The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

17. Work

"Mommaaaa!" I yelled when I slammed the front door behind me. Oh, fuck. She's still sleeping. I swung my backpack on the couch and walked to the kitchen, looking for food. I looked through all the cupboards and only found a few bars of chocolate. Ahh, that's a shame... Now I'll have to eat them. I grabbed 2 bars and walked back to the couch. I plopped down on it and grabbed my iPod from my backpack and plugged my earpods in it. I played some music on shuffle and just relaxed. "Hey! How was school?" I heard a faint voice say through my music. I turned around and my mom was standing there, in her pyjamas. "It was okay. Luckily I already knew the clan. Further it was just... great. The music teacher has an obsession with me though." I said and she chuckled while walking to the kitchen, probably for some coffee. "Tell me when he starts to do weird things okay?" She joked and I chuckled. "Sure." I said. "Do you want coffee?" She asked and I thought for a while. "Umm... What are we gonna eat? I mean, what am I gonna eat?" I asked. "I don't really feel like cooking. So you can order pizza or something. I shot her a thumbs up, even though she couldn't see me. "Great! Thanks!" I said. "Then I would LOVE some coffee." I said. She made coffee while I took a bite from my chocolate. I followed Anna's advice, and had the pizza delivery guy on speed dial too now. I ordered a quattro formaggi and he said he was going to be here in 30 minutes.

I laid down on the couch, with the pizza box on my stomach and my iPod next to it, blaring some Muse. My mom walked in, in her hospital uniform and said something. But I couldn't hear her because I had my earpods in, and I really didn't feel like getting them out. She looked at me expectantly. "Sorry, can't hear ya." I said lazily while pointing at my earpods. She rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen again. How late was it anyways? It was 5.50. Normally I had to go to work on this time, but... Oh fuck. I had to work. I threw the pizza box on the couch next to me and jumped up while ripping the earbuds out of my ears. "I'M LATE!" I yelled and ran upstairs. "I just told you that, but you were 'too busy' listening to music!" My mom yelled. Oh. I quickly put other clothes on and brushed my hair through. After that I looked in the mirror and decided to apply some lipgloss. After I put that on I quickly brushed my teeth and put my guitar in it's case. After that I ran downstairs. "Bye!" I yelled to my mom, not waiting for a response, while running through the front door. I grabbed my skateboard and rode to the restaurant.

"Sorry, I'm late!" I yelled while walking in. It was just Matt standing there. "S'okay. But people are waiting for ya." He said. "I had to leave my pizza Matt! Leave! That's the worst thing that ever happened to me." I said while grabbing my heart. "It hurts, Matt. It really, really hurts." I said and he chuckled. "That's cool but you have to go now." "True." I said like that didn't just happen. I laid my guitar case in the corner of the room and grabbed my guitar out of it. "See ya later." I said while hugging him. After that I walked towards the stage, and began 'working'.

"Learning a new song?" I asked Matt. It was the end of the night already, and Matt had to close the restaurant. It was around 11pm now. I always stayed with him after I've done my 'work'. Currently he was sitting next to me on the couch, playing something on his guitar. "Jupp, you recognize it?" He asked. I listened carefully to the song. "Hm... Nah." I said. "That's because I totally don't know what I'm doing." He chuckled. I gasped and slapped his arm. "Stupid." I mumbled and he chuckled. I walked to the speakers and turned them on. After that I connected them with my phone. I played some music on shuffle and plopped down on the couch again. The opening chords of Reckless by You Me At Six were heard and we both nodded our heads to the beat. I started singing:

I've been trying to make sense
I've been shouting under my breath
How is any of this in my interest?
When you sold me out, I must've not got the cheque

I heard Matt humming along next to me. "Come on! Sing!" I yelled while standing up and dragging him from the couch. I turned the volume of the speakers up and began dancing weirdly.

"I'm mister Reckless"

I pointed at Matt, indicating he had to sing the rest.

"With a capital R!"

He yelled. I laughed and sang along, Matt now singing too.

When the song was over I needed to catch my breath for a while after all that dancing and yelling. Luckily nobody was here except for Matt and Me. The next song started and Matt and me began pretending to play guitar. The song was Congratulations by Sleeping With Sirens and Matty Mullins.

Welcome to a brand new generation,
You don't know, so let me help you understand,
You see, you try to build yourself a reputation

So you can prove to everyone that you're the man, yeah.

The thing that I noticed was that Matt could actually really sing. "Matt!" I yelled while turning the volume a bit down. "What!" He yelled back. "You can really sing!" I said. I saw his face turn into one of uncertainty. "No man!" He yelled. I turned the music off. "Yes you can! I'm being serious." I said. "Noooo." He said with a what-are-you-talking-about look. "You can totally sing something in the restaurant! I'm being serious Matt, you're really good." I said. He rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not." He said and plopped down on the couch. I sat down next to him and laid my head on his lap. His hands automatically started playing with my hair. "You have to perform sometime. Please?" I asked. He looked down on me and looked like he really didn't want to. After that his face relaxed. "Only if you sing with me." He said with a grin. I smiled. "Okay. Pinky promise?" I said while pointing my pinky to him. He chuckled and hooked his pinky into mine. "Pinky promise." I smiled brightly. "This is gonna be great! But we'll have to practise sometimes." I said. "Please not here. It's just... It makes me uncomfortable to do it here with my dad and sister and all the staff you know?" He said. "Yea, I understand. We can practise at my house? We have a music room, so we can play the music as loud as we like." I said. He smiled, in a very cute way. "Okay... How late?" He asked and I thought for a moment. "I probably wake up around 12pm, so like... 2 pm?" I asked and he chuckled. "Sure." He said and I smiled. "Great."