From Mountains to Lone Stars

"Come on, Matt, you gotta tell me what's going on," Johnny said, pulling a bag of popcorn from my microwave.

I knew eventually he would come find me. He was Maverick's hall director after all and one of my best friends. Though I was trying my best to be as normal as possible, he knew something was up. Everyone thought Mav was acting strange cause of her cancer, but I was doing my best to look normal. Up until today, I had thought I had been doing a good job.

"Johnny, I really, really don't want to talk about it."

"Well too fucking bad, Sanders." Johnny threw the hot bag at me. "I've got a resident assistant who is forcing herself to go to school and work despite being in a shit ton of pain. I've got a resident assistant who has demanded I call her parents to keep them from coming to her. I've got a resident assistant who is so afraid she is going to die before graduation that she has completed every assignment for her classes except her mid-term and final. I've got a resident assistant who can't stop fucking crying because she's DYING! And you just up and left her."

My eyes met Johnny's. I knew that the little gnome had an angry streak in him, I just didn't ever see it. None of us really did. So seeing him like this, telling me the woman I had extreme, painful feelings for was dying hurt. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"She broke up with me, J. She said she couldn't be in a relationship with someone she didn't see herself going anywhere with. What was I supposed to do?"

He slapped the back of my head, hard. "You're a fucking idiot, Shadows. Mav did that to spare you watching her go through what she is. God damn, she is convinced she is going to die, and Mav didn't want you to go through that. You know why?"

I bit my lip. "No."

Johnny smacked my head again. "I will spell this out for you, dipshit. SHE. IS. IN. LOVE. WITH. YOU."

It was like a bus had hit me in the center of my chest. A huge wave of emotion struck me, and I realized I fucking loved Alexa too. Shit, I was in love with the woman. Standing up, I stared at my smaller friend.

"Where is she?"

Johnny grabbed my arm and yanked me back onto the couch. "In class! Just because you realized you also in love with her doesn't mean you can go running the fuck all over campus just in an attempt to get back together with her. She is really sick, Matt. Maverick loves you, but she doesn't want to see you hurt. That's why she broke up with you. I think you should fight for her, but you both need to be realistic about what is going on. You and Maverick need to sit down and talk. That's why me and the boys have arranged a dinner for you idiots."

"When?"

"Tonight." He stood up. "You have about three hours, so I need you to really plan out what you're going to say to her. Maverick doesn't need you to be a dick, okay?"

I nodded and walked him out. There was a lot I needed to do in order to figure out what I was going to say to someone I was in love with. HOLY SHIT, I was in love!

Notes

Short and kind of a filler, but Matt might be figuring shit out. And Maverick is gonna have to at some point.