If Only Tonight

Blurry Dividing Lines:
Chapter Fifty Three: Until The Stars Run Out

"You're an idiot."

Turning to see who the comment came from, Matthew watched as a disgruntled Nathaniel walked in to the changing room.

"What's with you?" Matthew asked, not understanding what he had done to deserve the other player's ire.

"Mia." Nathaniel replied, glaring at him. He must have found out about what had happened with Alex.

"She's upset with me, all because of you. She won't even talk to me." The younger player told him.

"You're not the only one." Came another voice.

Oliver joined them in the changing room. Pulling off his training shirt, he grabbed a clean shirt off the hook, where his things were.

"You couldn't have said two words to take the blame? Instead she thinks we happily helped you." Oliver said, unhappily, as he shrugged in to the other shirt.

"I didn't get a chance. She left before I could explain." Matthew said, irritated. The events of that night had been turning in his mind for the last two days. Mia hadn't spoken a word to him since that night, and with his appointment with her near the end of the week; he was sure she was going to give him the cold shoulder until then.

"What? You couldn't have said that Oliver and I weren't the ones getting rid of her dates?" Nathaniel asked, angrily. "You pushed me into it!"

"It can't possibly be that bad." Matthew said, thinking Nathaniel was exaggerating Mia's treatment of him.

"Do you know that she won't even speak to me unless it's a question about my joints, or health related?" Nathaniel told him, furiously.

"She won't even look at me, when she talks, Matthew. She ignores any question about herself." Oliver told him, hurt that they were in this position because of his actions.

"What do you want me to do?" Matthew asked, exasperatedly.

"Do something. Anything." Nathaniel told him.

"Just fix it." Oliver said; as the two left Matthew alone with his thoughts.

-----

Sitting at the table, Mia leaned in to take a sip of her hot chocolate. Finally able to relax a little, Mia let her mind run blank for once. She was tired of thinking. Everything that had happened had made her weary of staying at the team complex or the house. Taking another sip, she forced her mind not to think, she allowed the warm chocolaty liquid to run over her tongue. No matter how hard she tried, she still couldn't forget.

"Still avoiding King Cold, I take it?" asked Stacie, as she approached the table.

"Yea." Mia answered, as her best friend sat down across from her. She had told Stacie of how she had been leaving early and coming home when she knew Matthew would be out.

"You can't avoid him forever."

"I can try." She muttered.

"So have you spoken to your other friends?" Stacie asked, after she ordered some snacks and a coffee for herself.

"Oliver and Nate? No. I can't believe they were a part of it. I mean, Matthew was bad enough, but this entire time they knew and they never told me." She said, the hurt bubbling up again.

She had trusted them, and what they had known and not told her, felt like betrayal. She would never have done that to them.

"I'm sure they didn't mean to. I mean from what you've told me about them...they probably weren't even that involved. I think you should talk to them instead of looking so miserable. It might just help." Stacie said as she bit in to a giant chocolate chip cookie.

"I don't know...I'm still not interested in hearing what they have to say." Mia leveled with her.

"Alright...so what do you want to do?" Stacie asked.

"Forget. I want to relax and not remember." Mia said, honestly.

"Come on, let's go watch a movie."

-----

Walking up the stairs, Matthew strode quietly down the hall. He was hoping to catch her, but as he walked past her room door his hopes were dashed. The lights were off.

The door bell rang, he had forgotten he had called them over. Walking back down the stairs, Matthew opened the door.

"Hey." He said, seeing his friends on the other side.

"Hi Matthew." "Hey." Oliver and Nathaniel greeted him as they walked in.

"Have you guys seen Mia?" He asked, as Leon came up from the basement.

"She's gone out with Lina." His cousin told him.

"Where?" Matthew asked, puzzled.

"They're having a girls' night in with Ariana." Oliver spoke up.

As the information started to sink in, Matthew grimaced.

"My thoughts exactly." Oliver said, looking over at him.

"You better hope she doesn't hate us anymore than she already does." Nathaniel said sullenly, as Leon led them in to the living room.

-----

"So what do you guys want to eat?" Ariana asked, as Mia and Lina sat on the couch.

"How about Chinese? What do you think, Mia?" Lina asked.

"Yea sure. Chinese sounds good." Mia agreed.

"So vegetable rolls, chicken fried noodles, and some vegetable fried rice?" Asked the hostess.

"Yea. Just make sure to order those cool shrimp crackers and fortune cookies." Lina piped up.

As they settled down, Ariana sat across from them in the single seater couch and pulled a light shawl over her shoulders. Though Ariana had gained weight, she still looked beautiful in a knee-length frock, with black stockings. Mia was surprised at how active the older girl was, having heard from Oliver and Lina about the yoga classes and fitness classes she was taking, even though she was due in December.

Looking over at her, Oliver's wife gave Mia a sympathetic smile.

"Rough week, Mia?"

Shaking her head, Mia pursed her lips.

"You've probably heard all about it." Mia replied, as Ariana chuckled.

"Lina and Oliver filled me in. Sorry about your date." She said, with a small smile.

"It's alright. I'm just upset that they would do that...although, to be honest, I think it was more Matthew than it was Oliver and Nathaniel...no offence." Mia said, turning to Lina.

"Don't worry about it. You're probably right. It has Matthew's stupidity written all over it." Lina sighed, shrugging before shooting Mia a grin.

"I just thought that Oliver and Nate would tell me. I didn't expect them all to be in on it." Mia finally admitted what had been bothering her.

After being around the guys for so long, she couldn't fathom them keeping something like this from her. It had hurt her that Oliver and Nathaniel hadn't given her a heads up, since those two usually sided with her against Matthew. The deepest wound had come from Matthew. He knew her secrets and still instead of talking to her, he had manipulated the situation.

"Mia, I know it must sting. I just think that Oliver and Nathaniel were roped in. I don't think it was their idea in the first place." Ariana told her, reaffirming what Mia had thought.

"That's probably true. I don't think either of them would do that...I just don't know what to say to them. And I really want to get even with Matt." Mia muttered darkly.

"Ooh! I can help you with that!" Lina said, with a laugh.

A knock sounded on the door. Lina and Mia got up to see that the delivery man had brought their food. Paying him and returning to the living room with the food; the three of them sat on the large couch with the coffee table in front of them.

"We could always hide his favourite cleats on game day." Lina suggested as she popped a shrimp cracker in her mouth.

"He has a favourite pair of cleats? Seriously?" Mia asked, helping herself to some chicken fried noodles, as Ariana put rice in her own plate.

"We have so much to teach you, Mia." Ariana said, with a smile.

-----

Flipping through the papers in the file folder, she sat hunched over her desk. Having successfully avoided seeing Matthew in the morning, Mia had gotten a head start on the paper work she needed to organize and some of the notes she still had to type up. Having cleaned her office during her lunch break, everything was back in order with no loose papers scattered and all the books back in the shelf and not on top of the counter or filing cabinet. Everything was where it belonged.

As she closed the file after deeming that it was complete, she heard a knock on the door. Swivelling in her chair to see who it was, Mia was surprised to find Oliver and Nathaniel standing together looking sheepish.

"We've come to apologize." Nathaniel told her, his eyes reflected the hurt she had felt.

"And...we come bearing peace offerings." Oliver told her, as the two players brought out a cake and a basket of brownies from behind them.

"Did Ariana put you up to it?" Mia asked, as she got up from her chair.

"No, she wouldn't even tell me what you girls spoke about. She said it was confidential." Oliver reassured her.

"We're really sorry we didn't tell you." Nathaniel started, as they walked in to the office and put the basket on the counter.

"We should have worked harder at stopping Matthew, but we also didn't want you getting hurt." Oliver told her, as he set the cake beside the basket.

Sighing deeply, Mia relented; she hated not being able to talk to them.

"I can't believe neither of you told me." Mia said, she couldn't keep the hurt from colouring her voice.

The two players looked miserable.

"Sorry, Mia." They mumbled.

Shaking her head, Mia walked over to them.

"Next time either of you pull something like this; you won't be able to bribe my forgiveness." She told them, sternly.

The two smiled at her, before pulling her in to a hug.

"You guys...I can't breathe." Mia gasped, before they finally let her go.

"So, want to come watch a movie with us?" Nathaniel asked.

Glad to have them back, Mia smiled. She had missed them, even if it had been a few days that they hadn't talked properly.

"Sure. But I get to pick!"

-----

Parking his car in front of the garage, Matthew shut the car door in time to see Mia leave the house. Having spotted him, she meandered through the drive way taking a longer route to her car in order to avoid him.

Sighing, Matthew knew he only had one shot at getting her to listen. He hated being on her black list, and each time she ignored him or avoided him, it cut deeper in to the heart he hadn't expected he had.

Following her to the black Ferrari, Matthew hurried as she opened the driver's side door.

"Mia, wait!" He called out to her.

"No! Leave me alone." She answered anger lacing her voice.

Luckily, he reached the door before she could shut it. Holding on, he tried again.

"Just hear me out." He pleaded.

"No. I don't want to talk to you."

Moving to stand between her and door, he stopped her. She sat still in the driver's seat glaring at him.

"Go away, Matthew."

"Not until you hear me out."

They stared each other down.

"Move over, Mia." He said, coming closer.

"What! No!" Mia refused, giving him a look of incredulity.

"Move, or I'll sit on you." He threatened.

"I dare you." She snapped at him.

"You asked for it." He told her. He grinned in his mind.

Lowering himself slowly, he heard a yelp, as Mia scrambled to sit in the passenger seat.

When he looked over, he saw her reach for the door handle, quickly; Matthew sat down, shut the door and locked the car. The locks going all the way in to the door, Mia couldn't get pull them out.

His hand on the auto lock, Matthew looked over at her.

"I told you to hear me out."

"I'm still not listening." She said, stubbornly.

Using his other hand, he pulled his keys from his jacket pocket. Flipping through them, he found the one for Ferrari. Putting it in the ignition, Matthew saw Mia's eyes narrow in suspicion.

"I always keep a spare. There's another one in the cabinet in the garage downstairs." He told her, as he started the car.

"Let me out." She told him, harshly.

"Nope. Not until you listen to me." Matthew told Mia.

Reversing the car, he pulled out of the driveway with Mia in tow. She stared outside the window, giving him the cold shoulder.

Driving along the heavily forested local road, Matthew was unsure of how to apologize to her. He had managed to take her along for the ride, but what if he still couldn't get her to forgive him.

Turning in to the opening, Matthew turned off the engine. He had driven them to a park. It had been a while since he had come here. The fountain at the center of the park, bubbled as water poured out of it. The lamps around the park lighting the benches around the fountain. The shadow of a swing set and slides could be seen a short distance away.

He knew Mia's curiosity would get the better of her. Getting out of the car, he walked over to her door.

"Come on." He prodded her.

She glared at him, but got out of the car. Before he could say anything else, she had started a brisk walk towards the fountain.

"Mia, look you have every right to be angry with me." He said, catching up to her.

"No really? Of course I have every right to be angry with you! You went behind my back and lied to me; when you full well knew why those guys weren't answering my calls or texts. You knew why they were standing me up!" She fumed.

Taking a deep breath, Matthew said the words he had been planning to say.

"Mia, I'm sorry." He started, as she stopped in front of the fountain. "I was just trying to protect you. That's all."

"Why do you keep saying that? What exactly were you protecting me from?" She said, sounding annoyed.

"From guys who will take advantage of you...and the people you know." Matthew told her, knowing it was a weak attempt. No sooner had the words left his mouth that he regretted saying them in the first place.

"Alex never wrote about what you did. He didn't take advantage of you or me!" Mia raged.

Looking at her, Matthew saw the pain in her emerald eyes. The feelings of hurt and betrayal had penetrated their depths.

"You were lucky Alex was a stand up guy. I just didn't want to see you get hurt." Matthew said, not knowing what else to say. He heard her sigh, as she turned around and walked away from him.

"Mia, I'm sorry...I really am." Matthew apologized sincerely, walking behind her and grabbing her hand, turning her to face him. It was hard to believe that all he wanted at this very moment was her forgiveness. If she was anyone else, it wouldn't have bothered him so much.

"I know how guys can be like. I didn't want anyone to take advantage of you...the way Jason and Ryan tried...that's all. I know your promise, remember?" He attempted once more.

-----

"I know how guys can be like. I didn't want anyone to take advantage of you, the way Jason and Ryan tried...that's all. I know your promise, remember?"

Shocked that he would still remember such a thing, Mia was taken aback. Her anger fizzled out, her expression softening, Mia sat down on a bench letting go of his hand.

"Why couldn't you just say that, instead of telling them to leave?" She asked, looking in to his bright blue eyes. He didn't look away.

"I didn't think you would listen." He mumbled, taking a seat beside her.

"Well it's up to me to decide who I chose to see; but you could always tell me if you knew something was wrong." Mia said, honestly. "I would want to know."

"I'm sorry." He told her, his voice soft.

For a moment they were quiet.

"No more games, Matthew." She warned him, remembering Alex's words, she met Matthew's stare. He nodded.

"Okay...no more games..." He replied.

The two of looked up at the clear sky, the stars twinkling above them, as moonlight shined down on them.

"Maybe one more game." She heard him say.

Looking over at him, she gave him a questioning look, Matthew grinned in answer.

"I bet I can find more constellations than you." He said, his blue eyes twinkling.

Hiding a smile, Mia pushed him away lightly.

"You're on."