Plug in Baby

I woke with a start the next day.

It was early yet, especially for a Saturday, but it didn't bother me all that much. It was nine thirty in the morning and I had already showered and dressed, ready for my ten thirty meeting with Anthony for our exchange. I didn't have to worry about the key anymore I guess, since I threw it back at the rightful owner before storming out of there. The only thing I had to worry about was collecting my money and running to the bank to deposit it and living here in the city, it was a concern that wasn't too uncommon.

I felt utterly drained between working myself so hard yesterday for such an ungrateful client and from lack of sleep. In total, I only was able to sleep three hours last night, which weren't even consecutive. I kept waking up after about half an hour, feeling completely restless and kicking around in my bed. It was irritating, especially since all I really wanted to do last night after returning back to the flat was shower and sleep. I, at least, got to shower. That's always something I guess.

Mainly, my thoughts were centered on that stupid prat from last night who managed to work me up into such a state of anger. I never really got angry at anything because most things just rolled off me without a second thought. I was never one to let anyone annoy me that much with something as trivial as their perception of me. I never cared about what people thought about me. Growing up in San Francisco all those years taught me that acceptance is something that's rarely earned in city life. It's a lot better to be running around as myself rather than being concerned with what others think. The Piano Man, as I came to call him during out many lessons together, taught me that one.

The whole situation last night got out of hand though. If he hadn't have pushed his assumptions on me the entire time and allowed me a moment to explain who I was, then this whole thing could've been avoided. I wouldn't have yelled at him and rushed out of the house in such a hurry and he wouldn't have assumed ridiculous things about my character.

Owen laughed at me when I told him what had happened, saying that it was very uncommon for him to see such a tiny girl in such a rage. He told me that with the look I had on my face, my hair looked like it had been set aflame. That comment seemed to calm me down a bit but I still held a deep seeded irritation for the prat.

I found myself in my room, lying on my bed with a sketch pad and trying to formulate some kind of will power to sketch something, anything at all. My pencil hovered over the blank white sheet, unable to create any kind of usable lines for some kind of sketch. I was feeling blocked, which was something I didn't enjoy. Whenever I was feeling stressed about anything, my creativity suffered. I wasn't the type of person that could perform under pressure. I was more a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of girl, which didn't do well for me when it came down to trying to come up with some kind of artwork for my homework assignments.

I eventually gave up, setting my pencil down on the piece of paper that had been taunting me for the last half an hour and laid back on the mattress, my left leg dangling off the edge. Sighing, I shut my eyes and allowed myself a few moments peace, listening to The Killers on my iPod. It was almost time for me to head out for my meeting with Anthony so I figured after such a long frustrating time of lying around and not having any creative flow, I would just loaf around for a few minutes.

"Wakey, wakey eggs and bakey!" I heard from behind the closed bedroom door.

A second later, Lucy walked into my bedroom, still dressed in a pair of black and grey plaid pajama bottoms as well as a random oversized t-shirt she probably stole from Owen, since it was three sizes too big for her and looked like a dress of some kind. Her messy black hair was pulled up into a ponytail that sat on top of her head, looking like a Samurai ponytail from the height of it and she carried a bowl in her hands.

"Good morning Lucy," I smiled, looking over at her lazily.

"Mornin' Azri. You hungry?" she asked, offering me her bowl.

I peered inside the black porcelain bowl, seeing bacon and eggs scrambled together into an omelet. Though it looked rather delicious, I gave up on trying to eat a long time ago when I forced down half a bowl of cereal. I was never one that enjoyed eating breakfast but I always forced something down because in my line of work, the hours were long and strenuous so I needed to find some kind of fuel to keep me going.

"Ahh, no thanks. I already ate," I politely declined, patting my stomach.

She shrugged and took a seat at the end of my bed, picking at the food in the bowl with her fork. She glanced at me and smiled, looking over my appearance quizzically.

"Why are you dressed so early on a Saturday?" she questioned. "You don't have class today, do you?"

"No, I've got that meeting this morning to get my paycheck for last night," I explained.

"Ah," she nodded with a look of realization on her face. She chuckled, "Owen told me what happened last night at that bloke's house. I thought that was hysterical."

"You and Owen are the only ones," I sighed, unimpressed by what had happened.

"I can't believe you chucked the key at him! God, you must have been angry to resort to physical violence," she giggled.

"I was! God, this guy was a complete bastard. He thought I was a fan of his, though I had no idea who the hell he was! How fucking pompous and cocky," I ranted.

"A fan? Is he famous, this bloke?" she questioned curiously.

"I guess so. The guy who hired me, Anthony, told me that he was in a band and that they were just finishing tour but I dunno who they are," I shrugged. "All I know is that whoever that guy was last night, he royally pissed me off."

"Normally when you're all aggro with a chap, you fancy them," she said with a sly grin on her face.

"You're bloody mad! I couldn't possibly find a guy attractive after those horrible assumptions of my character! He thought I was some thief or something! God, no! I definitely don't fancy him," I told her, feeling the denial pouring out of me.

"But before he went bonkers on ya, did you think he was good lookin'?"

"Well, he was pretty cute but after he accused me of breaking into his house, he lost any kind of appeal," I explained, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Oh you like him then. I can tell," she giggled.

"Oh fuck off Luce. That's so not true," I said defensively.

"Whatever you say love. I know the truth," she winked. "Besides, you were the same way when you met Percy and that relationship lasted for a year."

"But Percy was different. He actually turned out to be a decent person after all."

"Well, maybe this man you worked for will too," she shrugged. "You never know."

"Ugh, this is ridiculous. I'm outta here," I said, pushing myself off the mattress and placing my feet onto the floor.

"Well, I hope for your sake that you still get paid after assaulting the poor bugger," she said.

"I wouldn't have any reason not to get paid. I made that house fucking spotless! There's no denying the work I put into that house," I argued, pulling my cell phone off the charger and shoving it into my pants pocket.

"Well, good luck mate," she grinned.

"Thanks Luce. I'll see you later," I waved, walking to the door.

I wandered out of my bedroom and through the front room, seeing Symon passed out on the sofa, snoring loudly with his mouth hanging open and arm spread across his body. I laughed a little, seeing that he was still passed out drunk from last night's activities, shaking my head at my friend. I just walked on by, slipping on my shoes and grabbing my purse that had been left on the counter before walking out of the door.

The streets of London were crowded once again, encouraging me to wade through the early morning shoppers in order to hail a taxi. I wasn't going too far out of the neighborhood, which made me happy. I just wanted to get this over with and head back home to try to sleep through the afternoon before attempting to draw once again.

I immediately got a taxi, the grubby back seat smelling of peppermint candies and old coffee that had stained the floor. It sort of reminded me a lot of being at my Nan's house, since she was always one that had her home smelling of peppermint as well as sherry. There was always a very distinct smell to these taxi cabs and judging by the elder gentleman lacking hair on the top of his head seated in front of me, my driver, it seemed reasonable that this particular car reminded me of my elder relative's home.

I told the short, bald man the location I needed to be, which was a local coffee shop that was only fifteen minutes away from my apartment by taxi. He started the meter up right away and drove me through the busy streets of the city. This particular man wasn't the kind of driver that seemed to do a lot of small talk, which I was grateful for since I wasn't too chatty a person around strangers.

I was a little reserved in the way I presented myself unless I was around people I was comfortable with like my flatmates. I tended to keep a lot of things to myself if I was just getting to know a person but otherwise, I had no problem speaking my mind. I find that these days, people shoot off at the mouth too often and lack the proper etiquette when it came to meeting someone new. My only exception to this rule of thumb had been the encounter with The Slob, as I'd been calling him, yesterday evening.

Just thinking about that stupid man irritated me to no end. I should just let it go and get over that whole situation, especially since it seemed to be becoming a little old by now but I couldn't. For some odd reason, he plagued my thoughts. I kept thinking about his electric blue eyes staring at me with slight curiosity as they had been when I was in the process of leaving his home. Something about the intensity in the color stuck with me. Even while I slept, I could see his questioning gaze staring straight at me.

I shook my head of the thoughts arising about The Slob as I neared the coffee shop where I would be meeting Anthony. It wasn't anything too big; just a cozy little café that was dimly lit and allowed patrons a warm place to sit and converse amongst one another without the hassle of expensive coffee that Starbucks tended to have. Though I was a fan of Starbucks coffee, it was ridiculously overpriced for just one cup of regular coffee, which was highly unaffordable on my student budget.

The cabbie stopped the car right in front of the coffee shop, telling me the total needed for the short drive here. I took out my wallet and handed him the right amount of cash, tipping him a little also, since it was a polite thing to do.

"Much obliged Madame," he smiled, giving me a slight nod.

I returned his smile before stepping out of the taxi and back onto the London sidewalks, holding my door open for another guy who had been frantically waving down a cab as we approached. I headed to the door, seeing that the small coffee shop had a few couches in their front windows with coffee tables placed in front of the scarlet plushy couches. There were also sets of tables and chairs lined along the walls across from the service counter as the sounds of soothing jazz circa the 1930s played quietly overhead.

I walked in, scanning the room for anyone that resembled Anthony in the slightest. This place seemed to cater to college students who read pretentious things such as Nietzsche and other such philosophers that were deemed "sophisticated reads". In actuality, these were just college students who wore thick black rimmed glasses and black turtlenecks, attempting to pull of the beatnik look but failing miserably in their attempt to seem cooler and smarter than they actually were. I wasn't sure if everyone in there were lumped into the particular category but if I was bound to have a conversation with them, I'm pretty sure that at least half of them would be spouting bullshit that they made up off the top of their heads.

I finally spotted Anthony in the dark corner of the back of the cafe. He waved me down and stood from his seat, making sure I could see him clearly. I made my way towards the back of the shop, a tiny smile evident on my face until I reached the table. Glancing to Anthony's right hand side, my smile disappeared at the sight of his companion seated beside him.

The Slob was sitting there with an unreadable expression present on his handsome face. He still looked a little tired as he did yesterday but it was obvious by the lighter bruising around his eyes that he had some rest. He was freshly shaved and wearing the same black jacket he wore last night as well as a red t-shirt of some other band I didn't recognize. His fierce ocean eyes were staring into me as I stopped short of the table, a little too stunned at seeing him again.

Instantly, my annoyance for him returned with a vengeance as I gave him a small glare.

"It's lovely to see you again Azriel," Anthony said, approaching me with a warm smile that forced me to look away from The Slob.

"Likewise Anthony. I trust you've been well since I've seen you last?" I questioned, offering him my hand to shake.

"Oh yes. Thank you," he nodded, shaking my hand. "Please," he began, holding his arm out towards the free seat across from where he was seated, "have a seat."

"Thank you," I nodded, pulling out my chair and avoiding the obvious stares of The Slob seated next to the lovely elder British man.

"I'm not sure if you've been properly introduced but this is Matthew Bellamy, the owner of the charming home you worked in yesterday evening," Anthony said, gesturing beside him to the attractive man. "Matt, this is Azriel Robinson, the house cleaner I hired for you," he said to The Slob.

"Pleasure," I said through my teeth with a forced smile.

"Likewise," he said with a small smile. "I would like to apologize for my conduct yesterday evenin'. I didn't know that Anthony had gone ahead and hired someone to clean up so when I got home yesterday, I wasn't sure what to think," he said somewhat bashfully. "Please forgive me for bein' a complete jackass for treating you that way."

Though I was inclined to stick my tongue out at him like the five year old in me was screaming to do, I sighed deeply, nodding once in acceptance of his apology. He gave me a bigger grin this time, showing off his pretty white teeth that just added to his whole charming appearance. If he hadn't been completely disrespectful to me in the first place, I would've written him off as quite the charmer but alas, he ruined that the minute he opened his mouth. Now, I was skeptical of him.

"So, I stopped by the place this morning before this meeting and I must say, you did a fantastic job cleanin' up after Matt. I hadn't seen a place sparkle like that since the day he moved in," Anthony gushed.

"Thanks," I smiled, turning my attention back to him.

"I have to agree. You did a fantastic job cleanin' up the house and I'm sorry that I didn't notice it straight away. I had a lot occupyin' my mind, ya know?" Matt said.

"I understand. Anthony told me that you were coming back from a tour so I can imagine that it was a little strange to come home and find someone there," I said. "If you don't mind me asking, what band are you a part of?"

"We're called Muse," he replied, looking at me carefully for a reaction to the name.

"Oh," I said, trying to run through a list of bands through my head. "I'm not familiar with the name."

"Really?" Anthony inquired.

"I suck with remembering band names," I shrugged. "Now, I'm pretty sure I'd be able to recognize the music if I heard it playing. My flatmate is more of a contemporary musical buff than I. I have a peculiar taste in music," I told them.

"I see," Matt said with that same smile upon his lips.

"Well, I assume that you don't have the key since you returned it to Matt yesterday," Anthony said with an amused expression.

I blushed, "That's right." I glanced back over to Matt, feeling slightly embarrassed for my temper, "Sorry," I muttered to him.

"It's quite alright. It was justified," he chuckled.

"Well, since that's pretty much taken care of, there's another matter I would like to discuss with you, which is why I brought Matt along with me today," Anthony said.

"Alright," I nodded.

"Well, it's obvious that I need some help picking up after myself, isn't it?" Matt chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. I nodded, waiting for him to continue thinking about how much of an understatement that had been. "Well, I was wonderin' if you'd be at all interested in workin' for me a few hours a week on Fridays, pickin' up around the house and whatnot."

I sat there for a moment, unsure of what to say to the offer. There was a part of me that desperately wanted to decline with a feeling of uncertainty as to his demeanor on a daily basis. The other part of me was rather intrigued by his sincerity in his apology. He didn't seem to the same man that I had met the previous day. He seemed like a nice person who was like a teenage boy in the realm of keeping his place clean. Though I wasn't sure of the motivation behind wanting to accept the offer, it was exciting me to think about possibly spending time with him.

"Um," was all I could manage to get out of my mouth before he interrupted me.

"I understand if you don't want to. I'm kind of a filthy bugger," he chuckled. Again, 'kind of a filthy bugger' was the biggest understatement of the year. "And I know it couldn't have been all that great cleanin' up my rubbish."

"It was an adventure to say the least," I said sarcastically with a weak smile. "But it's a job and quite frankly, I need the job. My usual Friday clients have moved so I'm free now. I don't really see an issue with working for you," I said.

Matt's smile grew even wider at my response, prompting me to wonder why he was smiling at me like that. I couldn't deny that I actually enjoyed seeing him smile like that though. It brought out this interesting glow to him, a sort of radiance of happiness that I normally saw on Symon's face when he would smile at me. Though I didn't want to admit it, it actually made Matt more attractive than I initially thought he was.

"Brilliant," he said.

"Well, that's marvelous," Anthony said with a small grin on his face as well. "I knew you were the right choice when I hired you the first time."

I blushed a bit at his compliments. I was never good at accepting compliments from people, especially strangers.

"So," I said, glancing down at my twiddling fingers, "How long do you think you'll need me on Fridays?"

"Well, just a bit of weekly cleaning and tidying up so it shouldn't take too long. Maybe three or four hours," Matt shrugged.

"Alright, that sounds reasonable," I smiled. "Do you know my wages or do I need to tell you?" I questioned.

"No, Anthony already told me what the rate was," he said.

"By the way, I have your check for you," Anthony said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out the envelope. "Here you are," he smiled, handing me the envelope.

"Thanks," I nodded, taking the envelope and shoving it into my bag.

"So, we have a deal?" Matt asked, offering his hand out to me.

"Yep, we've got a deal," I smiled, shaking his hand.

The instant I touched his hand, I had a strange electrical impulse shoot through my arm and then down through the rest of my body. It was a strange feeling to say the least. Normally I didn't feel this way about anyone. I wasn't use to this kind of reaction but now, here I was, feeling rather excited at the prospect of working for Matt. I even had the unexplainable excitement of physical contact to back it up. I'm sure if Lucy was here, she'd tell me it was due to my attraction to him, making her theory of my attraction to men who irritate me correct.

I shook the thought from me head, thinking it was just silly.

"Great," he smiled. "So, you're available to start next week, yeah?"

I nodded, "If that's when you want me to start."

"That would be great," he replied. "Um, do you have a specific time that you like to begin or is it alright if I request for you to come over at a specific time?"

"Well, Fridays I have no other engagements so I'm available whenever. If you have a specific time that's more convenient for you then I'm able to work around your schedule."

"I'm just not an early morning person, ya know," he chuckled. "And I'm very irritable when I wake up so I don't want to subject you to dealing with a complete arsehole when you arrive."

"I've dealt with worse," I shrugged with a small smile.

"Well, since I've already made a horrible first impression on you, I wouldn't want to further cement that impression into your thoughts," he said.

"Oh, well then, I guess I should feel appreciative of that," I smiled.

'Oh God, I'm not flirting with him, am I?' I thought to myself.

From the way the conversation between Matt and I was going, it seemed like we were flirting with each other. I didn't want to flirt with him. I barely knew him and yet now, I felt rather comfortable around him. It was very strange, especially since I had an aversion to meeting new people. Matt seemed to break down my discomfort easily with his smile. I felt rather at ease around him now after chatting with him for a while.

"You should. Usually Matt's very inconsiderate of anyone else when he's not touring," Anthony chimed in. "He likes the time he gets to himself."

"Jesus, you make me sound like even more of an arsehole now," Matt chuckled.

"No, I get it. You like time to unwind from the hectic schedules," I told him. "It's fine. Everyone needs their own sense of relaxation and time to themselves."

Matt looked at me with a small grin, like he wasn't fully expecting my statement. He seemed like a really nice person now as I sat here chatting with him. He didn't seem like the kind of guy that let things bother him too much or anything. It was a completely different person now. Yesterday he was rude, judgmental, and jumped to conclusions without hearing any kind of explanation. Now, he was easy going, humorous, and quite charming. I was just surprised at how much my opinion of him was changing in such a short period of time.

"Exactly," he nodded. "You understand perfectly."

"I'm glad that someone understands him," Anthony teased.

Matt playfully glared at Anthony before returning his attention back to me. He seemed to be in high spirits now, which was something I wasn't sure I would see from him. It was rather adorable. I shook the thought from my mind once again.

"Oh, I’ll get drunk all night. Oh, I’ll get drunk all day. Oh, I’ll get drunk all night. I’m sorry but I have to say, I’m too drunk to fuck," I heard from my purse.

Matt and Anthony looked at me with amusement as I felt myself turning red from embarrassment. I started digging around in my purse, finding the source of the loud music, which happened to be my cell phone. Symon was calling me, of course, since he was the only one that seemed to put vulgar ringtones on my phone.

"Um, excuse me a moment," I said, standing from my seat, clutching the phone in my hand.

"Of course," Matt chuckled.

I walked away from them quickly, flipping my phone open to stop the loud song from playing any further. There were already quite a few people that had seemed to look at me in annoyance from my ringtone so I already felt embarrassed. I put the phone to my ear and stopped walking once I was outside of the door.

"I hate you Symon," I growled into the phone.

"Meh? Why? What in the bloody 'ell did I do now?" he laughed.

"You changed my ringtone again," I sighed.

"Oh, I hate to break it to yeh sweets but that's been yer ringtone for a while now," he said with amusement. "Yeh just always 'ave that celly on vibrate so yeh nevah notice it."

"Ugh. Why do you always mess with my phone? It went off in my meeting with some of my clients! It's embarrassing," I told him.

"Sorry love. I didn't think yeh'd find out 'bout it until later," he laughed. "But I rang yeh fer a reason."

"Which would be?" I asked.

"Well, now I forgot," he sighed.

"Ugh, Sy I'm gonna murder you."

"That'll land you in the Boom and Mizzen fer sure."

"Damn you and your fuckin' slang."

"Whoa there love. Don't get yer knickers in a twist. Yer really aggro wif meh, aren't yeh?"

"Not exactly with you. Just in general," I sighed. "But now, I better get back if you can't remember why you called."

"Right," he said. "If I think of it again, I'll ring yeh, yeah?"

"Sure," I said dismissively. "Goodbye Symon."

I hung up the phone and turned it onto vibrate instead of the ringer. I tossed it back into my bag and walked back into the café, seeing that Matt and Anthony had been conversing amongst themselves in my short absence. Matt glanced at me as I started walking to the table, prompting Anthony to glance my way as well. Anthony looked back at Matt with a curious expression on his face. I just bit my lip and looked away from the both of them as I returned to my chair.

"Sorry about that. My roommate has a tendency to change ringtones without my knowledge," I muttered.

"It's alright," Anthony smiled reassuring.

"Quite an interesting choice for a song, isn't it?" Matt chuckled.

"Well, he's a bartender so I guess it makes some sense," I shrugged. "But anyway, what were we discussing before the interruption?" I asked, straining to remember what the subject was.

"Times for you to show up on Fridays," Anthony said.

"Ah yes, that's right," I nodded as the conversation came back to me. "So, what time is best for you?" I asked Matt.

"In the afternoon is best," he smiled. "Around noon or so."

"Oh, ok," I said. "This means I actually get to sleep in for once," I laughed.

"Well, it works out well for the both of us then, doesn't it?" he asked.

I smiled at him, tucking some of my hair behind my ears and looking away from him. I started to feel like a young girl with a school girl crush, which wasn't really in my nature. I had to push past the jittery butterflies I could feel in my stomach and be professional. I couldn't admit this attraction to someone that was to become my employer. It would be unethical.

"Well now, that seems to be it then," Anthony said.

"Oh alright," I nodded, slightly disappointed in the meeting being over so soon. I stood from my seat along with the rest of them and followed the guys out of the café. "I guess I'll see you next week then?" I said to Matt.

"Yes, Friday," he smiled. "It was good to meet you properly Azriel."

"Likewise," I nodded. "Well, take care," I said, turning away from them and heading up the street.

The lovely morning had turned slightly chilly once again as the sun kept hiding behind the fluffy clouds in the sky. It wasn't completely grey and overcast today as it had been for the last few weeks, which I was grateful for since I needed a change in the weather. There was only so much rain and cold I could take at once. I was glad that it was partially sunny out today. London needed a little bright light over its wonderful landscape.

I stood at the end of the street, sticking my arm in the air in hopes of flagging down another taxi. I needed to head to the bank that was right around the corner from my apartment before I could think about sleeping the rest of the day away. I could feel the exhaustion from the lack of sleep the night before taking effect so I needed to get home soon and sleep.

A taxi cab stopped right near me after about a minute or two of waiting patiently. I stepped forward, opening the door before I heard something. I stopped myself from getting into the cab to look around for the familiar noise.

"Azriel!" I heard someone call.

A second later, I spotted Matt running toward me waving his hand in the air to catch my attention. I stood perfectly still with a questioning gaze towards his direction, telling the cabbie to hold on for a moment. He didn't look like a typical runner in the way that he carried himself. I watched as he pushed his way through the crowd of people around him, making his way closer to where I had been standing. Finally Matt stopped in front of me, heavily breathing and holding his sides. I guess he wasn't much of a runner by the state he was in after such a short distance.

"Yes?" I asked, waiting for him to speak.

"God I'm so out of shape," he breathed, standing up straight and regaining his breath. He reached his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a key. "This belongs to you now so don't get any ideas about chucking it at me again, alright?" he said with a grin.

He placed the key in my hand and returned his hand to his pocket. I looked at the key, noticing that it still had the tape with 'F' on it in black Sharpie. He hadn't removed the tape from it, which I thought was interesting. I guess he didn't seem to notice it was there. I looked up at him and smiled back, nodding my head.

"Alright," I said. "I'll guard it with my life."

"That a girl," he laughed. "I'll see you next week."

"Right. Next week then," I said.

He gave me one last smile before turning back around and walking back in the direction of the café. I took a moment to watch him, noticing that he was wearing a pair of tight jeans that gave me a nice view of his butt. I laughed to myself for a moment before shaking my head. I was actually checking out his butt. How lame of me. I decided to get into the taxi before I looked back at him again.

I told the driver my destination and leaned back against the seat. I dug around in my purse and finding my keys on the bottom of it again. I put the key back onto the ring where it was before last night and smiled to myself at the memory of him running towards me.

Matthew Bellamy was surely something else. I could tell this would be the start of a very interesting working relationship.