022:

Matthew hung up the phone and stared at the wall in confusion. He usually slept in the guest room that Tom now called "his" room, since he stayed there so much, but they'd had a late night, hanging out. In the old days they may have partied, but meeting the Mann's had changed all of that. Now Tom was taking missionary discussions and changing his life, his divorce from Annette would be final in a week, and he was planning to date another girl he'd met at church, Polly. He was still the same crazy Tom, though. He joked constantly, made wise cracks all the day long and became serious when religion was discussed. Somewhere along the line he'd developed reverence for deity.

Matthew felt awed at Tom's easy acceptance of Mormonism. He'd been attending a church of Scientology in Los Angeles with a lot of other celebrities, but had suddenly started talking religion with Melia and away he went. Matthew even considered it a trifle flimsy, and wondered why he was going after this Polly chick when he was obviously so infatuated with Melia.

But of course, Tom had told him last night. Ryan was back in the picture. The writing was on the wall. It was only a matter of time. He wasn't going to pursue something that had never taken off the ground anyway. Ryan was going to go after Melia and win her back. It was that simple.

And truth be known, Melia loved Jared, she wasn't over him.

If Ryan wanted to combat that, then he was welcome to. Tom wasn't going to waste one minute of his life pining away for a girl with her heart already engaged.

Why couldn't Matthew see it that way? Why didn't he go after another girl? Sure, he'd had dates, plenty of them, even as a double with Melia and Tom, or Melia and Ryan, or Melia and Sam Casetta, or Tobey Myers. Melia had men around her by the dozen and she flirted shamelessly.

So what made Tom think that she still loved Jared? In Matthew's way of thinking, Melia was just like Scarlet O'Hara.... Wanting all the boys.

And.... He was the only one who could diffuse her.

Well, Ryan could diffuse her, but he wasn't as strong as Matthew.

But that made him what? Nothing. Simply a guy who could diffuse her.

And now this.

That had been Megan on the phone, wanting to meet him at the pier, and go surfing of all things. Surfing with Megan. Why? He hadn't really spent any time alone with Megan since their escapade playing Melia on set a year ago. He hadn't liked her then, she was extremely unprofessional, and immature. But he'd come to realize that she was not an actress, had never wanted to be an actress, and didn't do it well when she had to. She was however, a damn fine musician. She was also a person finishing college online, and she was dedicated to it. That spoke a lot for her. She sometimes behaved like a child, but she wasn't one.

Well, he didn't mind hanging out with her if she wanted to go surfing this morning, then he'd meet her. Sure.

It was kind of a relief not to have to think so hard about his every move. And with Megan, he didn't care what she thought, so it didn't matter how he acted.

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