this is how it starts || m.h

25) i love you

One year later...

My beer stained t-shirt clung to my skin as I attempted to wipe it clean with a cloth I'd swiped off the bar.

As much as I had loved frequenting this bar over the years, I certainly didn't enjoy being the one working behind the bar now. This wasn't even the first time I'd had alcohol thrown on me. Last week, it was red wine. And Addie laughed at me as she watched me throw another one of my favourite t-shirts away.

"Serena?" My co-worker Sophie called, unable to hide her amusement when she saw the stain on my shirt. "Uhm─someone's asking for you."

"Who?"

"I don't know." She shrugged, still trying to hide her smile. "Some guy in a suit."

That made my heart jolt in my chest, my mind immediately going to one person. Someone who I only saw in my dreams and in the media nowadays.

There was no way he could be the one asking for me. He was never coming back. We agreed.

I set the cloth down on the sink, barely satisfied with the state of my shirt, and I made my way back out to the bar.

It couldn't have been him. There was no way.

But surely enough, when I made it to the bar, there he was, just sitting there. His hair had gotten more gray since I last saw him, and he looked tired. But other than that, he looked the same.

Same old Matty.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, keeping my voice low in an attempt to keep it from breaking.

"I said I'd come back."

"How did you even know I worked here?"

"Addie told me."

"Oh."

"I was wondering if we could talk," he said, biting his fingers as he spoke. "I really need to talk to you."

"I take it right now is good for you?"

"Yeah, that'd be great actually."

I smiled. "Well, you're lucky my shift just ended."

He smiled back, and I had to fight not to pull him into a hug as I walked out from behind the bar.

"Are you okay if we go back to mine?"

"Yeah, sure."

His house wasn't actually that far from the bar, so the walk was only short. It still felt like hours though as we walked, probably because I had spent the entire journey worrying about what he wanted to talk to me about.

"Do you want a shirt, by the way?" He asked once we walked through his door, reminding me of the fact that I was still soaked in beer.

"I should be okay," I told him as I sheepishly followed after him, the sight of his home prompting memories I didn't want to recall. "So uh─what did you want to talk to me about?"

He sat down on his sofa, waving me over, and although uncomfortable, I joined him.

"I miss you, Serena," he finally said.

"Matty, please don't do this to me again─"

"I love you."

The words shocked me, because I didn't think I would ever hear them come from his mouth. Not after everything that had happened between us.

"I understand if you don't feel the same anymore," he said then, disappointment evident on his face.

"Of course I love you, Matty. I never stopped."

"Really?"

"Yes." I smiled. "I could never stop loving you."

"Well, that's good to heat then."

I could tell that he was trying to be funny, but I didn't fail to miss the way he was fidgeting. His feet tapping on the floor as he constantly readjusted his elbows on his knees.

He was nervous.

I stood up and stepped towards him then, planting myself on his lap, my arms draped over his shoulders.

"You stink of beer, you know?" He chuckled, scrunching his nose at me.

"Do you want me to take it off?" I asked, glancing down at my still damp t-shirt.

"I'd like it if you took off a lot more than just your shirt."

"So even after a year," I sighed, smiling at him. "You haven't changed."

"You can hardly blame me, love."

I laughed then, my heart feeling as though it could burst as I stared down at him.

And then I felt his fingers tugging at the hem of my shirt, and so I let him pull it over my head, leaving me in my bra now.

"Fuck, I missed you." He groaned, shaking his head.

"Are you talking to me or my chest?"

"Can't it be both?"

I didn't offer him a response. Instead, I leaned down and pressed my lips against his, threading my fingers through his hair.

"You're going gray," I pointed out, noting the look of insecurity on his face from my comment. "Don't worry, it's sexy."

I felt his hands slide beneath my thighs then, and he lifted me off the sofa, proceeding to carry me in the direction of his bedroom.

"It feels like we're in some sort of romance film," I laughed, burying my face in the crook of his neck.

"Well our film would be less romance and more car-crash, I think."

"It ended good though, didn't it?" I asked as he laid me down on his bed.

"It ended great." He smiled, as he stepped back to slip out of his shirt, the sight of him making me miss him all the more.

It was only a matter of seconds before our clothes were littering his bedroom floor, and he was back on me, his hands desperately roaming up and down my body, as though he were trying to familiarise himself with every part of me.

"How long has it been?" I asked him quickly.

"Over a year. You?"

"Same."

He smiled then, bringing a hand up to brush my hair out of my face. "I love you."

"I love you too." I smiled back. "My Matty, with the beautiful smile and the big brown eyes."

"You think I'm beautiful?" He teased, pressing a kiss to my jaw. "You think I'm beautiful."

"Just shut up."

He pulled back a final time then, his eyes overflowing with love as he stroked his thumb over my jaw. "You and me, this is how it starts."

───

A/N:
Just a heads up, whilst this is the last chapter in the story, I'm going to be uploading some bonus scenes that didn't quite fit into the main part of the story, so keep a look out for those. I'll be releasing them over the next few days.
Thanks for reading! <3