SETTLE DOWN, matty healy

Chapter 17: Fallingforyou

Song Selection: (There is) No Greater Love by Amy Winehouse

No longer was there the cool autumn air and instead the days now shifted to cold mornings, cold afternoons, and even colder nights. Though the seasons were changing, it seemed the consistency of the ongoing secret had remained intact, none of us having any slip ups in the midst of our first 3 months together.

3 months...

The thought of the time alone struck me as short, but the days always felt long enough for me to not see it. I shook my head at the thought, finding myself staring down at a cow eyeball we were supposed to be dissecting for Anatomy. Colin seemed to notice my lack of attention and nudged me awake as well, chuckling at my disoriented behavior. "You okay, Emma? You're day dreaming more than usual this morning," He pointed out.

I laughed nonchalantly and shook my head. "Sorry, I'm fine; just having a moment I guess," I told him and he nodded understandingly to continue reading through the lab module we were handed out. Apparently my lying has carried on into my daily life as I was, in fact, not fine.

God why the fuck am I so dramatic all the time, it's exhausting.

All this left for me to be completely distracted for the rest of the day, not even paying any notice to anyone, even through fourth period with the reason for my distraction himself.

Someone tapped the table loudly in front of me, causing for me to jump. "Em, you haven't said a word and it's causing for us to worry. You've had that same look on your face," Anna mentioned.

I tried to laugh this off, shaking my head persistently. "I have no idea what you're talking about, I look perfectly normal."

"You look like you deer in headlights that's somehow been struck by lightning in the midst of surprise," Ryder said, a mouth full of salad in her mouth, "It's very worrisome, I agree."

I'm literally in the middle of my only relationship ever and I've been with them for 3 months and haven't been able to tell anyone so he doesn't lose his job and I don't know how long I can take to handle this!

I waved it off, reverting back to my usual unbothered persona. "I just almost failed my exam for math and I'm still shook up about it, sorry," I said and pointed to the mess Ryder was making instead, "Sure all your food is making it to your mouth." She rolled her eyes, Anna nonetheless laughing at my comment as the three of us continued with our break.

***

I opened the door to the classroom, seeing Liz and Arthur weren't here yet, and simply made my way inside to project the agenda for the day on the projector for Poetry Club. Logging into my account, I could still see the wallpaper Matty had chosen for his laptop making me chuckle under my breath.

It was me from the drawings he had drawn on my fingers just moments before. The two of us had gone on a date to the park to enjoy a picnic and the photo was of my hands holding the picnic basket as well as the Lily's he had gotten for me. "Find something you like there Emma?" Arthur mentioned when he walked in and I stopped, projecting the slide onto the board now. "Healy trusting you with his laptop is a power too strong for one person after all."

I rolled my eyes, getting my journal from my bag to take a seat. "Maybe too much power for you, not much for me," I said, only making him sigh in return and sit beside me, followed by Liz and Evan. The rest of the new members came in soon, leaving us enough to have already prepared how we'd lay out the short hour and a half we had.

"Where is Mr. Healy anyways? Could've sworn he said he'd be here to help everyone that needed any direction with the writing process," Evan mentioned.

I bit my tongue on the matter, only motioning to my phone briefly. "He emailed me saying he was grabbing some lunch before making his way over here," I mentioned, leaving out the fact I had forgotten my lunch money today and he didn't want me to be hungry before I got home, "He'll be here soon. Let's just start."

The meeting simply started with the introduction on the thought process of writing poetry, explaining the emphasis of a personal connection one must have with their poem. "Since Mr. Healy isn't here to present his own sample, Emma here will just read one of her own to display the whole objective," Evan mentioned, motioning to me suddenly. I nodded, taking my journal to project my more recent writing.

"Chocolate was just a dessert to me,
Until your eyes reminded me of the sweet candy itself.
Flowers used to simply be beautiful plants to me,
Until you gave each one a meaning of its own.
Hair was simply a physical barrier to me,
Until seeing the ways yours bounced with your strides brought a smile to my face-"

I looked up to Matty quietly making his way to the door, stopping once he noticed I was reading. Not helping to smile at the sight of him, I continued on.

"Art was just a way for me to escape,
Until seeing you everyday made me realize that the most beautiful paintings could not compare to the frame of your face.
And a name was simply an identification to me,
Until you uttered mine on your lips."

The three looked to me surprised, more than likely expecting something regarding transcendentalism rather than something romantic. The members snapped and Matty came up to his desk, placing the food down. "Sorry I'm a bit late everyone, but I'm sure Emma provided a very beautiful example of course." He turned towards me, nodding.

I did the same back to him and instructed for everyone to form groups with each of the board members to read their own poems if they wanted and ask for help on how to construct their own poetry. I took the opportunity as everyone began to move chairs to take down the slide instead, turning on the classical music as well as an excuse to talk to dear Healy himself. "So you do write poetry about me after all?"

My slight blush formed at this, but I maintained my composure nonetheless. "That could be about anyone you know," I mentioned, eyeing his lips for a second before meeting his eyes with a small laugh, "I told you I was going to just eat when I got home, but you had to insist. How typical of you Healy, so sentimental." He stopped for a second, smiling down to me as well. I tilted my head at him, eyeing his lips again and only shook my head out of the moment to return back to the groups.

Is three months enough time to fall in love? It seems so short.

I packed away everything, Arthur leaving soon after as his ride was here to then leave me alone with Matty. He handed me the Poké and I sighed, taking it to look up to him. "You didn't eat this for lunch, you hate this," I mentioned with a small chuckle, "Matty-"

He interrupted my thought to kiss me, taking me aback literally to have him catch my balance. I looked to him surprised, seeing him smile to me as he brushed my cheek with his thumb. "I love you."

I stood there for a few moments longer, my ears ringing at the sudden moment as I looked down to the bowl and back to him. Matty stood there over me, his hair in curls at either end of him today instead of the usual bun. His features alone always panged my heart with admiration, but then that look in his eyes.

"I love you too."