Coffee Shop Soundtrack (Marianas Trench)

Chapter Seven

The drive to Mike’s was silent, Matt in pain and Mike thinking hard. Matt played with the corner of the frayed cloth seat, picking at loose strands. It was beige, like the rest of the beat up car. It was probably older than Mike and Matt combined, and Matt was surprised it still ran. Mike didn’t really take that great care of it, but it was okay. It still got him from A to B, and that was the main purpose, so it worked.

As they pulled up near Mike’s apartment, Matt carefully unbuckled his seatbelt. And then he froze.

“Holy shit.” He mumbled, and Mike looked over at him after he’d parked the car.

“What?”

“I-I don’t think I can move. It hurts so bad, holy shit.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” Mike turned so he was facing the younger boy, who only shook his head. “They’ll just ask questions. I’m sorry for being such a drama queen. Just, help me out, please?” His friend nodded and climbed out of the car, rushing over to Matt’s side. He helped the boy up, and placed him so he was leaning against the car. As Mike ducked back into the car to get Matt’s bag, Matt saw a familiar face on the street. It was Josh, probably one of the last people he wanted to see right now. He tried to make himself as invisible as impossible, but unfortunately Josh saw him.

“Matt, hey!” He looked up, flicking his bangs out of his face as he jogged over to see the boy. Matt forced a very false smile on his face.

“Hi, Josh. What’re you doing here?” His strategy was to act normal. Nothing’s happened, and he wasn’t dependent on leaning on the side of the car. At that point, the eldest man poked his head back out of the car and dropped the bag on the floor. He grinned at Josh as a greeting.

“Hi, Mike. I, uh, was actually going to my friend Ian’s, my shift finished early.” Josh’s smiling face quickly morphed into something darker, with sadness in his pale blue eyes and worry etched across his features. “What happened to you, Matt?”

“Oh, I, uh...” Matt stuttered. Crap. Maybe he wasn’t as good an actor as he’d hoped. “I fell down the stairs in my apartment block. M-Mike’s looking after me tonight.”

Josh frowned and cocked his head to the left slightly. “Mike said you were going to your sister’s house because your mom were back in town.”

“Yeah, but after Matt had this accident, I said I’d look after him until he was okay.” Mike interrupted, and Josh looked over at the tall man before narrowing his eyes a little.

“Did you want me to help you sort yourself out? You look pretty shaken up.”

“N-no, it’s okay. I got this, Josh.” Mike smiled warmly.

“O-okay, if you’re sure. Just text or call me if you need to. I’m not far away. Hope you feel better soon!” He began heading towards the apartment building.

“Thanks, Josh!” Mike called out, and Matt just smiled weakly. As the boy disappeared into the building, Matt groaned, letting his head fall back, and wincing when he remembered the gash on his head.

“Hey, hey. Come on now, let’s go inside and get you cleaned up.”

“I’m telling you, Ian, that there’s something wrong with that kid.” Josh was pacing forwards and backwards through Ian’s messy apartment, whilst the older man sat on the couch with one arm resting behind his head and the other clutching a can of soda. Josh wrung his hands out in anxiety, and Ian furrowed his brow.

“Mike told you he fell down the stairs. You know what the stairs are like here, they’re hard and concrete and would fucking hurt if you fell face-first down them.” Ian pointed out.