andromeda // matty healy au

Blue Velvet

The days passed by.

Pouring coffee, rehearsal in the evenings, and narrowly missing Matty while I tried to sort out my feelings.  During the week, I had some downtime.  The café was pretty slow more often than not, but enough people came around to keep me on my feet for most of my shift.  I was always moving and dancing during rehearsal at the club.  Sometimes I would run down to the club as part of my warm up, and then the walk home would be part of a cool down.

Friday is where the club job started to get more interesting.  There was no show, but the performers were able to serve drinks.  It was a way to get tips quickly and helped earn a good rapport from customers.  Being so up close and personal to some people, I often used this as a way promote the show.  It was a way to keep 'em coming back.  I even knew some of the regular's drinks off by heart and would bring them one once they sat down.  Saturday would always be the best day, though.  The first show was my favourite.

After my café shift, I had a bit of time to kill before I needed to be at the club.  Walking up the stairs to my flat, I heard music from behind Matty's door.  An acoustic guitar, a single beating drum and light vocals. The instruments stopped and started frequently, and in the silence, voices would make a comment or two.  I decided to knock on the door, because the music was absolutey infectious.

The instruments stopped once again, and the door opened to reveal Matty in some joggers, a black tee and a lazy bed of curls.  When he saw me, he looked relieved, like the fear he had done something wrong was lifted.

"It sounds really good in there." I told him with a smile.  I peered into his living room and saw George, the one that served us at the restaurant, and two other men I didn't recognize.

"Thanks, we've been working on this one song for like an hour."  He yawned, which made me think it had been longer than an hour.

"Is it okay if I talk to you for a sec?"  I inquired.  Matty cocked his head to the side and closed the door behind him.  He leaned back against his doorframe and looked at me down the length of his nose.  He was expectant, as I stared down at my shoes and prepared my apology.

"I'm sorry if it seemed like I've been short with you lately.  I feel like I've been catching up with everything for the past few days.  I'm so sorry if I made you feel like you were doing something wrong." I bit my lip and looked back at him, he was still staring at me.  "So yeah, I'm sorry for that.  Just had a lot on my mind."

He stood off of the doorframe and pulled me into a soft hug.  "You wanna talk about it?"  He asked.

"Not really." I replied, lifting my arms to hug him back.

"Okay, then. No problem." He let me out of his arms. "But let me know if you do, alright?  Hey, would you wanna hear something I've been working on?"  Matty said as he opened his front door again.

"Yeah, I'd love that. Only for a little while though."  I stepped into his entryway as he quickly introduced his friends to me.  They sat in his living room, which was decorated with brick patterned wallpaper, and exposed lighting fixtures.  I noticed his shelves of records again, sitting next to his player.

Pointing to a lanky blonde and a taller brunette, Matty said "Adam and Ross, this is Celeste."  They both waved to me as I stood awkwardly in the corner of the room.  They sat on black leather chairs.  "You remember George." Matty told me as he excitedly picked up his guitar.

I noticed all the pieces of papers on the floor and side table. They littered the room and had scribbled lyrics and musical patterns.  On one note, there were venue names and numbers, many were crossed out, and I wondered if those ones were crossed out because they had performed there already or the venue had declined a performance.