an encounter | matty healy

// five //

collin smiles brightly at matthew, "you come in at the right times, don't you?" he smiled at his reply, then matthew's eyes shifted to me, "len, your friend is retching on the floor. my mate told me that after he danced with her, d'you remember george?" said matthew. my eyes slightly widened, "you better not write a song about that."

he laughed, "i've got a couple ideas but, nowhere near as perfect as what i'm planning to put out soon." i could feel collin lay his slightly heavy hand on my shoulder, for reassurance i'm guessing. "oh, and that margo friend of yours, does she have a boyfriend?" i was even more sick of him at this point, "yes, yes she does."

matthew had a sly, disappointing look on his face, "oh, what a shame. truly what a shame." he smirked. god, i started to realize why i fell for him in the first place. "anyways, it was nice seeing you at such a fit party, len, i'll be headed inside." he waved and went back in.

"what a fucking poser," said collin, "remind me again on why you dated him?" we both turned to walk back to the dormitory. "it's that goddamn smirk of his that gets me every single time, either when i'm mad at him or when i'm in love with him. i fucking hated him for that... and why did he even ask me if margo is dating anyone? my ex boyfriend asked my best friend if she's dating anyone. that makes me sick to my stomach." i couldn't see it, but i felt collin roll his eyes. "why can't he keep his dick in his pants? you're probably feeling like that because of the alcohol you drank, lennon." i'll admit it, collin was right.

i ended the night by puking my brains out in the bathroom alone, and i didn't drink much.

—

i woke up on the bathroom floor, while being covered with a large duvet. i spot a glass of water and a pack of painkillers next to me. i couldn't stop thinking about last night. the music, the party, the conversations, matty...

i would've never thought that i'd call him matty after the breakup and last night. what he said and why he said that. it's all so confusing. out of all people, why would he suddenly ask about margo? i took a pill and downed half of the glass and got up. as soon as i opened the door, sade had passed out on the sofa and margo was nowhere to be seen. i checked the time on my phone, 9:16 AM, i took a deep breath and went to my room. the only thing i felt like doing was calling collin right after waking up. i'm sure he's probably awake by now.

i've called him four times... no answer.

i sat on the edge of my cold bed, trying to piece together bits of last night and what it meant in my hazy mind. collin finally called back after a few minutes. "hey len, is everything alright?" his grainy voice spoke. "i need you to help me figure out last night and tell me where margo is in deep detail." i had ignored his 'check-in-on' question and told him what i exactly needed from him. he scoffed lightly before it turned into a slight laugh, "seems like matty has polluted your way of thinking." i rolled my eyes in deep annoyance.

"collin, please just tell me whatever the fuck happened."
"where should i start?"
"um, after you dropped me off to the dorm."

he took a deep breath, "alright, i'll say what i can remember." it was a long conversation that mainly consisted of : getting a call from sade saying that she was kicked out of the party, running into matthew again, no sight of margo at all, took sade back to the dorm, and left.
"sade kept repeating something that went on like margo ran off with tall tattoo guy... margo ran off with tall tattoo guy... that's some whackass shit that i've ever heard."

my mouth hung slightly open, "what do you mean by tall tattoo guy? and you came across him again?" collin chuckled a bit, "didn't you hear what i just said? i answered two of your previous questions ahead of you asking it. maybe he really did pollute your way of thinking."