151Disclaimer: Maggie is my creation. No one else belongs to me.
Author's Notes: Here's the next chapter! Thought it was about time to get the characters moving forward. Hope you all enjoy! Sorry it's been so long since I updated. We all know what school is like.
To My Reviewers: I try to thank everybody personally, but I'm not able to this time around. I can't tell you how much your kind words of support mean to me. You guys are the sole reason that I keep writing. Thank you so much for all your help. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
TALKING THE TALK
Matt smiled as Lucy's hands came to rest on his shoulders. He stopped typing and tilted his head back to look at her, the light from his apartment windows brightening her from behind..
"Bored with your history paper already?"
"Incredibly," she said with a smile, "What are you up to?"
"Just running a diagnostic check on the Woodlawn firewalls." Apparently, helping John McClane save the world had its advantages. For the last month Matt had been working with Bowman and his team to develop and implement a stronger security system. Every couple of days they would test the system by changing the passwords and having Matt try to hack in. Aside from the challenge of writing the code for the bad guys, this was one of the first jobs Matt had ever genuinely enjoyed. Plus, being one of the good guys definitely had its perks, one of which was currently rubbing gentle circles into his shoulders.
He smiled and spun his chair around to look at her. "Clearly I'm working on something more interesting than the French revolution."
Lucy gave an exasperated sigh and followed Matt into the kitchen. "I don't even know why I bothered to take this class. Electives are supposed to be easy. This class is my hardest one!"
Matt put down the bottle of water he had been drinking and smiled at her thoughtfully. "You can always finish writing my new programming algorithm for me."
Lucy made a face, causing Matt to laugh. "It's not all that bad," he said, "Some variables here, a couple of backslashes there... you'd be fine."
Lucy noticed how closely Matt was standing to her, trapping her between himself and the fridge. Smiling, she gently started to trace the circular Green Lantern logo on his shirt.
"Have I ever told you that I love it when you talk technical?"
The corner of Matt's mouth turned up. "Really."
Lucy nodded. "I mean, I don't always know what you're talking about, but still... I find it very, very attractive."
Matt grinned. "In that case," he said, moving his hands to her waist and pulling her closer, "I should probably tell you that I'm planning on defragmenting the hard drive later."
She smiled and kissed him gently. He pulled away with a grin. "Maybe even change the password on my neighbour's wireless router."
Lucy laughed into his kiss as he pressed her against the fridge. He had become very good with things like this in the past week since her dad's house, with Lucy's encouragement of course. Her pupil was doing well.
Her hands gently slid through his hair, soft and dry from his shower earlier that morning. His hands met at the small of her back, his thumbs grazing the skin where her shirt had ridden up. He playfully kissed her cheek before moving to her jaw. He grinned as she sighed into him and he trailed kisses down her neck slowly and deliberately.
"If you want," he said between kisses, "I could change your laptop's IP address later."
Lucy sighed. "Mmm... phone."
He chuckled. "I could do something with the phone too if you want."
She gave a breathless laugh and fought to find her voice. "No... phone..."
It took a second for Matt to realize what she was talking about. He drew his attention away from Lucy's neck long enough to recognize the sound of the phone ringing. He smiled down at Lucy and shrugged.
"I don't hear anything," he said, kissing her firmly.
"Matt..."
He kissed her again. "Still not hearing it."
"What if it's important?" Lucy breathed as he moved back to her neck.
"Then they'll call back."
Matt had no sooner said that than the answering machine kicked in, and a voice started to speak.
"Hey loser, it's me. Listen, I know you're probably playing video games or making out with Lucy, but I need to talk to you. So I'll just wait on the line for you until your answering machine gets tired of recording me and kicks me off. Maybe I'll practice my bagpipes while I'm waiting."
Matt rolled his eyes and was already untangling himself as Lucy laughed. Maggie was beginning to imitate a set of bagpipes, honking very loudly and off-key.
"I love your sister," Lucy said as Matt picked up the phone.
"You want her? She's yours," he said before speaking into the receiver, "Kill the band practice Mags, I'm here."
"Hello younger sibling! Is Lucy there?"
"Yes."
"Ah ha, I was right. Sorry for interrupting your hormonal urges little bro, but I have a problem."
"Rather than make a lame joke about how you need a doctor to solve most of your problems that you'll just punch me for later, I'm gonna be the bigger person and just say "what?"."
"Your kindness knows no bounds. And it's a computer problem, smart ass. Right up your alley."
Lucy smiled to herself and watched Matt talk on the phone from her place in the doorway. She loved how animated and lovingly annoyed he became when he spoke to her. It was fun to watch.
Unfortunately, her viewing time was cut short when Pink's "So What" started blaring from the direction of her purse. Smiling at Matt, she headed to the couch where her books and laptop still lay scattered. After a good deal of rummaging, she found it and flipped it open before looking at the caller.
"Hello?"
"I need a favour."
Lucy frowned. "Amanda?"
"No, your other best friend from first year Poli Sci. Who else? Where the hell have you been, anyway?"
Lucy quickly moved to the kitchen as a feeling of tension washed over her. "I've been busy... you know."
"Word is you've got a boyfriend."
Lucy stilled. Matt was more than a friend, for sure. But they hadn't exactly had "the talk" yet. She didn't know exactly what they were. And she didn't want to lie...
She heard Amanda shifting on the phone. "Well? What's the story?"
Lucy sighed. "Not exactly."
"So that's a 'no' on the boyfriend then?"
Lucy turned to look at Matt, who was laughing at something his sister was saying. She felt her heart twinge a little as she said, "No."
"Perfect. Then I need a favour."
"What kind of favour?"
"The 'I-need-you-to-be-my-wingman-at-the-bar-tonight' kind of favour."
"Oh," said Lucy with a wince, "I don't know..."
"Come on Luce, you owe me. See, this really cute guy asked me to find a date for his friend so that we can all go out together. And you don't have a boyfriend."
"It's not that," said Lucy, "It's just –"
"Seven o'clock. We're meeting at Irish Joe's. Wear that soft green v-neck that makes you look like Kate Winslet. Okay?"
Lucy sighed, knowing it was beyond hope for her to get out of this now. "Yeah, okay."
"Perfect! See you then!"
Lucy slowly closed her phone with a clomp, just as Matt was saying goodbye to Maggie.
"Sound good... yes, I'll tell her... yes, I will... Yeah, love you back... Bye."
He hung up the phone and turned to Lucy with a grin. "Maggie says hi. Now, where were..."
He trailed off upon seeing Lucy's expression, a cross between Sarah Connor meeting the Terminator and John Connor after failing to stop Skynet.
"You okay?"
Lucy sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah, just... a friend called me for a favour I have to do, but I don't want to do."
"Oh," said Matt, thinking for a moment, "What's the favour?"
"She wants to go out with some guy, but she can't unless she finds a date for the guy's friend."
Matt swallowed, catching on. "And that would be you."
"Sadly yes," she said with a sigh.
Matt sighed and shrugged. "Well, I was going to suggest some Thai food and a movie break but I guess that's out."
Lucy frowned. "I'm sorry."
Matt shrugged. "No worries."
Lucy gave him a small smile. "Could I maybe substitute the meal for a hug?"
Matt winced playfully. "I don't usually do substitutions but sure. For you."
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest, listening to his heartbeat as his arms wrapped around her. She smiled.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Anytime you want a hug, just let me know."
Lucy smiled.
Amanda wasn't hard to spot in the bar. She had legs that went on for miles, so Lucy looked for the loudest girl with the shortest skirt. She found her at the bar, a drink in each hand.
"You made it! Thanks for coming, I totally owe you one. Although," she said with a wink, "You might owe me one when you see your date."
She motioned with her whiskey sour hand to the two men sitting at a table by the window. "The one on the right is yours."
Lucy's was a tall blonde with a strong frame. His white collared shirt was loose against his blue jeans and tan carpenter boots. He looked exactly like Lucy's type.
Or at least, what her type used to be.
Lucy tried to put on a smile and forget a certain pair of soft brown eyes that looked disappointed as she left, and made her way to the table.
Matt wished Maggie had called sooner. If she had, Matt could have solved her computer problem and then taken her advice about having a talk with Lucy. He would have finally come clean about how he felt about her and what he wanted.
Not to say that after his grand confession, Lucy wouldn't have gone anyway. Or that she would have even said yes to him. But at least he'd have an idea to stand on rather than trying to figure out whether he should have let her go or not.
With a sigh, he pushed away from his computer. That new algorithm wasn't getting finished tonight.
Matt had just popped in an episode of Doctor Who when there was a knock at the door. He frowned. Maybe Maggie had gotten impatient about being without a laptop and was bringing it by now. He sighed and pulled himself off the couch, heading for the door.
"Mags, seriously, I love you and all but you really need to make up your...mind..."
Lucy stood there, a bag in each hand. "Hi."
Matt blinked. "Hi."
Lucy shifted from foot to foot before taking a deep breath. "I was in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd come by. I've got pad Thai if you haven't eaten," she said, holding up the one bag, "And a couple of movies. I wasn't sure whether or not to get Spiderman or Wolverine, so I got both."
Matt didn't have the heart to tell her that both of those DVDs were already on his shelf. Instead he opened his mouth to say something else, but Lucy cut him off. "Wait, let me finish. I was practicing on the way over, so the least you could do is let me talk. Please?"
Matt's mouth closed and he nodded.
Lucy sighed. "I was at the bar and I didn't want to be. I wanted to be here. And I should have just told my friend that, because whether she likes it or not she'd going to meet you eventually."
She took a breath. "I like hanging out with you. I love how nice and thoughtful and smart you are, and how you make me feel safe and sexy and smart, even though you're so much smarter than me."
"Lucy—"
"I'm almost finished, I promise," she said, pausing, "I don't want to scare you away, and I know guys hate putting labels on things and putting labels on themselves. But I like you. And I think... at least I hope, that you like me too. And I was hoping that we could... we could do something about that."
Matt did his best to hide his smile. "Miss McClane, are you asking me to be your boyfriend?"
Lucy nodded and heaved a nervous sigh. "Yes, Mr. Farrell. I believe I am."
Matt couldn't take it anymore. His mouth opened into a wide grin and he leaned over to give Lucy a kiss. She responded as best she could with a wide smile and her hands full. Matt pulled away tasting strawberries.
"Well," he said, holding the door open, "I totally think my girlfriend should put our food on the kitchen table, because I kinda want to kiss her again with her hands free."
Lucy laughed and crossed the threshold. "That sounds like an excellent idea."
Matt closed the door. "Just for the record," he said, following her into the kitchen, "You totally had me at 'pad Thai'."
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