She never believed in love. Love was made for the books and the movies. It wasn't real. How was she supposed to believe it was real when her own parents couldn't go without fighting for more than 24 hours. Sometimes she'd wish that they would get a divorce just so that her parents could stop "pretending to be in love" around her. Sometimes in her room, late at night she'd stay up late and wonder what true happiness feels like and her her mind would start to think about her best friend, Matt sturniolo.
Matt sturniolo looked at his best friend like she was the one who arranged the galaxy. Like she was the one who placed the sun and moon and the stars in the sky. He knew exactly when he fell for her to.
*flashback*
They were standing in line for the lunch at the cafeteria. And the typical 7th grade bully came up to them in line. He didn't like Matt but he had on a crush on Matt's best friend. He however decided to bully Matt and she wasn't having it. "What's it like having anxiety, Matt?" He laughed at Matt. And that's all it took for her to kick him where the sun don't shine.l and she watched him fall over on pain. "What's it like to be kicked where the sun don't shine" she laughed l, grabbed Matt's hand and they walked away. That's all it took for Matt to be completely smitten with her
*End of flashback*
Matt watched his best friend go through heartbreak after heartbreak. He was there for every 3am cry session. Until one night he couldn't do it anymore. "Why do you only go out with guys who break you heart? I've never seen you go out with a guy that was actually good for you?" He asked while they sat in a random parking lot eating McDonald's with the music down low playing in the background.
She laughed, "and who's actually good for me" she asked. Without hesitation Matt said "me, I'm good for you". Her smiled faded away, "no" she said as she got out of the car.
As she got out of the car and started to walk away. She realized it was raining. Matt got out of the car "what do you mean no?" He said while chasing after her. "I'm not good for you Matt, why do you think I always go out with shitty guys? Because I know they're gonna let me down. I go into the relationship prepared to be let down. I can't go out with you Matt." She explained.
Matt groaned, "why not? You know me! I'm one of the good guys. I'm one of the nice guys" he said while walking closer to her. She threw her head back, "Exactly Matt! Your too nice, I just can't go out with you Because" she started to say while look at the ground. Matt closes the space between them while lifting her chin up with his finger, "Because why" he whispered just loud enough for both of them to hear, "Because I'll break your heart" she said while looking at him. He looped his finger in her belt hoop of her jeans and pulled her close "it's only yours to break" he said as he kissed her.
"I broke his heart Because he was nice. He was sunshine, I was midnight rain"
" So what is midnight Rain really about?" The interviewer asked. There she sat at a radio show interview. She hates this question. She didn't know how to answer the question without talking about Matt. The only person she truly ever loved.
*flashback*
Her parents her fighting once again but this time it was bad. She had her door closed but she could still here the yelling. She thought it was just their usual typical fight until she heard her father yell out " that's it, you win I'm done" and heard him slam the door. She knew her mother messed up for good. He did never come back, not even to collect his things. That day changed her view on love forever.
Matt treated her so well. He gave her flowers on every date. She woke up and went to bed with texts from Matt. Everytime they ran into a slight issue in their relationship Matt paused whatever he was doing to communicate with her. He refused to be that couple that didn't communicate or go to bed angry. Matt was nothing like her past boyfriends. She thought surely the "honeymoon phase" would end but it never did because after all it was Matt. For her Matt was her sunshine. The only person who kept her sane in this cruel world.
Matt never did anything wrong. She knew he treated her like a queen. "Why are you so good to me?" She asked. Matt looked at her like she asked the most absurd question. "Because she deserve everything the world has to offer." He said while holding flowers in his hand. They had agreed to go on a date that night, however she was in her head. And her head was telling her that Matt deserved better than her and she was believing it.
"You deserve better. I'm not good for you" she said while looking at him. Matt had this look of confusion on his face. "Where is this coming from. I don't deserve better. Nobody is better than you. We talked about this." He said as he tried to step closer but she just back away from his touch. She had tears running down from her face. "I'm not good for you Matt. I love you but I don't wanna end up like my parents. Your too good for me. I don't deserve you" she said.
Matt now understood what was happening. "Are you saying this Because your dad left? I'm not gonna leave you. I love you too much to walk away from you." He said. She wanted to beleive him but she just couldn't. She shook her head and walked up to her front door.
"So your just gonna end things Because YOUR head told you your not good enough for me. Well guess what? You don't get to decide what's good enough for me! So get back over here and talk to me. We're gonna work this out." He yelled to her. She stopped in her tracks and turned around "I'm not good enough-" Matt groaned in annoyance, "Stop saying that."
"Stacy's good for you, I saw the way she looked at you" she said to him. Matt scoffed, "so that's what this about. Because she looked at me and talked to me while I was waiting for you? Well I don't want her!" He said. She looked at him and then looked at the ground. She knew she was hurting him by pushing him away but she felt it was only right. Matt sighed "fine. If this is what you want. Is this what you want?" He asked her. She wanted to say no. "Yeah" she said. Matt nodded. She watched him get in the car and drive away from her house. She would never admit it but she missed Matt more than anything. They both would look at each other in the halls at school, they would find excuses to avoid each other. They would have jealousy if someone else made the other smile. However they never made a move to rekindle their friendship.
*end of flash back*
"You know for me I think it's about a girl who was in love with a boy and had a relationship with him but she was having some personal issues that she couldn't get through, so she thought the best option was to push him away. And now she misses him. So I guess this is a song explaining on her end on why it didn't work out." She explained.
"Have you ever been in love?" The interviewer asked. Thinking about Matt again "yes, I was, but not at the moment" she answered.
While she was thousands of miles away from home. She had no idea Matt was listening.
"I guess sometimes we get some kind of haunted, and I never think of him except on midnights like this"
She sat at her midnight rain release party. She was happy for the success of the song but she hates parties. At parties she feels overstimulated and overheated way too fast. And while on the outside she seemed happy laughing with her friends and thanking her management team and other who showed up, on this inside she was only thinking of Matt and wondering what he would do if he was here.
She finally had enough and decided to get some air and as she opened the door, there stood a boy who still had nothing but love for the girl. The same love he had when she stood up from him all those years ago.
From the author: this is probably my favorite imagine I've ever written. Forever a midnight rain girly 🫶🏻
