Matt couldn't sleep. He laid motionless next to Kat as she slept soundly. He looked at the neon clock beside the bed, 4:30 AM it read in bright green numbers. His head moved gently to the side to look at her before he carefully rolled himself off the bed.

He picked his discarded jeans up from the floor and slowly pulled them on before walking into the living room, flipping his phone open and turning it on. The voicemail alert beeped at him, he sat in the dark room as he held the phone to his ear. "You have 3 new messages. First unheard message:"

"Matt, it's Val. Just calling to see if you are having fun with the guys. Can't wait for you to come home...it's way too boring here without you!! Be good and be careful. I love you."

His heart sank with guilt as he deleted the message. "Next unheard message:"

"Yo Matt, it's Brian. Where in the fuck are you? Or who the fuck are you in? Call me back."

"Next unheard message:"

"It's meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee again," Brian was clearly intoxicated. "Come hoooooooome Matty!" he playfully sulked into the phone.

With disregard to how late it was, Matt quickly dialed Brian's cell phone.

After only 3 rings, Brian answered, "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatt!"

"Oh my god," Matt laughed quietly. "You are still awake?"

"We all are!" Brian reported with pride. "Where the hell are you, man? Are you at that stripper's house?"

"I'm at Kat's house, her name is Kat," he quickly corrected. "Yeah, I'm here." He rubbed his temples firmly with his fingers. "Dude, I think I fucked up!"

"What are you talking about?" Brian asked, walking out onto the balcony of the hotel, lighting a cigarette. "Did you fuck her?" he asked with a muffled tone due to the cigarette hanging from his lips.

Matt sighed, but he didn't answer.

"MATT!" Brian called louder. "I said, did you fuck her?"

"Yeah..." he admitted softly as he leaned back deeper into the couch.

"I don't want to be a jerk or anything, but seriously, it's not like you are going to see her again, ya know? I'll keep it between you and me. Don't even sweat it Matt," Brian assured him. "We've all fucked up a time or two. It's no big deal."

"Val would be crushed..." he countered.

"Val isn't going to know unless you tell her bro."

"I can't lie to her!"

"That's your call man, but you don't have to worry about me telling her anything. If you don't have feelings for this chick, does it really matter that it even happened? Chalk it up to bad judgment."

Matt felt like Brian was his evil conscience telling him to do the wrong thing. He was even more confused now, deep down he didn't want it to be a one-night stand type thing.

"Do you want us to come get you?" Brian asked when he heard nothing from Matt.

After a brief thought, Matt replied, "No. I'll be back there later on."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll get up with you later." Without waiting for a reply, Matt closed his cell phone.

"Hey," Kat's soft voice came from the bedroom door. She was now covered by a thread-bare white t-shirt that barely covered her past her hips. "You ok?" she asked as she made her way to the couch to sit next to him, flipping on a small table lamp.

There was an internal debate going through his brain; does he admit a possible slip up? does he play it cool? "Just not sleepy," he looked to her with a half-hearted grin.

"Tonight was quite the adventure..."

"That it was," he agreed.

His reply seemed strange to her, his delivery was flat and almost regretful. "You...I mean, we were drunk, you know? I'm sorry if I...." she stammered.

"No, no," he gently placed his hand on her knee. "Don't even think that!"

"You have a girlfriend, don't you?" she asked, knowing the answer already. "Fuck!" she stood from the couch. "I let my guard down one fucking time and I become no better than those fucking whores I work with..." she began to pace the length of the living room.

"You are a LOT better than those girls," he protested. "You are so beautiful...and seeing you the way I saw you tonight...so vulnerable...so..."

"Naked," she finished his sentence. "You are a man, what did I expect? I'm nothing but a fucking groupie! I'm so stupid..."

"Kat, please," Matt rose to his feet, walking near her.

"Just don't, ok?" she threw a hand up against his chest. "I'm not like that and if I was your girlfriend, I'd hunt down the whore you slept with and beat her black and blue."

"It's my fault," he apologized. "I'm the one who advanced, not you. It's just that when I saw you at the club, I knew you weren't just some dancer...something inside me told me to reach out to you in some way..."

"Maybe you should've just reached out with a dollar bill, stuck it in my g-string and called it a night," she barked. "Look, if you need a ride back to your friends--I'll take you."

She was visibly upset and it scared him. He had potentially fucked up not only with Val, but with Kat...someone he could see himself getting close to. "No," he replied. "I can call Brian...I've already done enough here." He disappeared in the bedroom to grab his shirt and shoes, pulling the shirt over his head as he emerged back into the living room. "I'm really sorry Katherine..."

Her head dropped as he turned from her and went out the door.