“So how’d you feel today?” Mike asked, leaning against his kitchen counter as Matt did the washing up. He was waiting with a towel in hand, ready to dry up after Matt had finished.
“Uh,” Matt placed a plate in the drying rack but it was quickly snatched away by Mike. “I feel achy, but that’s inevitable. And tired, but that’s inevitable too. I think I’ll be okay.”
“You sure? You could hardly walk yesterday. How’s your head?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m trying, so it’s going to be alright.”
“Are you going back there?” Mike asked, more quietly this time.
Matt paused for a second. “I guess so.”
“You know you don’t have to. You can stay here.”
“I know, and it’s nice of you. But you know how angry he’ll get. Fuck, he’d be angry if I left him, he’d be angry if I stayed. I can’t win.”
Mike nodded, and the boys didn’t need to say much more. They’d been friends long enough to know what was going on in each others’ minds, so they quietly finished doing the dishes and then Matt left to go do some schoolwork he’d left to the last minute, as per usual. He also needed to plan for his project with Josh, so at some point he’d have to brainstorm lyric ideas. And practise on his piano. And practise his guitar. So Matt walked home, refusing the offer of a lift, saying he needed to stretch and whatever, and arrived home in no less than fifteen minutes. He unlocked the door, expecting the apartment to be empty, only Tyler was sitting on the sofa with his feet up on the coffee table. And to his surprise, Tyler took one look at the boy and smiled widely.
“Matt, you’re home!” He exclaimed.
“Uh, yeah.” Matt dropped his bag and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
“I missed you. I hope you don’t mind, but Dave’s round.” He said loudly. “We’re watching the boxing, do you want to join us, sweetie?”
Oh, so this was why Tyler was acting lovey-dovey. At that moment, Dave exited the bathroom and walked past Matt, grunting in acknowledgment. He was tall, tan, and an athletics coach and could probably lift a freaking car easily. Dave scared and intimidated Matt, and that’s probably why Tyler kept him around.
“I’d love to, uh, honey, but I can’t, I’ve got this paper due for Psychology and I need to write it up...” Matt said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the bedroom.
“Aw, Matty, you can do that anytime. Come sit next to me.” Tyler patted the seat next to him, and Matt knew he had no choice but to conform, so he awkwardly played with his sleeves until he reached the couch, settling next to Tyler and flinching slightly as the boy wound his arm around Matt’s neck and clamped his hand down on his shoulder. Soon, Dave came and sat next to him. Tyler took Matt’s chin and forced him to look Tyler straight in the eyes. His brown eyes were lighter than Matt’s, and the pupils were tiny dots in the centre of the hazel irises.
“Awh, Matt, how’d you get that bruise?” Tyler said carefully. This simple statement caught the attention of Dave, who peeled his eyes away from the game to peer at Matt.
“I... I, uh...” Matt stammered, unable to get words out properly.
“Mike didn’t hurt you again, did he?” Tyler gasped, leaving Matt bewildered and Dave intrigued.
“Who’s Mike?” Dave asked in his low Neanderthal-like voice.
“Mike’s one of my Matty’s friends. He’s a dickhead, whenever Matt goes over to Mike’s the guy beats him up for no reason. This is why I should stop you seeing him, Matty, he’s going to really hurt you one day, babe.”
He felt Tyler’s hand clench down on his shoulder even more, and Matt tore his eyes away from Tyler’s only to look down at his hands, almost shamefully.
“Mm.” He said, for lack of a better response.
“Hey, babe, can you grab me a beer from the kitchen?” Tyler asked, and Matt nodded. “Hey, Dave, d’you want anything?”
“I’ll have a beer too.” Dave said, his eyes fixated on the screen. Sighing as quietly as possible, Matt got up and scurried off to the kitchen, grabbing two beers for Tyler and Dave, and picking up the bottle opener from the drawer and returning to the living room. Tyler glared at him expectantly.
“Well?” He said. “Aren’t you going to open them for us?”
Matt gulped and cracked open the bottles, passing the first to Tyler and then the other to Dave. Neither of them thanked Matt, but he couldn’t expect any more. It’s not like either of them cared enough.
The week dragged on, and soon enough it was fast approaching Wednesday, the day where Matt had double chemistry, psychology and then music last. He didn’t like Wednesdays. He didn’t like chemistry or psychology, but he was looking forward to music with Josh. He’d had the lesson Monday but not Tuesday. The boys found they just clicked together, the verses Josh had hastily written fitting perfectly with a chorus Matt scribbled up. And as Josh strum out the notes on his old acoustic, Matt had improvised on piano, making a beautiful melody from scratch that was as if it was made for the first song they had together for this project.
“Hey, Matt? Are we gonna record some drums for the backing track?” Josh looked up, chewing his lip in thought.
“If that’s possible. And if we’re doing that, we need to record some piano, because I gotta play guitar.”
“Oh yeah. How’re you doing on that? I never asked.”
“I know the basics, most of the chords. I still don’t know some...” Matt trailed off, removing his fingers from the ivory keys of the school’s piano.
“I could teach you.” Josh said, grinning.
“What, now?”
“No, silly, it’s like the end of the lesson. Come to my house this weekend, alright? I, uh, live with my parents still, but that’s alright.” Josh hastily wrote down his address in Matt’s notebook and passed it back to him.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.”