Coffee Shop Soundtrack (Marianas Trench)

Chapter Forty Five

When Matt got a letter in the mail three days later telling him the court date was in two weeks time, he frowned. There were only just over two weeks until Christmas. It was going to be a tightly packed schedule.  

His frown deepened when he realised that he hadn’t bought any gifts yet – and his mind cast to his one free day, which was that day. He was taking time off work after explaining his situation to a very apologetic Ashley. As it turned out she was incredibly upset about the whole ordeal and had brought flowers over to Josh and Matt to say sorry, and when she saw Matt, they all ended up sitting down and having coffee, and Josh agreed she was really nice, you know, when she wasn’t kissing his boyfriend.  

Matt debated calling Miranda to go shopping with, but ended up calling Ashley. 

“Ashley?” 

“Hi, Matt. How are you?” 

“I’m fine, I was... I was just gonna ask if you could help me out.” Matt bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling. “I, uh, I need to go Christmas shopping, and I...” 

“You don’t know what to get?” 

“I have a slight idea, but other than that… I’m hopeless, Ash.” 

There was a small pause, and when she spoke again, Ashley had laughter in her tone. “Yeah, sure, Matt. When?” 

“An hour?” 

“Sure. I’ll meet you in town.” 

“See you then.” 

  

  

Matt ran his fingers through his hair as he leant down to kiss Josh, who was still lying in bed. Josh groaned and held onto Matt. 

“Babe...” Matt laughed. “Babe, I gotta go.” 

“Where you going?” Josh asked curiously, between kissing Matt softly. 

“I’m just going to town.” Matt explained, dropping his phone on the floor and climbing into bed next to Josh, so that he half lay on the bed and half on his boyfriend. “I’m meeting Ashley in half an hour.” 

“Right.” Josh said, immediately sitting upright and staying motionless as Matt clambered over his lap. 

“Josh...” 

“Can I come with you?” He asked suddenly. 

Matt frowned. “No, sweetheart, not today. I’m... I’m going Christmas shopping.” 

“Oh.” Josh dragged out the vowel sound. “I just worry, alright?” 

“I know you do. It’ll be fine.” Matt reassured him gently. Josh ran his fingers over the healing bruises on Matt's face.  

“I don’t want you to be alone. Can I drive you to town? And then you get someone to drop you back here? Or I can come pick you up...” 

Knowing it’d make Josh feel better, he smiled. Josh was being protective for a reason. He was worried. “Sure, sweetheart. That leaves me more time to spend with you, too.”  

Josh grinned as he wrapped his arms tighter around his boyfriend, carefully kissing him. He had to be light to avoid breaking the stitches, but it was evident Matt didn’t care about safety right now, as he pushed against Josh with more force than Josh deemed responsible. 

  

  

“Please call me. Or text me. Or anything, just please let me know you’re alright.”