Matthew made his way home trying to forget the night before and at the same time trying to understand how Amber had still such a strong impact on him but deep down he know why still fell for her every time. She looked innocent, and truth be told she had been innocent once. Matthew had known her since kindergarten, even before he met Nate. She used to be the light in his life, the one who always gave him strength, and now she was the one who made him weak.
After a long walk to clear his head he finally went home, changed the stupid fancy clothes he had put on the night before to a white tank top and some shorts. He tried to sleep again, but he couldn't, so he thought about eating but once again, he didn't feel hungry. So he went to the one place he had always known. Scandal.
There were only three more fighters at the club which made everything easier for him. Less talking and less questions. He approached the black punch bag put on his earphones and hit it like he always had. He threw the first punch, and a second one, and then he started throwing then faster, harder. He was like fish in the water, in his own bubble and away from the rest of the world. Needless to say that by the time he stopped his knuckles were bleeding and there were drops of blood on the floor as well. He grabbed the towel near his water bottle, wrapped his hands in it and made his way to the toilets, there he carefully washed them and only then he started to feel pain, not that it was unbearable or anything, in fact as he liked to say he was used to physical pain, to having his hands or his face bloody. What he always forgot to mention was how scared he was of the painful emotions that haunted him.
The blue-eyed made his way to the small medical room on the back of the building, cleaned the wound and then dressed it up once the bleeding stopped. When he stepped outside the sun was shinning and some people that were passing by were staring, not that he was that interested or surprised for that matter, in fact he had lost count of the times that his face had been in such bad shape that people stared for so long some even stopped walking.
On his way back he stopped by one of the his favourite bakeries in the city, Lotus Café & Bistro, according to Christie it was “all good vibes” but Matthew liked it particularly because it was very quiet. He ordered a donut and a latte and stayed there for a while contemplating the world outside and the busy streets with traffic and people in their daily rush. Noticing the sun setting he decided it was time for him to leave. For the first time in a long time he was starting to feel at peace with himself, serene and with energy to fight his way through life (metaphorically but, if needed, literally).
He arrived home when the sky was already dark and decided that it was finally time to cook something and while his playlist played loudly through the house he cut onions, garlic, some basil leaved, boiled water and made himself a very well cooked pasta with pesto and shrimp. It was impossible to not notice how empty the house looked but he tried to ignore that by singing Kaiser Chiefs’ “Ruby” at the top of his lungs at the same time he had dinner.
The music was so loud he didn’t even hear his phone only to notice 3 missed calls after a quite long concert that left him thirsty, that or maybe the fact that the past was way too salty.
By the time he was dialing Stella’s number someone knocked on the door. “Nate?” Matthew said quite surprised “Everything okay?” The other nodded “Yeah mate, is just that Stella called asking to stop by their place and that you weren’t picking up so I just decided to swing by see if you were okay and ask if you wanted to come as well”. Matthew asked if there was any particular reason for the unexpected meeting but the other just shrugged his shoulders “She’s all ecstatic though”. Seconds later the two were outside and hopping on their motorbikes.
A very joyful Joe opened the door and pointed them to the living room where Stella was. “So?” Matt asked. “Where’s Christie?” The girl immediately asked “She’s out of town, her grandma is quite ill” Nate answered with a quite worried face “Go on Stella, tell them” her brother chuckled and she grinned.
“Well I called you here because…”