Au Bord de la Mer - Redux

Drinks & Conversations

Despite being rather sloshed and feeling sleep begging him to succumb, Matty arrived at the club much more attentive than before. 

It was not in a hyper-noticable way that would draw unwanted attention or lead people to believe he had ulterior motives, but in a thoughtful one. One that showed he had taken his current situation with Rylee more into perspective and was committed to acting on it.  

He doted on her. He brought her into conversations with his gaggle of bandmates when they fell into their own little world and asked her about her opinions. He tried to offer her connections with them, allowing her to navigate the group on her own time and in her own way. Most importantly, he started treating her more like a friend. This, above all, was the most important thing he did in Rylee's eyes. Even with all the chaos of the club around them, he was giving her, albeit brief, a better glimpse of what life could be like with him. A glimpse at what they could be like.

Though still overwhelmed by it all, Rylee had to admit: she appreciated it a lot.

The night proceeded like any night out from there. The boys continued to goof off and do shots, Rylee asked them questions about their lives, and they relaxed in each other's company. She even got asked to dance by Ross to an old '80s hit. It was asked with such an innocence and performed so comically that Rylee hardly had the chance to think twice about accepting it. Even Matty, as drawn to her as he was already, could not help but laugh from his spot at their table as they flailed about together under the flashing lights. They returned to their seats in fits of giggles, and when they did, Matty pulled Rylee close and pressed a kiss to her cheek. She smiled, warmth filling her heart. 

More drunken antics continued not long after as the boys -- sans Matty, who had had enough for one day -- took more shots. Ross and George soon found themselves bickering incessantly over the best pub the band should go to in Ireland. George claimed it was a sports pub outside of Belfast, and Ross was keen on defending some pub by the ocean that had a mermaid on its door. Rylee, having never traveled to Ireland and holding zero knowledge of her own, gathered through slurred musings from Adam that neither of the boys really knew what they were talking about themselves, and that the pubs they mentioned did not exist -- at least, not in Ireland. She found it all incredibly amusing and nodded along whenever one of them turned to her for support.

Matty had found her amusement incredibly amusing himself. 

He, having no dog in the fight, had not been listening to his friends bicker as intently as she had. Instead, he had checked out while nursing his glass of water to focus on Rylee. She caught glimpses of him sneaking glances at her between sips and smiling when she entertained Ross or George's pleas. She also caught him twirl a bit of her golden hair around his finger, which brought a sickeningly domestic feeling to her stomach and elicited a soft, rosy blush from him. The longer he continued to distract her like that, the more Rylee felt herself, too, check out of the conversation. 

She nearly went to start up a conversation all-their-own when her phone lit up. 

Cursing under her breath, she snatched it from the table. 

Lynn.

"Who's that?"

"Your worst nightmare if I'm being honest," she joked, turning the screen for Matty to see. "It's my roommate, Lynn. She's probably dying to speak to me after what I told her earlier."

"What did you tell?"

"I may or may not have mentioned something about the kiss," she confessed, dodging his eyes for her drink. He waited for her to finish her sip before nudging her to get her attention. Once he did, he smirked.