007: Making Amends: Part One (Matt Stone)

It was a little after midnight when Nessa's pink Prius pulled into the driveway of the house belonging to Matt Stone. The trip here had been spur-of-the-moment, just another in the increasingly bizarre things she'd been doing over the last few days. Switching off the engine, she sat there for a moment, staring up at the house as she tried to find the courage to open her door.

What are you doing? He's probably asleep. He's probably with someone right now and you're going to just barge right in like this in the middle of the night?

Sighing, she picked up her purse and opened the door, stepping out into the damp air. At least it had stopped raining for the moment although it still felt like the skies were going to let loose again any second. Squaring her shoulders, Nessa walked up on the porch, ringing the doorbell.

There was at least fifteen, twenty seconds before Nessa could hear any noise from inside the house. Then, a click could be heard, unlocking the door presumably and it opened, Matt Stone standing in the doorway with a raised eyebrow, seeing Nessa Wall standing before him.

"Uhhh...is it 2015 again, or have you picked up a side-job as a pizza delivery girl?"

He was wearing some athletic shorts and a t-shirt, one with his own slogan on it, and he looked like he had been resting beforehand.

Nessa's smile was tinged with sadness as she shook her head.

"No. I... I was going to call but I thought maybe this was a better conversation to have in person. Can I come in?"

Matt took a few steps back so she could step in, having no earthly idea what she wanted to talk about. "I guess so...what did we need to talk about? Last I checked we were pretty clear on where we stand, I thought."

She felt the twist of his words deep down, having to take a deep breath as she followed him across the threshold. "I... suppose it was clear enough. I just needed to see you," she was looking anywhere but at him, reaching up to toy with her hair, pushing it behind her ears. "I've got a match on Friday and I don't really think it's going to go all that well. Do you remember Misha? From... In Your House?"

Matt was stuck on her first words for a moment, watching her averting her gaze. "You wanted to see me, yet you're looking at my carpet. Not sure that matches." He crossed his arms, watching her. "And yeah, the name sounds familiar."

"She's shown up in Empire. She did all these creepy little videos, saying she was coming for me - I had absolutely no idea it was her. Even less of a clue why she would care, why she would need to show up and cost me the championship and I..." Nessa hesitated, biting her lip as she looked up, meeting his gaze. "I lost. It was my own fault. And now she wants to punish me for something I don't even remember. She aired the footage and I watched it. I still had no clue. It was like watching someone else out there. I guess that's who I was in Australia. Someone else. Someone awful that made everyone hate me. Including you."

"I'm pretty sure my hatred manifested back here in North America, but that's a distinction we don't need to go over. So, if I'm understanding this right, you did something to this bitch over a year ago and she's elected to wait until now before looking to get some sort of vengeance? Well that sounds like a dumb excuse to try and make themselves relevant in your domain. Lots of people do it, if I had a dime every time someone said they wanted to shut me up just to get the exposure...well I already have a nice house, but it would be better."

Nessa's laugh was bitter. "You should hear the way she's been talking, the way she's been spending every moment trying to mess with my life. It's... scary, Matt. And I guess she's gotten in my head more than I want to admit. So bad that I feel like I need to go around making amends in case something... final happens."

"Something final happens?" He looked slightly puzzled at that, like she was about to go see a doctor about a mole or something. "And this final amends thing involves me, somehow?"

"It does." She sighed, "I owe you a huge apology. For everything. For the time I came to see you before I ran off to Australia. I keep thinking about that night, wondering what might have happened if..." she blinked, trying to keep the tears from filling her eyes. "And I'm still doing it. Every little thing, I keep weighing it, I keep trying to squeeze blood from a stone," there was a flash of a bitter smile, "pun intended, I suppose. I keep thinking if I just do the right thing, if I just finally find the right combination..."

"The right combination of mistakes you could set the record for screwing things up the most?" He asked, clearly being sarcastic, as he often was. "If you came here to apologize for something, I suggest you start with waking me up and work your way backwards. It's midnight, or later, there's no way this 12-step program you're on couldn't wait until morning, Ness."

"I'm sorry." Her voice came out small, "for that. I wasn't thinking. It's a long drive from Toronto and... I... you're right. I need to work backwards. Maybe you should put some coffee on. We could be here all night if I start listing off every little thing." She looked past him towards the living room, "is it okay if I sit down? These shoes aren't very comfortable for standing in."

Matt sighed, shaking his head. "Only you would buy shoes you couldn't even stand in, let me guess, they were on sale?" He asked, starting to make his way to the kitchen, taking her request literally. "Have a seat." He said as he walked out of the foyer.

"They weren't. I just thought they were cute," Nessa called after him, feeling like she needed to defend herself. She set her purse down, settling in on his couch and kicking off the shoes so she could rub her aching arches. After a few seconds alone, she got up and went after him, hesitating in the kitchen doorway.

After turning the coffee machine on, he rubbed his eyes, not sure he was believing if this was happening or if this was just a bad dream. Turning around, he jumped a bit at Nessa standing there, without shoes she was quite stealthy. "Jesus, your next apology should be for scaring me." He said, walking over towards her. "And might as well get this over with, let me see it."

"See what?" She stared at him in confusion.

He stood there for a moment, blinking at her. "How good your ass looks these days." he said drolly before actually answering. "The ring, obviously." He was half convinced she was playing dumb just to make him say it out loud.

"Oh." The look of dismay on her face made it clear she hadn't been. Reluctantly, she held out her hand, letting him see the diamond ring. "He loves her, you know. I saw him tweet it." The words just came out, not making any sense whatsoever in context with the conversation.

Matt only gave the ring a fleeting glance, though he still commented on it. "Oh wow, it's beautiful, congratulations." His words were flat and clearly without any emotional backing, but he at least got it out of the way. "Well if he tweeted it, it must be true." He replied, not having the foggiest idea as to what she was talking about.

"He never said it to me. Never like that." She sighed, looking down at the ring, "He's happy. He's got what he wanted. A girl who isn't there all the time, smothering him. He can play cowboy and dazzle her," at Matt's continued look of confusion, she shook her head. "Shawn. I'm talking about Shawn. And Lark. Twitter felt the need to show me him sending her sappy things because someone I follow liked it."

"I see." He said after a pause, wondering why on earth she would care about that at this point, and even more so, why she thought he would care. "I know how you feel, though, my app kept showing me sappy shit I didn't care about either because someone liked it, retweeted it, etcetera. The best way to avoid that, Ness, is to stop following that person. Works wonders, you'll find."

She nodded. "I did that. It's just..." she sighed again, watching him for a few seconds. "I thought I was finally over it. And now I just want to apologize to everyone because I get it now. I understand. I've never been good enough. I never will be. I have to accept that."

"Never be good enough for what, exactly?" He questioned, hearing a little noise behind him to signal the coffee maker was finished. Starting to make his way back over there, he glanced back towards her. "You're apologizing because you feel you're not living up to your own standards? That's not a healthy perspective, you know."

She stood there in silence, feeling the prickle of tears, feeling that old familiar ache in her chest. "I overstay my welcome, don't I?" She kept her eyes on the floor, folding her arms across her chest. "You're... you're not happy to see me. I guess in the back of my head I was hoping you would be. It would make everything easier."

He turned his attention back to the machine, allowing the little buttons on it to distract him for a moment, a welcome distraction from the woman on the outskirts of his kitchen. Things weren't easy enough for her, apparently. What a novel concept that was. He set the mug on the tray and looked back at her. "I suppose I'm not all that thrilled to see you right now. I don't suppose you remember the last time I saw you, do you? I'll refresh your memory, here. As I recall, you asked me to come down to Toronto to help you train for your match, something I did out of the kindness of my heart, despite popular belief to the contrary of such a thing existing, and after helping you, do you recall how that evening went?" he asked, though not waiting for a response before continuing. "You cancelled dinner on me because, and I quote, something came up. Ring a bell?"

"It wasn't like that," she said quietly. "I... I should have just told you. Michel flew back early to surprise me. And it wasn't as if I could just tell him I would have rather kept my plans with you."

"Oh no, of course not. That would be rude of you." He retorted mockingly, turning back to the machine and watching the liquid conceal more and more of the mug. "As long as you got what you needed, it's all good, Ness."

"That's..." she trailed off, biting her lip to keep from saying 'unfair'. He was right. She'd been selfish, like always. "I'm sorry. For that, too. For making you feel unimportant when you're anything but."

"It's my own fault, I know how you get when you're dating someone, no one else in the world matters. Just fooling myself thinking the rules didn't apply to me." He finished up just as the machine did, taking the mug out and placing it on the counter for her. "Sugar? Cream? Milk?"

"No. It's fine the way it is." She took a few steps further into the room, intending to take the coffee but stopping again before she made it that far because it was too close to where he stood and she was afraid of doing something stupid. "Matt..."

Glancing at her, he looked over to the mug, then back at her. "Yes? Would you like me to hand it to you?" He asked, slightly bemused at the implication, but it was the only thing he could think of as to why she was asking.

She looked from him to the mug and back again, shaking her head slowly. "No. I'll get it. Just letting it cool a little." Steeling herself, she turned fully towards him, "tell me why we don't feel like friends anymore? Explain to me what I did wrong. Please? I want... I need to understand where it all went wrong."

"Why we don't feel like friends?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware we ever did feel like friends. At least not since you went to Australia. You walked out on me because you would have rather devote yourself to that other guy than to me, if you remember. So, I would say that's what you did wrong, in hindsight."

"But we were a tag team after that." She stared at him for a few seconds, trying to understand what he was saying. "You were there for me when things went south with Shawn. If we weren't friends, then why? So, you could see for yourself how much I was hurting? Did you enjoy it or something?"

"Oh yes, your anguish sustained me." He replied, quoting an older episode of Family Guy. "No, I foolishly thought that you would be interested in possibly getting back together once you were good and sane again. I must have blinked because you went from a love-sick puppy missing another dog to dating some sort of pilot."

"You wanted to..." Nessa shook her head, "no. That's not possible. I wouldn't have missed reading those signs."

"Well then, I have to be mistaken; clearly I'm just a masochist then. Glad we've got that sorted. So, to answer your question, I guess we don't feel like friends because we're not."

She didn't say anything for a few moments, turning to pick up the mug and busying herself with drinking some of the coffee. With her back to him it was easier to pretend the tears weren't falling. When she'd finished half of it, she set the mug back down, bracing her palms against the counter. She wanted to beg him to say she still had a chance, to say he still wanted her but she knew better.

I guess we don't feel like friends because we're not. We're not.

She closed her eyes, counted to ten, hoping he'd say something. When the silence was still ringing in her ears, she turned back towards the doorway, blurting out, "I... should go. I shouldn't be here."

"Yeah, okay then." He replied, looking away from her. He turned the machine off, something told him he wasn't going to need any for himself. Any reason to avoid being awake in this world seemed like something worth taking, he thought, as he unplugged it. "So uhh..." he heard the front door open, not bothering to raise his voice, "drive safe, I guess."