Oblivious

By Karahly

Disclaimer: I'm seething over my own oblivious best friend. What a jackass.

I knew that he would be incredibly angry even before I opened the door but, what I didn't realize, was that I would feel conspicuously guilty about it. He looked like shit.

"Kate, what is wrong with you?!" My best friend Matt growled at me from just outside my hallway. "I know I told you I only got three hours of sleep last night!"

"But it's almost seven!" I argued sheepishly. I'd figure that he ended classes at four so he should have slept a good two hours by now, enough to partially recover from his Physics study session last night. "Beside," I sent him a pleading look, "Ryan, the cute guy from Econ I told you about, asked me out to dinner! And omigosh he'll be here in two minutes and-"

I trailed off and spun around to reveal the unzipped back of my black, white-polka-dotted cocktail dress. With an irate grunt, Matt quickly pushed me further into my apartment, staggered in and kicked the door shut. It closed with a resounding bang and I heard a few muttered curses under his breath.

Our landlady knew both of us well enough so that, when our neighbors complained of the noise coming from my apartment, instead of coming to me about it she would stomp over to the apartment next door, Matt's apartment, and give him a good earful. Usually she was right in thinking that he had been over at my place making that racket himself.

"You shouldn't have done that!"I commented dryly. "Ms. Miller hates you enough as it is. Now zip please!"

I felt his fingers flutter against my back and gently tug the two sides of my dress closer to my body. I figured he was still groggy so I didn't even protest when he tightened it further so that my breasts were squashed against the fabric. However, when his breath fluttered the tendrils of auburn hair framing my face (which by the way I'd left free for Ryan's benefit) I scowled. "Matthew Elliot, what the hell! Are you perving on me?!" His eyes, I knew, had to have been leveled at my chest if his face was so close to my neck.

There was a dignified sniff from behind me and the zipper shot up to close the gaping back of my dress. I could feel two twin crimson spots on my cheeks and my hands clenched as I turned an accusing glare on my best friend. "Matt what the-"

Matt raised one hand in surrender and ran the other through his tussled black hair. "Dude I'm so out of it right now," He said bleakly, "and they bounced when I did that…"

"What!"

Matthew cringed and moved further away from me. "Kate I'm sorry, okay? Brief lapse of judgment right there." Then giving me a chagrined smile and a shrug he slumped on my couch with a sigh. And if I didn't know better I'd think he was blushing. Oh, wait, he was.

I bit my lip.

Honestly, I was feeling entirely at a lost. What had just happened? There was a certain uncomfortable atmosphere that had never been present between us ever before. This was Matt for goodness sake! I had swum naked on a kiddie pool with him when we were both four years old! He was the only male who had ever seen me in a bra before, granted it had been an accident, but still. I even trusted him enough to call him over to help me get dressed!

Had I crossed a non-verbal barrier somewhere down the line?

I had always thought he could never look at me without seeing the little sister he'd never had. What if he-

"Kate, stop it. Okay?" I looked over at him and saw a displeased grimace on his face as he sat back up on my couch. "Stop trying to psychoanalyze my behavior. I said I was sorry and you know I didn't mean a thing by it! In fact, I could have you in all your naked glory right now standing there, your hair falling in silky waves against the soft swell of your breasts, red lips contrasting against your pale-" He stopped his dreamy tone of voice and his eyes widened although I highly doubt they could have been opened wider than mine. "Shit. I mean-"

The doorbell rang.

Shit.

Panicked, I looked frantically from the door to Matthew's drooping figure on my couch, his arms holding his head with a terrified expression on his face.

Making a split of the moment decision I flew to the door and opened it to find my grinning tuxedoed date for the evening. Now I just had to take his arm, have an amazing evening, and hope Matt was gone by the time I got back. If my luck held he would have been sleep talking just now and wouldn't remember a thing he'd said.

The only problem?

"Hey Kate!" Ryan interrupted my thoughts for a second by leaning cockily against my door frame, "Looking hot babe."

I slammed the door on his face.

The only problem is I would still know what he'd said.

I turned and contemplated the sullen form of my best friend. His jaw was clenched and his long bangs were swept haphazardly so that I couldn't meet his eyes although he seemed to be carefully ignoring me anyway.

"Matt?" My anger had dissipated and now I just felt plain confused…and lightheaded.

He sighed wearily and once again threw himself down on his back, arms crossing themselves over his head. "What?"

"I'm scared." I blushed, I really hadn't meant to say that. "I mean- I don't know what's going on."

I watched as his whole body tensed and held my breath. Did he-

"Wasn't that your date?"

That was not what I had expected to hear. "Matt! Don't you dare and try to weasel yourself out of this conversation!"

And then he had jumped out of the couch, stalked the short distance to my stunned body, and pressed himself threateningly against me. "You want me to be blunt?" He growled into my neck, his hands coming to rest on my hips, "I'll be blunt. I can't fucking get you out of my head Katharine Townhouse. And I hate it because all I am to you is your fucking best friend."

My mouth opened and closed helplessly. He liked me?! Finally, I was able to put two very simple but powerful words together. "How long?"

He didn't ask what I'd meant. Matt knew what I was asking. "Sophomore year." This was both our Senior year at university.

Two years.

And then I was pushing hard against his chest with my hands, a fist suddenly whipping out from my side to connect with his jaw. I watched with narrowed eyes as he stumbled in surprise down on to my couch. He was a big and muscled man but I was mad, livid actually.

"You fucking ass!" I shrieked and threw myself at him. With a surprised exclamation of protest, Matt covered his face with his hands to protect himself from further attack.

But he left his neck exposed and that was my target.

My lips locked on the warm skin over his carotid artery and sucked lightly, my breath teasing him as I wriggled my body closer to his.

Matt's hands immediately left his face and I could feel his shallow breathing beating fleetingly against me. "Uh…Kate? What are you doing?!"

"Freshman year, you fucking buttface." I snarled, propping myself up on his chest and glaring directly into his fatigued gaze. "High school."

"Oh."

Yeah, oh.

"Wait! You mean…" His eyes widened with realization. "You never-"

And then I was kissing him again except this time my target was his mouth. I knew my face must have been burning because it felt incredibly hot but apparently Matt didn't mind at all. His tongue pressed tentatively against my lips and, when I opened them slightly, he delved in with a groan. No he didn't seem to mind at all.

Sometime later, we were finally forced to resurface for air. His hand was cupping my breast over my dress and we both stared at his hand as a thumb reached out to tease the exposed part. "I'm an idiot." He chuckled. "You were right…and an ass."

I shrugged. "Yes." My eyes fluttered closed at the feel of his hand. "You haven't slept well perhaps we should…rest for a while."

His hand did not stop.

"Or we could go to bed."

I grinned. "You never did pick up on my subtlety did you?"

Matt chuckled and did not deign that with a response. Instead, he kissed me.

The End

R&R 'cause I have several one-shots all ready to post if enough people like them.