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The next week
Jeff crossed through the small hallway connecting his living room with the front door. The bell had just rung, and he figured his new girlfriend was paying him a visit. He felt a smile coming as he opened the door, not bothering with the peephole.
It was not Ashley after all. The visitor was not even female. He stood there, thoroughly surprised to see Matt.
"Hey, Jeff." The dark-haired man smiled at him as he merely stood there silently in the doorway. "Well? Aren't you gonna let me in?"
"Uh... Yeah. Sure, come in," the younger man replied. He closed the door behind his sibling and followed him into the other room.
"Wow, bro - I'm impressed! You've really got this place sparkling." Matt glanced around, his face a mask of amazement. In all their lives, he'd never recalled Jeff being so neat. The house looked really clean, tidy and even sparkling, as he'd said.
"Yeah." Jeff ran a hand through his dirty-blond locks, hoping his brother wouldn't figure anything out, at least not yet. Then again, Ashley had been his girlfriend some time ago, and he knew she'd cleaned up his house on occasion as well.
There was an awkward but brief silence between them for a moment. The enigmatic Hardy swallowed hard, dismayed to realize that a lump had formed in his throat. He wasn't afraid of Matt... And he and Ash had every intention of telling him about them - just not yet.
Pushing thoughts of that out of his mind, the young man faced his sibling. He had a little something to ask him as well as to say.
"What are you doing here, Matt?"
The older Hardy eyed him with surprise. He smiled again, recovering, and shrugged, then spread his arms as he faced him.
"What kind of question is that? I'm not allowed to visit my baby brother?" he asked defensively. "Jeff, I care about you. I wanted to see how you were doing."
Jeff's normally placid features hardened at that. He stared at his brother in icy silence for a beat, then launched on him.
"If that were really true, you would have visited me during my month in rehab... But you never once did that."
The dark-haired man blinked and opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out for a moment. Then, "It would have been a little difficult for me, what with bein' on the road for shows and stuff."
"Bullshit, Matt!" the younger brother snapped. "You're not on the road 24/7! You're home three days a week, and if you really cared, you would've stopped by to see me!" Jeff shook his head, disgusted. His closest friends hadn't visited him, either, and it stung. He supposed it was due to their disappointment of him for falling off the wagon again. Ashley had been the only person who'd cared enough, and that showed him how she truly felt about him. And although his friends hadn't stopped by the center to see him, at least they hadn't posted blogs about him all over the internet.
"I called you." A gleam of challenge came into Matt's brown eyes.
"For the love of God, Matt!" Jeff cried. "You called me once - one whole time! And you mostly talked about your new storyline! You barely asked how I was doin'!" He glared at his brother, beyond angry. It was rare that the young man was truly irate, but Matt had pushed him past his limit. He'd had enough.
"At least I called!"
The younger Hardy stood up and smashed a fist onto his coffee table. Matt was actually quite surprised, to the extent that he flinched. He'd never seen Jeff this mad before and wondered if he were actually on something.
"Jeez, calm down, will you?" he said.
"Matt..." The younger man said the name calmly and ran a hand through his dirty-blond locks. "... Just... go - get out."
"What?"
Jeff shook his head, his green orbs closing with frustration.
"You heard me," he replied in an even tone. "I'd like you to leave."
The darker Hardy stared at him with shock. Inside, he was beginning to get ticked off himself. What in hell had gotten into Jeff? It was like he wasn't himself anymore. He rose and pursed his lips together.
"Fine... Have it your way, Jeff." His eyes narrowed as he looked directly into the younger man's eyes. "Just give me a ring if you need anything." He started for the door, nearly stepping on Jack as he went. The little dog yelped and ran out of the way. He'd never really liked his master's brother.
Outside, on the front stoop, Matt's right hand clenched into a fist. Something - he didn't know what - was up
with his little brother. It wasn't drugs as he'd thought for a minute there... No, it was something else... And he
intended to find out what.