Matthew has helped you cook dinner every night for the last week. You got caught up in traffic coming home from work tonight, making you arrive home a bit later than usual. You drop your backpack in the guest house then head to the kitchen in the main house to get started on dinner. To your surprise, Matthew is already in there, chopping up some veggies.

"Short day today?" you ask, making him jump a bit. "Sorry, didn't mean to sneak up on you," you apologize with a laugh.

"Yeah, Karen's still at the studio, but they didn't need me anymore. Long day today?" he asks.

"No, just traffic," you explain.

"Traffic? In LA? You're kidding."

"Haha, very funny. What's cookin', good lookin'?"

"I was thinking stir fry? Karen said not to wait up and I'm starving so I thought I'd get started without you."

"Sounds delicious. Beer?" you ask, opening up the fridge door and grabbing a couple bottles, knowing he'll say yes.

"Yeah, can you grab the bell pepper for me while you're in there?" he asks.

"Yes, chef." You find the bell pepper, tossing it to him as you go to pop the tops off the beers. You set a bottle on the counter in front of him as you take a long drag from your own drink. "What can I do?"

"Absolutely nothing. I've got it covered tonight," he dismisses you.

"Okay, boss man. Trying to impress me or something?" you joke.

"Actually, yes," he answers, taking a second to look up from the cutting board.

"Really?" you question, kind of taken a back. Sure, the two of you have been a bit flirty with each other since that first night, but you weren't expecting this.

"Uh, yeah, really. If that's okay?" he checks. You notice his cheeks flush a bit as he turns his head back to the vegetables.

"Yeah, that's definitely okay," you answer, getting weirdly shy all of the sudden. You climb onto a barstool at the island and prop your chin up on your hand. You put on some music and just watch Matthew cook and hum along.

He finishes up and the two of you sit down at the dining table across from one another and dig in. You're idly chatting between bites when you can't help but ask, "is this a date?"

"Do you want it to be?" Matthew asks, setting his fork down to give you his full attention.

"I do," you say with a smile, biting down on your fork.

"Then it's a date," he confirms, giving you a huge goofy grin.

*****

After dinner is finished and all cleaned up, the two of you find yourselves out on the back patio, like usual. You've cracked open the new bottle of whiskey Matthew bought that afternoon and are enjoying it on the couch. You end up laying across the couch with your head resting on a pillow in Matthew's lap as he plays with a single strand of your hair. You can't help how relaxed you feel and a yawn escapes your mouth.

"Tired?" Matthew questions, tucking the hair behind your ear.

"No, just crazy comfortable. What time is it anyway?" you ask.

"9:32," he answers, taking a look at his wristwatch.

"Whoa, that's later than I was expecting."

"Yeah, is Karen even back yet?"

"No, and she probably won't be. She usually just sleeps at the office if it gets this late."

"Really? That doesn't sound ideal."

"She has a couch there, so I guess it could be worse. I've tried to convince her to stop doing that, but she always comes up with some excuse."

"Fair enough." The two of you sit in a comfortable silence, occasionally sipping on your whiskey. Your eyes close as Matthew rests a hand on your stomach. You feel yourself start to drift off, but catch it before you fall asleep, opening your eyes to see Matthew staring down at you with a small smile on his face.

"What?" you ask with a smile of your own.

"Nothing," he answers. "You know, if you're tired you can go to bed."

"No, no, I don't want to. It's Friday night! We're young! We should be doing something young people do!" you say sitting up and finishing off your whiskey.

"Oh, yeah?" Mathew laughs. "And what do young people do?"

"I don't know? You've been a young person longer than I have, you should know," you say, standing up and grabbing the bottle of whiskey.

"Well, they drink," he starts.

"Check!"

"They party"

"Check!"

"You're calling this a party?"

"Oh yeah, this is this is totally a party. Wait," you pause as you connect to the outdoor speakers and throw on some music. "Now it's a party."

"Now it's a party," Matthew confirms, standing up and walking towards you. "Young people dance at parties right?"

"Yes they do! I've seen it in the movies," you say. He slides the whiskey bottle out of your hand, takes a swig, and sets it down on the table.

"Well, if it's in the movies it must be true," he taunts. Matthew slides his hands around your waist, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you into his chest. You reach up, wrapping your arms around his neck as the two of you sway back and forth.

Fueled by a bit of liquid courage, you raise your hand to his face, brushing his hair off of his forehead. You rest your hand on his cheek and he leans into it, turning his head and pressing a kiss to your palm. You put pressure on the back of his neck with your other hand, pulling him down to you as your stretch up on your toes. You tilt your chin up and press your lips to his. Matthew responds eagerly, pulling you impossibly closer to him. You match his excitement, moving both hands to his hair, tugging at the ends of it. Running out of air, you pull away, but not with another couple pecks. You can't help but grin as Matthew loosens his grip on you.

"What?" Matthew questions with a suspicious smile, noticing the look in your eyes as an idea pops into your head.

"Do you know what else young people like to do?" you ask, slipping out of his arms and grabbing the whiskey bottle off the table. You take a quick swig and hand the bottle to Matthew.

"Should I be afraid of the answer?" he says as he brings the bottle to his lips, mirroring your actions.

"Young people like to go skinny dipping," you trail off as you turn towards the pool. Before you lose your nerve, you push your shorts down and drag your shirt off, leaving them on the deck. You get a running start and let out a little screech as you cannonball into the deep end. You swim back up to the surface, pushing your wet hair back away from your face.

"How's the water?" Matthew asks, standing at the edge of the pool.

"So warm, practically a hot tub," you answer.

"Oh, I'm sure," he responds sarcastically.

"Are you gonna join me or what?"

"Or what."

"Come on! We're being young, remember?"

"I'm a few years older than you, remember?"

"Oh shut up, you're still young. I'm sure I could convince you."

"I don't know, Y/N." You take this as a challenge as you reach behind your back and unhook your bra. You pull off the straps and proceed to throw it at Matthew's feet. "Yeah, that'll do it," Matthew admits, unbuttoning his shirt. It falls off his shoulders and he pulls his pants down, kicking them to the side. He jumps into the water next to you with a big splash.

You can't help but laugh as he comes to the surface, his hair covering his eyes. You swim up to him and push the hair back, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. He pulls you to him, skin to skin, as you make out in the water.

"Don't you feel young?" you pull away and ask.

"Oh, so young," he answers with a laugh.

"You know what I'm feeling?" you ask seductively next to his ear.

"What?" he says, his breathing getting heavy.

"Cold!" you shout, ducking under the water and swimming away from Matthew and towards the steps in the shallow end. You run out of the pool and towards the guest house, knowing he's right on your heels. You laugh as you run to the safety of your bedroom, grabbing a beach towel off of a shelf and wrapping it around your body. Matthew stands in your door way, dripping wet in his boxers with a huge goofy grin across his face. Fucking adorable. You throw a spare towel his way and he dries off his torso and wraps it around his waist.

"Still cold?" Matthew teases you.

"A bit," you admit. He stalks up to you and wraps his arms around you, heat radiating off of him.

"Better?" he asks.

"Much," you answer. "Stay with me?"

"I'd love to," he says, placing a kiss to the top of your wet hair.

"How about some dry clothes?"

"You read my mind."

You pull out of his arms and open a dresser drawer, digging out a pair of big sweat pants. You hand them to him and he heads to the bathroom as you dry off and put on a t-shirt and pair of loose shorts. He comes out as you're toweling off your hair to the best of your ability.

"Shit, did you want a shirt too?" you ask, forgetting your manners.

"Nah, don't worry about it," Matthew waves you off. You toss your towel aside and crawl into your bed, patting the spot next to you as an invitation. Matthew slides in next to you and brings a hand up to your cheek. His eyes are fixed on your bottom lip as he trails his thumb across it. You grab his hand with your own, feeling relaxed under his touch.

"You know..." he trails off distracted.

"Hmm?" you urge, eyes fluttering closed.

"I could've grabbed my own PJs from the guest room," he finishes

"I honestly forgot," you laugh, opening your eyes. "The main house is so far away, anyway."

"Sooo far away," he echoes.

"Still feeling young?" you check, running a hand up his arm to his shoulder.

"Practically a minor," he taunts.

"Ew, don't say that. That would make this super illegal."

"Well, I'm glad it's not." Matthew presses a kiss to your nose.

"Pretty good for a first date, if I do say so myself."

"Pretty great if you ask me," he says. "How about I take you out tomorrow?"

"I mean I guess, but I don't know how you're gonna top tonight," you challenge.

"I'll think of something," he answers.

"I'm sure you will," you whisper. With the promise lingering between the two of you, you fall asleep to the soft sound of Matthew's breathing.