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"Hey, how's it going?"
Amy looked up at the sound of the voice. Just as she did that, Matt came around to the other side of the small table at which she was sitting. She'd come in here to catering for a quick bite before her segment on the night's show.
"Hey, Matt. It's going fine," she replied, her mind filled with what she'd learned mere nights earlier. She found it difficult, but she managed to keep her features neutral. Still, it was so hard to believe he had schemed all this time, much less actually employed Torrie Wilson to do the dirty work for him.
"That's good," he said. He folded his hands on the table, his gaze lowering for a beat. Then, he raised his eyes to meet hers again. "Don't you think it's time you moved on?"
The redhead cocked her head at that unexpected, albeit nervy, question. She couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with him. If she and Adam really had broken up, it would have been only a couple of months since. Where was Matt's sentimentality? Then again, she had to remind herself that she wasn't so sure he possessed any. After all, she could never understand how anyone, male or female, could sleep with another person and not have some tender feelings for them - as apparently was the case for him as far as Torrie was concerned. If her hunch was indeed right, then the redhead actually felt sorry for the tall blonde woman.
"Matt, everyone is different," she said, deciding to play along with his ignorance. "I can't just turn off my feelings like a faucet." Inside, she thought, Just because you don't have any problems in that department doesn't mean I'm unfeeling like you are.
"Jeez," the dark-haired man said. He shook his head, a slight smile coming to his face.
Amy eyed him with confusion. He was not seriously getting some pleasure out of thinking she was miserable? She decided to find out.
"What? What's so amusing to you?"
"Oh, it's nothing, Ames," Matt replied. He grew serious as he explained. "It's just that I remember how miserable you were the first time you broke up with that jackass... But you seem absolutely 180 degrees different this time."
The redhead felt her heart skip a beat. Maybe she would have to turn up the waterworks, or at least show him she was hurting. But she wasn't exactly a natural born actress, and she wasn't any good at faking her emotions. What if he caught onto her?
"I guess you realized what a snake he truly is."
She examined Matt's face, and the relief flooded through her. Apparently, he was onto nothing, and it was probably mostly due to his hatred of Adam. She supposed she should feel bad for that, as they had once been such good friends - but at the moment, she couldn't feel anything but grateful.
Pushing all that to the back of her mind, Amy decided to turn the tables on him.
"And what about you, Matt?"
"What about me?" he questioned, giving her a look.
The redhead shrugged.
"I was just wondering what's going on in your life... I mean, since you're telling me to move on... Do you have anyone special right now who you're seeing?" Visions of Torrie flitted through her head as she recalled how the blonde had looked when she'd witnessed her leaving Matt's hotel room not too long ago.
Unfortunately, the dark-haired man sort of took the question the wrong way. A grin spread across his face, and he leaned a bit forward.
"No, Ames, there's no one... Definitely no one special." He studied her silently for a beat.
In spite of what she'd recently learned about the platinum blonde, Amy felt a twinge of sympathy for Torrie. So, Matt could have sex with the woman, yet still say there was 'no one special' in his life? She would hate to be in Torrie's situation... And then, she had to remind herself that she'd been there already - or at least had thought she had. Although she hadn't been particularly fond of the Idaho native lately, she found herself feeling a kinship with her. And if Torrie was anything like herself emotionally, Amy had a feeling the other diva would be needing a good friend soon. And she knew she would be the one for that role. After all, Torrie could very well be enduring the same heartache she herself had gone through when she and Adam had first started sleeping together.
"Ames! Hey!"
She realized with startling clarity that Matt was trying to get her attention. He waved a hand before her face, and she blinked, meeting his dark eyes.
"Sorry... You were saying?"
"I was asking you what you had in mind with that question," he said, a sly, lopsided half-smile taking form on his face. "Are you saying you wanna go out with me?"
"What? No!" The redhead would probably have laughed under different circumstances. She had never once looked at Matt Hardy as anything more than a friend. And, all things considered, lately it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to even think of him in that way. After all, his scheming and obvious pleasure at thinking she and Adam were done was quite hurtful.
He was eyeing her in a strange manner. But then she realized how her response must have sounded.
"I was just curious, that's all. Look, Matt, I gotta go. I'll see you later."
"Yeah," he replied. "Later."
Amy hurried out of catering. For some reason, she felt very strange. The whole conversation with Matt had ended
with her feeling incredibly awkward.