Bruised

Chapter 5

"You two should go to sleep" Mat said looking up. "I can't sleep" Stella said low but Nathaniel stopped her from saying anything else "When is your audition?" And then she explained one of the juris flight was delayed due to some storm and he would only make it there in the next day, so that would be the day of the audition.

"Audition for what?" the boy on the sofa had to ask "Violin" she smiled "I'm trying to get in the Royal Academy of Music in London". And he tried to smile back at her "So you play the violin?" and then it was Nate who answered "And the piano, and cello, and she even plays the damn harp, who the hell knows how to play harp" and that made them all laugh.

"Quite the girl I know" she giggled "Wanna eat something?" she suddenly asked standing up, Matthew said he didn't really feel hungry but his friend quickly said he was starving.

"Will we leave soon?" Mat asked once she left the room "I would really like to go home please" and the blonde boy looked at the clock hanging on the wall "If you promise not to make any noise... its 4:30 and they are all sleeping" and although he was in a lot of pain, he found the strength to sit down all alone.

The young women walked in with cookies in both hands and with a smile on her face "Which do you...." But she stopped as soon as she saw him sat on that white couch she absolutely adored. "Are you okay?" She rushed and sat by his side holding his arm so he could stand still. "Where are you going?" She looked at Nate who was putting on his trainers. "Matthew wants to go home" he said not looking back at her.

"Thank you for being so nice" he said with effort "And please thank your mum, she was very kind, and thank your brother, for not calling the ambulance and believing Nate" he said and now Nate was helping him to stand up, now it was easy to see a tank top that had been white once, but now was covered in blood.

The girl walked to the door and opened it, and then she saw both boys leaving, the blonde one holding the other by the shoulders, clearly making an effort not to making him fall. And as she saw then walking away she closed the door, saw her brother sleeping peacefully on the living room and carefully went upstairs, to her bedroom so she could do the same thing.

The way home was hard for the both of them, Nate was running out of strength because he was literally carrying his friend and Matthew was clearly feeling a lot of pain. Once they saw the white house only a few steps away they took a deep breath and somehow joined forces, allowing themselves to get there.

As soon as they got inside Nate took him to the bedroom and helped him to sit down. Then he took a long deep breath "Once you are better I'm definitely going to punch you for making me this tired" he laughed "I'm sorry mate, and thanks" he said in a low tone although they were alone "I hope you're not kicking me out, cause I'm not leaving" he said in such a serious tone that it didn't even seemed like him. "You can stay yes" Matthew simply said and closed his eyes "Sorry for the trouble"

Two weeks had gone by since that terrible day and things had gotten better for Matthew. These days he would stand up and go for a walk and buy some food and then come back home where he would lay down and relax until Nathaniel showed up and made him go god-knows-where with him. It was saturday and he had just finished his shower when he heard the bell ring. He yelled a "just a second" and quickly put on a white tank top, just as usual, but just after decided to changed for a sea blue shirt that ended up matching his eyes. He heard another knock on the door "Nate I'm going!" He yelled as he put on a pair of jeans and his favourite adidas trainers.

He opened the door truly believing it was his bestfriend but two other people were waiting for him outside "Hey" Joe smiled as he greeted Matthew. Next to him was Stella, the girl who had spent a night taking care of him, and the one who would sometimes appear at his home just to check on him and quoting her words "see if he had lost his mind again". She was smiling too "Joe wanted to check on you too, you look better" she said looking at his face that now only showed some bruises on the left side of his face and a healing cut above his left eyebrow as well. "We thought about having lunch at 'Yorky', Nate said he was in if you agreed" Joe talked again "Only if you want of course".

"Sounds cool" Matthew smiled, that family had basically saved his life and they were worried about him, he couldn't say no. And if they had helped Nate while he had been away and his bestfriend liked them, he would probably like them as well. He told them to wait a few seconds and went inside to grab his wallet. "We can go" he said and closed the door behind him. And while they walked to the restaurant that was just a few streets away they talked about the most random things, they laughed about the most stupid things, and for some minutes Matthew completely forgot about his problems and he was sure that lunch was just what he needed.