show me yours | matty healy

chapter seven

December 25th 2012

"Merry Christmas, darling." Denise beams as she opens the door, pulling Tommie into a hug first then Adam and Ross right after.

"Merry Christmas." The trio repeats.

George is the first to appear around the corner, a christmas jumper, that upon further expectation, they realise is matching with Denise.

He has half a Yorkshire pudding in his mouth and grins when he sees them, "Been waiting for you for bloody ages."

"Daniel," Denise scolds, "I said to wait."

"I was starving."

He heads back into the kitchen and they follow behind, finding Matty and Louis in similar jumpers, and another three piled on the empty seats.

Ross groans quietly, muttering 'thought we left this in comp'.

Denise, who had heard him grabs his jumper to throw at him, "It's Tommie's first Christmas here with us, so we're laying it on thick. All the traditions."

Matty grins, Santa hat crooked on his head, "Here."

He holds up the green jumper for her and she smiles pulling it on before walking around to talk to Louis.

Matty's brow furrows and he sits back beside George, "Have I done something recently? Like bad?"

"Did you forget about the window already?"

"No," He says quietly, looking back to see if his mother heard, "I mean to Tommie. Did I say something?"

George looks up in thought, slowly stealing some veg from one of the bowls in the middle when Denise goes back to the kitchen to grab the extra plates, Tommie and Adam following to help.

Ross sits on the other side of Matty looking at George who chews slowly on his food, "I mean, you did upset her when you said that thing the other day."

"What thing?" He asks quickly.

"The thing about humbug being Arctic Monkeys' worst album."

Ross sucks air in through his teeth slowly and tuts, "That's her favourite album, I'm surprised she didn't kill you."

"No, no, I mean," He sighs watching her smile at his little brother, "I don't know. I just, feel like something has changed."

George shrugs as Ross gives his insight, "I mean, you have a girlfriend. Maybe she's laying off to not make Gemma feel uncomfortable."

Matty doesn't really listen, still watching her move about the dining room.

She sits between Adam and Louis, opposite Matty who has George on his left and Ross on his right, then Denise settles at the head of the table.

After everyone's filled their plates up, and the guys have dug into Tommie for her picky eating habits, it's silent in the room.

Matty's foot, that has been tapping impatiently against the floor for the past twenty minutes, moves to nudge Tommie's.

He can't take it anymore, the distance, the change in their relationship.

She looks up, raising a brow as she slowly chews on her broccoli. 'Hey.'

She swallows the food in her mouth slowly and then raises an eyebrow, 'Hi.'

'You okay?' She nods slowly and he tilts his head back towards the living room. She shakes her head, glancing back down at her food but then he nudges her foot again.