A loud knock on my apartment door woke me up from my deep slumber. I slowly rose out of bed as the knocks didn't falter. I checked the time on my alarm clock; 3;15 am.
"Tati!" I ran to the front door upon hearing him say my name through the door, recognising his voice immediately.
I swung the door open. "Matty, what's wrong?!" I roughly pulled him inside by his arm.
"Hey, love." He pulled me into a tight hug, snuggling his face into the crook of my neck and tangling his hand in my hair. I could smell the alcohol radiating off his body.
I moan in frustration, feeling like I was still half-asleep. "You're so drunk, Matty. Come to bed with me." I pull him gently off my body.
"Mmmh." He mumbled, taking his leather jacket off, letting it fall to the floor before I took him to my bedroom. He flops onto my mattress. I cover him with the sheets before taking a getting next to him, leaning my back against the wooden bed frame, deciding I wouldn't be able to fall back into sleep right away.
I run my fingers through his curly hair as his eyes fluttered closed. "Why are you here?" I said softly.
"I wanted to see you." He said with his eyes shut, but a cheeky smile on his face.
"You woke me up, you asshole." I told him with a hint of anger in my voice.
"Yeah, yeah." He grabbed onto my body and tried to pull me into him.
"Stop." I pushed off his shoulder.
He gave up, putting his arm back underneath his face. He looked up at me. "You should come out with me more often. You should have more fun, Tati."
"You should stop going out so much."
He groaned, "Shut up."
I pushed his shoulder in anger and got up from the bed, closing the bedroom door harshly behind me. I walked over to Matty's jacket that was crumpled in the middle of the floor. As I picked it up, a tiny zip-lock bag fluttered slowly onto the ground. I bent down and pinched it between my fingers, lifting it up to my face and inspecting it closely. The plastic was clouded with remnants of white powder. I knew exactly what it was.
I marched back to my room, swinging the door open and shaking Matty roughly until he woke up.
"Argh, what?" He grumbled, rubbing his eyes.
I held up the little plastic bag, "You're a fucking asshole."
He sunk his head further into the pillow and sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. "I'm sorry, Tati."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I punched him in the arm.
He flinched, "Because I knew you'd be upset, like you are now." I glared at him. "I can't help it." I shook my head in disbelief at his words. "Please, Tati. We can talk about this in the morning. Just come to bed. Please."
I walked out the room, sitting on the small couch in front of the television. I wasn't sure how long I sat there that night. The sky was turning into a light navy colour from its original black when I decided to give in and head to my bedroom. Matty was still awake when I got under the covers. He looked at me before I turned my back to him, closing my eyes.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
"Tati, can you take her upstairs please. I need to get the platters sorted." Before I could reply, Ivy shoved baby Kristina into my arms. She raced off into the kitchen, as quickly as she could in her towering heels. I looked down to the red-faced baby in my arms, she was screeching at the top of her lungs with her gums on full display. I groaned internally heading towards the starts. Just as I was about to take my first step onto the stairs, the doorbell rang. Perfect timing, I thought.
"Can you get that?" Ivy shouted from the kitchen, her voice slightly muffled by the short distance. I groaned, Kristina still failing to cease her little tantrum in my arms. I reached the front door and successfully balanced the baby in one arm while I opened the door.
"Matty! Thank God! Help me please." I turned around without hearing a word from him, racing up the stairs and into Ivy and Hamish's bedroom, sitting on the mattress with Kristina still in my arms.
"Didn't know you had a child." He cracked a smile as he entered the room, closing the door behind him and taking a seat next to me.
I rolled my eyes, "Very funny." I rocked Kristina in my arms gently, hopefully settling her.
"Happy Birthday, Kristina." Matty said, tickling her lightly on the bottom of her foot. Her leg instantly retracted at the contact, and she cried out even louder.
"I don't think she heard you." I looked back down at the baby in my arms. "Stop crying!" I said to her, achieving no success.
Matty walked over to the cot that was placed against the wall opposite the bed. He reached in and grabbed one of her toys. He sat next to me again, rattling the toy above Kristina's face. She instantly looked up at the toy in awe, her cries slowly faltering until her mouth broke out into a wide grin. She began giggling, reaching out to grip the toy in her palms. I repositioned her to sit in my lap as she played with the toy, sticking it in her mouth.
"You're not great with baby's." I glared at Matty, making him hold up his hands in defence.
"I'm not great with Kristina. She's a demon child. Her mother's words." I said in my defence.
We looked down at Kristina as an awkward silence engulfed us. "We should go downstairs." He nodded and I picked up Kristina, holding her in my arms and walking out the door as Matty held it open for us. We walked into the kitchen, spotting Ivy and Hamish preparing the food platters in a completely frazzled state.
"Hey, guys." Matty spoke up.
Ivy looked up, "Matthew!" She walked towards him excitedly with her arms outstretched, bringing him into a tight hug. "So nice to see you again!"
Ivy let him go as Hamish walked forward.
"Matty, how are you doing." They did that typical man hug.
"Great, man. Cute kid you guys created. Nice work." Matty said, making the couple laugh.
"Could you guys please be sweethearts and bring these platters out into the backyard. Sorry, we're just in a huge rush, we'll chat later." Ivy stated, taking Kristina in her arms and heading to the front door as the bell rang.
Matty and I grabbed a platter each and brought them out to the backyard, placing them on the large table covered with a baby pink cloth.
"I never mentioned, you look nice." Matty smirked at me.
"Wow, that's something that always beings me such joy. Being told I look nice." I joked.
"Matthew!" I spun around, almost falling to the floor as I was faced with my father, and my mother right behind him. I could practically hear Matty gulping in nervousness.
"Stephen, Tania. Hi." Matty stuck his hand out as they stood in front of us, thankfully they decided to be kind, and shook his hand.
"Parents." I greeted them. "I didn't know you were coming today." My pretentious parents still lived in Wilmslow, I hardly ever visited them, or made an effort to keep in contact with them. They were way too far up their asses to sustain any type of relationship with them.
"Well, we couldn't miss Kristina's first birthday, could we?" My mother spoke.
"No, you couldn't." I said with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
I looked up at my dad, who was practically staring Matty up and down. The tension was almost unbearable. My vision focused behind the two bodies in front of me, spotting Nina, Lionne and boy toy Zac walking through the French doors. Nina made an uneasy face at me, knowing the situation I was in. I widened my eyes at her in exaggeration. Nina whispered something to the other two, and the three of them turned around and walked back inside.
"So, Matthew. What have you been up to?" My dad said sternly. I looked to Matty, kind of feeling the need to save him.
He cleared his throat before answering, "Just making music with my band."
My dad laughed in a condescending way, my mother joined him. "Still with that band of yours, hey? What else are you doing, have you got a real job?"
I interjected straight away. "Matty's actually on break from a worldwide tour right now. Next month he's performing at Coachella. I mean, he is the singer of one of the most popular bands right now." My dad's eyes widened in surprise, he cleared his throat uneasily. "We'll talk later." I stomped back inside the house, Matty following behind me.
"Sheesh." He said, practically wiping the sweat off his brow.
"They haven't changed." I said sarcastically.
"Oh, did you guys wrangle with the parents then?" Ivy came up to us, resting her arm on my shoulder. "It's gonna be an interesting afternoon."
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ahhh shits going to go down in the next chapter!!!! Ivy above ^^^
p.s i'd really love to hear your thoughts on the story so far !!