Robbers (The 1975//Matty Healy)

Stay

I could hardly sleep after what happened. Sheryl called me the next day making sure I was alright. She made me take two more weeks off, now that meant the whole month. She said I would need time to mentally and physically deal with what had happened. I was thankful for her.

I felt bad for Matty though, every night since Jake almost kidnapped me, I've woken up screaming because of nightmares. And every time I woke myself up, I would wake Matty up as well. I was grateful for him though, he would stay up with me and help me go back to sleep.

Tonight was especially bad, I was kicking and screaming, but I couldn't wake up.

The dream was awful, Jake came back, but this time he got me all the way downstairs and outside into a car. Then Matty came running out and tackled him, but he didn't come out on top this time. He was on the ground and Jake stood up and pulled out a gun and shot him. I tried unlocking the door and banging on the window, but nothing worked. I watched Matty bleed out on the ground.

Matty ended up shaking me awake. When I woke up, I came face to face with him. His eyes were filled with fear and he had worry written all over his face. "Rose are you alright?" I didn't answer him, I dove into his arms and held him tight. He didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around me. I cried into his chest as he whispered "Shh it's okay, you're okay. I'm right here." We stayed like that for an hour, until I calmed down. He laid me back down and was walking out when I stopped him.

"Wait, Matty?"

"Yeah, love?" he stopped at the doorway.

"Please, stay?" I asked softly. He stood there for a second just staring at me and I stared back.

He smiled, "Of course." He came back over to my bed and laid down on top of the covers and scooted next to me. I laid down as well, my back facing him, and he wrapped his arms around me. I felt safe with him, safer than I had ever felt with Jake.

After a while, I assumed Matty fell asleep so I carefully turned around to face him. Now I was looking directly at his sleeping face. I took in every detail of his face, the little scars and marks, the freckles, the little bit of fuzz on his chin, everything. The sides of his head were shaved a while ago and now I could see how much one side had grown. As I reached out to touch his cheek gently, he opened his eyes, smirking. I jumped back a little, embarrassed.

"What are you doing?" he whispered.

"I don't know." I said, putting my hand on his cheek anyways.

He laughed and wrapped his arms around me again, pulling me close. We stayed like that for a while.

"Matty?"

"Yea?"

I thought for a moment before I spoke, "will you stay?" I asked.

"Yea, I already told you I would."

"No, I mean will you stay with me here, in my apartment? Like when you're all healed, will you still stay?" I had been thinking lately about what was gonna happen when Matty was all better. I didn't want to be alone and Matty made me feel safe. I didn't want him to leave.

"You want me to stay?" he asked in disbelief.

"Of course I want you to stay."

"I'll stay for as long as you want me to."

"Thank you." I leaned over and kissed his cheek. I snuggled my head into his chest and closed my eyes. He kissed the top of my hair and tightened his arm around me.

The next morning I woke up alone. Matty was already awake in the kitchen making tea for himself and coffee for me. He handed me the mug when I walked out. "Get ready, I need to show you something soon." He said sipping his tea.

"What are you gonna show me?"

"The reason why I started robbing people. I hardly told you anything about my past so I guess today is the day I will."

"Matty you don't have to." I had bothered him about his past before and he just got upset.

"No, I want to." He smiled, walking over and pulling me into a hug. "I trust you enough to tell you now." He whispered. "By the way my friends might be there so I'm just warning you now they're pretty odd."

"Friends? You have friends?" I teased.