It's Definitely Not All Mary Poppins

Weather Brewing at No. 17, Make No Mistake (2)

Toby stood. "Matt, please."

Matthew rolled his eyes, strolling into the walk-in closet door.

"He's just as bad as when he broke up with Audrey," Liza sighed.

"I can hear you," he called.

"I know, don't care."

Toby let out an exhale. "Matt, you haven't been yourself the past few weeks. You've been really down."

"If I recall, you were pretty upset, too, when you lost your job," he snapped back, throwing on a shirt and knowing full-well he was not going to be leaving his room anytime soon.

"Matt, that's not comparable."

"Is it?" he asked, leaning back towards the bedroom. Matthew glared. "What was it like, being sad for having nothing to do?"

Toby winced, groaning under the friction. He dropped his head in his hands. "Liza, I'm tapping you in." He smacked her in the shoulder, his eyes down.

She stood, cracked her knuckles, and rolled her head. "God, I hate you all," she said nonchalantly, shaking her hands. "Okay, you wanna do this the easy way, or the hard way? Because I am down for both."

"Shouldn't you be at work?"

"It's a Saturday, dumbass."

'The days all blend together at this point,' he thought, slipping back into the closet and zipping up his fly. "Liza, I appreciate the effort, but – " Rounding out from the closet, he caught Liza texting on his phone, her head cocked to the side. "What – why?"

"Getting you a date," she said casually.

"A date?" Toby asked. "Is it someone I know?"

Matthew immediately lunged for his phone. "Liza, stop it."

"I hate how he texts," she added. "It's cringy."

"Liza, stop."

Toby stood. "Liza – "

"You tapped me in," she snapped back, backing away and around the two men's grasps. The phone always just mere inches out of reach, Liza finally tossed it back to Matthew. "You're welcome."

Matthew read the text over, eyebrows rising up in...surprise.

"How could you do that?" Toby asked. "Did you even bother to ask if he was ready to go – "

"Toby."

He turned, confused by why Matthew was offering him the phone. "D-does your phone have a, like a, a delete feature for texts?" Toby asked, taking it. "If it does, I'd be more than...happy...to..." His eyes narrowed as he read the two lines, explaining his desire to step out and breathe for a little while, going into detail that it isn't a date and asking if that was okay with Mr. Reyes. "Where did this come from? You don't have feelings."

"That might be true, but a good strategist knows when a distraction is needed," Liza replied, so matter-of-factly it made Toby glance to Matthew with concern. "Shut up. I'm allowed to know when Matt's..." Her face contorted quickly, only to undo itself when she finished, "...down in the dumps."

Mr. Reyes' response came within moment, a collection of fumbled letters scattered into a text confirming that he was all right with it.

"I hate you," Matt whispered, tossing his phone onto the bed.

"You love me because you have to," she said. "And because I got you through the senior year of your Masters degree."

"I hate you, too," Toby added.

Liza sneered, flopping into the chair at the built-in desk, glancing out towards the pebbled drive. "Don't talk to me."

And that was how Matthew Robinson got a not-date with the guy he nearly stabbed at the grocery store.