She's American {Matty Healy}

6 // don't fall in love with the moment

{stella}

I opened the door to my apartment slowly, careful to not wake up my roommates, if they happened to be asleep. I peeked around the door before opening it all the way to double check that it was safe enough for Matty to come in--no roommates crashed on the couch, no bras lying on the floor in the kitchen, the usual. Only when I was sure it was safe to have a boy in the apartment did I open the door the rest of the way. The lights in the combined kitchen-living room were all on; I assumed at least one of my roommates were awake, but couldn't see either of them from where I was.

"Okay, so the bathroom is right there," I said, pointing to my left. "You should go wash up a little bit first."

Matty simply smiled and nodded before leaving me and walking into the bathroom. The second he left, Luna appeared from her bedroom. She slinked into the kitchen like a cat would, unsure of her surroundings and wary of new people. "Um, who was that?"

I grimaced and shushed her. "Matty."

"Wait," she said. "That British asshole from the phone??"

I nodded; Luna's eyes widened.

"Oh hell no." She shook her head.

"Luna, be nice--" I began, but the second I opened my mouth, I heard the bathroom doorknob turn and Matty walked out, his nose already starting to bruise but most of the blood gone, washed down the white porcelain sink. He smiled at my roommate, and held out a hand for her to shake as he got closer. Luna, however, just stared at him. She forced a little smile. "So you're Matty," she said, not bothering to take his offer for a friendly handshake.

I tried to catch her attention, to give her a look that would communicate that I needed her to stop and at least pretend to be friendly. Instead, she just stared at him, completely ignoring the faces I was making at her.

Matty ran his hand through his hair nervously. "Yeah, I, uh, I am Matty."

She nodded in response.

I interrupted their interaction before either of them could say anything more. "Matty, this is Luna, my roommate. She's usually more sociable." I turned my gaze toward Luna. "What are you doing up?"

"You know," she responded, "I was just about to go to bed. I'll leave you guys alone."

And with that, Luna turned her back and silently walked back to her bedroom. I rolled my eyes dramatically as soon as her back was turned. Her bedroom door shut and I was free to apologize profusely to Matty. "I'm so sorry. She just already has her opinion of you pretty strongly set in her head from that one time you talked on the phone."

He sighed dramatically, his eyes moving from his feet up to my eyes. "It's totally fine." He gave me a little closed-lip smile, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I smiled back at him. "Let's go find something on TV." I led him to the couch, where we sat and I turned on our little television that we got at a yard sale and crackled when we turned it on or off. I handed him the remote control. "Honestly turn on whatever you want. I have a shirt you can wear; yours is all gross!" I couldn't stand looking at Matty lounging on my couch, his face all cleaned up for the most part and his white shirt completely covered in splatters of blood. I immediately ran into my room before he could even protest. In the darkness, I let out a large sigh.

I wasn't sure how to act around Matty anymore. Originally, being around him was nothing but flirting, and I was okay with that. Now, after not hearing from him? I would've normally been stand-offish. But he had come all this way just to spend time with me, just to make up for the way in which our last encounter hadn't ended as well as we would have liked. Should I put on an extra spray of perfume while I was in my room? I was still wearing the dress I had worn out dancing with Jack -- should I change into a shirt and shorts or leave it on to make a good impression? Was this a night we would be spending flirting or ignoring each other?