Lacey // (The 1975 / Matty Healy fanfiction)

// C H A P T E R N I N E //

"They're never going to let us ride their elephant, this is such a stupid idea." Lacey muttered as Matty pulled her with him towards the circus' ticket booth.

Giving her a disapproving look, he simply continued on his way, determined to make this work, "How would you even know that it won't work? You haven't even tried yet."

"It's called common sense." She crossed her arms as they reached the end of the line of people waiting to purchase tickets for the afternoon show.

Visibly annoyed by her proper attitude, he rolled his eyes at her, "And where has that common sense gotten you this far?"

She was hurt by his words, but more than that she was mad at him for the way he always seemed to think his life was better than hers. Of course, he was more adventurous than her and yes, he definitely had a better outlook on life than she did, but still - that didn't give him the right to talk badly about her accomplishments in life. At least, she was getting education and not just putting her fate in the hands of a band that could very well be unheard of in a couple of years.

Seeing her hurt expression, Matty sighed and pulled her close to him, "I'm sorry," He mumbled while he softly kissed her head, "I didn't mean that."

Lacey shook her head, biting down on her lip to stop it from trembling. She hated that his opinion mattered so much to her. It shouldn't, but it did. She wanted so badly of him to approve of her, but she also hated it how he seemed to think that he had the right to approve of her and her previous actions.

Of course, the whole thing with Matty kind of based on her whole 'wanting to break old habits' - thing, but still - it would have been nice to have him say that he was happy she was getting an education, that he liked the way Lacey acted, not just his idea of Lace.

"Tell me what you're thinking about." He begged when she continued to stay silent.

"I'm fine." She sighed and stepped up as the line moved forward.

He grabbed her wrist lightly and made her look at him, "That's bullshit, Lace."

She sighed, "Really, Matthew - nothing's wrong."

"The fact that you just called me Matthew makes it pretty damn obvious that you're pissed off at me." He raised his eyebrows, "Tell me what's bothering you. Yell at me for fuck's sake, you can even hit me if you want - I don't give a fuck as long as you don't swallow up your feelings."

Snapping, Lacey wrung her hand back so that he wasn't touching her anymore, "You want me to tell you what my fucking problem is with you, Matty? Fine." She yelled, not caring that people were starting to look at them, "I hate how you seem to think that you have a right to judge me. Yes, I told you about some things I wasn't happy with in my life, things I wanted to change, but for you to act as if my whole life so far has been a total waste of time is just messed up."

"Excuse me, miss -" A mother hissed, but Matty quickly put his hand up and silenced her with a short "not now."

"Why do you believe that I think your life up til now was a waste?" He asked softly.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes, "Because you fucking act like it! 'Where has your common sense gotten you, Lace?' 'You can finish your paper tonight, Lace it's no big deal' - but it is a big deal for me. Up until now my education has been the only thing I could really be proud of and then you come and turn my whole world upside down and everything just turns fucking crazy."

Looking her straight in the eye, he asked her, "Are you scared?"

Throwing her hands up in frustration, she exclaimed, "What do you even mean by that?"