your love is the sweetest sin.

[mat]

[/b] The man wandered away, and came back with his order five minutes later. He had five minutes to get to Natalie now.

Matthew grabbed the bags, tossed the guy a fifty dollar bill, and ran outside. His bike was still there thank god. He hadn't bought insurance on it. He strapped the bags onto the back, threw his helmet back on, and pulled out onto the road. Luckily no almost accident occured. He sped off to Natalie's house, with no time to spare. Then he hit a stop light, and looked over to see a street vendor selling flowers. Natalie loved flowers. He took one glance at the street light, which was still red, and hopped off his bike again. He full out sprinted to the vendor, grabbed a boquet of six yellow roses, and ran off. He didn't bother to pay the man. The light turned green as he started his bike. He held the flowers in one hand, while steering with the other hand. It was dangerous, but who cared.

He arrived at Natalie's house, well more like building, not a minute late. He grabbed the food and his keys, then hopped off the bike once more. He removed his helmet, and tucked it under his arm. With the hand the flowers were in, Matthew ran his hand through his hair. He walked up to the door, and rang the buzzer for Delaney, Natalie. He exhaled and waited to be rung up.


words: 900.
outfit: here.


[/ul][/size]

[natalie]

TAG. MATTHEW STATUS. COMPLETE WORDS. 894 OUTFIT. HURR.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ah, Natalie loved having friends that could cook. She particularly liked the friends who were more than happy to cook for her. That was the case with her best friend Matthew whom she'd known since high school. Natalie considered him as one of those 'rare finds', meaning that considering the history of men not being able to cook, Natalie was extremely lucky that he could. She was also lucky to have him in her life... and in New York City right now. Having come back from a day full of meetings with producers and directors for future projects, Natalie had come home exhausted which ultimately resulted in her laziness to cook dinner for herself tonight.

Earlier she had planned on ordering Chinese, or heading down to the restaurant with someone depending on how she felt. Nonetheless she was extremely hungry tonight due to her failure on missing out on lunch, and she needed something to eat. Having expressed her hunger over the chat room, she was bombarded with thoughts of pizza, salad and Chinese food. Being one hell of a health food junkie, Natalie dismissed and 'icked' at the thought of pizza. Every time someone mentioned that word to her, she could never get that image of Matt's triple meat pizzas out of her mind. It was nothing but meat, oil, and high contents of salt which disgusted the lights out of poor Nat. She could never figure how people, particularly Matt, could eat such... thing. Well it was a good thing that he'd offered to cook for her tonight and that he could never dare to cook something on the same level as a triple meat pizza.

She lingered around a little longer than expected on her computer, continuing to talk to her sister Charlie and not really knowing what that girl had been up to. However, time flew and suddenly Natalie realised that with fifteen minutes to go, she had yet to take a shower and change. She left her computer, not really bothering to log off because she had planned to come back on before her best friend would arrive. She was running through her West Village apartment; towards the bathroom before turning on the hot water in the shower and stripping down today's outfit and stepping in. She couldn't linger on, like she usually did in the shower, and within a few minutes she was out with a towel wrapped around her small frame. She took a few steps towards the misted mirror and wiped the evaporated moisture from the mirror's surface. Taking a deep breath in she smiled, remembering that her best friend was coming over meaning laughter and who knows what other frivolity. It could be easily said that Natalie had the best times when she was around Matt, so she was pumped.

Gingerly turning away from the mirror, she skipped her way out of the en suite and into her bedroom to change. She opened her reasonably-sized wardrobe and grabbed the first few items of clothing that caught her eyes. Sure, it wasn't exactly the most glamourous outfit in her closet, but Natalie could have cared less about appearances when it came to hanging around friends and family. She loved comfort more than anything, which she got when she put on a pair of jeans, ugg boots, and her favourite cardigan over a simple singlet. Despite being worth a million dollars these days, Natalie lived a typically normal life. Unlike those divas and superstars who indulged in the latest fashions from Paris, bought the most lavish mansions and drove the most expensive cars, Natalie was different. Instead she wore regular jeans and shirts ( while still looking classy ), owned an apartment that wasn't in the Upper East Side and... well she owned an expensive car, but not the most expensive.

Now, back in the bathroom, she was drying her hair with only three minutes to go. Three, two, one. Just as she placed the dryer down on the bathroom counter, her buzzer rang. Ah just on time, perfect. Natalie loved punctuality. Escaping the bathroom, she reached her intercom and pressed the button to unlock the door at the entrance. "It's open!" She spoke, suddenly remembering that she needed to note this night down in her diary - a tradition she had every time she saw Matt. It was weird yeah, but Natalie didn't want to forget every little moment with him. Knowing he had a few stairs to climb before reaching her front door, she quickly ran over to her desk and scribbled down today's date in her leather encased diary - one that was almost worn from keeping it around for years. She dropped her pen and shut her diary, placing them both neatly in the desk's small drawer and out of prying eyes. Running a hand through her brunette locks, she waited for the knock on her door. She walked over, taking a deep breath in and opened her door revealing her friend holding a plastic bag and bunch of yellow roses. Natalie's mouth couldn't help but spread into a wide grin at the sight of Matthew - her best friend, and the only guy she truly loved. "Now I think I'm underdressed!" She laughed as she reached up to hug him. Pulling away, she stepped aside to let him in.

[mat]

[/b] The words escaped Matthew's mouth before he could reach out and stuff them back in. He didn't mean to say that. His gaurd was down. Tonight was going to be a bad night. He walked inside and placed the bags and helmet on the counter. He gently placed the jacket on the counter next to them, before turning around. "These are for you. I know they're your favorite. If they aren't just hit me for being so stupid." He laughed and handed her the flowers.

"So how hungry are you?" Matthew asked, grinning. "Because I'm starving and am ready to get cooking." He always had joked around with Natalie like this. Asking her what she wanted, then saying what he would prefer. It was just a bad habbit of his. He knew she didn't mind though. Or, well atleast he hoped she didn't.

words: 637 (sorry it's so short!)
outfit: here.
[/size]
[/ul]

[natalie]

TAG. MATTHEW STATUS. COMPLETE WORDS. 728 OUTFIT. HURR.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They'd known each other for years. Almost fifteen to be exact. It was also fifteen years ago that she knew what love felt like. Sure, she was only young, not even a teen but she knew from that day that she could never feel any differently again. Well truth be told, Natalie wasn't exactly in love just yet, but he was surely her first crush. The love didn't come until they had become best friends, thanks to their mothers. Natalie knew that she would always be in debt to her mother. But she knew she could never forget her first memory with him as they were first paired up for the school's production of "Romeo and Juliet". He, of course was Romeo and she, Juliet. Who would have known that one would turn out to be an actress and the other a director.

Every time she hugged him, she never wanted to let go. Her arms couldn't quite wrap around his whole body even after all these years - he just seemed to get more buff every time they saw each other. She was used to it by now though, although as a little kid she loved the thought of being able to fully have her arms meet around anyone she hugged. Why? Because that way she could be assured that she could hold onto them forever and they would never leave her side. Today, she couldn't have felt even more isolated in such a huge city. Sure, while she had heaps of close friends and basically dinned out every night with them, it was her Matty that could always make her feel comfortable and warm. Yes, her Matty. She'd called him her's for a long time now... just not in front of him.

Natalie couldn't remember the last time they'd seen each other for it felt like years. Oh wait, the last time they saw each other was when he first arrived in New York for business. Still, considering that they weren't living in same state, every day away from him felt like centuries. You could tell that she really missed seeing him around - they were best friends after all. Although, even during Natalie's university days when she was on the other side of the world, she still wasn't used to not seeing him often. He had become a rare sight, only coming to visit her during the Summer, though her feelings for him never seemed cease.

"Wow, thank you. Showering me with flowers and compliments. Surely it isn't Valentine's Day already?" She teased him as she poked his shoulder. "I'm teasing though, I'm sure you have plenty of girls you get to be a Valentine's to." She said as she reached for the flowers that he held out for her. "Even after all these years you're still not sure with what flowers I like?" She headed for the kitchen with the beautiful flowers in hand. Placing them on the kitchen counter, she scoured around the cupboards for an unused vase, eventually pulling one out, coloured a dark velvet. She laughed as she listened to her friend remark about his hunger. Well he wasn't the only one, "Don't wait for me to start cooking!" After pulling the vase out from under the tap, she cautiously placed it down on the kitchen counter now half-filled with water and stuffed the flowers in with ease. She stood back, admiring how the yellow complimented well with the colour of the vase itself.

Finally, she clasped her hands together and looked over at Matt, "Well, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." It wasn't long before she walked over to one of the top kitchen cupboards and retrieved a bottle of red wine. Reaching over to the next group of cupboards she then took out two wine glasses and set them down back on the counter beside the flowers. She opened the wine ( she was strong like that ) and poured a helping for Matt and herself before picking up her glass and taking a sip. Leaning against the counter, she watched her friend, "So, what's on the menu Martha Stewart?" She asked curious and hoping that it wouldn't be something as meaty as... beef stroganoff. She trusted him though, partly. He could be full of surprises sometimes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

( pfth! i could barely make it past 800 this time. XD )

[mat]

[/b] He laughed at his bad joke. ”Well I don’t usually buy you flowers. So I had no reason to remember. I’m just kidding; you know I have a bad memory.” That was the truth; he did have a bad memory. Matthew actually couldn’t remember ever buying flowers for Natalie. And if he did, he couldn’t remember what kind. He was sure he had purchased flowers for her before, maybe for a Valentine’s Day they were both sad and single. He hadn’t even bought the current flowers for her, just stolen them at a red light. How romantic he could always manage to be, right?

At the counter, Matthew began removing the boxed up food from the bags. One of the small Styrofoam containers held the cherry glaze, and one held the mixed vegetables. He placed them next to the stove and oven, so he couldn’t forget them. In the other bag, the rack of lamb lay wrapped up in aluminum foil uncooked. He wandered over to the oven, preheating it to a toasty 450°. ”Well I don’t like horses Nat. So let Martha cook you up a nice lamb rack with steamed vegetables.” He smiled as he wandered around the decent sized kitchen, looking for the pans. ”I know you never cook for yourself, but do you happen to remember where the pans are?” He joked around as he opened up the cabinet doors. He grabbed out a large bowl and placed it on the island. Then he wandered over to the pantry, grabbing out some white bread. He proceeded to pull out one piece of bread, before throwing the bag back into the pantry. He walked the short distance to the island, where he crumbled the bread up to make bread crumbs. Walking back to the cabinets, he opened all of them up one by one. He grabbed out vegetable oil, garlic, salt, vinegar, and black pepper. He carried them over to the island, arms full. Gently placing them down, he turned to Natalie. She looked so cute, and innocent. “Now please tell me you don’t have an allergic reaction to any of these items. Or you stopped liking them for some crazy dietary reasons.”

words: 897.
outfit: here.
[/size][/ul]

[natalie]

TAG. MATTHEW STATUS. COMPLETE WORDS. 1063 OUTFIT. HURR.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next month was going to be Natalie's second Valentine's Day without Jonathan, or Johnny, as he was came to be known as. If there was one thing that the gossip columns were right about, he was the reason why she disappeared off the face of the Hollywood radar. Being emotionally unstable about his death and on top of the pressures of being a major star, the burden was too overwhelming for Nat. There wasn't much thought into going away, it was actually quite spontaneous. She'd come home from a grueling day at work with tears streaming down her face that she managed to hold in for that day. She stood in the kitchen - in the very same spot, and was coincidentally drinking wine - feeling her heart sinking low. The poor girl felt like she was about to explode having felt trapped and deprived of freedom. The producers on the movie she worked on at the time obviously never lost someone they loved and refused to allow her grieving time. She couldn't handle it anymore so without another thought, she headed straight to her bedroom and packed her luggage spending the rest of the year back home in Australia.

She didn't tell anyone that she left, nor where she was going. Luckily, she had managed to skip by the eyes of those who'd recognise her at the JFK airport. However, once she was back in Australia and in her parents' Sydney home, she knew she had to let someone she trusted know. Charlie was out of the question knowing that the girl would never lie if the media started asking her questions. Not like Natalie really trusted her anyway these days. Her manager and agent? No. Her publicist? Hell no. There wasn't anyone else besides the one person she knew would bring any secret of hers to his grave if she asked him to - Matthew. She called him in the afternoon, two in the morning his time, told him where she was and why. And like a true friend, she threatened to kill him if he dared to tell anyone where she was. A whole year. It took her a whole a year to recover from Jonathan's death. She was desperately in love with him, not like her high school fiance who treated her like shit and cheated on her at every opportunity. It also took her a year to realise that maybe she was having such shit luck in love because she was meant to tell her best friend that she loved him.

See, the scene where she'd tell him played out in her mind like this. She'd have a cat - when in reality she didn't - and on a gloomy day, the cat would run out of her apartment building and into an alleyway in the New York rain. In her Burberry beige trench coat, Natalie would be desperately looking for her cat dripping wet having to rush and forgetting to grab an umbrella. So as she stands in the alleyway searching for her runaway cat, Natalie turns around finding Matthew standing a few metres away having followed her. She smiles, the feeling is romantic, and both are standing without umbrellas in the rain. And then he smiles back and Natalie's heart collapses. The next thing, she hears a purring in a stack of boxes and in it, her cat is hiding wet from the rain. She cries for joy, picking her cat up and walking over to Matt who holds his arms out to take Natalie and her cat in them. And as she looks into Matt's warm brown eyes, those three words come out of her mouth without hesitation and with all the love she can put into it. He smiles back and tells her that he loves her too and they kiss in the pouring rain. Hah. As if. First of all, Natalie didn't own a cat and secondly, he probably didn't love her back. The scene was also unrealistic simply because it was a scene from Breakfast at Tiffany's. Clearly Charlie had made her watch that movie too many times in the past.

She stared at him with wide eyes as he joked about his Valentine's Day joke. Cheap hotels and heart shaped beds? She laughed, but truth be told she hoped he was really joking. The last thing she wanted to do was to call up on Valentine's Day and find out that he really had rented out a hotel room that wasn't a single bedded room. Anyway, she had to give him credit for remembering her favourite flowers despite his bad memory. He failed sometimes. In fact, she had programmed her birthday and other important dates on his cell phone for the next twenty or so years. Well she expected them to be together side by side for the next twenty years. It was a good thing she didn't know that he had simply grabbed the flowers from the stands without paying - she'd most likely punch him and tell him to go back and apologise to the poor tender. He could be such a dedicated friend at times.

Natalie licked her lips at the thought of digging into such a mouth watering meal. Sure, she loved restaurant dinners, but home made always won her. It was a pretty good decision then to stay with her mum and dad - her mother was the best cook. Now, he was wandering around the kitchen looking to prepare to cook. ”I know you never cook for yourself, but do you happen to remember where the pans are?” Natalie snorted, "Of course I do." She said sticking her tongue out. "I was after all, the one who placed these things in my kitchen... to your left." She said pointing to the cabinet on his left - her right - before taking another sip of wine. With his back turned to her, she tilted her head staring at his cute and well-toned behind. When she realised what she was doing, she shook her head slightly and smiled to herself as she took another drink. Soon her eyes diverted to the ingredients on the counter as Matt spoke, "Well, besides the fact that vegetable oil contributes to blindness, nope." She looked up at him for a reaction and laughed, "I'm sure nothing will hurt me though! Now, do you want help?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------