𝘽-𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙚

Ｎｅｖｅｒ ｌｏｃｋｉｎｇ ｄｏｏｒ

Ｔｈｉｒｔｙ Ｅｉｇｈｔ-Ｎｅｖｅｒ ｌｏｃｋｉｎｇ ｄｏｏｒ

The door to the studio flies open, revealing a very drunk Matteo. He was wearing the same white dress shirt and jeans from yesterday. The white of the shirt now stained with brown whiskey stains.

Matteo drunkenly walks into the room with shards of glass stuck in his palm. Charlotte gasps at the sight and rushes off her chair,

"Matteo, what happened?" She goes to hold his palms but he jerks them back. The glass pop's itself out of his palms and falls into her arms. Charlotte jerks back and holds her arm in pain. I get up quickly, rolling my sleeves up and going to Charlotte's sleeve. I look at the hefty piece of glass,

"Stop." My voice booms at Matteo who freezes in place hearing my voice. His eyes narrow at me as I slowly wedge the piece of glass out of her skin, praying that it didn't piece deep. I walk over to the first aid kit and pull out a bandage, only to have Matteo try to charge at me.

"You." He spits the word out, trying to claw his way to me. I quickly move out of the way, wincing when I feel his rough hand pull my blonde hair.

"Let go!" I grunt, turning to the left and right, trying to get my hair free. I quickly look towards Louie with pleading eyes, hoping he could help. He shakes his head mouthing, 'wait for Tommy'. I nod slightly, hoping to not catch Matteo's attention. I take my elbow and hammer it into his rib, immediately running to Charlotte, whose bleeding had slowed down.

Tommy finally comes into frame and holds Matteo by the waist, Louie coming in to help him. I skiter over into Charlotte's embrace, making sure to put the band-aid over her cut.

"Snap out of it Matteo." Louie screams, his veins popping out of his neck. The man cranes his neck to look at the two people holding him,

"How could I snap out of it? Archie's whole career was ruined because of her." His finger points towards me and I gasp, me? What did I do to him?

Tommy glares at him and I notice Matteo visibly pale. I raised a brow, what was going on?

"What were you going to say?" I ask, my stern tone never wavering. Matteo's mouth firms into a thick line and I knew I would have to push him past his limit.

"How was I going to ruin Archie's career? Huh?" I ask, roaming around the recently freed Matteo. I occasionally poke him once in a while, trying to get him riled up. I could see his nails digging into the flesh of his palm, meaning I was close.

"Would you mind telling me Matteo?" I ask with a honey dripping tone, contrasting darkly with my bolder tone that I put on earlier. Finally, Matteo lashes out again and I step outside in the nick of time.

"We were doing so well with writing and performing until Tommy introduced you to him. After that it was all steamy songs, the stuff that most fans didn't want. We tried to explain it to him but all that was on his mind was meeting you again." He spits out and I stand there, stunned.

"But he was so rude to me." I say, remembering what happened that day at the concert.

"He doesn't know how to act around girls. They usually throw themselves to him. Then walked in you, with your live aid shirt and mom jeans." He quiets down at the last part, playing with his fingers. He was finally sober.

"All that we would be hearing after that was 'I want to meet her.' or 'I want to play a song by Talulah.' So he tasked your ex-friend with finding things out about you. We had also needed a new writer so you were there to save the day." He looks around nervously and then runs out of the room. I sit onto the couch and set my head in my hands. I had ruined his career?

"Stargirl?" I hear Tommy slowly tiptoe over to me. His hand slides up and down my back as I slowly raise up, looking at my group of friends. Friends. Could I even call them that?

"Yes?" I ask softly. I had a bundle of thoughts running through my mind, some faster than others.

"Are you gonna tell Archie?" He asks as I get up, lightly pulling my hair in frustration.

"About what?" I ask, I wouldn't tell Archie about Matteo spilling his crush. Would I go that far?

"About his situation?" Louie asks, spinning his drumsticks anxiously. I take a look at their faces, my eyes lingering on Charlotte's face. Her brows were drawn tightly and her mouth was wobbling. I took this job to help them and it would take more than a harmless crush to stop me.

"I won't tell him." I nod, holding out my pinky to secure my promise. Louie connects his pinky, then comes Charlotte who goes but then stops in her tracks,

"This isn't fair." She mumbles, playing with her fingers.

"What do you mean it isn't fair?" I question, holding her hands gently, trying to get minds off the thoughts that were swimming in her head. Since Charlotte had OCD, her thoughts would run over her head and she would have episodes. Usually Matteo would try his best to help but he wasn't here.

"We're pressuring you to join our crew. I don't want to do that to you because you're my friend ." She murmurs and I look down, letting out a sharp exhale.

"Friends sometimes do things for their friends that sacrifice things. It happens Char and that's okay." I sooth her as she slowly comes back to her usual state of mind.

"Are you sure?" She asks, her eyebrows raising in concern.

"Yes." I playfully sigh and hold out my pinky in order for her to connect it with hers. She smiles and connects it with hers, leaving Tommy to connect his.

"Thank you." He mutters, connecting his pinky.

"Welco-" I start to say but are interrupted by Archie bursting in,

"What kind of cult is going on?" He raises an eyebrow at our pinky connection.

"DOES THAT DOOR EVER LOCK?"