Hands to Myself ➰ M.D| ✓

Irises

Camille was off, and Matthew picked it off right away. Camille didn't stop talking to him. She didn't stop being nice. But that was exactly the problem. She was nice. Too nice. It was like the past month had never happened and she was just a girl with whom he was politely acquainted at his place of employment. She didn't tease him. She didn't call him names. She didn't curse at him when she got excited. She stopped telling him her secrets.

The first few days, he'd tried calling. He tried texting. She didn't respond.

She was very careful about not being left alone with him. He didn't have to be a genius to figure out that he was being avoided. He'd been placed behind a steel wall of professionalism and he was hating every second of it.

It had been a week since his kiss with Camille. It had been a week since she'd spoken to him about anything other than turning to the left or right. She still smelled like lavender. Her dark eyes still threatened to pull him in every time she looked at him. Her long legs and hips still made his hands ache to touch them. But, as the guys would say, she wasn't giving him the time of day anymore. It was torture.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked Maddie, hopping in line behind her at the craft table. He loaded his plate up with baked chicken while she grabbed a sandwich.

Maddie looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Um, I guess. What's up?"

"How's Camille doing? I mean, really, how is she?"

She turned around to face him, tilting her head to the side. "Shouldn't you ask her that yourself?"

"I would if she would answer my calls, or texts, or stand still long enough to talk to me," he said, doing a poor job at hiding his irritation. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. It's like, after that phone call, she's just been a completely different person,"

What appeared to be turmoil played across Maddie's face. She seemed to be struggling with what to say next. Her eyes darted left to right. "Okay, I'm going to help you. But if you tell her I told you any of this, I will kill you. If you hurt my Australian Sunflower in any way, I will kill you. Look at my face. Do you understand?"

She was serious. Sweet little innocent Maddie could be scary when she wanted to be. Matthew cleared his throat, suddenly nervous. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now, come sit."

He sat across from her at one of the lunch tables and watched as she pulled a thermos out of her bag. "What's that?" he asked, curiously.

"Cocoa," she answered.

He fought back the laugh that tried to leave his throat. That was really cute. "You know craft services can have cocoa on the set if you like it?"

She shrugged. "It's not a big deal. They don't have to have it just for me. I don't mind bringing it from home."

Matt smirked. He was starting to understand Harry's crush. "So, can you help me?"

Maddie shook her head, sighing. "She'd been seeing this guy, Pierson, on and off for the past 4 years. He's been treating her like a yo-yo for that whole time. Back and forth and back and forth," she explained.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"But why's she with him?"

"Because she's loyal. She's stubborn. They've been together for a long time. And she loved him."

"Loved?" His ears perked hopefully at the past tense of the word. "As in she used to, but she doesn't anymore?"

"That's what she says," Maddie nodded, taking a bite of her sandwich. "Anyway, he's a jerk. He pushed her to leaving the big screen design jobs so they could be closer. This girl is brilliant, she was getting job offers left right and centre, which is awesome, right? But the bastard forced her to drop her dream so that he could conquer his. Now, she finds herself working away at the bottom again – not that she's complaining – while the selfish prick is working on screenplays with Adam Sandler for God sakes!"