Darling | Matty Healy

Chapter 5

As the night wore on and more alcohol was consumed Amaya loosened up enough to unstick herself from Charli's side and socialise. She had met most of Charli's friends a few times before so she wasn't a complete social pariah. It was still a little alienating, sat in a room of people who were together 24/7, travelling the world.

After about an hour or so of eating and drinking and talking, George and Charli had migrated to the decks and had turned the cozy living room into their own personal DJ booth. Danielle, one of Charli's roommates who was sat with Amaya, was showing her a seemingly never ending slideshow of photos from their last tour across asia.

Matty had been playing DJ with George for a while before removing himself as the third wheel. He started feeling around in his pockets for something to smoke, and scanning the room for some company. He settled on Dani, in part because he probably knew her best and also in part because it gave him the excuse to ogle Amaya up close again, even if just for a moment.

"Dani!" he murmured as he approached, pulling a lighter from his pocket. "You wanna come outside for a smoke real quick?"

Dani looked up from her phone, a pondering look on her face. Amaya looked up at him too, through thick, dark eyelashes, her big brown eyes sucking him in like quicksand.

"Nicotine?" Dani questioned.

"Nah, I've just got a couple zoots on me right now" he said. "My fags are upstairs."

Dani pondered a second before shaking her head and returning to her phone. He stood there a moment, unsure what to do, when out of the corner of his eye he saw Amaya bite her lip before standing up and looking directly at him.

"I'll come" she said, her gaze immediately falling to the ground, her confidence wavering. "If you want ... I mean."

He simply gulped in response, fighting the urge to pinch himself to check that this was real. "Yeah" was all he could get out in response before murmuring something about needing the company, before he headed towards the sliding doors that led to Charli's patio.

Just the sense that this woman was failing behind him made him walk a little taller, puffing out his chest ever so slightly. He held the door open for her and she whispered a thank you, heading towards the outdoor seating that overlooked the californian beachfront. The sun had set by now and the view was only dimly illuminated by the lights hanging from the orange trees that lined the borders of Charli's backyard.

He sat down opposite her, pulling two zoots from his pocket and presenting them to her. She sat cross legged, leaning forward to look at them before fluttering her eyes wide to look at him properly.

"Sorry if this is too forward but could we share?" she asked, pulling her sleeves over her hands, not because she was cold but because she was uncertain, and almost immediately regretting leaving the safety net of a large group. There was nothing overtly threatening about this guy, but she'd kind of used his offer as an out from simply going through Danielle's entire camera roll and hadn't fully thought it through until right now.

"Sure!" he said simply, putting one back in his pocket and the other between his lips.

"Thank you" she said, relaxing a little back into her seat and properly taking in the view.

Matty sparked up his lighter, taking a big inhale, his eyes rolling back a little as he did before focusing back on the girl sat in front of him. He crossed the gap between them to hold it out to her. She took it from him, sending the lightest electric shock across his fingertips as their hands just grazed one another. She took a deep inhale before immediately coughing out a puff of smoke.