If Only Tonight

Blurry Dividing Lines:
Chapter Fifty Five: Notorious

"Going anywhere today?"

Having come down stairs for breakfast, Mia sat down in front of the counter. It was just Lina and her this morning. Matthew was still sleeping since he had a rest day.

"I'm thinking about going to the mall during lunch, since my next appointment will be an hour after it. I have to get something to wear for Lucas' birthday party tonight and the team dinner with veterans which is next week." She told the older girl, who had come to sit beside her. "And I thought I would get a few books, and look for some cute plush toys for Ariana."

"Lucky girl. You get a short day the day before yesterday, and now you get to extend lunch!" Lina pointed out.

"It's the first and probably last time. Three of the reserves on my roster have been told to rest for a few days, so I had to space out my schedule."

Looking at the food in front of her, Mia selected two blueberry waffles, and started to put syrup on them. Next to her, Lina started to butter an oatmeal muffin.

"Want to bake with me this weekend?"

"Sure." Mia agreed, knowing the older girl was missing her brother. "We'll make fudge, and brownies. Chocolate galore!"

Lina chuckled. As they started to eat their food, a comfortable silence settled around them.

"So will you be avoiding the house tonight?" Lina asked, suddenly.

"What makes you say I'm avoiding?" Mia squirmed in her seat, an eyebrow raised at the question.

"You're usually out if you get wind of Nevarra coming, not that I'm not but I've been stuck with her way more than you have." Lina analyzed.

"I have been stuck with her." Mia said. "Besides, usually when she comes, Stacie and I already have plans."

"Uh huh..." Lina said, clearly not believing her.

"Why do I get the feeling your going to tell me why you're so suspicious?"

"I just don't get why Nevarra is always so keen to hang out with you?"

"Because she thinks I'm so cool!" Mia joked, laughing at the thought. "Maybe she wants tips on make-up, how less is more!"

That made Lina laugh, but as their laughter died down, Lina's face took on a look of contemplation.

"All those could be valid. Perhaps, she thinks you like Matthew?"

The question came out of no where. Mia's fork dropped on to her plate, with a clattering sound.

"What?" She tried sounding appalled, but her voice betrayed her.

"You have feelings for him, don't you?" Lina surmised. "Why else would you keep out of the way?"

"I-I...I don't." Mia tried, but she could feel the heat rushing up to her cheeks.

"You're so cute, Mia. You didn't think I would notice the trail of tears on your face the other day, did you?" Lina said, with a knowing smile. "He told me about Nevarra being there that night, no wonder you looked so put out yesterday."

She was surprised Lina had noticed. For the most part, Mia had tried to ignore what had happened the night of the thunder storm. She didn't blame Matthew, so it was pointless to vent her frustration at him. Instead she had quietly moped.

"Don't worry. I promise my silence. Although I don't think you'd have any trouble kicking the wicked witch's arse."

"Lina!"

"I'm just saying." The older girl shrugged.

They resumed eating in silence. Mia tossed thoughts of what had just happened in her head.

"Thanks, Lina." She mumbled quietly, as the older girl started to get up.

"No problem." Lina said, with a wink.

-----

Wandering through the giant shopping mall on her own, Mia was starting to regret not pushing Nathaniel into joining her. The brown haired player had politely declined, saying that he had already planned on hitting the gym, all the while snickering at her predicament. Sighing deeply, Mia trudged along to another store. She had to pick out two dresses, but so far she hadn't seen anything that had caught her eye. Mia wanted to find something that would look delicate and elegant, not skimpy and see through.

As though someone had heard her lonely thoughts, Mia's cell phone began to ring. Pulling it out of her pocket, she grinned as she saw who was calling.

"What's up Mia?" Stacie said, as soon as Mia clicked her phone to receive the call.

"Not much. Want to join me at Westfield? I'm stumped on a clothes shopping trip and I have about an hour to find everything I came for." Mia told her.

The laugh at the other told her all she needed to know.

"Sorry, babe, but I'm stuck in the lab today reviewing microscope slides. I called to see if we were still on for tomorrow. You said we'd go for dinner and the movies."

"Oh, yea." Mia said, a little disappointed. "Of course. By the way, Lina and Nate are going to be joining us."

"Yea sure. Cute guys are always welcome." From the sound of her voice, Mia could tell Stacie was grinning.

"No way, Stace." Mia warned, as she headed for the clothes section of the store she had entered.

"Aww...alright." Her best friend said, sounding disappointed.

Hanging up, Mia went through the clothes until something caught her eye. Finally finding something more to her taste, Mia pulled out a pale green almost knee length dress, with a gold sash tied into a bow around the waist. The light material was sewn in such a way that the pleats in the dress gave the illusion of separate layers. It would look good with her black heeled boots, along with her short black coat. Mia liked its simplicity; with the proper accessories it would look just right for Lucas' party.

With one problem solved, Mia kept looking for another dress. Remembrance Day was very much important to her. With her grandfather having fought in the war, she knew how many people had sacrificed their lives in order to give her a better one. Even when she was little, wearing a poppy on the occasion meant a lot to her. One of her favourite poems, 'In Flanders Field', had been written by John McCrae, who had been killed in the war.

It wasn't long before she found a deep red frock with black lace and embroidery. Satisfied with her selection, Mia paid for her purchases and made her way to the elevator. The book store and toyshop were located on the second floor.

Waiting for the elevator she thought about what book titles she was looking for. Delirium, Poison Study, and The Lucky One, she thought making a mental list. There were so many books she was looking for that it was best if she limited her selection to two or three.

Glancing at her cell phone to see how long she had, Mia looked up when the elevator doors opened. Nothing had prepared her for the sight in front of her.

Entwined with a man who was not Matthew, Nevarra stood in front of her, kissing a stranger. Shocked, it took Mia a moment to collect her thoughts, by then it was too late. Nevarra had seen her.

Making a hasty escape, Mia quickly walked towards the escalator. Not wanting to wait and give Nevarra an opportunity to catch up to her, she bounded up the steps and made her way to the bookstore.

Rushing in, and walking in between two shelves, Mia gave herself a few seconds to calm down. What am I going to do? She wondered. There was no way she was going to keep this from Matthew. He deserved to know what was going on behind his back. I just need to figure out how to tell him, she told herself.

Starting to look for her books, Mia thought of ways of how to tell him. Finding one of her books, she stared at the cover. Maybe I should just call him and tell him, she thought. Holding up the book, from the corner of her eye she spotted two more books with similar covers. Poison Study is a series? She thought to herself. Her resolve of only buying three books was quickly broken. I'm in need of comfort, she argued with herself. Picking up the other two books, she turned...only to come face to face with Nevarra.

"Perfect." Mia mumbled aloud.

"Are you going to tell him?" Nevarra asked.

"If you mean am I going tell Matt that you're cheating on him then yes. Yes I am." Mia replied defiantly.

"No, you're not." Nevarra said smugly.

"What do you mean no?" She asked in confusion.

"You're not going to tell him, because if you do, I'll tell him it's your plot to get rid of me, since you like him and are jealous." The other girl smirked.

"What? He's not going to believe you." Mia shot back, angry over Nevarra's dirty tactics.

"Yea...he is...I can be very convincing." Nevarra said, pouting, before winking at her. "I'll be watching you, Mia. This is between you and me."

With that Nevarra left Mia feeling more and more confused. What is the best way to go about this? She wondered. There was no way she was going to be able to avoid Nevarra, and Matthew needed to know. What am I going to do?

-----

Lying on the couch, Matthew was reading the daily newspaper when he heard the front door open. Having been left alone all day, he welcomed the intrusion. Getting up, he put the newspaper aside before walking in to the hallway.

"Hey." He greeted her, trying to hide his glee.

Mia looked up at him; the sullen expression on her face was gone in an instant, replaced by a surprised one.

"Hey, Matt. I didn't think you'd be around." She said, walking down the hall and putting the bags that she carried on the staircase.

"Where did you think I was going to be?" He asked, curious.

"At the gym with Nate, or at the movies." She told him with a small smile.

"I decided to rest up for the party. Looks like you had a lot of fun today." He said motioning to the bags.

There it was again, a dark look flashed over her features before disappearing. She gave him a tooth baring grin.

"I had an extended lunch."

"So where did you go?" He asked, peering into one bag before she thwacked him with her fingers.

"Nah-uh. Those are my clothes." She said, pushing the bags away from him.

"But I will show you these." She took the other two bags and went in to the living room, Matthew followed, interested in what she was going to show him.

"Look!" She exclaimed, pulling something blue and fluffy from one bag. She held it out to him.

Taking one look, Matthew started to laugh. Taking hold of the blue fluffy elephant, Matthew turned it over in his hands. The multi-coloured patches on its ears reminded him of the dots Mia's pink elephant had.

"Did your pink elephant get lonely?" He asked, tossing the toy back to Mia.

"No!" She grinned. "I bought it for Ariana and Oliver's baby. I thought it was cute."

"It is." Matthew agreed.

"That's why I bought an extra one for me." He heard her mumble.

"I knew it!" He groaned, as he saw the second elephant in the bag. "What else did you get?"

"I got a teddy bear for the baby...and no I didn't buy its twin...even though I really wanted too." Matthew shook his head as he heard her speak. Mia had a penchant for stuffed animals, it was the one thing he knew she couldn't resist, that and books.

Looking at the teddy bear she pulled out, he could tell why she would have liked it. The furry brown bear had large chocolaty brown comforting eyes.

"And I got a couple of books."

"I thought you said you were going to slow down on the book buying front?" He asked, but her sheepish grin gave her away.

"That was before I found out that one of the books I wanted was in a series." She said, showing him a pile of books.

"Poison Study, Magic Study, Fire Study, Delirium, and The Lucky One. You stopped at five, and not fifty. I'm impressed." He said, turning the books over to read the back.

"Five are enough...for now." She told him.

A friendly silence settled over them.

"Matthew..." He heard her say his name.

There was something about the tone of her voice. She sounded unsure of herself. Matthew looked up to see Mia, who looked unsettled.

"Yea?"

"I need to tell you something..." She trailed off.

Intrigued, Matthew put the books down. By the looks of it, whatever it was she had to tell him wasn't good.

"Yea? What's wrong?" He asked, concerned at what could be bothering the emerald eyed girl.

"I-I saw-" But before Mia could say anymore, Matthew's cell phone rang.

"Sorry. Just give me a minute." He said, apologising for the intrusion.

"Hello?"

"Babe, are we going out tonight?" It was Nevarra.

Somehow she had decided to give him another shot, after hearing about Lucas' party.

"Sorry, it's Nevarra." He told Mia. She nodded.

"Yea...I'll come over and pick you up around eight." He told his girlfriend.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Mia look upset. She turned away from him, putting her purchases back in their bags. She headed for the stairs.

Putting his thumb over the mike of his cell phone, Matthew called after her.

"Wait! I thought you wanted to tell me something?" He asked, confused.

Mia turned around, only to give him a contemplating look.

"Later. It can wait." She said. "I have to go get ready for Lucas' party."

Nodding, he watched as Mia walked away. I wonder what's wrong? He thought.

-----

Sitting in the car with Nathaniel, Mia ground her teeth at the position she was in. Why didn't I just tell him? She wondered, not understanding her own hesitation. Matthew had been standing right there, it didn't matter if Nevarra was on the phone, Mia could have told him and kept him from getting hurt.

"Something on your mind, Doc?" Nathaniel asked, sensing her stormy mood. She had been battling with herself all day.

"No...I don't know...it's messy and complicated." She said, trying to shake off her thoughts.

"Why don't you try me?"

"Okay..." She hesitated. "What if you knew something that affected someone else, and you knew you should tell them but you couldn't."

"Why not?" Nathaniel asked, as he glanced at her momentarily before looking back at the road.

"Because it involved another person and they thought they could convince the first person against you." Mia muttered, suddenly feeling as though it had been a bad idea to tell him.

"That does sound complicated. But I think if it's really important then you should tell whoever it is what happened." He told honestly.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Mia contemplated telling Matthew what had happened. What could Nevarra possibly do to put the blame on Mia?

"You're right, Nate." She said, starting to feel better.

"You sound surprised. It can't be that rare that I'm right." Nathaniel said, giving her a look of mock hurt. Mia smiled.

"So...how come you didn't bring Blair?" Mia asked, changing the subject away from her.

"Oh...we decided to take a break a while back. I think she got scared when the paps started following her home." He told her, sounding a little put out.

"Sorry."

"I know. It's alright though. We're still friends." He said, sounding like his optimistic self.

Parking in a vacant spot near the club where Lucas was holding his party, Mia apprehensively got out of the car. Nevarra would be arriving with Matthew. The last thing Mia needed was to draw attention to the situation.

Walking arm and arm with Nathaniel, Mia saw Matthew, Nevarra, Oliver, Ariana, and Lina all there waiting for them. Lina was holding on to a tall good looking brown haired man.

As they got closer, Mia saw Lina lean in to kiss him. That must be her boyfriend, she thought.

"What took you so long?" Matthew asked, sounding annoyed.

"Took a wrong turn on the motor way." Nathaniel explained with a grin. Mia smiled, the younger player never let anything frustrate him. She always admired his attitude towards everything.

"You grabbed the gifts, right?" Nathaniel asked her, as if suddenly remembering the occasion.

"Yea." She said, holding the two gift bags up.

It was then she noticed someone watching her. Looking up, Mia found Nevarra glaring at her, all the while clutching on to Matthew's arm. Mia stared back with equal ferocity, but Nevarra smiled making Mia's blood boil. She wasn't going to let the girl get away with this.

"Mia, come here! I have to introduce you to some one!"

Her staring contest with Nevarra was broken by the sound of Lina's voice. Turning away, Mia walked over to the older girl, the man by her side gave a small smile. He had deep brown eyes, and was about a foot taller than Lina and Mia both.

"Mia. This is my boyfriend Brendan. Brendan, this is one of my very good friends Mia. She works with Matthew, and the guys for London FC." Lina said, introducing them.

Brendan stuck out a hand, which Mia shook.

"It's very nice to meet you. Lina's told me so much about you." He said, in a deep voice. Upon hearing this, Mia sent a look of shock at Lina.

"Don't worry. I only had good things to tell about you." She said, rolling her eyes at Mia. "She never does anything bad." The girl added.

Before letting Mia walk back to Nathaniel, Lina grabbed hold of her arm.

"Why is there a war going on between you and the witch, that I don't know about?" She asked in a whisper, a little smirk on her face. She was far too perceptive. Maybe I'm too obvious? Mia wondered, hoping no one else had seen the silent exchange.

"It's not about that Lina." Mia hissed back, putting emphasis on that.

"Uh huh..." Lina said, in disbelief.

"It's not what you think. She thinks she can-" But before Mia could finish telling Lina what was going on, they were interrupted by Oliver who told them they were to go inside.

Finding Nathaniel, Mia leaned on his arm for support as they walked inside the club. Her heels had already started to make her feet feel sore. Sitting down at a table together, Mia had wound up sitting in between Nathaniel and Lina while Matthew and Nevarra were across from her.

Chatting a little, Mia ate her dinner quietly. It seemed Lina had forgotten that Mia had been on the verge of giving her some important information, and Mia was wise enough to know not to rehash that conversation at this very moment. Nevarra on the other hand, was making it hard for Mia to keep a level head. Between bites of her food, Nevarra would try to feed Matthew some of her food or try to take a bite form his, she even tried to kiss his lips in front of Mia, watching for her reaction. Trying to keep the look on her face neutral was a hard battle, her nails were digging deeper in to the palms of her hands, Mia found herself losing her appetite over Nevarra's antics. It was before the cake cutting ceremony, that Nevarra excused herself to go answer a phone call. Mia breathed a sigh of relief; taking a sip of her Coke she had been unsure of how long she would be able to keep her silence.

As the room went dark, a cake was seen with candles sparkling over it. They all stood up, crowding around the birthday boy, to sing Happy Birthday to Lucas. The older player beamed as the cake was put before him.

"Make a wish!" She heard Oliver tell him. The two players had been friends when they joined the team, and from what Mia knew they were two of the more longer serving and most lauded players on the team.

As Lucas blew out the candles, everyone clapped and cheered. The lights came back on, in time for Lucas to start cutting the giant football shaped cake.

"Save me a slice." Mia said to Nathaniel, who gave her a puzzled look.

"Where are you off too?" He asked.

"Restroom. I'll be back. Can you hold on to my purse?"

"Yea. Sure."

Mia handed the small black clutch to the brown haired footballer.

"Don't take too long, or your piece might just disappear." He told her, mischievously.

As Mia headed for the restroom, she saw movement in a dark corner of the hall. It looked like a couple in the darkened corridor. More accurately, it was Nevarra in the corridor kissing a totally different boy.

"You've got to be kidding me." Mia muttered under her breath. Heading for the washroom before Nevarra could see her, Mia let out an explosive breath. I don't care, I'm telling Matthew; she thought, her mind made up.

Staring in to the mirror, she checked over her make up, Mia quickly washed her hands and dried them.

As she dried them with paper towels, Nevarra entered the bathroom.

"One wasn't good enough, so you had to go for two." Mia said coldly, as the girl spotted her.

"Oh please. If you really were going to tell Matthew, you would have done it already." The other girl sneered, unrepentantly.

"What makes you think I won't do it now?"

"The press. You know how much they love scandals. Especially, love triangles. I mean you saying anything right now would be within earshot of any eager wannabe reporter. Then what, they would interview me and I would be able to make you look like the jealous bitch you are and Matthew...well he would think you sold him out to the press. You could have easily told him at home, but no you decided to do it in public. He'd probably never speak to you again." Nevarra gave her a pointed look, daring her to say anything against it.

"You know I'm right. So do yourself a favour, and just keep your mouth shut. What I do, is my business." Nevarra said smugly.

"What happens to my players is my business. Do you really think I'm going to stand by as you cheat on him? What makes you think I won't say anything?" Mia asked viciously, furious at the thought of any one harming the people she cared about.

"You have a lot more to lose than I do. If tonight becomes a scandal and someone finds out about you. You'll lose your job. That's how I know you won't tell." She said, giving Mia a wicked smile. Nevarra threw her hair over her shoulder and walked out of the restroom.

Gritting her teeth, Mia knew Nevarra was right about the journalists present. The party was not the best time to tell Matthew about the betrayal of his girlfriend. Running a hand through her hair, Mia gave herself one more look over before walking out to join the others.

Taking her seat beside Nathaniel, Mia saw the chunk of cake in front of her.

"I made sure to save you the most chocolaty one I could find." Nathaniel told her with a grin.

"Thanks." She said, giving him the best smile she could muster up.

"Is everything okay? You were gone for a while." He asked, giving her a look of concern. As though hearing their conversation, Nevarra looked up to stare at her.

"Everything's fine. Thanks, though." She said, hating herself as the lie left her lips.

As the night wore on, they were asked to take pictures. Standing as a group, Mia stood between Nathaniel and Matthew, while Nevarra stood on his other side. As more pictures were taken of the group, Mia couldn't help but think how badly she was betraying Matthew by not telling him.