𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭, ᵐᵃᵗᵗʰᵉᵒ ʳⁱᵈᵈˡᵉ

chapter 3- matty's version

as soon as mattheo walked into potions, he knew it was gonna be bad. charlotte was irritating him, he fucking hated the potion they had to brew, and to top it all off, this morning, he had bruised his rib after banging his torso on the staircase. pulling him from his thoughts, charlotte slid a slim vial of gillyweed over to him, before accidentally knocking it over, causing it to spill all over his textbook. a wave of irritation crept up on him, but he tried his best to not let it get to him.
"fucking watch it." he snapped, annoyed at her lack of focus.
"make me." charlotte replied, always seeming happy to enrage him.
"pick it up." he demanded, tired of her energetic personality at the moment.
"christ matty, who pissed in your pumpkin juice?" charlotte asked. the question made him grit his teeth. who was she to talk to him like that?
"don't fucking call me that, black." he said, eager to finish this fucking potion and go back to his dorm.
"don't fucking call me that either, riddle." charlotte replied with ease, like his words had no effect on her. he rolled his eyes at the thought. of course his words effected her, he was mattheo riddle.
"no, seriously, what's your problem?" charlotte asked, sounding agitated.
"you." mattheo stated.
"if you hate me so much, why'd you get  my ring for me?" charlotte shouted, drawing attention to their table.
the thought that it bothered her so much what he thought made him laugh. he turned back to the cauldron, excited to go take a nap when class ended.
"shut the hell up charlotte!" the blonde git malfoy called at her from across the room.
"fuck off Draco!" she yelled back, not paying any mind to his offensive rude words.
"crazy bitch." malfoy muttered with a laugh. mattheo felt his hands curl with rage at the idea of malfoy using charlotte to make his asshole friends laugh.
"shut the fuck up malfoy!" he yelled, causing multiple heads to turn, including charlottes.
she looked at him in surprise, like she hadn't expected him to say anything, but how could he not?
"i'm just kidding riddle." malfoy replied, clearly trying to ease the tension in the room.
"i'm not, don't say that shit to her again." charlotte was looking at him with a quizzical expression on her face, like she couldn't believe what he was saying, and honestly, he barely could either, but what surprised him the most was that he meant what he was saying. if he heard malfoy say stuff like that to her again, he would hex the shit out of him, and he would be happy to do it.

charlotte leaned her head towards his slightly and softly muttered, "it's fine."
he laughed a little, quietly, lightly, "shut up charlotte."
he reached to get the cutting board off her side of the table, but he ended up brushing one of her soft, delicate fingers. it was colder than he thought, but it was warm, like he expected. instead of letting go, he grabbed her whole hand, and pulled it close to his face to examine her ring. it was gorgeous, of course, it was nothing compared to her, but that didn't matter, it was still a pretty ring. he acted like he was looking at it far longer than he should have, but he couldn't bring himself to let go of her freezing hand. eventually, she pulled her hand out of his iron like grip, and he resumed working on the potion robotically.
"so," she said after a few moments of silence, "why are you so pissy today?" she sounded genuinely curious, which both amused and annoyed him.
"if i don't tell you, are you gonna keep asking?" he said with a slight laugh.
"yes." she answered bluntly.
"i want a new potions partner that's why." he said, regardless of the fact that it was the furthest thing from the truth.
"you're so sweet." charlotte said drily.
"i'm serious." mattheo replied, even though he most certainly was not.
"you're such an asshole matt." charlotte muttered , almost affectionately. the nickname disgusted him. it was revolting and hearing it was like nails on a chalk board to him.
"black, i swear to god, don't call me that again." he stated angrily.
"okay matty." charlotte grinned at him shamelessly. he turned to her sharply and latched his hand onto her arm, not bothering to think of her tender skin or easily wrinkled shirt. "charlotte fucking quit." his grip seemed to tighten, causing her eyes to widen. he dropped her arm in alarm, fearful at the possibility that he hurt her. he brought his hand back up to her arm to spread of the few wrinkles he had caused in her pristine white shirt.

after a few minutes of awkward silence that followed the encounter, he said, "are you going to the party tonight?"
"yeah." charlotte said eagerly.
"maybe ill see you there." he said, excited at the prospect of seeing her again soon, outside of the steamy ass potions room.
charlotte laughed lightly and nodded.
~
after class, mattheo itched to return to his dorm and take a nice, long nap, but something just prevented him from doing it. in annoyance, he headed up to the astronomy tower, a place he commonly found peace and perspective, to reflect on his shitty day. after a few minutes, the clack of shoes signified someone's arrival. to his surprise, charlotte black walked up the spiraling staircase and approached him. he didn't know why they seemed to be drawn to eachother, but he certainly wasn't complaining, he wasn't particularly celebrating either, but there could be worse people  to run into.
"oh my fucking god," he groaned, "why can't i ever seem to get away from you?"
"i could say the same." charlotte said, and for some reason mattheo did not want her to say the same. he wanted her to be happy he was around, to want him to be there. perhaps that was a problem.
"well," he started, "since you're here, you might as well sit."
he gestured beside him and felt surprise bloom in his chest as she actually listened to him. they touched at the shoulders and her cold skin sent shocks of curiosity and excitement through his body.he looked down at her just as her green eyes looked up at him, trapping his gaze, because of course, he couldn't look away from her.

"maybe i should go." charlotte stated, but made no move to leave, causing relief to bloom in his heart, he didn't want her to go. though she vexed him greatly, he had a strange growing affection for the wild girl next to him.
"maybe." he said to her, whilst his heart said no. he would never admit it, but being here, with her, his enemy, made his rib throb less, his day suck less, and his patience grow stronger by the minute. she had a peaceful presence, a calming aura that he wished he could spend all day investigating, deconstructing, studying. she was magnificent to him, like no one he had ever met before, and he was going to learn everything there was to know about her, if that was the last thing he ever did.

she shifted closer to him, revealing in his body's warmth. it was fucking insane, having a moment like this with his enemy, but mattheo didn't give a shit. every few moments, she edged closer to him, and his cold heart grew warmer and warmer. what the fuck was he gonna do?