smoking by eleven : the 1975

Chocolate

It was impossible to ignore the sounds of Matty and Gemma shouting back and forth from the living room. Matty was pissed off with George and he needed someone to take it out on, I offered for that person to be me, but Matty refused.

I tried to focus on something other than their voices, like the posters on Matty's walls, but that didn't help. Every minute, Matty and Gemma's voices got louder, and it was harder for me to resist ease dropping.

I ended up walking across Matty's bedroom and turning on his record player, blasting a Death Metal album. To my delight, the screaming of the music blurred out the screaming of Gemma and Matty.

After a few minutes of flipping through random books on in Matty's room, his bedroom door flung open.

Matty's eyes were bloodshot and the skin on his fists were cut open. He didn't try to say anything to me, if he did, I wouldn't be able to hear it over the music. He just paced back and forth in front of my spot on the edge of his bed.

Once Matty cooled down, he walked over to the record player and turned off the ear-drop-bursting music. I quickly walked towards Matty as he slowly lifted his head.

I was about to say something, when Matty wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. I could feel his tears drip on my t-shirt.

"Thanks for being here, Charlie." He whispered, pulling me closer.

I nodded, even though he couldn't see it. Suddenly, the door bursted open and a very angry Gemma emerged. Her makeup was running down her face, along with a load of tears.

The air in the room immediately began to thicken and I noticed myself taking a few steps away from Matty and Gemma.

"Listen, I'm sorry." Gemma exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, too." Matty mumbled, taking a quick look behind him to glance at me. I stood there awkwardly as Gemma took a few steps closer to Matty.

She leaned in and wrapped her hands around Matty's neck. As they pulled away, she went straight for a kiss, completely forgetting that they weren't alone in the room. As Gemma pulled back from the kiss, she had a faint smile on her face, while Matty shifted uncomfortably.

"Charlie, if you don't mind, could you stay downstairs tonight?" Gemma asked, her voice so soft that I couldn't refuse.

"Sure." I replied, clearing my throat. Gemma smiled back and grabbed a blanket from Matty's bed, handing it to me. "Thanks." I whispered.

I looked back at Matty, but he was preoccupied, so I pushed past Gemma and made my way downstairs and into the living room.

I laid the blanket down on the couch and plopped on it, bringing my hands underneath my head.

Surprisingly, I was able to fall asleep on the hard couch with a thin blanket. "Charlie, Are you awake?"

"Yeah," I whispered. The lights were off and all I could see was pitch black, and the outline of Matty's lean body.

I felt the sheets ruffle as he sat on the couch, resting a sizable hand on my thigh. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it." I replied, shaking my head.

"No, I need to apologize. I should have told Gemma to leave." Matty spoke. "It should have been me sleeping on this couch, and I should have defended you."

"Matty, it's fine. It's not even a big deal," I assured, "and it's not like we had anything going on between us, right?"

"Yeah," Matty chuckled. He ran his hands through his dark hair and sighed.

"Yeah." I repeated.

"But we both know that's not true, right? I mean, I like you. A lot. And maybe I took the signs the wrong way or maybe I'm just an idiot, but I think you like me too." Matty blurted. I stayed silent, following intently on what he was saying. "So let's just accept that and do whatever with it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I smiled. I knew he couldn't see me in the dark; but the fact that Matty was acting nervous, gave me butterflies and made me smile.

"I mean, if we're gonna do anything, we might as well just fuck."