A Little More You (Jonathan Toews)

Chapter 8

The next day, Mati headed to the studio bright and early. She always liked to be there first. It gave her time to get situated without interruption.

She walked into the studio, and it felt like home. She stepped into the booth, slipped on a pair of headphones and started singing one of the songs she had been working on.

"Your voice gets better and better every time I hear it." A voice drawled.

Mati looked up.

"Luke!" She exclaimed as she opened the door of the booth to hug him.

She embraced him and the rest of the band as they sat down on the couches to talk.

"How ya been baby? How's Chicago?" Luke asked her.

She must have blushed, involuntarily thinking immediately about Jon.

Luke's eyes narrowed. "There's a guy, isn't there?"

Mati bit her lip. Was there a guy? She didn't know. Did she want there to be? She didn't know either.

"I'm not really sure...." And she proceeded to launch into her and Jon's brief history.

"So basically 2 weeks ago, I thought he hated me and now I'm not sure." She sighed as she finished her story.

"Girl, y'all are going to end up together. You obviously like him and it seems like he likes you." Luke stated, like it was a well-known fact.

"How can you be so sure? He's like superstar captain athlete and I'm...me...not superstar?"

"Mati, first of all you're a lot more than just Mati and you know it. Second of all, he doesn't care, he evidently likes something about you." Luke told her.

She just sighed and said, "let's get recording. My head hurts from trying to figure this out!"

They spent almost 10 hours in the studio. By the time they were done, she was exhausted and was thankful she had booked a hotel room nearby instead of driving out to TR and Lauren's in the suburbs. Once again, she laid in bed debating on texting Jon, but she still hadn't heard from him so she figured he probably even notice she wasn't there again.

The next morning, Mati groaned as soon as her alarm went off. She grabbed her phone to shut it off and saw she had a text. She felt a glimmer of hope that it might be Jon but instead saw a picture from Luke of a giant cup of coffee from Starbucks. She quickly rolled out of bed, now motivated, and got ready for the day. She threw on her favorite pair of brown, worn out cowboy boots and walked out the door. She met Luke and the band in the studio again and took the coffee from him like it was water in a drought.

"Let's do this." She told them as she slipped her headphones on.

After recording that night, Luke, Mati, and the band celebrated the album being done and went out to one of her favorite Nashville restaurants, the Loveless Cafe, and ate until they couldn't eat anymore. Afterwards, they went their separate ways. Mati and Luke decided to go back to his house to watch a movie. They had just settled in to watch Talladega Nights when Mati's phone chimed. She glanced down to see it was from Jon.

Jon had been laying on his couch for the better part of an hour writing and rewriting and deleting messages to Mati. He couldn't believe he was so tongue tied about this girl. He didn't like to use his status as leverage but damn, he was Jonathan Toews and he had never felt this way around a girl before. He had never felt like he had to work so hard either. Finally, deciding on a simple text, he pressed send and closed his eyes.

Mati grinned when she saw his message.

Missed you the last few days. Thought maybe my singing or driving killed you?

Short but cheesy and kinda of adorable. She felt a rush knowing he had noticed her absence. She looked up to lock eyes with Luke. He just smiled and shook his head.

"You got it bad don't ya?"

Mati pondered it for a moment.

"Worse than I thought." She sighed.

"You keep your guard up, but don't be afraid to let the right one in, Mati. You and I both know you could use that again."

She knew Luke was right. In the past 4 1/2 years, she had only had one boyfriend who hadn't been around long, a short fling with Luke, and a few drunk kisses. That was the extent of her love life since home. Luke had been the first person she had kind of let her guard down for since...everything had happened. And they had their fun for a few months before realizing they both were hung up on other people. Since then, they had been good friends and nothing more.

"I know. I know. I like him, I do. But what am I gonna do in 3 months when he's in Chicago and I'm back here?"

"He's got money. Private jet." Luke winked.

She giggled and rolled her eyes.

She hit reply on Jon's message.

Sorry, had to head back to Nash for a few days. I'll be back Monday...and looking forward to some car karaoke again.

I'll see you Tuesday then. After the trip. And I'll be practicing my Journey. Just you wait.

She had completely forgotten the team was going on a short road trip to Canada. Whoops.

It's on! See you Tuesday:)

Looking forward to it :)

They were flirting. No doubt about it. And Mati felt like this was right, and Lord knows it had been awhile since anything felt right. She grabbed a blanket and laid down on Luke as they watched the movie.