Coffee Shop Soundtrack (Marianas Trench)

Chapter Eight

Matt woke up abruptly, shaking in a cold sweat and clutching the pillow tightly. He’d been having a nightmare about Ty, and seeing that he was safe, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He rolled over to check the time on his phone, and when he found that it was just gone seven in the morning, he grumbled slightly. And then, Matt realised he had a new text message, dated about two in the morning. He opened it, curious to see who’d texted him.

To: Matt

Hey Matt. I just wanted to text you to check that you were okay. You looked a bit shaken up yesterday and I was worried. X

Matt smiled. The boy he’d known for about two weeks cared enough to text him.

To: Josh

I’m alright, Mike’s looked after me. Thanks for caring, haha. Why were you up at 2? X

It took a little while for Josh to reply. In the meantime, Matt tried to sit up carefully with not much luck.

To: Matt

I slept at Ian’s. He snores like a bitch – I could hear him from the sofa! X

Matt chuckled lightly to himself. Tossing his phone to the side, he decided he’d be a good friend and make Mike some breakfast, providing he had the ingredients. Pushing himself up using his palms against the smooth leather of the sofa, he shakily got to a standing position. Trying hard not to yelp out in pain, he folded the blankets and placed them neatly with his pillow at one of the ends of the sofa before he headed over to the kitchen.

In the fridge, Matt found some milk, and in the cupboard was a bottle of pancake mix. Deciding this would do, he grabbed them and set them on the counter. It took almost half an hour for Matt to ensure that the pancakes were cooked, syrup was available and a mug of coffee was poured out. He found a tray and set the mug on there, along with cutlery and an empty plate. Soon, the pancakes were ready, so he neatly slid them onto the plate. He smiled at the breakfast he’d just made, before picking the tray up carefully.

He quietly made his way to Mike’s room, pushing the door open with his foot and setting the tray on the other side of Mike’s bed. He removed the mug and walked round to put it on the table next to where Mike was sleeping. Mike must have smelt the food or heard Matt, for he stirred and rolled over.

“What’s going on?” Mike murmured, sitting up a little, squinting at Matt who was stood a distance away.

“I-I made you breakfast. You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.”

Mike rubbed his eyes in an attempt to become more alert, and reached over to turn the table lamp on. He grinned widely.

“Thanks, Matt. This looks awesome!” He pulled the tray onto his lap, clapping lightly. “Pancakes! I haven’t had pancakes in ages, man; they’re like my favourite thing. Besides, I never get breakfast made for me.”

“Well, duh, you live alone.”

“Hush, child. Let me have my fun.” He paused to drown the pancakes in syrup and began to cut up his food, smiling like a fool. “Have you had anything?”

“Uh, no, I’m not really hungry to be honest.” Matt scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“You didn’t have dinner last night, and you didn’t have lunch either. I only saw you drink the coffee, and at that you only had like, half...”

“I had breakfast. Tyler wanted toast, and there was too much, so I had the rest.”

Mike stopped what he was doing. “So you only eat Tyler’s leftovers.”

“No, that’s not what I said, at all, Mike.” But it was true, in some ways. Tyler didn’t like Matt eating in front of him for some reason. If he ever did, he’d get called ‘fat’, ‘pig’, ‘fat-ass’, ‘whale’, or other petty names like that. So usually Matt would cook dinner for Tyler and sit with him whilst he ate, and then if there were any leftovers, he could eat them, often in secret, whilst Tyler was off playing on his Xbox. It was pathetic, but better than being called all these names. Matt didn’t think he could take that along with all the other ones.

“Matt, you’ve got to stop doing this, alright? You’ve got to stop letting him walk all over you, controlling you. You’re not his pet, you’re his equal, and you need to stand up for it, m’kay?”

“I’ll try.”

Josh lay on his back on the couch, holding his phone above his face as he tapped furiously on the screen. He’d had lyric ideas, and considering he was too comfy to get up, he wrote it down on the memo pad on his phone. Just as he clicked the ‘save’ button, he dropped the phone on his face.

“Ow, fuck.” He mumbled, picking it up again and rolling onto his side instead. He pressed a few more buttons until he’d run out of ideas, and continued to play some game he’d downloaded onto the phone.

Suddenly, he heard a bang. Rushing to get up, he went to go find the source of the noise, presuming it was from Ian. As he knocked on the door and pushed his way in, he squinted into the darkness of the room.

“Ian? You okay?” He whisper-shouted.

“Mph. Help.” Ian mumbled from somewhere in the darkness. Josh flicked on the light, and laughed as Ian hissed at the sudden brightness. There, lying tangled in the sheets on the floor, was Ian. He’d obviously got tangled up in the bed-sheets and fallen, unable to free himself. This only made Josh laugh harder.

“Good morning, sunshine.” Josh chuckled as he walked over to where Ian lay. “Sleep well?”

“Stop fucking around and help me, dumbass.” Ian growled. Josh smirked and helped Ian get up, and when the man did, he grumbled and got straight back into bed, face down so Josh could only see his curls.

“Since you’re sleeping, can I go shower please?”Josh said.

“Knock yourself out.” Came the muffled reply and Josh just shook his head laughing as he exited the room.

Josh stripped quickly, stepping into the warm spray of the shower. He hummed as he washed his hair and body, sighing when he noticed the water turning blue. He really needed to redye his hair, he told himself. He then leant back against the cool tile for a little while. It was a Sunday, so Josh had the day off, until about four when he had to work for a couple hours. It was never bad working at the cafe; Kira always had sarcastic jokes that could leave Josh rolling in stitches.

He got dressed and brushed his teeth (he was at Ian’s often enough to have his own toothbrush here) and returned to the rest of the house. He went to Ian’s room, where the boy was still fast asleep. Josh smirked, taking a running jump and landed on the bed next to Ian.

“What the fuck?” Ian groaned.

“Wakey wakey!” Josh yelled, poking Ian’s sides until he sat up. “Your girly-friend’s gonna be here soon.” Ian happened to be dating Kira, so Josh got to see her twice as often. He and Kira were close, considering they’d known each other since they were small. Unfortunately, Kira was older and didn’t attend the university; she just did night classes for animal hospitality. She’d always said she wanted to be a vet, and was currently interning at a small one down the road along with the coffee shop job. Kira was nice, really nice. Josh’d always tease her about dating Ian, and she took the jokes light-heartedly, nearly always with a witty retort about how Josh hadn’t had a boyfriend in what, three years? It was like the two were brother and sister, and Josh loved her to pieces.

“Mhm. Now go away so I can get ready.”

“Whatever. I’m going town today, gonna find some stuff for my mom’s birthday. It’s in like, a week.”

“Sounds good.” Ian smiled, reaching over to grab his phone.

“Thanks for letting me crash here! I’ll see you later!” Josh called over his shoulder as he left the apartment.

A/N: Sorry this is a bit of a filler!