Storm // Matty Healy ♣ The 1975

13. sleep

"Welcome to my, well, my dad's humble home." I said breathlessly as we stepped through the doorway into the porch.

Matty looked awestruck as he gazed around the room.

"It's bigger than I expected." He admitted. I laughed quietly as I bent down to unlace my boots.

"I though the same thing when we first-" Matty cut me off by elbowing my ribs.

"Rude!" He laughed. I grinned a little.

I slipped my boots off and smiled up at him.

"My dad should be back in a couple of hours." I told him as we walked through the dining room.

It looked exactly as I remembered it to, oak table, outdated carpet, tall light pink glass vase sitting on the cabinet beside the door, God, it even had pink roses inside it, just like it did when I left. The only difference was, all of the pictures that had me in them had vanished. I wasn't even surprised.

"Lizzy," Matty interrupted my trail of thoughts with a kiss to the side of my head. "Can I see your room?" He asked. I turned my head to look at him and smiled a little.

"Sure." I said, taking his hand and leading him up the staircase.

Both of our steps were nervous and unsure, almost like we were two young kids exploring somewhere we shouldn't have been.

"Nothing's going to, like, jump out at me, right?" Matty managed a nervous laugh. I giggled quietly.

"Nothing's going to jump out at you." I confirmed as we made our way down the corridor to my old bedroom.

I stopped in front of the door and held my breath before turning the doorknob and pushing it open slightly to reveal my rather dusty bedroom.

"It's very pink." Matty laughed. I grinned at him.

"Yeah, my mum and dad painted it for me when I was like six." I shrugged my shoulders as I walked over to my single bed in the corner of my room. I put my bag down on it and sat down, smiling up at Matty.

"Will your dad be okay with me sleeping in here with you?" He asked at he sat down next to me. I yawned and leaned over, resting my head on his knees.

"Probably not. But you're staying with me no matter what he wants." I said, he chuckled under his breath and began stroking his fingers through my tangled hair, I suddenly became incredibly tired. He said something to me before I fell asleep, but I didn't quite hear it.

--

"Lizzy?" I yawned quietly before opening my eyes.

"Lizzy?"

I hadn't quite processed the sound of my dad's voice. I pushed myself closer to Matty's sleeping form.

"Lizzy, are you here?" My eyes shot open.

"Fuck." I mumbled as I heard my dad's footsteps downstairs.

I began frantically shaking Matty awake, thankful that he was a light sleeper.

He opened his eyes and frowned at me.

"What's up?" He asked.

"My dad's downstairs." I pushed myself up and started smoothing my hair down, I had to make a good impression.

"Shit." Matty muttered, sitting up with me. "Do I look okay?" He asked me as I got off the bed. I nodded my head.

"How about me?" I asked.

"Tired." He admitted. "But good."

I walked over to the door and opened it a little.

My dad caught my gaze as he reached the top step.

"There you are! I thought something had happened." He laughed. I felt sick.

He had less hair than the last time I saw him, it used to be fairly full, but now it was receding ever so slightly. His eyes looked tired, he looked like he hadn't slept in two months.

Before I knew it, he was hugging me.

"I missed you, Lizzy." He said.

"I missed you too, daddy." I winced as I wrapped my arms around him.

I shut my eyes for a while, trying to will myself not to cry. Luckily I managed to get through it.

We broke apart and he smiled at me.

"Look at you. My girl, all grown up." He said. I shook my head.

"I look no different to when you last saw me." I pointed out, but this was a lie. I had definitely ages in the past nine months. I looked more tired, but happier. I had gained weight and maybe even grown a few centimeters, but that was just after I left home.

"You're going to be eighteen tomorrow." He said. I tried to ignore this and opened the door slightly to reveal a rather nervous and disheveled looking Matty.

"Oh! You must be, Matt, is it? Nice to meet you. I'm Michael." He outstretched his hand and Matty gingerly shook it.

"It's nice to finally meet you, too." He said.

"Well, why don't you two come downstairs and we can have something to drink." My dad said awkwardly as he began leading the way downstairs. I nodded my head and grabbed Matty's hand tightly.

This was awful, and it was only going to get worse.