Close As Strangers - AFI

Chapter 8

It was getting dark outside and Sabina still didn't have a place to sleep, she hoped she would have made some money with her music, but it wasn't quite enough to afford accommodation, which meant she needed to find another solution. 

She could, of course, call her aunt, but she would most likely ask questions or call her mother. The same would happen when she went over to a friend's house, their parents would get worried or call her mother, so that wasn't an option. 

Eventually, Sabina decided it would be safest to spend another night at Ben's, her bruises were still covered by makeup and he usually didn't really ask questions.

Arriving at Ben's, Sabina saw that Matthew was working. Matthew was only a few years older than she was, and he was always very friendly to her.

'Hey Matt!' Sabina greeted as she entered the bar. 

'Hey, Sab!' Matthew greeted back, giving the girl a smile.

'Haven't seen you here for quite some time.' Sabina said, assuming the boy had been on a vacation.

'Yeah, uni is keeping me busy.' Matthew sighed. Sabina believed he studied at medical school, which she thought was very cool.

'How have you been? How's uni?' Sabina asked. Even though she only saw Matthew when she came to Ben's, she still saw him as one of her best friends; she didn't have many friends.

'Busy, but good.' Matthew answered, while pouring Sabina a drink and offering it to her. 

Sabina took place on a bar stool, thanking Matthew for the drink he got her. She thought for a minute about trusting him and telling him about her situation, but she was scared. 

'What brings you here? Trouble at home?' Matthew asked, he knew Sabina sometimes had fights with her mom, she had told him when she was drunk. What he didn't know was how bad it could get. 

'Yeah, you know what my mother's like.' Sabina sighed, she looked hurt.

'If there's ever anything I can help you with, please let me know.' Matthew offered, feeling bad for the girl.

'Thank you,' Sabina replied, knowing there was nothing he could possibly do for her, 'that's very kind.'

Matthew offered her a smile and then walked away to grab something from the kitchen.

Sabina took place at one of the sofa's, sipping from her beer, it'd been a long day so she was glad to be in this quiet pub, where only Matthew could disturb her peace. She thought about Ashton and the other guys, the concert, the fans, and everything she had experienced in the past two days; it'd been crazy.

'You have a guitar?' Matthew suddenly asked, noticing the instrument Sabina had brought with. 

'Yeah, I bought it today.' Sabina told him.

'Can you play something for me?' Matthew asked hopefully.

'I'm actually really tired, but maybe another time.' Sabina smiled.

'Oh, alright. Are you sleeping here?' Matthew asked, he didn't work at Ben's very often so he'd only seen Sabina crash there once or twice.

'Yeah, the sofa's are comfortable enough.' Sabina smiled. 

'You know, I actually have a guest room. You could spend the night at mine if you like?' Matthew suggested.

'For real?' Sabina asked, she liked the sound of that. A room for herself at Matthew's place. She knew she could trust him.

'Of course! But only if you promise to play me a song tomorrow.' Matthew proposed. 

'Sure. Thank you so much!' Sabina said.

'You will have to wait until clothing time, though. I do have to finish my shift.' Ben said, the place was empty but closing wasn't until another 3 hours.

'That's fine, I'll just watch some tv shows on my phone.' Sabina said, the sofa's were comfortable and she could easily waste some hours with binge watching Netflix.

As the hours went by, Sabina had actually fallen asleep on the sofa and was woken up by Matthew, telling her it was time to go. Sabina was confused for a minute, until she remembered where she was. 'Right, thanks for waking me.' She smiled, as she got up and followed Matthew to the exit.

Matthew's apartment was very nice, it was situated close to the city centre and had a big kitchen and living area, two bedrooms and a small garden. Matthew also had a cat which was sleeping peacefully on a kitchen chair. 

'This will be your room for tonight.' Matthew said, as he walked into a cosy room with white walls and a wooden floor, there was a twin sized bed in the middle of the room and a small closet next to the door. Matthew had decorated the room with plants and some paintings which Sabina guessed he had drawn himself. 'Thank you so much.' Sabina said kindly as she sat down on the bed.

'There's a bathroom at the end of the hallway, and there's a clean towel in your closet if you need to shower.' Matthew told her.

'Thanks Matt, I appreciate it a lot.' Sabina said, she didn't know how to thank him enough.

'Any time. You can stay as long as you want.' He said, something Sabina hadn't expected from him.

'That's very kind of you. I think I'm going to get ready for bed now.' Sabina said and shot the boy a thankful smile.

'Of course, good night!' Matthew said before walking away.

'Good night.' Sabina said back, as she made her way over to the bathroom to brush her teeth and change into the oversized shirt she had gotten from Ashton - he had told her to keep it after she'd worn it last night. She was wondering if he was in his plane already, he probably was. It would be a very long flight to Australia. She would text him the next day to see if he landed already. 

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A/N sorry, really short chapter. More will follow soon.