A few days later, Catherine awoke early. She had to go to stage rehearsal and then she was going to spend the day with Mariah.
When she arrive at the Garnier, she called out, "Mari!"
"Catherine! Over here!" Mariah called back.
Catherine moved over to her friend.
"How did he take it?" Mari asked, her eyes filled with concern.
"I didn't tell him," Catherine sighed, "and I'm not going to. It would kill him."
—————
Josh made his way quickly across the apartment. "Matt?!" He called.
"Over here," Matt called back.
Josh moved over to his friend. "So," he said, crossing his arms, eyes filled with concern, "how did she take it?"
"What?" Matt asked in confusion.
"You told her you remember Mel?"
At the mention of her name, Matt cowered, his face turning dark and full of loathing. "I didn't tell her," he sighed, "and I'm not going to. It would kill her, make her feel I loved her less."
"Do you?"
"Of course not."
—————
"Cath you can't just avoid him forever," Mari laughed.
Catherine sighed. "Mari, he would doubt my love for him. I can't do that to him. I can't and I won't. For now, let him worry about me all he wants. I refuse to even text him. I know that if I do, I'll end up telling him. He's my broken, little Angel of Music. I can't hurt him more."
"Catherine, you're going to need to tell him eventually. The longer you wait, the worst it's going to hurt. Sit on that for a while," Mariah sighed.
"Just get to the dancing," Catherine moaned.
—————
"Matt, you're going to need to tell her eventually. The longer you wait, the worst it's going to hurt. Sit on that for a while," Josh sighed.
"Listen, can you just stop the lecture and get back to helping me?" Matt laughed. "How do I get her to text me back?"
"You're asking me?" Josh questioned in confusion.
Matt nodded. "Couldn't you like...I don't know, hack her phone or something?"
"Matt," Josh scoffed, "I'm down here for hacking. Do you really think I'd wanna risk my butt on some impossible scheme again?"
"Well...you could text Mari or something. Maybe she'll talk some sense into Cath," Matt thought aloud.
Josh turned a funny shade of sickly pink, nearly with disgust. "And why would I have her number in the first place?"
"Come on, man. I know you do," Matt smirked. "I've seen the notifications pop up on your phone."
"No," Josh laughed, "That's Mary, my cantaloupe provider."
Matt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay...I'm just worried about Catherine. She hasn't been responding to my messages and didn't want me to come over the other night."
Josh frowned. "You think she knows?"
Matt thought for a moment. "At the hospital, I remember her saying something like, 'I know everything. I'll explain it to you later.' Maybe she does know about Mel."
Josh opened his mouth to give a small high pitched shriek at the retention of such high importance information being kept from him, but his phone buzzed in his back pocket, and he begrudgingly took it out.
"Cath kissed Caleb," read the message.
Josh's jaw dropped, and he looked hurriedly in nervous horror from impatient Matt to his phone.
"Who was it?"
"No one!" Josh stammered, shoving it in his back pocket.
"Josh, who was it?" Matt asked again.
"Just Jack," Josh lied with a laugh. "You know how he pesters me...never. Well, after seeing you he wanted to check in."
Matt immediately saw through Josh's facade. "It's about Catherine, isn't it?" He asked slowly.
"Just that Jack's worried about the emotional strain this relationship might put her under. He looked up her record," Josh murmured hurriedly.
It wasn't all false, but Matt didn't need to hear truth to be kept safe.
"I just miss her. It's not like her to go without texting me," Matt sighed.
Josh gave a small, awkward wince. "Yep."
—————
"I just miss him," Catherine sighed.
The girls had stopped dancing long ago and had begun to talk about Matt once again.
"It's not normal to go without texting him."
"Yeah, I know," Mariah replied. Putting a hand on Catherine's shoulder.
Suddenly, Josh called Catherine's name.
Catherine went over and asked, "What's up, Josh?"
"The sky, you idiot," Josh spat. "You kissed Caleb?!"
Catherine could barely contain her shock. "You...know about that?"
Mari made a throat cutting gesture at Josh from behind Cath's back.
"No."
Catherine turned with blazing eyes to Mariah. "You told him?" She exclaimed. "I can't believe you! I trusted you!"
Josh flushed red and pulled Cath away from Mari. "Leave her alone! I was entitled to know. Keep her out of this. Did you kiss him?!"
"No, you weren't," Catherine hissed, pushing Josh away. "That was private information."
Josh grabbed Cath's wrist firmly, his eyes looking steadily and keenly into her own. "Cath," he said, his voice deep and dark, "you said you wouldn't hurt him. Matt is the only thing I have left in this world, and God dang it, if I'm going to let anyone hurt him-" He tightened his grip on her wrist and bit his lip, his jaw clenched in anger. "Did you kiss Caleb?!"
Caleb noticed the commotion and moved over to the pair. "I would let go of her, if I were you," he said, towering over Josh.
Josh looked at the pair, the truth of the situation clicking in his mind. His face turned red, eyes nearly tearing up with fiery defiance. He liked Caleb, he always had, but no one hurts Matthew Collins. Not on his watch.
In a fury of righteous indignation, Josh clenched his right fist, reared back, and with his whole body, thrust a punch across Caleb's jaw, sending him doubling backward into one of the sets.
Caleb merely got up and brushed himself off. He turned his attention to Catherine. "Cathy, are you alright?"
"I just need to get out of here," she replied weakly, her voice quavering.
"Do you need me to take you home?" He offered.
"No, it's alright. I'll walk," Catherine replied, clamping a hand over her mouth and letting a few tears fall.
Caleb moved over to her gently. "Cathy, it's alright. We both know it was nothing," he whispered. He wiped her cheek with him thumb. "It's going to be okay."
Josh held a stiff upper lip until the pair had walked away, then let a few tears fall as he gave a shout of pain.
"Are you alright?" Mari asked, running over to him with concern as onlookers glanced over nervously.
Josh turned so she wouldn't see him cry. "I'm fine. Just busted my hand on his stupid glass jawline. That's all."
"That was really brave," Mari said shyly.
Josh wiped his nose and eyes with his sleeve and gave a sniff as he laughed nervously. "Nothing Matt wouldn't have done for me."
"I shouldn't have told you about the kiss," Mari muttered.
Josh's brow furrowed. "Hey, I would have found out anyway. Cath's conscience would have eaten away at her. It's better this way." He attempted to open his fist and gave a heavy wince of pain. "Geez, the man has a face of stone."
Mariah grabbed his hand gently and studied it for a minute. "Do you think you broke something?"
Josh recoiled his hand quickly and stuffed it into his pocket. There was a fire in his eyes that had never been there before, a dark glimmer of a man who had seen more than coffee houses on Parisian streets. "I've suffered through worse injuries than broken hands. It'll be fine."
"Are you sure you're alright? Maybe I should take you to the hospital or something."
"No." Josh laughed so that Mari was unsure if he was joking or not as he said, "They'd arrest me."
"Oh...kay...Well, I should see if Catherine's okay," Mariah said nervously. "Listen, I know you probably hate her, but the kiss was nothing."
"If Matt-" Josh stopped and gave her a small sympathetic sigh of exhaustion, "If Matt and Caroline kissed, even if it was nothing...would you punch him?"
"That depends on who initiated," Mari decided. "If it hurt Catherine, yes, I'd kill Matt. However, Catherine is levelheaded enough to know when things meant nothing or were a mistake. She would be understanding."
"Sometimes," Josh said slowly, meeting Mari's eyes steadily, "we don't do things we want to do, because we don't want people to know how badly we want to do them. Mistake or not, Cath felt vulnerable and alone. And Matt's fault or not, that's between them. Caleb has no right interfering. Right or wrong, friends stick up for friends." He gave Mari an awkward glance. "Even when it means not doing what we want to."
"I know...From what I understand, Caleb needed closure. They both agreed that the kiss was nothing. Catherine's not going to tell Matt because she doesn't want to hurt him," Mariah explained. "Caleb went to check in on Cath because she wasn't here the other day. He was just being a good friend. I don't think he should have kissed her, but I'm not exactly in a position to be giving advice. Catherine already feels horrible about something she didn't do and I'm not going to make her feel worse."
—————
Catherine burst into her room and threw herself onto the bed, pulling a pillow to her chest and sobbing into it. "How have I managed to mess everything up?" She cried.
—————
Josh flipped open his cell phone and nervously twitched his finger. "Cath?" He texted.
Against her better judgement, Catherine texted back, "What do you want, Josh?"
"To say I'm sorry. That I shouldn't have flipped out. And that Matt wont know a thing from my mouth. That it'll kill him. The end. Goodbye."
"And how exactly will you explain the black and blue hand to Matt?" Catherine typed. "Don't think he won't ask questions."
"I'll just tell him I got my hand stuck in the Pringles can again," Josh typed hesitantly with a small laughing face.
"You really think he'll believe that?"
"I mean, I did it twice. Besides, Mari doesn't think it's broken, only sprained," Josh explained.
"Alright," Catherine texted with a sigh. "Look, the kiss was nothing. I would never hurt Matt like that. Caleb kissed me. I only kissed back a little. And it's not like it was some long, drawn out thing. It lasted like two seconds, I swear. Please don't hate me, Josh."
"Cath, I don't care," Josh typed. "I'm just so tired of fighting to keep him safe, only to have it all come crashing down."
"He'll always be safe with me. I'd never purposely hurt him. I promised that I wouldn't and I have every intention of keeping that promise," she replied. "I love him."
"Prove it."
"I told Caleb that as much as his friendship means to me, I don't want to see him outside of performances and rehearsals. I told him that I didn't want to hurt Matt. And that's not some small thing to me. I don't have many friends so it's not like losing one isn't a big deal. I'd be willing to do anything to protect Matt."
"Catherine, Matt's at home, having a break down, thinking you hate him for starting to remember Mel. That you ditched him because this changes things somehow. You love him? Prove it. Set this right and stop ignoring him."