You (Matty Healy)

// CHAPTER TWELVE //

I kept waking up in the night because of this strange man in my bed. The strange man that snored timidly with curls surrounding his head on the pillow that we shared. The man who's mouth was parted slightly as he dreamed of things I'd never know about. The man who's arm had been tightly wrapped around my stomach for the entirety of the night, not shifting an inch. The man who had one of my legs trapped inbetween the two of his whilst we slept next to each other, intertwined and silent as the night was slowly taken over by the day, the moon saying its last goodbyes as the sun shone through the tatty old blinds covering my window.

I kept waking up because I had no idea why he was here. His words kept playing back in my mind.

"Is this your bird?" Chad had asked.

"No." Matty had snapped instantly, looking over at me and crinkling his nose, as if the idea had disgusted him.

None of this made sense. He'd denied the idea entirely, but had lunged for Chad the first moment he'd laid a finger on me. George had quoted Matty saying I 'had a face straight out a magazine.' I'd helped him in the bathroom when he was crying, he even said he didn't want me to see him in that state and didn't take the rest of the cocaine. 

And now he was lying in my bed, clutching on to me for dear life. So what was going on? Is there a deeper meaning to all of this, or am I just somebody to pass the time? Maybe he was just drunk.

I tried to detatch myself slowly, pulling my leg out from underneath his and lifting his arm off my waist and lifting myself off of the bed slightly.

"Ave?" He said groggily, his eyes still shut. 

"Yeah?" I replied slowly and silently, my voice barely audiable. 

"Where are you going?" He asked, reaching out for me again. His fingertips reached my cold arm and he took a sharp intake of breath, before pulling me back into him and wrapping his arms around my back tightly. That's the drunk excuse out of the window.

"You're freezing." He said, pulling the duvet up right to the bottom of my chin. His eyes were still shut and to the eye he would have seemed to be asleep, but his thumb tenderly stroking my back in small circular movements proved that he was anything but.

"You're a duvet hog." I yawned, stroking my bare arms and feeling the goosebumps start to disappear. "I have to get breakfast." 

"You don't have to do anything. Stay with me." Matty whsipered into my hair, pulling me tighter and resting his chin on my head. The temptation was great, to stay in his arms and sleep the day away with no interruptions apart from the steady sound of his heartbeat. But I was too confused, too dazed to even comprehend what was happening right now. What had happened in the last 24 hours. I had to get my head together.

"No." I said, pulling myself away and quickly darting out of the bed and grabbing a pair of shorts  from floor. I pulled them on and made my way to the door, but not before looking back at the curly mess of a now sober man, sitting up in my bed watching me with a confused expression as I declined his offer and exited the room.

"There she is." Brad grinned as I entered the kitchen area, tickling my sides as I walked past him. He was stood by the doorway, and a very grumpy looking Callum was sat at the table playing with his bowl of weetabix.

"What?" I asked, standing on my tiptoes to grab a box of frosted flakes from the top cupboard.

"Man in your bed last night, tut tut." Brad grinned.

"What? Who?" Callum piped up, his eyes burning into me with judgement. Before I could reply, Matty had poked his head around the doorway. His hair was wet and he was topless, his jacket slung over one of his shoulders.

"Helped myself to a shower. You're out of shampoo." He simply said to nobody in particular, before lifting a finger awkwardly and doing a half salute before turning around and grabbing the handle of the exit.

"Wait! You're not staying mate?" Brad grinned, nodding his head in my direction and winking.

"No." Matty said, looking at me for a split second before turning the handle and walking out the door, slamming it behind him. I looked down at my feet in an attempt to hide my disappointment at the sight of him leaving without even a goodbye, without any acknowledge of me and the night we had just spent together.

"Well that was awkward. Clearly not as skilled in bed as I'd have thought Avery, 7/10 for effort though." Brad continued to tease.

"We didn't do anything. He just slept there." I sighed sleeping, shoving a mouthful of cereal into my mouth.

"Oh fuck that then, 4/10. Your body is an entertainment system, let it entertain!" Brad smirked again, before chuckling to himself.

"Just shut up. Shut. Up." Callum snapped, making both me and Brad jump slightly. He grabbed his bag from behind his chair and stood up and made his way to the door, letting it slam for the second time that morning.

"What's up with him?" I asked, wide eyed at Callum's outburst. He was mostly a calm and laidback kind of person, and was rarely known to be in a bad mood. 

"Think he's just stressed out at the minute, we have a huge geography mock exam at the end of the week." Brad shrugged, clearly thinking nothing more of it.

"Well I'm not surprised, you rarely go to your lessons. I'm surprised you're even awake, especially on a sunday." I mocked.

"Yeah, about that." Brad sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Emily came back this morning and woke us both up. She went into wake you up too, but you had company." 

Shit.

"What?" I croaked, panic washing through me. Emily was very close with my mum, and if she'd have told her about Matty sleeping in my bed I'd never hear the end of it.

"Yeah. She kinda opened the door, shut it again and went to her room. She hasn't been out since." 

"Fantastic." I grimaced, before placing my bowl in the sink and allowing my feet to direct me to the place I was dreading the most. With the whole situation with Matty last night and this morning, and the news of the return of Emily, this morning was off to a brilliant start.