wanderlust | m.m.

six.

it had been about a week since i had met mat, and i hadn't seen him since our lone interaction. not that i had expected otherwise. it wasn't like i had given him any way of contacting me. in fact, it was unlikely that he even remembered me. he was a well known guy who was probably too busy with more important things than remembering some girl he had met at a club.

still, i couldn't help but keep an eye out for him everywhere i went, especially when i was at work. it wasn't a far fetched idea that he might walk into the restaurant i worked at, see me behind the bar, then come over and say hi. well, i guess it was kind of far fetched considering it hadn't happened yet.

i wasn't quite sure why i wanted to see him again so badly. there was just something that intrigued me about him. something that made my mind wander to him throughout my every day routine. something that made me want to get to know him better.

in the hopes of doing so, i had started listening to his music in my spare time. he was an emotional guy, and you could tell from his lyrics. i wasn't quite sure how i hadn't ever heard of him before, especially since watson was a fan of his.

i had also followed him on instagram. he wasn't that hard to find considering that he was a musician and had a decent following. he didn't follow me back, but i wasn't surprised because he probably had hundreds of notifications coming in at a time. still, it was nice to get a little peek into his life.

he seemed to spend most of his time in los angeles, but i had no idea if he was still here or not. like i said, he was a busy guy and probably had all sorts of things going on all over the country, or even the world.

startling me out of my thoughts, i heard a knock. i opened the door to reveal watson standing in the hallway outside of my apartment. "you ready to go?"

i grabbed my bag and keys off the hooks on the wall, then stepped out into the hallway, closing and locking the door behind me. together watson and i walked out of the apartment complex, then started our way down the street. we were going grocery shopping, something that we did on a weekly basis. it wasn't super exciting, but it was a way to ensure that we spent time with each other, especially when we both had busy weeks and didn't see much of one another. the grocery store was just a couple of blocks away from both of our apartments, so we walked.

"so, had any run ins with blackbear yet?" watson prompted as we walked.

i rolled my eyes and looked up at him. "no watson. i would have told you if i had seen him. and quit calling him that. his name is mat."

"i know," he sighed. "i'm sorry. it's just weird for me to call him that. i've always known him as blackbear."

"well it's weird for me to call him blackbear. he's not an animal. he's a person. so call him mat."

watson looked at me and chewed on the inside of his cheek. he then let out another sigh. "ok, i'll do my best."

the rest of the way to the store, watson walked with his long arm slung across my shoulders. we made casual conversation, speaking about nothing of much importance. when the automatic sliding doors granted us entrance to the store, watson removed his arm and grabbed a cart for us to share. he pushed it, leading us through the aisles as we grabbed what we needed. watson let out a chuckle when i added a bag of frozen strawberries to the cart.

"when are you going to start growing your own strawberries?" he asked.

"and why would i do that?" i shot back.

"really luci? you go through a whole bag of those things every week," he laughed.

"i don't know what you want me to say. you know i like strawberries. i don't judge you for your love of waffles, do i?"

"hey there is nothing wrong with waffles. they make for a quick and easy breakfast."

i just laughed and shook my head in response. we continued to make our way through the aisles, picking up whatever items we needed. after a few more minutes of shopping, watson cleared his throat. "hey, i'm gonna run to the bathroom really quickly."

"mkay. don't get stuck," i teased.

watson shot me a frown. "i'm not gonna get stuck," he grumbled, then walked down the aisle, turned the corner and disappeared. for the next few minutes, i continued to work my way through the aisles. i turned when i heard a voice say my name, though it didn't belong to watson.

there he was. standing behind me - well in front of me now, i guess - was mat. as soon as i recognized him, a big smile broke out onto my face. "hey mat. what are you doing here?"

he returned my smile and took a couple of steps closer to me. "i was just out and about and needed a few things before heading home, so i stopped in. i wasn't expecting to see you here, although it's a nice surprise."

for some reason, his words made me blush. "oh, yeah. watson and i come here all the time. it's the closest grocery store to our apartments."

"watson? he's your drunk friend from the club?"

"yeah," i laughed, thinking back to that night. watson  had been shit faced that night and had acted pretty strangely. "again, i'm sorry about that."

mat chuckled and shrugged. "it's all good." for a few moments, we just stood there looking at each other. i didn't know why, but i felt a blush rising to my cheeks. i cleared my throat and turned away, trying to keep him from noticing. i opened my mouth to say something, but closed it again when he spoke. "so, i have a show coming up next week. it's just a small one but i was wondering if you'd like to come. you can bring watson if you want."

i stared at him, taken aback a bit. "you want me to come to a show? um, i-i don't have that kind of money."

"don't worry about that. just come to the back and give security your name. if you have any trouble, just give me a call." as he spoke, he pulled a pen and small piece of paper out of his pocket. "here's the address. friday night. 8:30." i took the paper from him. i could make out an address and a string of ten digits beneath it written in a messy handwriting. "i'll see you there."

before i could say anything, mat was walking past me. just as he was about to turn the corner, i heard footsteps approaching and turned to see watson. his eyes were focused on where mat had just been. "is that who i think it was?"

i nodded, still taken aback by what had just happened. i had been invited to one of his shows, and he had given me his number.

watson let out a loud sigh. "are you fucking kidding me? of course he had to show up when i was gone. i want to show him that i'm not some weird guy."

"well maybe you shouldn't have taken so long in the bathroom," i replied.

"sorry. i had to take a shit." i looked at him, my eyebrows furrowed in disgust. i scoffed and turned away, resuming with the shopping. "well what did he want?"

i held up the hand in which i held the slip of paper. "he invited us to a show."

"what?" watson snatched the paper out of my grip before i could anything to stop him. his eyes quickly scanned over the writing. "holy fuck, he gave you his number."

"it's just so i can call him if security gives us a hard time," i explained.

"why would security give us a hard time?"

"because we don't have tickets. he said to just go around the back and give security our names."

"holy shit," watson breathed. he seemed just as shocked as i was. "so, we're going right?"

• • •

ooooo luci got them digits.

this chapter's a little bit longer, so i hope you guys enjoyed.

fyi, i got the whole plot for the story planned out, so maybe i'll actually finish this book lol. i'm excited to see how this story progresses and i hope you guys are too.

hope you like the picture at the top, it's recent and it's also one of my favorites of him. i mean, he's got a dog. what could be better?

anyway, leave comments and be sure to vote if you enjoyed.

thanks,

maren