You (Matty Healy)

// CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE //

(A/N: Don't forget to comment guys, I need your feedback as this is one of the chapters that has been decided by you. Thank you all for the time you put into the survey, lets see what we created together!)

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"Oh!" I said, shock allowing the word to slip out of my mouth. Without thinking, I swung my arm backwards and launched it towards her face, colliding with a hard THUMP. 

"Jesus christ Avery!" she screamed in pain, clutching at her nose. Blood seeped through the cracks in her fingers.

"Go. Away." I seethed, my hands curling into fists at my side. Sophie looked up at me with tears in her eyes, her left cheek smeared slightly with blood as she shoved past me and ran into the kitchen. I followed her in, watching as she grabbed a handful of kitchen roll and pinched it against her nose. 

"I only wanted to talk you fucking psycho!" she groaned, tilting her head back.

"Talk then."

"Isn't there somewhere a bit more private?" she asked, "There's a lot I need to say." Her voice was nasally due to her pinching her nose. Eyeing her suspiciously, I turned on my heel and made my way down to the bottom of the hall.
 
"You're lucky I didn't hit you harder." I spat, closing my bedroom door behind her. 

"I wouldn't have blamed you." She said, perching on the side of my bed. She looked around my room, taking in all the empty hangers scattered across the floor and the suitcase I hadn't unpacked yet disregarded in the corner. We sat in silence; I caught myself glaring at her so hard that it felt odd to finally straighten out my brow. "I-uh, I like your posters." She smiled, pointing up at an old Arctic Monkeys album cover Doug had given me from the shop. 

"Why are you here?" I snapped. She visibly flinched.

"Honestly? I'm not sure anymore. Maybe I should just go-"

"You clearly came here for a reason. What was it?" I asked. She didn't answer, just looked around the room.

"You know when you've been left so heartbroken, you're like a husk of who you once were?" She croaked, looking away from me. "I uh, I struggled. I bet you don't even remember me, do you? From the pizza place?"

"When you were on a date with Matty, yeah I was fully aware." I said, clicking my tongue in annoyance.

"Oh, well I bet you don't know how long I was waiting for that date, do you?" she said, turning to face me. I barely had time to shrug before she started again. "I've known Matty since I was 16. I knew him in Manchester, and I always thought he was amazing. He has this aura, you must have noticed. Everything within a five mile radius crackles with electricity, there's just something about him." Sophie got up and walked over to the pin board above my desk and carefully removed a picture of myself, Matty and the rest of the boys. Her thumb ran smoothly over his glossy printed faced, before showing it to me with a weak smile. "Falling for him was inevitable." 

My chest tightened at the words but I kept my face straight, devoid of emotion. When I didn't reply, she carried on. 

"Thing is, Matty wasn't interested. He was never interested in anyone, back in the day. I'd heard he'd been with a girl for a little while, but it hadn't worked out. I made it my mission to be the person he wanted, he needed. I ended up going to clubs, making contacts and deals with shady people. I ended up being a sort of local celebrity I guess, and it was great. I've always been close to Ross, but Matty was starting to text me constantly, asking me to track down various dealers and other stuff. I felt wanted, and it was great." She placed the picture on my desk, backing away from it and resuming her position on my bed. "He moved to London after a little while and it broke me, really. Luckily a few months later I'd managed to find some work in Camden - it felt like fate. But that's when you came in to the picture." 

"Still failing to see what I have to do with this weird tangent you're going off on." 

"I let Matty know I was in London, and that if he needed anything I was his girl. Next thing I know he's asked me on a date," She smiled at the memory, "I was thrilled. Felt like I'd finally gotten somewhere. I'd put on a pair of heels and done my hair, and honestly? I felt amazing, almost invincible. And then you showed up, your hair like a lions mane and a big stain on your pyjama shirt. I thought you looked ridiculous-"

"Right."

"No really, you looked such a state I honestly-"

"Okay, I get the picture." I said through gritted teeth.

Sophie cleared her throat awkwardly, looking away from me yet again. "My point is, even though you looked like that, Matty's eyes lit up when he saw you. I'd never seen it before in all the years I'd known him. I sat there helplessly, my heart in my throat as he basically chased you out of the restaurant doors. I got outside and lo and behold, there you two are, kissing on the pavement as if you were the only two people on earth." 

"Oh..." I said, a wave of realisation washing over me. I was so wrapped up in my own Matty drama, I'd never even thought about how others caught in the crossfire. 

"I was so angry," she chuckled, though her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, "but more than anything, I was destroyed. I felt like I'd offered my heart on a silver platter. I was angry at him, but more than anything, I was angry at you."

"I never did anything to you, Sophie."

"You stole Matty from me. At least, I thought you did," she sighed and turned to face me, "you need to understand; I've loved Matty for years and have gotten nowhere, and you turn up and within a few weeks you have him wrapped around your little finger."

I sat quietly for a while, her words really beginning to hit home. 

"But uh, yeah. That's where Chad came in to the equation..." My ears suddenly perked up at the name, a lump of bile rising and lodging itself in my throat. 

"What about Chad?"

"Chad was one of my contacts. He's insufferable, but he knows his stuff. Probably one of the best suppliers around our age, and because he's so rich he can get his way out of most things; super useful. Anyway, a few weeks later I was picking up some ketamine for one of my other clients, and Chad was fucking losing it. Raging about how he was going to kill Matty, hunt him down and pull out his teeth, blah blah blah. Obviously I got him talking, and found out everything that had happened - the party, the gig, everything. When he mentioned your name, I don't know I just saw red. We got drunk and were bitching about how much we hated the both of you, how great it would be to see you both get what you deserved. Things just escalated and-"

"Oh my god!" I shouted, pointing an accusatory finger in to her face. "You fucking planned it, didn't you?! The whole of our time in Idaho you were scheming, just to get us to break up!" I could feel my cheeks redden as I shouted at her, but all she did was look at the floor. 

"I'm not proud of the things I've done-"

"That's fucking rich, you seemed pretty proud when I found you naked in his bed, smirking at me as if to say you'd won." I snarled, perching on the end of my desk and running a hand down my face. In all the commotion, I hadn't even realised I was still sat in my towel. I quickly grabbed my dressing gown and pulled it around me, fastening it in a tight knot before reeling back round to Sophie.

"I can't imagine how that felt for you. I feel awful about it, I really do Avery. It's only since things have been going so well with Chad that I realised that when I thought back on you and Matty, I felt guilt and shame rather than anger and heartbreak."

"So what, you suddenly dropped all feelings for Matty? 7 years worth of loving someone just down the drain?" I asked, and Sophie just merely shook her head with a small smile.

"I don't think I'll ever stop loving him. He's the one that got away." She said with a sigh, lifting herself up and walking over to face me. "But I've made my peace with it. It's taken me a long time to realise that my infatuation was turning me into someone I didn't like; someone vindictive and cruel. Allowing myself to fall for someone new, for Chad, was something I didn't think was possible, but it's probably the best thing I've done in a long time."

"Yet Chad is still out for Matty, so if this is another trick you can shove it up your a-"

"No, no! I convinced Chad to write off Matty's debt! Let's face it, he was never going to get it back so it was his own fault for setting up a tab in the first place."

"Oh... well uh, that's...nice...of you?" I said.

"I want to be his friend Avery, and I want to be yours too, if you'll allow it." She smiled, outstretching her free hand. "Olive branch?" 

Hesitantly, I took her hand and shook it gently. Sophie's entire posture changed, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. A knock on the door interrupted our peace offering, and I barely had time to say the words 'come in' before the door opened wide. 

"Aves I've brought you some-" Matty began, rustling through a plastic bag. He looked up at us and his jaw dropped, and so did the bag he was carrying.