Roomie (Matt Sturniolo)

35

"Maybe.." Matt started, drying his hands and heading towards you. "Maybe we can Netflix and Chill tonight?"

You laughed when his breath tickled your neck and he laid a kiss on your bare shoulder. Matt was just trying to distract you from work and you let him. When you turned to him, your lips met and he kneeled down by your side.

"Come on" he mumbled, smiling. One of his hands were on your hip and the other hand was on the back of the chair. "Play with me and I'll let you go"

"Play with you?" You laughed, cupping his face. "Is that why you let Lilly and Nate watch Milo?"

"That the kind of parent you think I am?" Matt fake gasped and you laughed. "Actually, Lilly's at dinner and her stepmom is allergic to dogs, so.."

"So you let her use our son for revenge?"

"Are you calling me a bad parent?"

"Matt! No!" You laughed, when Matt held your wrists in one hand and tickled you with the other. You fought to get away, accidentally slipping right off your chair and collapsing right on top of him. Now the table had turned, you blocked his arms and executed the tickle torture until he laughed so hard he couldn't breathe.

"I surrender!"

"You can't surrender after what you did to me, babe. That's not the rule" you knew he could've stopped you, but he let you win. You let him suffer for a while before raising your hands to call a truce. Matt ran his hand through his hair and smiled.

"I'm done playing with you. Can I go now?"

When you patted his chest, attempting to move, Matt sat up and held your thighs to keep you still. He knew you could brush him away and stand up, but you stayed there. "I'm not done playing"

"Babe, I'm serious" you sighed, stroking his hair. "I have to get this done before the morning"

"You always work overtime and now you're working at home?" He asked with a frown. "I feel like no one but Jason acknowledges your effort"

"Thank you! I mean, I love my job, but I gotta admit, most people in PR are assholes" Matt couldn't hold back his smile when you turned serious and started counting with your fingers. "Take ten people at my office, four of them hate me, the next four don't care about me but they love the drama, then two people are left. Jason and Chloe"

Matt kissed your cheek and laughed. "Positively speaking, your two supporters are your boss and his assistant. You still win"

"I'm only working this hard because we need money for our future family. So when we finally get rich, it's over for them. I might quit the job and we can go on honeymoon every weekend"

Matt stayed on the floor when you stood up and went back to your laptop. "Feels good to imagine" you said, in a sing song voice. Matt knew there was truth behind the joke, that everything could be much better if they were wealthy people, that you could have the life he promised and no more extra hours.

The opportunity was right on the table, all he needed was to swallow his pride and seize it. And because of you, he might actually consider working with his dad.

The next morning, Matt could barely pay attention to anything else. He sat in his office, staring at an email to his dad, trying to decide if he should send it. He just wanted an appointment with him, but then what? What was he going to say? Maybe he should call you and ask for your opinion. Even though you'd been onboard with it from the beginning, he didn't think he should make the decision on his own. But on second thought, he should wait until he saw you at home.

There was a knock on the door. Matt closed the laptop and told the person to come in. Nicole came in, smiling.

"I got you coffee!" She exclaimed and put the cup down.