him...like that. "After that movie and all."
"...Really? Is it that weird?"
Cora glanced away again, speaking quickly. "It's just, I kinda keep seeing you like you were- It's kind of dicktracting."
"Oh..." Matt shifted in his spot, turning his head away. He really hadn't expected that answer.
"Yeah... I just need to get this out of my system. So, I'm going back to Mabel's until I get my place fixed up again. I'll have my phone with me, if you need to get in touch."
"Right. I'm sure you'll have more fun with her anyway." He gestured to his leg. "I can't do much entertaining like this, huh?" Matt forced a grin.
Cora's expression darkened slightly, remembering the brief exchange she had had with her frend earlier in the day (They were going out for drinks that night, Mabel had decided, and Lotta was treating. And Mabel had set up a blind date for her that Friday. Joy and rapture.) "I think you've done a fine job, considering the circumstances..."
"No need to be so nice. I haven't done anything at all..."
She looked back at him again and gave him a shy smile. "You opened your home to me. That's a pretty big thing all on its own."
With his eyes still averted, Matt shrugged, holding his glass of water up. "You'd do the same for me..." Taking another sip, he refrained from adding anything onto that sentence.
"Well-" She couldn't resist laughing. "-If I had a working bathroom, I would. Give it about a week. But til then... I should probably gt on over to Mabel's. She's made...plans."
"Okay then...I'm sure you'll have a lot more fun than I will."
Cora resisted talking back to him. "If anything interesting happens, I'll tell you all about it later." She moved to the stairs and started up them, to the guest room.
Matt turned from the living room and moved as swiftly as possible to the kitchen sink. Setting his glass down in it, he gave a small sigh to himself. Well, this was going better than expected. She was leaving on her own so he wouldn't have to ask her to leave. Good. One problem down.
A much less forced smile appeared on his face as he walked back to the living room, sprawling out on the couch, with his cast a little awkwardly positioned on the cushions.
Cora decided to ferry Zelda and her new tank down first, just to get the hard part out of the way. After emptying out some of the water to lighten the load, she rushed downstairs and out to her SUV. The tank was still heavy and cut into her fingers.
On her way back up, she noticed Matt looking far more relaxed than he had been. He must have been just as relieved as she was that they were getting a little time apart. Cora shouldered her overnight bag and picked up Zelda's pot-tank, carefully balancing her box of belongings partially on top of and inside it and made her way downstairs again.
She paused for a moment a few feet from the door. "If you need anything at all, my dear, feel free to call."
"Right. Same to you." Matt gestured to his wrist phone. "Always have it on me."
She nodded, smiling. "I'll see you later, then." Cora walked outside, carefully shutting the door behind her. A few minutes later, after situating her belongings and seeing that Zelda was safely strapped in, she backed out of the driveway, heading for Mabel's home.
Rolling his eyes, Matt stood up and wobbled to his front door, locking it securely in place with the deadbolt. That would keep her from sneaking in if she ever felt the need to.
Gritting his teeth, he really needed his pain meds, the actor made it to his couch before collapsing. He had been up way too much that day and it was really starting to get to him. As much as he would have loved getting into bed, he knew he wouldn't be able to get any further off the couch without falling to the floor.
How weak... Shutting his eyes, he didn't relax and sleep until Shoe came purring and curling up against his arm.