You (Matty Healy)

// CHAPTER NINETEEN //

"Aves, this one is for you babe."

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My stomache somersaulted what felt like a million times in the space of a couple of seconds, tying itself in knots as I watched the boys exchange knowing glances before launching themselves into the song. My song.

"A soft sound.
To the way that she wears her hair down,
Covering up her face."

I heard myself gasp as I pushed aside my mass of curls and tucked them behind my ear. My eyes were locked with Matty's as he sang to me, and his smile grew wider as he sang on, not moving his eyes an inch.

"But you're losing your turn,
I guess I'll never learn
'Cause I stay another hour or two."

I instantly found myself back in my dormitory, cleaning up Matty's knuckles before climbing into bed with him. His lyrics were beautiful.

"For crying out loud, settle down!
You know I can't be found with you."

Wait, what? What is that supposed to mean? I felt dazed and confused, and my stomach had now stopped its insistant churning as my heart plummeted down into it.

"A small town.
Dictating all the people we get around,
What a familiar face.
Do you get what I mean now?
I'm so fixated on the girl with the soft sound,
And hair all over the place."

"What's he talking about?" Emily nudged me as Matty continued singing. It took me all my strength to take my teary eyes away from him to look at my confused best friends stood beside me.

"I don't know." I croaked, looking back towards the band. I met eyes with George and his brow furrowed and his eyes twinkled, before looking at the wall and carrying on the song. What turned out such a nice and beautiful song had completely thrown me off by a simple verse. I was probably overreacting. Am I overreacting? He said he can't be found with me, does that mean he's embarrassed?

I looked back at Matty, who was now shaking his head from side to side as his own curly hair flopped about all over the place. He must be embarrassed. Why would somebody like that want to be with me? Before I could stop myself, I darted out the doors into the main pub area, hearing Emily and Callum confusedly shout my name. I could hear the song was finishing, so I had to get away quickly. Away from Matty, away from all of them. As I opened the main doors to feel the cold air hit my cheeks, I ran into something hard.

"Ouch." I muttered, before looking up and feeling myself at a loss for words.

"Well hello again gorgeous." Chad said sarcastically, an evil grin plastering his face.

"Avery? Wh-" Matty shouted from behind me, before his voice got closer as he called. He draped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him as he saw who I was stood with.

"What are you doing here?" Matty snarled.

"Here for my money mate, you've had longer than I'd originally planned. I wouldn't take my generosity for granted." Chad grinned again, outstretching his palm in Matty's face. "Hand it over." A silence filled the air, and I was able to snap myself back into reality. I shrugged Matty's arm off my shoulders and walked straight past Chad, folding my arms over my chest as I walked into the night, hearing Matty shouting my name over and over again.

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"How come you're home so early?" Brad asked, popping his head round from his bedroom door as I kicked off my shoes.

"Long story." I sighed, hiding my face as I walked past him and into my own room, locking the door. At that precise moment I heard a banging at the enterance to our dormitory. "Don't answer that!" I shouted, flopping onto my bed. I'm guessing Brad adhered to my request as the banging persisted, along with faint muffles. I sat on my desk chair and looked into the small mirror resting on it, before wiping the faint mascara tinted tear tracks off my face. For a moment the knocking stopped and I was thankful to wallow in my own self pity in the quiet, until the knocking then became louder at my own door.

"Aves, open the door." Matty shouted from outside, shaking vigorously at the handle.

"Just fuck off." I shouted back, trying to sound angry. The break in my voice gave it away, and I knew this because I heard Matty sigh from outside.

"You've got the wrong idea. Please open the door, George is here?" He said more soothingly. Against my better judgement I unlocked the door to a split lipped Matty and George with a singular frozen yorkshire pudding resting on his cheekbone, a bruise already forming underneath it.

"Are you okay?" I asked, all the events off tonight fading away. They both nodded with a weak smile before walking past me into my room. Matty sat on my bed with his back against the wall, whereas George sat on my desk chair backwards, so his forearm rested on the top of the back support.

"It's just Chad, nothing to worry about. You got the song all wrong." Matty sighed, throwing his head backwards into the wall.

"You said you can't be found with me? London's hardly a 'small town' and I definitely do not have a 'familiar face' so what else am I supposed to think?" I scowled, using my fingers as sarcastic air quotes.

"There a reasons, I- I mean I... I can't-" Matty mumbled, waving his hands around in the air in search for words.

"Reasons? Reasons for what? Leading me on to think I may actually have a chance with you, making me feel special with a dedicated song before throwing some weird stupid fucking lyrics in there to mess with you head?" I shouted, gaining more confidence as I spoke. Matty winced, sinking back further into the corner by the wall.

"He should have told you sooner Avery, I-"

"George." Matty snapped. "Yeah you're right. Totally right. I was fucking with you because I thought it'd be a laugh. Not like I poured my heart and soul into those lyrics to depict how I'm actually feeling or anything, because you're not hard to fucking read or overreacting at all are you?" Sarcasm oozed off his tongue as he gave me the dirtiest look I'd ever seen. "You're way over your head Avery. Maybe this was all a mistake."

"What was a mistake? You just completely contradicted yourself!" I snapped, curling my fingers into my palm. My fingernails were digging in, but I didn't care. "Told me what sooner?" I asked, turning to George. George's mouth fumbled as he fought over the idea of whether to tell me or not, before looking at Matty with pleading eyes.

"Aves just shut the fuck up already. Just shut up. Shut. Up." Matty screamed, clutching at his ears. This sudden outburst shocked me so much I lost my footing and stumbled slightly. "You're just a stupid little fucking girl and have no fucking idea what you're talking about. Forget about us, the band and definitely forget about me. Fuck this." Matty jumped to his feet, kicking at my bedside table so it smashed to the floor alongside with the contents and the glass lamp resting on top. He threw open my wardrobe doors, grabbed his grey shirt and walked out the room and slamming the door behind him, leaving both me and George in a painful silence.

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(A/N: Oooo tense! What do you think the secret is? What made tender and happy Matty snap into this spiral of swear words and anger? Comment and vote guys!)