infatuation // m.h

41

When I finally decided to get up out of bed, escaping Matty's grip, I brought cups of coffee to the bedroom. We sat together, cross-legged and sipped our drinks.

It rained all day. We stayed inside.
The day passed in a fogged-up blur of crumpled sheets and discarded tee shirts. The rain and our breathing sound tracked our afternoon. The sunlight faded from our sights slowly and we watched it disappear from the kitchen window.

When the clock rolled around to nine, we decided to leave our little apartment and go out.
Matty and I ended up at a bar that glowed with yellow light, the sound of acoustic guitar flowing into the street.
It smelled like beer and cigarettes but everyone was smiling. It was the sort of place that you felt right at home at, even if you'd never been there in your life.

Matty and I ordered our drinks and sat at the bar, half-watching the live music while we chatted to people.
"Mate! Long time no see! How've you been?" I heard Matty greeted a guy with hair to his shoulders. They did that strange half-hug-half-handshake thing and the guy sat down at the stool beside Matty.
"I've been pretty good. This your girl?" The guy asked, gesturing to me with a smile.
"Yeah. This is Nikki. Nik, this is Pete." Matty introduced me, grinning. I said a quick hello before Matty and Pete launched into enthusiastic conversation.

I sipped my drink and let them catch up, turning to watch the live music properly.
It was a guy, around my age, singing and playing an acoustic guitar. He was tanned with bright blue eyes you could spot from a mile away. His hair was cut short. He had a nose ring.
He was a polar opposite from Matty.
The singer sat on a black stool with his guitar and a microphone. There was a beer sitting next to his foot. His opposite foot tapped along to the beat of the song he performed. The worn guitar case to his left held scraps of change and books of song lyrics. He had a really deep dimple on one of his cheeks. I smiled.

"Hey, my name is Dean Eppens and I have a few more songs to perform for you guys tonight. You can buy my album here too, that'd be cool." Dean laughed, pointing at the stack of CD's next to him.
There were a few drunk girls at the back of the bar that were screaming along to his songs, making him chuckle into the mic. Dean and I made eye contact for a second and I looked away as he grinned at me.
I glanced at Matty over my shoulder - he was still talking loudly to Pete.

After Dean finished two more songs he looked directly at me and said: "This song is for girls with boyfriends that don't deserve them." He glanced at Matty quickly.
My eyes widened and Dean turned away with a grin, seeing my clear reaction. He started singing his song, strumming the guitar with a grin. I saw him throw looks my way throughout the song. He winked at me at one stage and I knew Matty had seen. Thank God Matty hadn't heard what Dean had said before, or I'd have to hold him back.
Matty's hand instinctively grabbed my thigh, right at the hem of my dress. I looked at his eyes, seeing that he was pretty tipsy.
"It's fine." I assured him, already knowing he was getting jealous.
His eyes softened but his jaw clenched. His thumb traced soft circles on the outside of my thigh as he watched Dean with narrowed eyes.

Dean thanked the bar for listening to him and got up off his stool, packing up his guitar. The drunk girls cheered again, along with a few others in the bar clapping. I saw Dean coming over, standing at the bar next to me out of the corner of my eye. Matty turned away to make conversation with Pete again, leaving me to talk to Dean.

"Your set was really good." I complimented him.
"Thanks," He laughed. "I felt like you were the only one watching." He finished his beer and ordered another.
"Nah, I'm pretty sure those girls over there were pretty into you." I said, gesturing to the drunk girls stumbling and giggling in the back corner of the bar.
"Not my type." He smiled, scratching the back of his neck.
"I'm Nikki, by the way." I said, putting out my hand and flashing him a friendly smile.
"I'm Dean, but you knew that already." He laughed, shaking my hand.

Matty turned around so he was facing Dean and I, and wrapped his arm around my waist.
"I'm Matty, her boyfriend." He said, his eyes looking dark.
"Hey mate, nice to meet you." Dean said politely, extending his hand for Matty to shake. Matty ignored it and turned to face me, being blatantly rude. I frowned at him.
Dean raised his eyebrows and knocked back the rest of his drink. "Tonight's been good, yeah?" Dean asked me, completely ignoring and interrupting Matty. I nodded slowly.
Dean's hand came to rest on my lower back, sliding lower. I flinched away. Matty's eyes widened when he saw Dean touching me.

"Back off, mate." Matty warned sharply, his eyes looking dangerous. He stood up and stood in front of me so there was a barrier between Dean and I. My heartbeat sped up in my chest, knowing something bad was about to happen.
"Do you have a problem, mate?" Dean questioned, with a bit of a smile on his face.
"I do," Matty replied, his tone menacingly quiet. "You touched my girlfriend."
"So what?" Dean asked smugly, tipping his chin up at Matty.

Before I could even say a word, Matty had thrown a punch. I heard the slap of Matty's fist against Dean's cheek and watched Dean stumble back, shocked. I let out a gasp and looked away in horror. Dean threw a punch back, his hand colliding with Matty's jaw. A few shrieks erupted from patrons of the bar and one old man cheered, everyone watching the two guys swinging punches and cursing.
Dean and Matty tackled each other, ending up with Matty on the ground with Dean charging at him with a broken glass. Two bouncers barged in and threw Matty and Dean out of the bar, leaving me to run after them, bright red with embarrassment.

When I came running out of the bar I saw Dean's shoulders heaving, spitting out blood onto the dirty pavement. Matty was breathing heavily and walking towards Dean for another punch. The three of us cast long black shadows over the cement, the yellow streetlight glowing above us.
"Stop!" I screamed, standing between them and throwing my hands out.

"Have a lovely night, enjoy your boyfriend. Fucking dick." Dean spat bitterly, walking in the opposite direction to us, leaving Matty and I alone. I watched Dean walk away, still spitting blood into the gutter and muttering to himself.

I turned to face Matty. His lip was split and trickling blood down his chin. His nose was bleeding, dripping onto the pavement. His jaw was red and was going to bruise badly.
"Shit, Matty." I sighed, touching his cheek lightly. He winced.

We drove home in tense silence. Matty didn't speak.

Once we got home, I sat him down on the couch and brought out our first aid kit from under the bathroom sink. I thought back to when I cut my hand, and how Matty laughed at me because he knew I couldn't stay angry at him. That felt like years ago.

I looked at Matty's face. "Hold this up to your lip to stop the bleeding." I said, handing him a cloth. He did as I said and sighed. I stood up and walked to the kitchen to get a packet of frozen peas. I handed them to him and he held it against his bruising jaw. He winced again in pain. I still needed to clean up his nose. I fetched tissues and handed them to him.
"I don't have enough hands for this, babe." He said with a laugh. I smiled and held the cloth to his lip while he held the tissues to his nose and the frozen peas to his jaw.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" I told him with a small smile.
"Sorry." He laughed.

We sat like that for a few minutes. After his nose stopped bleeding and his lip had mostly stopped, Matty went to go and have a shower. While he was in the bathroom I had a smoke to try to unwind, then retreated to the bedroom, feeling exhausted.

I had started to undress when I heard Matty's footsteps at the door. I leaned over to grab a pyjama shirt but Matty grabbed my hand, stopping me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face in the crook of my neck. "Don't." He whispered close to my ear, his eyes raking over my body in just my underwear.
"Fine." I sighed, discarding the shirt with a reluctant smile.
Matty smiled and I crawled into bed with him, crawling underneath the cool sheets. My skin was covered in goosebumps that melted away when Matty wrapped his arms around me, his chest to my back.
"Goodnight. I love you." He murmured before falling asleep.

(A/N: I feel like I wrote this poorly but I wanted to update tonight for you guys. Comment yo.)