Matt Brown: Collection of Short Alaskan Bush People Fan Fics

The Right One. Part 1

When Matt plopped down beside you at the edge of the water, your first instinct was to hit him with your shoe and run. His hair was a wild mass of curls and his jacket was dirty and frayed. His denim jeans and his boots were covered with mud. The only clean place on him was his face.

"Aren't the sunsets here in Alaska amazing?" He asked with a smile.
"They are." You agreed and wondered where he had come from.

"Are you from Alaska?" He asked as he scratched at his curly hair and leaned forward, staring at the water.
"I am." You answered and kept your eye on him.

Matt didn't seem put off by your two-word answers and continued to talk to you for almost twenty minutes before taking a break. In that twenty minutes he told you his name, his age, where he lived, how many people were in his family, why he was in Juneau and many other odd but interesting details about his life. All you told him was your name.

He did seem sweet and harmless so you decided to trust him and open up just a little. Sneaking a glance at him out of the corner of your eye, you couldn't help seeing how attractive he was. The grayness of his hair was sexy in a way that surprised you, and his smile and his laugh shot straight to your heart in an instant. But you wouldn't move too fast. You had been single long enough to know how the game was played, so you sat back and let him make his moves.

Taking a deep breath, Matt turned his head to look at you and started to say something. Suddenly nervous, he stopped and laughed, shaking his head. He opened his mouth again but when he hesitated, you cocked your head to one side and stared hard at him.

"Spit it out, Matt." You kicked at his dirty boot with your foot.
"Ahhh. Ok. Here it is." He started again, chewing on his bottom lip. "I was wondering..."

When he hesitated again you kicked his boot with your foot, hard. "Out with it, dude."

"Do you know the name of that girl in the white jacket?" He said as he swung his head over his left shoulder.

To say that you were stunned would be the biggest understatement in the world. You hadn't known Matt for more than half an hour but you couldn't have imagined he would have spent this much time chatting up a girl just to find out the name of another girl. A tiny spark of anger began to well up in you and a bit of jealousy came along for the ride. Looking at Matt's open and expectant face, however, you decided to throw all of that away and just make the best of a weird situation.

"Yes. That's Nicola. Her friends call her Nic." You didn't tell him her last name. If he got up the nerve to talk to her, she could tell him the rest.
"Nicola..." He scratched at his neck as he gazed over at her.

Matt seemed to be doing a whole lot of scratching and you wondered if he realized just how scruffy he looked. With his head turned, you took a good long look at the length of him. Your eye stopped momentarily on his hands which were strong and rough. Your mind began to imagine the feel of his hands on your body. Shaking the image out of your head, you looked down at his mud-covered jeans and shoes. You smiled and kicked at his boot again with your foot.

"Why are you so dirty?" Why be sweet? He wasn't interested in you anyway.

"I was working a job with my family and there was mud everywhere. I haven't had a chance to clean up." Matt dropped his head a little in embarrassment at the same time keeping one eye on Nic. "Should I clean up before I talk to her? Do you think she'll shoot me down if I go up to her like this?"

When Matt turned his sky blue eyes on you, the last thing you wanted to do was give him advice on how to attract another woman. You wouldn't care at all about his muddy clothes and boots. But life was like that sometimes. And with those beautiful baby blue eyes trained on you, making your insides quiver, how could you refuse him anything?

"Get cleaned up and come back to the beach tomorrow night. She'll be here. Bring her some flowers. Find something growing wild and put together something original. You look creative. I'm sure you can do that." You had noticed a unique silver ring on his right hand that looked handmade and you took a chance that he was the one who made it.

"That's really cool. Yeah. I can do that." He grinned and you tried your best to keep the butterflies from taking over your insides. He really was handsome. And there was happiness in his smile but a sadness in his eyes that left you wanting to know which one revealed the true Matt.

As he stood to go, you leaned your head up to him and said, "Come on, Matt. Nic just left. I'll let you walk me home." You grinned and he reached down and pulled you to your feet.

"Thanks for your help." He said honestly.
"Sure." You replied.

There was no way you would lie and say, 'my pleasure'. But Matt was funny and chatty and you wouldn't mind spending a few more minutes with him.

"Does Nic have a boyfriend?" Matt asked as you walked side by side along the narrow sidewalk toward your house at the far end of town.

"No. She's single and looking right now. So your timing is great." You kept your head down.

"What kind of guys does she like?" Matt turned his head and looked directly at you, his blue eyes questioning.

Fire flashed behind your eyes and you looked up and met his to make sure he understood exactly what you meant to say.

"Matt. You need to be who you are and don't try to be who she wants. Did I say that plainly enough?" Your tone was kind but Matt's crooked smile let you know he felt the heat behind your words.

"Yes, ma'am." He said meekly and bobbed his head a little, looking so much like a scolded child that you almost forgot that he was a full grown, incredibly sexy, man.

"And call me ma'am one more time and you're going to feel some real fire from me." You scowled your fiercest face at him and you both started laughing at the same time.

By the time the two of you made it to your small house, you and Matt had talked and laughed more than you had experienced in months. You had been on lots of dates but none this fun. And this wasn't even a date! Life could be so funny sometimes.

"Nice house." Matt leaned his head back and took in the small wooden house with the brightly painted front door and windows. "Those colors are really different. You don't usually see houses painted that color here in Juneau." He nodded his approval.

"Thanks. I tend to shy away from normal." You laughed. "If everyone goes left, I want to go right." You shrugged and pulled your keys from your bag, hesitating a moment as Matt turned to look at you. "This house was actually a gift from an elderly friend of mine. She left it to me when she passed away. She was not exactly "normal" either so we got along really well."

Your heart sank as you realized you were talking just to keep him standing on your porch. Accepting that he already had plans to try and get together with Nic, you knew you needed to back away and let that happen.

"Maybe I'll see you down at the beach sometime. You can tell me how your date with Nic went."

Matt was standing closer than you needed him to be. The smell of mud and sweat should have turned you off but it was having the opposite effect on you. Your mind scrambled for some words to say and you struggled to keep your smile light and friendly. Matt shifted from one foot to the other, a slight smile on his lips and his eyes peering too deeply into yours. Suddenly his arms flew around your shoulders and he squeezed you to him in a quick hug, then he jumped away like he had been bitten.

"Thanks for your help." He smiled as you nodded your reply. "Later."

Stepping through your doorway, you shut the door behind you and leaned over to peek out the side window at Matt. He was moving quickly down the sidewalk back toward the beach. You smiled as you thought of how Nic would respond to Matt's handmade bouquet of wildflowers. Too bad you forgot to tell Matt that Nic was highly allergic to the flowers growing wild in Juneau. A tiny giggle escaped your lips and you clapped a hand over your mouth to stifle the sound.

"Oh... I am so evil." You burst out laughing.