Matt's POV: How can I get next to her, now tell me how it's gonna be done?

Authors Note: Hey guys, I told you guys I was going to try something different when I ended the flashbacks, and while I had been kicking around a few ideas, here's what I decided on. Every once in awhile (and I'm not sure if I'll be doing it every other one, like I was doing with the Flashbacks, although this week we do have two POV posts) I'll be posting an entry from someone else's point of view. Sometimes Ella will be involved, sometimes she won't. I'm not sure how well it'll work, or if I'll keep it, but like I said, I have this one and another one written, so, we'll try it out and see how it goes!

Matt was not doing as well with being single as he had hoped. He had forgotten how much time he spent with Kellie. Well, not really. He had known he’d spent just about every waking second with her, when he wasn’t at school or work, but he had thought he could spent that time doing other things. He had planned to go out with buddies, to just… Do whatever he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it. No girlfriend to call and check in with, nobody begging for quality time. It sounded selfish, and he supposed it was, but he had spent the majority of high school catering to Kellie and their relationship. His friends were off on camping trips and dancing with whatever girl they wanted too at the dances, and he was with Kellie. He still wouldn’t have changed that, he had a good time in high school, and he had loved Kellie. Then, things changed. He started resenting her and her needs. That’s when he knew it was time to end things.

He still thought it would be easier than what it turned out to be. And then… It wasn’t. It seemed that rather than just go out and have fun, his guy friends were trying to find girls. Those who weren’t trying to find girls were already in a relationship, and spending time with their girlfriends. He couldn’t get away from it, and it was starting to wear on him.

It also didn’t help much that his one relationship-free zone had been the gym. He and Ed would go, sometimes with James or some of the other guys, and work out. While they may talk about girls, it was locker room talk. Not serious, not romantic, not relationships. That all got messed up when he had messed around with Amber. He had a bad feeling about that one, but again, he didn’t have much practice being single. He had thought one of the things he had missed out on were random hook-ups or friends with benefits… And it turns out, once again, he wasn’t missing out on much. Sure, it didn’t help that Amber was totally nuts, but even if she wasn’t… There was something missing from all that. Not that he’d ever admit it out loud… But when he had told Ella it wasn’t his thing, well. He meant it.

His relationship with Amber had ruined more than just Ella’s car. It had ruined his time at the gym. He still went, but he had to try to plan his hours for when he thought Amber wouldn’t be there. Most of the time he was able to plan right, but there had been a few misses, awkward moments. Amber hadn’t said anything to him yet, but she would stare at him. It unnerved him. He tried not to let it get to him, but he always ended up cutting the workouts short and leaving early.

Still, just because she wouldn’t talk to him in person doesn’t mean that she wouldn’t talk to him at all. She had sent him a couple of facebook messages, some were mean, blaming him, accusing him or lying, or being manipulative, playing games. Some were begging almost… She blamed Ella, said she knew he had feelings for her, but Ella didn’t feel the same way, and it was obvious, and blah blah blah.

He hadn’t written back. He wanted her to stop, to leave him alone, and he wanted to ask her if she was the one behind the toilet papering and keying of Ella’s car. But, he highly doubted he’d get a honest answer anyway, and he didn’t want to risk adding fuel to that fire. So, he left it alone.

His feelings for Ella were harder to ignore. He tried to fight it for as long as he could… Tried to ignore and deny it. He had felt that… Spark the very first time he met her. He was with Kellie then, so he behaved himself. Then he wasn’t with Kellie, but didn’t make a play for Ella because… Well, he thought he needed to be single for awhile. But then came all the Jason mess, and well… It made him angry, at both Jason and at Ella.

He couldn’t understand why Jason would have a girl like Ella, and dick around as much as he had. And he couldn’t understand why Ella would put up with it. It had almost ruined their friendship, and whatever chances he had, especially when he threw away that letter Jason sent.

He was honestly just trying to do what he thought was best. He realized now that it wasn’t his decision to be made, but he honestly just wanted to protect Ella. However, he noticed there were a lot of guys around who just wanted to protect Ella, and he was just another one. He had hated Ella with Jason, but Drew was worse, mainly because Matt realized that Drew was a good guy. He deserved Ella, and because of that, Matt just couldn’t be mad about it.

But then she and Drew broke up, and he had thought about making a move. However, wouldn’t it be weird? They were living together, and he didn’t want to mess anything up. He hesitated too long, and before he knew it, someone else had swooped it and scooped her up.

He didn’t know Seth well, couldn’t really gauge whether or not he was a good guy. Sure, he was good looking. All the girls at work stood at the gym doors spying whenever he gave a class, and they always made comments. But cute wasn’t enough for Ella, she was… Amazing. She deserved more than that.

He spotted her walking past his room, her arms full of toys and she was balancing the phone between her ear and shoulder. Probably talking to Seth, hammering out details for this weekend. He wasn’t happy about working with all of Ella’s men. He and Drew got along fine, but he had never really met Jason, and didn’t have a desire too. Nick was fine, but Ian and Seth were unknowns. But, he knew Toni needed their help, and he was willing to do that for her.

Ella had hung up the phone.

“Hey El?” He called, sitting up.

“Yeah?” She answered, poking her head into his room.

“It’s been awhile since we hung out. You want to go grab a burger?”

“Sure.” She said, smiling a smile that made his stomach flip. “Let me grab my coat and see if Nick and Toni want anything.”

A few seconds later, she was sitting next to him in the car.

“So. How you been? I feel like you and I haven’t talking lately.” He asked.

“I see you all the time.” She said, laughing.

“I know, but it’s been crazy around the house.”

“Yeah.” She agreed. “It has been. I’ve been good. Just trying to deal. How about you? Any new girls?”

“Nope.”He answered, sounding a little shorter than he meant too. “I’m kind of afraid to try to meet anyone. I know it sounds stupid, but after the Amber mess… I just don’t want to meet any more crazy girls.”

“You see her at all?” Ella asked.

“From time to time, at the gym.”

“Awkward.”

“Yeah.” Matt said, laughing. “A little bit.”

“Well. I wish I knew more girls. I could try to hook you up. But you know all the girls I know, and their either not right for you, or taken.”

“What about your friend?” He asked, wrinkling his forehead, trying to remember her name. “I only met her a couple of times… Jared? Something like that.”

“You mean Jarren?” She asked, sounding surprised.

“Yeah. What’s wrong with her?”

“She and I don’t talk anymore. We kind of got into it.” Ella responded, looking distracted.

“Oh. Well, you should talk to her again, see if she’d want to hang out sometime.”

Ella wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” Matt asked. “C’mon Ella, don’t leave me hanging.” He joked.

“I just don’t think she’s your type. Plus I would think she’s borderline crazy, and wouldn’t be shocked at all if she went the way of Amber.”

“I think I could handle it.” Matt answered.

Ella laughed. “Yeah, that’s what you said about Amber, and look what happened with that.”

“I know.” Matt said, smiling.

“Seriously though, why are you pushing this so hard?” Ella asked, looking at him seriously.

“I don’t know.” Matt said shrugging. He really didn’t know why. He had met Jarren once, couldn’t even remember her name. She obviously wasn’t anything special. “ I just don’t know where to meet girls. I mean I don’t want to do the whole bar thing, and I really hate the idea of doing something like online dating… It’s not that serious yet. I mean Valentine’s Day is this weekend, and I’m going to be spending it in a house with a bunch of sweaty guys doing construction work.” He shrugged again. “It’s just my first Valentine’s Day alone, and I know it sounds lame, but it’s kinda hitting me harder than I thought it would.”

Ella was quiet for a second.

“Well. I mean, Jarren was a really good friend of mine… I mean what she did was shady, but… I dunno, I guess I should check in with her and maybe make up. But, I make no promises. She may still be pissed at me. Or she could still be dating Greg. And, even if she’s not, I’m warning you, there’s a very real chance she’s crazier than Amber.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Matt said, smiling and waving her off.

It hit him then, that what he was really hoping to do was made Ella a little jealous. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to do it, maybe so he could get a gauge on whether or not she felt the same sparks he did. He knew it could backfire on him, but really, it was too late to change his mind now.

“I’ll call her when we get back.” Ella said, and Matt felt a little bad, because she looked a little uncomfortable with the idea.

“You don’t have too, if you really don’t want too. I don’t even know what happened between you two and if there’s really bad blood…” Matt trailed off.

“No.” She said, and then again, “no. It’s fine, really. Jarren and I have done this on and off for years, fought and made up.” She paused, looking out the window.
“Besides. Maybe you two will click. It would be nice to see you with someone.” She said, glancing back at him and smiling again.

He tried to ignore the pang in his stomach when she said that. Ella wouldn’t be jealous at all.

“Well. Thanks.” He replied.