CAPTURE THIS (Updating regularly)

Chapter 7

The car door suddenly opened, seemingly relieving all traces of Matty's emotional break down. 

"I got the ice cream," Zora announced from the front as she shut her door. "Mint chocolate, just like you asked."

"Sounds amazing," Amber commented, glancing anxiously at Matty who was staring down at his keys. 

They drove to Matty's place keeping the conversation light hearted. 

From the way the house looked, any other person would not have been able to tell that there had been a fight, but Amber noticed the subtle signs. There was a mix of glass bottles on the table. Matty wasn't much of a drinker but there seemed to be every kind of alcoholic drink that he could find in their flat on the table. On the sofa was a pillow and a duvet for a double bed. Clearly, hadn't wanted to sleep in his bed alone. Many of the photographs were gone. Matty and Lindsey were a proud couple who adorned their house with numerous pictures, but the only one that was left was of Lindsey and Matty on the day they had met at summer camp. 

Matty grabbed his duvet and pillow off of the sofa and threw them into the room whilst Zora and Saf helped clear the coffee table so that they could lay out the food. Amber sat helplessly in an armchair, regretful that she couldn't do anything with her crutches. 

Once the living room was cleared, they all sat around the coffee table and dug into the food. 

"I wanted to thank you guys for coming over," Matty told them, taking a sip from his coke. "Tonight would have been really hard but I'm glad you guys are here." 

Zora flashed Matty a smile. "You should thank Amber, it was her idea."

Amber, who had been feeling guilty that she hadn't picked up the phone night before, looked up and threw Zora a polite smile. "Just doing my job as best friend." 

Saf rolled his eyes. "God, stop being all mushy. You need to be distracted, Matty."

Matty nodded. "I agree with you there. Do you have anything in mind?"

Saf glanced at Amber inquisitively and Amber knew immediately what he meant: he was asking permission to bring up Alex and the teacher/student dilemma. Amber nodded. 

"I don't know if Amber told you about the guy from the forest," he began. 

Matty glanced at Amber curiously and nodded. "Yeah, we went to go track him down and then Amber had lunch with the guy. I never found out what happened."

Amber silently picked the mushrooms off of her pizza and nibbled on them whilst she watched Saf tell her story. 

"Well, hold on to your seat, my friend, because the guy from the forest - or Prince Charming, as I like to call him - happens to be Amber's art teacher," Saf exclaimed, with an expectant grin on his face. Amber watched as Matty's eyes widened in shock as the realisation of what Saf had said sunk in. 

"No way... Your teacher? Wow, kind awkward since you had a thing for him," Matty replied, glancing at Amber with a concerned frown. 

"A thing for him? Oh no, it was more than that. She spent the last week with him," Zora interjected. She kept her tone casual but Amber knew that Zora lived for this kind of drama. 

"The past week? Was it getting serious?" Matty questioned, focussing on Amber who was avoiding all of their gazes. 

"It was only a week," she told them, now ripping the crust off of her pizza. "How could it get serious after a week? If the question was: could it have been serious? Then, the answer probably would have been yes but it doesn't matter now, does it?"