I WAS LIVING IN A DEVIL TOWN.

Keep me company? || Julie x Matt

"I messed up, Matt," said Julie as she felt some tears finally come to her eyes. She’d applied makeup at her parents before going and getting food and coming over here just a short time ago… she knew that would get ruined. Matt was good at ruining her makeup, from either tears of happiness or tears of sorrow. Makeup was meant to be ruined though..

"That’s what I’m sorry for. I’m sorry I left you alone, I’m sorry I didn’t talk this stuff out with you like I should have," she mumbled, hugging her knees much closer to her chest and looking over at him, seeing the amount of emotion that was upon his own face. Damn, did it hurt her to see him cry, or at least quiver like he was doing.

"I just felt like I’d hurt you even worse if I told you all this stuff.. Matt, if I’d have just sat down with you up there and told you that I feel suffocated, you know it would have hurt.. you’d have felt like you weren’t good enough, like you weren’t trying hard enough for me when it wasn’t you making me feel that way.. This really is one of those cases of it’s me and not you.." although Julie knew, that wouldn’t make Matt feel any better at all.

"But, I messed up and I left. No I’m not sorry I had a good time here and there while we’ve been apart but, no matter what I’m at.. it isn’t home cause it isn’t with you. Boston is beautiful, Nashville was great, Austin is fun.. but they’re not home because you’re not there. Same with Dillon.. it doesn’t feel right to be here when you aren’t here. This is where we met.. this is where I see us getting old." Julie admitted.

"I’m just, sorry. I’m a broken record.." she mumbled and shakily let her legs fall from the couch, where she was just sitting there, her hands upon her own thighs.. tears were still falling down from her eyes, down her cheeks.

"I can’t take it back; I can’t take away the hurt, I can’t change what I did. But when I did it, I couldn’t look ahead and see this is how the decision would turn out, either. I didn’t know this would happen…" she wiped at her eyes some, smearing her makeup of course onto her hand and arm.

"I never would have imagined that the first time you and I see each other in ten months is at the hospital in Dillon. I should have been there, in Chicago with you four days ago, when you got the call in the first place. I shouldn’t have ever left." Julie realized that now. She should have never left. And the more she thought about it, the more she was even beginning to regret her adventures.. because they were in vain.

She’d loved seeing Lyla in Nashville. She’d loved seeing Tyra in Austin. But at the price of losing Matt? And she knew she’d lost him. Probably this time for good. She slowly stood up from the couch and walked over to the door, she wasn’t leaving.. she didn’t have her purse in her hands or anything.. she was just gazing out at the surroundings while tears fell from her eyes.

Julie felt like the worst girlfriend, worst fiance, worst person in history. Ever.

"Wait-you're not leaving, are you?"

Matt was quick to watch her stand up and head for the window, his eyes desperate to see if she was leaving his house. She didn't grab for anything, her purse and keys still laying still on the coffee table where their food laid still. His mouth pierced tight together as he watched her wipe at her tears, staring out at the window that showed his front yard on the other side. He turned back around slowly, away from her to let the breath he was holding sift slowly out from between his teeth. He may have been upset with her, holding a sore heart more than anything, but he didn't want her to leave again. The thought alone felt like it had broken him, if the chair hadn't been beneath him he would have fallen. His thought process was a slur of a complete mess of things, most things seeming to large for him to even begin on comprehending, but one thing he knew for certain. He didn't want her to stay. He needed her to stay. He needed to feel some normality, the kind that they were having before their conversation couldn't circle around their troubles any longer. He needed Jules and Matty, or at least the sliver of what was left of them.

It reminded him of the night Coach had thrown him into his shower, turning on the water full blast to ignite something within Matt that he then thought he'd lost.

"Shut up! Shut up! You don’t care about me, you left me for a better job! Your daughter left me for a better guy! Carlotta left me for Guatemala, and my dad left me for a damn war! Everybody leaves me! What’s wrong with me?"

What was wrong with Matt? Then, Coach had somehow gotten through to Matt to tell him nothing was wrong. Now, in the melancholy moment he was sitting in currently, he was more than doubting himself. He was always left behind, in one way or another. The one person who always stayed the same, or at least on his side through it all, was the one that he physically couldn't get through to..and he wasn't sure if he ever would again. That terrified Matt more than he could ever begin to fathom. His dad, Landry, Julie, everyone. In that moment, though fueled with a tipsy mind and more than enough emotion, he felt really alone.

He'd felt that way more than a few times in his life, taking a shift in the right direction when he was moved into the position of Quarterback. That changed his life in many ways and, not only his but many people around him. He'd found Julie and his teammates and even a solid man figure to guide him in the right direction. Where had all that gone? Where was everything? Where was the times when life was filled with simplicity? Where the biggest worries in life was if he was going to go grab the burgers from the Alamo Freeze or if it was Julie's turn. Or if Landry's band was going to play on Saturday night or Sunday. Or if Julie and Matt were going to have time to sneak around for her to make it home on time. If Julie's class was going to interfere with the showing at Matt's art studio. Those were easy. Those were simple. That was what he missed.

As sad as he felt, in that moment of rememberance, Matt stood up out of his place on the couch and turned around to phase the broken looking Julie Taylor. He could read her face well, as well as her body's exterior to know just how upset she was. He knew she'd meant all her apologies well, though he did know she was only saying the negative things about her adventures to make him feel better. It didn't, but that was just how Julie was. She'd say the moon was on fire just to crack curiosity out of someone. She was all about making things right, in one way or another. In this case, however, Matt knew all her tricks. He loved her for it, of course, but it didn't work on him.

Instead, Matt took the palms of his hands to wipe at his eyes quickly. Taking the few steps over to her, as she stood to her back to him, Matt laid his hands gently onto her shoulders and turned her around to face him.

"Julie. Come on, don't cry."

Looking around for a napkin, unable to see one not already being occupied, Matt took his thumbs gently up to her eyes and wiped away what he could of the water leaking out of them. Her eye makeup was smudged, as it usually got even on her best days, but Matt paid no attention.

"Nothing will ever change me givin' that to you."

Taking her hand and holding it up so he could motion to her engagement ring.

"Nothing you'd ever do would ever make me lose any of my love for you. It's impossible. I couldn't do it if I tried, you know?"

His voice was starting to shake, as it did when he started to ramble. Even as he tried gathering his words, stumbling over some as he held his hands now on either side of her saddened face, Matt shook his head back and forth. Matt Saracen wasn't anywhere near close to being a selfish person, in the slightest, but with Julie..he couldn't help it. She'd always made him different. Matt kept her safe while she kept him wild. That was how it always was and how it was always meant to be.

"But.. I need you, Jules. Everything else, everything else that happened aside, I just need you here. With me. I can't do this alone anymore and, and, and I understand if you don't want that. But I do. Please tell me you get that."

christian4peepz

#photo:matt

Text || Tami Taylor

Tami: Come over anytime, busy or not. We'd love to see ya. She's growing so fast.

Matt: Yeah, I'm sure she is. She looks just like Julie.

#c:tami

Keep me company? || Julie x Matt

"Matt," said Julie in the quietest of voices when it started. Jules knew they wouldn’t escape it, not tonight…not after nearly ten months of being apart. "I knew leaving would hurt you," she mumbled and sat down the cold bottle of beer on the coffee table, shifting on the large sofa there in the living room, to bring her legs up to her knees. It was a habit of hers when she felt… in the wrong.

"What I was saying was.. I didn’t know if it would hurt you worse to hear from me every single day, or hurt you worse to not hear from me every single day… so I went with the latter, and I realize, I screwed up. I don’t regret going to Boston, to Nashville, to Austin to see Tyra. I don’t regret having adventures and travelling and just…being a teenager for the last little while that I was one," meaning she was an age that ended in -teen-.

"I never meant for it to be a break-up though, Matt. I.. I felt suffocated to a certain degree living up there with you. It wasn’t you, Matty, it was never you that was doing it. It was just.. living in a small apartment, eating at the same few restaurants every week, walking in the same park. I look back on that now and I desperately miss it," she admitted, biting on her lower lip.

"But the rest it felt suffocating was because.. look back at life here in Dillon. It felt so… huge. Like we lived in a big expanse… something as large as a football field and then suddenly, up in Chicago, I felt like a noose was around my neck so to speak," she murmured and looked downward, towards her feet that were up on the couch in flip flops.

"What I’m trying to say Matt.. is I don’t regret the adventures I’ve had these last handful of months… but I do regret not having them with you. I regret us falling out of contact.. but I don’t… I don’t want to live in Chicago for the rest of our lives.."

and before Matt could take that wrong, Julie went ahead and told him why. “When I close my eyes, and see us as newlyweds, no kids yet, just enjoying our first year or two of marriage… I see it in Chicago. But Matt, when I see us actually building a future with kids… I see us living in a big house here in Texas, even in Dillon.. close to our families and our friends. I see our son one day being QB for the Dillon Panthers,” and even that pained Julie Taylor to admit. Her Father had been a football coach her whole life in one way or another, and now her fiance, or ex-fiance, was a former quarterback.. hell, Matt could be a coach one day, too..

Her life revolved around football more than she ever had wanted it to…but she was okay with that. She’d grown to love it. “I miss how we used to be here.. and I guess my adventures, even though you weren’t there, were me trying to get that back in some sick sense..” her voice trailed off, her head sort of on her knees that were drew up to her chest. “I’m sorry, Matt.”

"You never meant for it to be a breakup, Julie, but it was. That's what you chose now, wasn't it?"

If Matt's face hadn't completely fallen, it did so when she described her time living in Chicago. The memories he'd held close to his heart felt scorned the minute she said she'd gotten tired of doing those things he'd loved so much. His apartment he'd shared with her, the one that was his breath of fresh air when his father had died, and Millenium Park? She hadn't thought of those moments as dear as he did and it was enough to make him feel smaller than he actually was. His head hanging low, holding the napkin he was wiping his hands with tightly in his palm, his eyes drilled into the ground the minute she described the feeling of suffocation as 'a noose around her neck'. He felt his skin crumbling, like he was going to fall through the cushion of the couch to whatever lied on the other side.

I don’t want to live in Chicago for the rest of our lives..

With the final sentence buzzing in his ears, Matt was quick to grab the second bottle of Budweiser and take a few harsh swigs before setting it down again. He was never one to rely on alcohol to make him feel better, only a few select times where that was the case, but he needed to have something here. As if he hadn't had a bigger struggle the last few days, but the talk with Julie was inevitable. Even if he'd asked her to stay away that night, they would have been having it eventually in some other scenario. He just hadn't realized the outcome of what he was going to listen to was going to be so heartbreaking.

She was quick to speak again, but her explanation was more than what he'd expected it to be. She explained a sort of 'plan' she had for them, one that included them coming back to Dillon and their child growing up to be a Dillon Panther or even a quarterback, like himself. Was Julie Taylor really saying that? One who had despised the thought of him for so long, just because he was a quarterback? He had never expected her to say anything like that to him, and granted it was a huge bite to attempt to chew.

Then finally, what he'd waited for so long. The apology. His eyes darted up from the floor to her face and he was quick to shake her head.

"Don't apologize, Julie. It's what you wanted."

"I get you wanted your adventures. I get you don't feel like..Chicago's your place. But Julie, you could have talked to me. We..were supposed to get married. You could have talked to me about what was bothering you. Instead, what do you do? You don't tell me all these things. You don't do anything like that, but you just leave! You just tell me you're leaving and you were gone. Instead of letting me take away that noose, figuring it out together, you put it around my neck and left me to.."

"You left me alone, Julie."

He wiped his nose from where he could feel his emotion welping up, but he couldn't let himself get like that. He knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to stop it. Especially not with everything that had been happening over the last week.

"You left me to miss you and wish I could forget that you were even up there all at the same time. Contemplatin' on if I should have even given you that ring in the first place.."

A deep breath to stop himself from getting on a roll of words, Matt shook his head and forced himself to break his sights away from Julie. She didn't need to hear his ranting of pent-up words as much as he didn't need to say them. That time was come and gone. The only reason they were both sitting where they were was because of his Grandma, not because of them.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Julie. It's done. You did what you did and that's it."

Keep me company? || Julie x Matt

"Well, you know, you have gotten pretty skinny since living in Chicago," Jules couldn’t help but tease right back at the way some of Matt’s old humor flowed right out of his lips like nothing at all in the world was wrong. Julie watched as he took a seat next to her on the couch, as he cracked opened the top of the Budweiser and took a small swig.

She knew she’d never been a big drinker.. and she knew he hadn’t been either unless it was a Panther Party and him getting absolutely shit-faced but.. Jules felt like they both needed to unwind. She knew that Matt had probably just had the roughest four days of his life~ aside from perhaps burying his Father a few years ago.

And herself? She needed that ice cold beer to help keep herself in check. To help when he starts screaming at her, which she knew in the back of her mind would happen.. He’d have to.. Julie knew just how hurt he was, she just wondered if he realized just how hurt she was for hurting him for the umpteenth time.

"You’re such a lil’ liar, Matty," said Jules as she swallowed a large bite of her cheeseburger. "You don’t like the way my stomach thinks… you just like Texas food better than Chicago," she teased, biting on her lower lip. "Although I have to admit.. I’ve been craving one of those oniony, mustardy, Chicago footlong dogs.." she murmured.

Julie had never been a large meat eater. Not at all. Ever. Well, maybe when she had been a child but.. for years, she didn’t eat hardly any meat, if any at all. But up in Chicago, she’d found a love/hate relationship with Chicago dogs. She hated it cause it was meat…but it was so tasty, she loved it. It’s like this cheeseburger she was eating right now.

She hated herself for eating it, but dammit, it tasted so cheesy and good. Julie popped a few of the salty fries into her mouth, taking another sip from the bottle of Bud. “I’ve been in Austin the last few days spending time with Tyra. Before then, I was in Nashville, seeing Lyla Garrity, checking out the Vaderbilt University campus. It’s such an amazing school.. you and I should go look at it sometime,” Julie murmured softly.

Vanderbilt was medicine, primarily, because of their huge hospital there, as well. Almost everyone went to Vanderbilt to become a doctor but.. there were others there that just went because it was a beautiful place and a hip town. Nashvegas. Country city.. although not near as Southern as Texas.

"I planned to stay with Tyra a few more days, come here and see Mom and Dad…then I was going to go back home to Chicago. I know we haven’t talked on the phone as much as we should have. I know I stopped texting, too. But I felt like… telling you about these adventures, was just hurting your feelings more. If I’d have thought that losing contact all together was going to hurt you and I both as much as it has… I wouldn’t have went all that time without talking to you.."

Jules voice trailed, knowing it was going to be a lot for Matt to absorb.. she just hoped he wasn’t going to.. well.. freak out on her, for lack of a better term. She’d pretty much just said, ‘yeah I spent 10 months away and I had a good time but I always planned to come home to you,’ and it sounded horrible.

Matt couldn't help but to do a double-take as she recited his old nickname, one that was reserved for her and her only. He hadn't been addressed as 'Matty' in so long and, though it shouldn't have thrown him off, it had more than he'd thought it would.

"Yeah..that might be true, but-"

He cut off his own speech to catch her mutter, a small smirk playing over his melancholy features as he listened to her mention Chicago hot dogs. There was a good week, one of the first ones they'd spent together when she'd moved in with him, that they had hot dogs from a local vendor every night for dinner. They'd meet after a long day of class, usually spend a good thirty minutes or so walking around the infamous Millenium Park and sneaking kisses underneath the Bean, to grab two hot dogs each to devour on their walk home. It'd left them miserably groaning as they'd returned to their apartment, swearing they'd never eat another one as long as they lived, all to do it just the same the very next day. Now to hear that Julie actually missed one of their many memories together, even if the gesture had been small, it'd left Matt's heart warmed.

Already eating half of his large container of fries, Matt was watching himself grab another handful once Julie answered his question about Austin. As much as it pained him to ask, he really did want to know how she was doing even if she wasn't with him. He was thankful to see her alive and well, though he hadn't expected anything less. He just hadn't known, not speaking to her for quite sometime. He'd just had to expect his fiance, or ex-fiance, was okay. It wasn't ideal, but he'd managed.

Nodding along with her words, Matt's ears perked unsurely when Julie made a small comment about the two of them going to check out the Vanderbilt campus. He could feel his face hardening but, with that, he did his best not to look up from the cheeseburger he was examining. Did she just off-handedly ask her to join him? It shouldn't have made him mad, he knew it shouldn't have, but he could feel a boil to his blood that Matt hated to have, especially when it came to Julie. He didn't like to be upset with her, but with a comment such as that one, she was making it difficult not to be.

"I don't know about that.."

His voice was meek, holding back a sharp emotion. He didn't want to lash out. Instead, he grabbed the Budweiser again and took a long swig before setting down the bottle again. However, Matt was quick to be thrown off again. This time, however, was about her leaving him. Setting down his burger slowly and lifting his eyes to watch her as she spoke seriously, Matt found his jaw unhooking and practically falling from his face when she finished her spiel.

"You didn't think it was going to hurt me? Hurt us?"

Matt's face fell, looking down to his lap and back up again with a frustrated shrug of his shoulder. He could feel his emotion burrowing up but, this time, he didn't have the nerve to hold it down.

"What did you think it was going to do, Julie?"

His blue eyes shifted to the bottle he was holding, watching as he set it down on the coffee table in front of him. His voice was soft but, however, he knew Julie was enough to hear him perfectly.

"You left me. You may not have thought it, Julie, but you did hurt me. I don't know what else to say except..you're supposed to be able to trust someone you want to marry and I don't trust you. Not anymore, at least."

Keep me company? || Julie x Matt

Julie, too, felt like she was a little girl back in high school when she knocked upon that metal rimmed screen-door and a moment later, Matt Saracen appeared in front of her. This was deja-vu for her, too.. too many nights had she done this back in high school, being allowed an hour or two after homework to spend with Matt, before she’d have to be back home and in bed for school tomorrow.

Same with Matt coming to her house, as well. So many knocks upon the door, to slowly open it and see Matt and his goofy grin standing there. She missed high school~ as much as Julie hated it then, she had to admit, it was surprisingly simpler although, isn’t it funny, how back then she thought adulthood would be simpler.. My how she was wrong.

"I brought nice greasy burgers," she said softly and held up the bag when he came to the door, him asking if she wanted to come in. Julie couldn’t help but let a small smile creep onto her lips… that was so like Matt. Of course she wanted to come in. They weren’t going to eat on the porch, for heavens sake; although, it wouldn’t be too bad of a night to do so. The weather was warm…Texas warm.

Julie stepped inside the door, slightly past Matt and could smell he had just freshened up. She could smell his cologne and it was one she liked…Jules wasn’t sure if he’d went through the trouble just for her or what…but she liked the smell, it made her feel…at home.

Just as he said, Julie made herself at home by sitting down upon the sofa and placing the bag of food on the coffee table in front of her. She started to open the bag and pulled out a couple burgers, one for herself and one for him…and two large orders of fries, one for him and one for herself.

"I figured you might want one of these, too," Julie said softly as she pulled her purse up onto the couch and grabbed out a couple beers. She’d stole them out of her Father’s refrigerator— although really it wasn’t stealing now that she and Matt were of age. "Beers and burgers, I’m cliche, aren’t I?" She questioned and opened the top on one, taking a small sip before unwrapping a burger and sinking her teeth into it.

#t:keep #daughterofthecoachx #//ugh I KNOW. I FEEL LIKE IT TOO.

"You feeding a small army? Do I really need to put on that much weight?"

Matt was surprised to hear his dull humor, the kind he was so used to making, flow so freely from his lips. Like nothing was wrong between them. It felt easier that way, though Matt knew it wasn't the case. Would it be so wrong to just be them, Matty and Jules, for just one night? Without the thoughts of what lied between them, or rather what didn't lie between the two. Trust, being one of many things.

His eyebrows rose as he took a seat on the edge of the couch beside her, watching as she pulled two Budweisers out from her large bag. Matt, nor Julie, had really been much of drinkers back in the day. They'd been to their share of parties and God only knew they'd seen the other completely hammered a few select times, but it'd never been something completely in their habit of doing. He'd gotten used to a beer or two after a long day of school or work, mostly after Julie had left to void out the discomfort of having her gone. In any case, Matt nodded and took two of the beers and cracked open one just as he set the other on the coffee table. Bringing the bottle to his lips, taking a gentle swig, he shook his head as if to answer Julie's question.

"Nah. Not cliche. I think you're just lettin' your stomach do the talking and, lucky for you, I like the way your stomach thinks."

Taking a moment to take a large bite out of the cheeseburger, a pleased groan rustled past his lips. God. He loved Chicago, in every sense of the word, but he'd never find a burger like they made them in Texas. He knew he'd lost weight among leaving Dillon, living on mostly what he could afford rather than what tasted good, but he hadn't realized how much he'd missed something as simple as a burger. Then again, he hadn't realized just how much he'd missed all of it. Sitting in his old living room, digging into a bag of burgers, across from Julie Taylor. Talk about a day in paradise. Matt was just reaching for his beer, bringing the bottle to his mouth, when he caught sight of his grandmother's ring catching the lamp's light and glistening as if to taunt him for only a brief moment. The beer slid down his throat harshly at the thought and he shook it off.

"So, Austin? Tyra? How's all..that going for ya?"

halpertjames-deactivated2016100

#photo:coach #memories #coachtaylorx

Text || Tami Taylor

Tami: I will tell him, Matt. No, need to thank us. It was our pleasure, really. Hope you are doing better.

Matt: I'm trying. I'll come over and say hi sometime when you all are not busy. It seems like forever since I've seen Gracie.

#c:tami #tamitaylorxx

Keep me company? || Julie x Matt

"You don’t have to. If you have time." Julie read the text that had just been sent to her phone from Matt. She had been home with her parents for the last few hours and really, their conversation hadn’t been on much else but Matt Saracen. They’d spoke about his Grandmother and how she was in the hospital, and how they prayed she would get well.

They spoke about Julie and her adventures since leaving Chicago…and the biggest thing they spoke about was the fact that Julie regretted the adventures she’d had because she hadn’t spent them with Matt. She realized now, after nearly ten months…that she needed to share her adventures with Matt. He wasn’t holding her back. He’s her rock in life. Her foundation.

"Matt’s back at his Grandma’s," Julie said to her parents who gladly dismissed her to run and rekindled her flame~ but even more importantly than that, just be there for him like she used to be. Besides Landry, Julie was always Matt’s go-to-person when he hurt.. she and Landry, or to Julie’s own parents, even.

Julie grabbed her purse and headed out with her Mother’s set of car keys. Since Tyra had driven them to Dillon, her car was still in Austin, so she’d be using her Mom’s for tonight to go to Mrs. Saracen’s. Once in the car and starting the engine, she remained in the driveway to text Matt back.

"I’m on my way. I’m stopping to get some food to bring over.. enough for you, too.. even if you just pick at it." She texted back and pulled out of the driveway after laying her phone down in the passenger seat. It was a ten minute drive to the burger joint, and a five minute wait in the line for the food…then she headed to Mrs. Saracen’s, which was about a seven minute drive from there.

Pulling up outside the all-too-familiar house, she shut the engine of her Mother’s car off and gathered up her purse, phone, and sack of food and got out, heading to the door. The front door was open, but Julie still decided to knock on the screen door…she didn’t want Matt to be mad at her for just…waltzing right on inside.

Matt had read over the texts many times before he'd sent them off to Julie. The whole drive home from the hospital was him contemplating even texting her in the first place, even driving past the Taylor house to see the house lit up completely. 'They're probably eating' and 'they're probably busy' floated in one ear and out the other as he slowly drove by the familiar looking home, one he'd been to on more than many ocassions. It wasn't until he'd pulled into his childhood home, the infamous Saracen house, that he'd finally got out his phone and figured out what text to send out to Julie. He had a feeling she'd decline, sitting in the back of his head, but a huge part of him knew she wouldn't. He knew Julie, her persistence something he'd always liked about her, and he knew just by her proclamation back at the hospital that she wanted to see him more than just a small visit. Why he had a hard time fully believing her, however, was more than he could manage to understand.

He was in the house, tiredly wiping at his eyes as he began to adjust the abandoned house, when a small vibration was felt from the phone in his pocket.

Julie: I’m on my way. I’m stopping to get some food to bring over.. enough for you, too.. even if you just pick at it.

It was hard for Matt not to crack a smile, even if for just a brief moment, as he shook his head at the text he was reading. He was relieved, the growl of his stomach something he had learned to forget about while being back in Dillon, but more or less because Julie was coming to see him. Being back at home, staring at the living room walls covered with his childhood pictures and memoirs, he could have sworn he was back in high school playing for the Dillon Panthers once again. It was a Friday night, after a game, and Julie was coming over for a few hours before she had to be home, usually just before eleven o'clock. My times had certaintly changed.

Matt: Whatever you say, Jules. See you soon.

Setting the phone down on the coffee table, Matt was sitting down and stifling a yawn as he brought his hands to his face. Wiping the palms of his hands over his eyes, waking himself up the best he could, Matt took in a deep breath. Julie was coming over. It was just Julie, his..fiance..and whom he'd considered his other half. Julie was his person and yet he felt nervous at the thought of her coming over. Why did he feel that way? A twenty-three year old man, one who'd seen a lot in his days of living in Chicago, couldn't possibly be scared of a twenty year old girl. Especially one that happened to be Julie Taylor. His Julie.

He was in the bathroom, cleaning up the best he could, when he'd heard a brisk knocking at the front door. Wiping the wet off his hands quickly on the jeans, it didn't take Matt long to leave the restroom and find himself opening up the front door. There, as if deja vu was hitting all over again, was Julie standing on the other side of the screen door.

"Hi.."

Matt nodded towards her, standing a bit too long for a moment before realizing that he was gawking.

"I-uh. You wanna come in?"

Of course she does. Idiot. Matt grabbed the door handle and was fast to open it up towards him, moving out of the way enough so Julie could move past him.

"Make yourself at home. It's still pretty much the same in here."