Better Sorry Than Safe

Isabelle knew that this was wrong on many levels. She knew that she should stop it before it went any further. She knew that eventually, maybe not tonight or even tomorrow but someday, she would regret it. But she really didn’t want to stop things.

Matt’s lips broke apart from hers, her breathing much deeper than his, and he rested his forehead against hers. Whispering to her he said, “Just the two of us.”

Still unable to speak, Isabelle just nodded her head yes. It took a moment for her mind to clear enough to form words but it finally did, “Where do you want to go?”

From several feet away they were being watched. Jimmy, who was hiding behind a slot machine, was grinning. He’d expected something to happen but he hadn’t expected that. The best part was they were going to go somewhere else, alone. Just don’t sleep with her Matt. That would end up being a mistake, He thought.

“Jim what are you looking at?” Zacky asked walking up beside him.

“I thought I saw a bird!” Jimmy pointed towards the ceiling and prayed that it worked.

Zacky looked in the direction that Jimmy had pointed before looking back at him. He couldn’t see anything up there that resembled a bird. “Alright buddy either you’ve drank way too much already or you need to get your eyes checked again and getting better contacts,” Zacky patted Jimmy on the back and nodded his head.

“I’ll go to the eye doctor when we get home,” Jimmy shrugged his shoulders forward for the dramatic effect. So far his last second plan was working. Zacky was completely oblivious to the fact that Matt was leaving with his sister.

“What is going on over here?” Brian asked joining the pair.

“Jimmy thought he saw a bird,” Zacky shrugged and looked around, “uh Gates did you forget someone?”

“I don’t think so.” Brian raised one eyebrow.

“So you just left Johnny to play poker alone?”

“No he went to get another beer.”

“Oh Johnny! Where are you Johnny?” Jimmy yelled as he walked away. He allowed his mischievous grin to take over as he walked away from his friends. The taste of victory was extremely sweet.

***

When Isabelle woke up the next morning she was smiling. If it hadn’t been for her alarm clock going off she might had not woken up until late in the afternoon. She’d actually stayed out later than both Zack and Lilly, but they’d never know that.

When she’d said goodnight to Matt she’d expected to wake up with regrets. She’d expected that she’d feel guilty and disgusted with herself. But she didn’t feel any of that. After all she hadn’t really done anything that bad. Sure she had kissed and stayed out with a man that was not her fiancé but it wasn’t like she’d slept with him or anything.

The happiness stayed with her all while she took a shower and went through her morning routine. She was still smiling when she walked into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. “How can you be smiling? You don’t feel like crap?” Zacky asked as he took another sip.

“No. I really didn’t drink that much last night.” Isabelle poured herself a cup.

“Did you come home early last night? We came back to the car and you and Matt were both gone. Matt called Jimmy and said that he was going back to the hotel but no one heard anything from you.”

“I looked for you guys but I couldn’t find you. I got too tired to stay and after Matt went back to the hotel I was left alone. So I just came home and went to bed.”

“What the hell gives? I haven’t saw you this happy since the first night I was here. Did I miss something last night?” Zacky took a second to examine her closely.

“Nope, nothing has changed. I just got a bit more sleep last night so naturally I’m in a better mood. Why is it so weird that I’m happy? I’m living the life right?” She sucked the rest of the coffee down and placed the cup in the sink.

“Well have a good day I guess,” Zacky watched with uncertainty as she waved at him and left, “something weird is definitely going on here.”

Meanwhile, at the New York New York, Jimmy was banging on the door of Matt’s hotel room. When he opened the door Jimmy pushed his way inside. “Where is Val at?”

“She went to breakfast with Emily,” Matt replied, expecting the third degree. He was sure that Jimmy had either saw him leave with Isabelle or had guessed what had happened by now.

“So how’d it go last night? What did the two of you do? Oh and you own me a thanks. I distracted Zacky and Brian with a bird.”

“Great. We came back to the strip and mostly just walked around and talked. Then thank you. Wait a second did you say a bird? How did you get a bird in the Hard Rock?”

“Well I didn’t actually have a bird. I told them that I thought I saw one. So are you going to see her again?” Jimmy wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to hear the answer. If the answer was no then his plan had failed.

“I don’t know yet,” Matt shrugged his shoulders, “we agreed to try but there is no guarantee.”

It wasn’t hard for Jimmy to pick up on the change in Matt. There was a glimmer in Matt’s eyes that he hadn’t saw in a long time. That was enough of a reward for Jimmy; all he wanted was for everyone to be happy and to be with the person they belonged with.

“Well that is why you have me! I will make sure that the two of you get together again at least once before we leave. It can’t be tonight though. I’d like to spend sometime with my sidekick and talk to her about some private matters,” Jimmy said, trying to make his voice sound like that of an evil genius. He ever rubbed his hands together and threw in a laugh to add to the effect.

“Alright Jimmy. You have fun with that.” Matt couldn’t help but chuckle a little at Jimmy’s excitement.

***

Isabelle had just walked out of the café when someone decided to lift her without warning. Because she was completely caught off guard, and had no way of knowing who it was, she let out a scream. Half way through the scream a hand clamped over her mouth just as people looked in her direction. “Its alright everyone! She is my sidekick! No need to worry about it. She is in good hands!”

“Jimmy put me down. You scared the crap outta me! What are you doing here?” Isabelle instantly felt relieved when she knew that it was only Jimmy.

“Well I’m here to take my partner in crime out for dinner of course. I figured that if I called you might be busy so here I am,” Jimmy linked his arm through hers, “so where do you want to eat because I’m starving!”

“Well we are standing in front of a restaurant right now Jimmy. How about we just eat here and then go find something to do?”

“You wouldn’t mind eating here after you just worked all day?” Jimmy raised his eyebrows in confusion. He’d expected Isabelle to want to go anywhere other than where she worked.

“I love eating here. Have you tasted the food?”

“Then lets go inside!” Jimmy didn’t bother letting go of her arm as they walked inside. There was a list of things that he wanted to talk to her about he just wasn’t sure if he’d get to all of them.

They had ordered and their food had already arrived when Jimmy finally started getting to the things he wanted to know the worst. “So I saw you leave with Matt last night. Did the two of you have fun?”

“Did any of the other guys see us?” Panic began to set in. Jimmy would be understanding and wouldn’t jump to any conclusions but she wasn’t sure about the rest of the guys. Instead of answering with words Jimmy just nodded no, a signal for her to continue with her answer. “Yeah we had fun. And before you ask all we did was walk up and down the strip talking. You don’t have to remind me that I’m engaged and he is in a relationship.”

Jimmy mimicked Isabelle and took a bite of his food. It wasn’t hard for him to detect the hidden meaning in her words. “I wasn’t going to tell you anything. You two are both adults and are completely capable of making your own decisions without any help. Besides I’m not stupid Isabelle. You only said that because you feel like you did something wrong last night and you didn’t. You just hung out with an old friend and caught up on the last few years of each other’s lives.”

Before responding she took a sip of her drink. She wasn’t exactly sure how to explain what happened before they’d left the bar the previous night. “He kissed me Jimmy and I kissed him back. Are you honestly going to say that wasn’t wrong on so many different levels? Chris would never forgive me if he found out. And what if Valary find out? You can’t honestly say that she would be perfectly fine with it.”

“It was a kiss. You didn’t sleep with him or run off and marry him. Listen to me Belle you are obviously having doubts about marrying Chris. If you weren’t then you wouldn’t have kissed Matt back; you would have pushed him away and maybe slapped him. You are only worried about Chris finding out because you don’t want to hurt him or seem like a bitch. You shouldn’t be going into a marriage unsure if it is what you really want.

“And as far as Val goes yes it would hurt her. But the thing is she isn’t blind. She has known for a long time that Matt will never be able to fall in love with her until he knows what is going on between you and him. He needs to know if he has a chance in hell of getting you back.”

“I’d forgotten how much you see when it comes to your friends Jimmy. I just don’t know what to do. I knew that it was wrong, so very wrong, but I didn’t want to stop. I knew that I needed to walk away and go home; clear my head. But I didn’t want to and I picked what I wanted over what I should have done. I need someone to tell me what I should do.”

Jimmy sat his fork down and took a drink form his glass. This was the one thing that he was afraid it would come to. He wanted both of them to be happy but he didn’t know how to get them there. It wasn’t a triangle he was dealing with here; it was a square.

He knew that Matt was still in love with Isabelle but he also loved Valary in a different way. He had wanted to get back together with Isabelle for years but he was tired of hurting Valary. Matt was one corner of the square; connected to two other corners.

He also knew that Isabelle was unsure of her feelings for Matt. He could see the love she still had for him burning in her eyes, even if she wasn’t one hundred percent sure of it herself. But she did care about what happened to Chris. Jimmy had already guessed that Isabelle had said yes to Chris’s proposal so that he wouldn’t feel hurt and rejected. This meant that Isabelle made the second corner that was connected to Matt’s corner and Chris’s corner.

Jimmy thought of this as a square because if he had drawn it on a piece of paper there would be two other corners. It didn’t matter that Valary and Chris had never met they were still connected in some way. They were both in a relationship with someone who had strong feelings for each other’s significant other.

Just putting all of this together made Jimmy’s head hurt. He was going to try and explain it to Isabelle but quickly decided not to. Instead he just answered her with,” I can’t tell you what to do.”

“I don’t think anyone can,” Isabelle said in a whisper.

***

“I don’t have to go with Brian and Johnny,” Matt said as he pulled a clean shirt on.

“For the last time Matt, go with them. Have some fun with your friends. I’m probably going to go out with Em tonight anyway.” Valary sat down on the bed and tried to convince Matt to go out with his friends.

“But what if you don’t? I don’t want to leave you alone all night just stilling up here or walking out there by yourself with no one to talk to.” Matt sat down beside her, meaning what he said.

“I’ll be fine Matt. I am kind of tired tonight anyways so if Emily and I don’t do anything I’ll take a hot shower and go to bed. Just go out and have fun with your friends.” She placed a gentle and caring kiss to his lips before pulling back.

“If you change your mind just call me okay?”

“I will. Now go before you make them mad!” She couldn’t help put laugh as he left the hotel room.

Brian and Johnny where waiting on the bottom floor by the elevators. “Finally! I was beginning to think you’d never get here.” Brian’s voice’s conveyed that he wasn’t truly irritated with Matt, he was only kidding around with him.

“Sorry, I was talking to Val.” Matt began to walk in sync with his friends.

No matter how hard he tried to he couldn’t stop thinking about the night before. About how great it had been to see and talk to Isabelle again. He was so consumed with his thoughts that he was ignoring his friend’s conversation.

“Yo Shadz!” Johnny snapped his fingers in front of Matt’s face to get his attention.

“What?” Matt shook himself out of his thoughts finally.

“I said do you care where we go?” Brian asked, watching his friend closely. They were all getting to a point of being concerned.

“Nope. Where ever you guys want to go is cool with me.” After that Matt stayed in the present. It was hard for him not to think about everything they’d discussed the previous night but it also didn’t take long for Matt to begin having fun with his friends.

Brian and Johnny were contently arguing over which of the nearby girls was the hottest when Matt felt his phone vibrate. When he flipped it open he saw Jimmy’s name and selected read. I’m gonna meet up with you guys soon. Isabelle already went home.

It wasn’t ten minutes later when his phone went off again. This time he didn’t bother looking to see who it was. Instead he just selected read. Are you busy? As soon as he read those words he grinned to himself.

Not really. I’m not doing anything that I can’t get out of easily.

Matt knew that Brian and Johnny won’t ask many questions if he left early. They’d just assume he was going where he said he was and leave it be. Besides as soon as Jimmy got there he would without a doubt have a bulletproof alibi. He was thankful that Jimmy was in on this since he and Isabelle hadn’t done anything wrong besides that single kiss.

His phone went off again. You wanna meet me at the mirage in an hour?

I’ll be there. Matt closed his phone and shoved it into his pocket.

“I think I’m gonna call it a night guys. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Matt said, standing up. Brian and Johnny just nodded their heads and waved. As Matt walked away he smiled to himself. It was a great thing that they didn’t ask a lot of questions.