Charades (Matty Healy)

Chapter 3: Brutus

Matty watched the little bubbles pop up in your message thread, chewing on his bottom lip. They stopped and Matty hung his head for a second until his phone buzzed in his hand.

(Y/N)
Sure! Sounds great!

Matty hadn't made any of his own anxiety known to you. He'd thought he'd made it weird, offering to go to yours with takeaway so late into the night. The guys had all told him to ask you to a proper dinner to see if any damage had really been done to your newly forming bond. And once you'd texted back, his anxiety had eased. But only for a moment as he sat with the guys, chatting.

"You think she's a flower girl or no?" Ross brought the question up.

"She loves plants." Matty chuckled a bit, over the weeks you two had chatted he'd learned of all the plants you and (Y/B/F/N) kept in your apartment. He'd asked you if they had names, since some of his other plant enthusiast friends named their plants. You didn't seem to want to admit that you and (Y/B/F/N), you a film major and (Y/B/F/N) a drama major, named your first plant, Brutus. But he laughed as you explained that the first apartment you and (Y/B/F/N) was small so when you two would walk through the kitchen, a frond would poke your legs and it got to the point where you two would quote Julius Caesar in varying degrees of dramatics.

"But does she like flowers?" Ross emphasised then looked to Adam. "Hann follows her best mate, maybe you could ask her."

Adam chuckled and took his phone out, he did in fact, reach out to (Y/B/F/N) and ask if you liked flowers. And she came through telling him your exact favorites which he then relayed to Matty but really she knew you'd be fine with anything but funeral flowers. Adam also relayed that to Matty.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Matty asked a bit harsher than he meant to. His anxiety was heightened again.

"Don't worry about it too much." Adam patted Matty's shoulder as he walked by. "Really, mate. Judging by what (Y/B/F/N) said, she's excited."

Matty instinctively reached for Adam's phone.

"Oi, there's another conversation intertwined with that one, piss off." He laughed. Ross and Matty, 'oh'd at him and Adam rolled his eyes.

"Ah, you lot could do a double date." George laughed. The others did as well.

Adam shook his head, "Night, guys." He said before going inside.

Another hour passed, Ross and George headed to bed as well. Matty sighed a bit and felt everything swell back up, he grabbed his laptop and worked well into the next morning.

----

How many times had you gone through your closet? Enough to have a pile of outfits up to your waist on your bed. You'd spent some time working until you realized you'd put zero effort into planning your look for tonight. And so here you were, panickedly scouring your closet and dressers. You heard the front door open as (Y/B/F/N) returned from work. You were a bit surprised she was an hour early, but you desperately needed her help and were thankful she was home now rather than just getting there as you were leaving for the dinner.

"Hey!" She called to you from the entryway. You heard the shuffle of her putting her bag down.

"Hey!" You replied as you tried to zip up a dress on your own. "I need your fashion knowledge, please. I'm drowning in here."

"What do yo-" She cut herself off with a laugh as she walked into your room, no doubt spotting the pile of clothes on your bed. "You weren't kidding." She shook her head and walked over to you. You let your shoulders slump as you turn to face her.

"I'm so bad at this." You whined. You were visibly flustered, you hadn't flirted with anyone since you and Jeff first got together. And now, you were in the public eye, going out to dinner with the singer you'd had a thing for years. You felt like a teenager. And felt dumb for your anxiety over the whole thing. Was it even a date? You weren't even sure, maybe you were reading too much into things. You and Matty had talked via text all day as you usually did and he was excited for tonight. Nothing had changed in the way you two interacted with each other. Maybe the thought of him thinking you're boring in person was a big part of it. Jeff had always said you were too loud and jubilant. Dick.