Plug in Baby

You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel.

I scrambled around in my purse to fine my phone, feeling completely embarrassed that someone set that song as my ringtone. I had just arrived to Matt's semi-messy house and though I didn't get a response to my usual greeting, I had a feeling he was around here somewhere. I quickly answered the phone, not even knowing whose ringtone this was but wanting to silence the suggestive music that poured from the tiny speaker.

"Hello?" I asked nearly breathless from digging around in my purse.

"Hey darlin'," Lucy said cheerily.

"Why do you all insist on changing my ringtones on my cell phone? Seriously, the last time I answered the phone for Symon, I was with clients and now I'm in one of their homes!" I hissed.

"Oh, well sorry girl. But you should know that the switcher-roo thing was all Symon's idear," she giggled.

"Can I just ask what Owen's is so I'm not surprised when I hear it?" I sighed.

"Nope love. You're gonna have to wait for that one," she said sweetly.

"God damn you people sabotaging my phone," I said, crewing one of the strings to my hoodie.

"You know you like hearin' the different depravity of our ringtones. Don't deny the excitement you feel when you hear it," she said.

"Oh yeah, I get so turned on by hearing the Bloodhound Gang when you call me. It's seriously something that gets me all hot and bothered. I think, oh my God! I've instantly ripped my shirt off in the excitement I feel from hearing that particular song," I said, my voice dripping in sarcasm.

I heard a throat clear from behind me which made me freeze up instantly.

I slowly turned around, seeing Matt standing in the hallway, staring at me with a bemused expression on his face, obviously trying to hold back some laughter. He was dressed in more dark colors today, wearing a pair of tight black pants and slim-fitting dark blue button up shirt, the long sleeves pushed up to his elbows. His hair had obviously been ruffled up with his hands in order to achieve the whole "I-just-got-out-of-bed-but-really-showered-first-and-styled-it-with-product-to-get-my-hair-to-look-like-I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-don't-really-care-how-my-hair-looks" look. It was amazing to me how much effort he put into his wardrobe and styling in order to look as if he didn't put much effort into it at all.

I just stood there, phone still attached to my ear and looking at him like a deer caught in the headlights. He obviously heard what I had just said to Lucy, which is why he was trying not to laugh. I could feel my face heating up in embarrassment, which meant that soon enough, my cheeks would turn that lovely shade of red to display how embarrassed I really was. Suddenly, I found myself mentally cursing my father for blessing me with certain Irish traits that made my feelings all too readable.

"There's no need to get too excited about that song. It's not like I'm there to see you with your top off," Lucy chuckled over the other end of the phone.

I didn't pay much attention to her comment as my eyes were still glued on Matt's lively blue ones. I was never one to be fascinated by such a color before but I found myself thinking of him whenever I saw this particular shade of blue. There was just so much said in his eyes that couldn't be translated into words, which was a feat in itself. I guess it just seemed this way to me because I was an artist who paid particularly close attention to such detail. Suffices to say, there was a lot about Matthew Bellamy that was beginning to inspire my creativity.

"Good morning Azriel," Matt said, his voice as even and calm as he could make it.

"Good morning," I nodded, my voice sounding creaky and unattractive compared to his even tone.

He offered me a small smile and slight nod before disappearing into his piano room, leaving me standing there, feeling like an idiot with a phone attached to her ear. I snapped myself out of my daze and brought myself back into the conversation at hand.

"Oh shit. That bloke heard you, eh?" Lucy giggled.

"Yes! This is all your fault!" I scolded in a hushed tone.

"My fault? What the bloody hell did I do?" she asked.

"You went and changed my ringer!" I replied in the same tone.

"I told you, that was Symon's thing. I just went along," she said innocently.

"I've never been so humiliated before," I groaned lowly.

"Oi, that's not true. Remember the time we were all at the pub for your birthday and Symon proceeded to do that striptease for you to the theme from that Batman cartoon?"

"Ugh, I'm trying to forget! The image of Symon prancing about in those tiny Batman under-roos was enough to give me nightmares. How did he fit into something so small?"

"Owen helped."

"Ok, scratch that. I don't really want to know," I said, shuddering at the thought of Owen helping Symon into the pair of tiny boy underwear.

"Well love, I just wanted to let you know that we're all goin' out tonight. There's this big party up in West End that Symon wants to crash so we won't be home tonight. Do you feel like goin'?" she asked.

"Maybe. We'll see. You know I'm not much for partying like you lot," I laughed.

"True but it would be a blast if you joined us. I hate bein' the only gal out on town with my boyfriend and Symon," she said.

"Well, I'll think about it and get back to you," I told her.

"Oh shit, my boss is screamin' at me to get back from lunch but I'll ring you later, right?" she asked, the other voice in the background growing louder.

"Alright. Bye Luce," I said.

"Cheerio love!" she said, hanging up the phone.

I pulled the phone away from my ear, snapping it shut and shaking my head at my roommate's craziness. It was all too often that she called me on her lunch break, trying to distract herself from going back to her job where she had to fetch coffee and run around the different designer studios for this month's latest trends according to the top designers. She hated that she was on the low end of the totem pole but it would eventually pay off. She's been working like a dog since she landed the internship last year so it would only be a matter of time before she got bumped up in her job. At least she got a well paying job out of the internship. That was always a plus.

I tossed my phone back into my bag, first turning it on vibrate so I wouldn't have to hear any other sexual innuendo from the ringtones, and grabbed my iPod. I pulled off my white sweatshirt and hung it up in the closet before putting in my headphones. I flipped through the music and decided today I would listen to Head Automatica, since it seemed like an electro-pop kind of day. Instantly, I heard the familiar sounds of enthusiastic drumming and a low bass line and smiled. There was something about Head Automatica that always seemed to make me want to dance around like a fool.

I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail as I made my way down the hallway and up the stairs to Matt's bedroom. I passed by the bathroom door that had warm, damp air leaking out from the partially open door, signaling that he had probably just had a shower. Breathing in the scent, I could smell the definite fragrance of men's aftershave coming from that room, which didn't smell too bad. Normally, I wasn't a fan of aftershave but Matt's was different. I had a feeling that Matt was becoming the exception of the rule I had for many men that became involved in my life, which was either a good thing or a bad thing. I couldn't tell which yet.

I walked into Matt's room, nodding my head along to the upbeat music that played while surveying the room. It wasn't as bad as it had been in the previous weeks before. The bed was unmade, of course, as well as some clothing scattered about on the floor. Despite Matt telling me that I didn't have to do the laundry, there was something that compelled me to act like his mother in that regard. It was obvious that Matt didn't know how to wash anything at all, though he had his own washer and dryer, so I decided that I would just take over the task. It wasn't really in my job description to do my client's laundry but if I didn't do it for Matt then I'm sure he'd just wear dirty clothes all the time, which I couldn't accept in good consciousness.

I started gathering the clothing onto the bed again, planning to wash the bedding like I normally did along with the laundry. It took a little longer to organize because I kept distracting myself with dancing around the room to the music but eventually, everything was collected into a large bundle that I started schlepping down the stairs. I started dragging the bundle along on the ground to the laundry room, dropping it in front of the washer as I turned the water on, mixing in some soap and tossing in the sheets.

While I was separating the different articles of clothing into their respective piles, I continued nodding my head along to the music. I found myself feeling incredibly upbeat listening to this music, even though I wasn't the kind of person that listened to such things most of the time. Lucy was more of the clubbing type that always brought home music she would hear on her evenings out with Owen to a dance club. She's the one that got me turned on to most of the music I had on my iPod.

"You, you want nothing to do with me. You, you want nothing to do with me. I, I don't know what to do with you cuz you don't know what you do to me. Baby is this love for real? Let me in your arms to feel, the beating of your heart baby; the beating of your heart, baby," I sang loudly, wiggling my body along to the beat.

I finished sorting the clothes, still singing and dancing around like a fool before retreating back to the bedroom where I started. I pushed the door open, in the middle of singing the chorus once again when I stopped dead in my tracks, seeing that Matt was standing near his desk, grabbing a notebook. He was stifling a laugh while I immediately shut my mouth, feeling the blood draining from my face. Every time I did or said something foolish, Matt was there. It was not looking like this was a day where I could avoid embarrassment in front of him.

I pulled the headphones from my ears, fidgeting nervously as I stood in his doorway. This was a lot more contact during my actual working hours than I was used to so it felt a little awkward to be in his presence. I rocked back and forth on my feet a bit, twirling the white chord of my headphones between my fingers as I looked at him.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly, avoiding eye contact.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked in a confused tone of voice.

"Um, disturbing you?" I said unsurely.

"You didn't disturb me," he smiled, which instantly caused me to relax a bit in front of him. "I understand that this job's probably boring as shit so it doesn't bother me if you find some way of makin' it fun."

I nodded, "Ok. Thanks."

"Listen, some of my mates are comin' 'round the house today so I just wanted to give you a warning," he said stepping closer to me.

"Oh, alright. Thanks for the heads up," I said.

"I'll be downstairs workin' on the piano if you need me, alright?" he said, stopping beside me to pass.

I stepped more out of his way so he could pass easily without running into me on his way out.

"Ok," I said meekly with a single nod.

He flashed me another smile before leaving his room, leaving me to watch him jauntily descend down the stairs with his purple notebook. It was interesting to me how much I watched him, especially given my preference for watching people to paint. I hadn't been more focused on a single person than I had been in the last two weeks. There was something about seeing Matt that made me feel different. He had this way about him that made me want to be around him more than I should. I decided that I would ignore it and continue about my day; hopefully with no more moments like the ones I've been having today.

I put the earphones back in my ears, hearing silence as a signal of no more Head Automatica music to listen to so I pulled the iPod back out and turned it onto shuffle, hearing loud rock music that Symon had put onto my iPod. Shrugging to myself, I continued on with my job, cleaning up his bedroom and bathroom before switching loads once again.

I found myself learning more about Matt the more time I spent at his house. When I was cleaning his bedroom, I found a few interesting books about different conspiracy theories that made me wonder if he was that paranoid. There were two types of people that enjoyed conspiracy theories: people who enjoyed reading any and everything and then the truly paranoid that actually believed that JFK's assassination was organized by the CIA assassins or that the Apollo Moon missions were faked by NASA. I just wondered which person Matt was.

He also had a lot of questionable clothing in his closet, making me wonder if he was a fan of Halloween or going to costume parties. When I pulled the closet open last week, I was not expecting to see a huge sombrero and a black and white striped referee jersey. It really made me wonder if he was sane or not keeping such random things like that. I just decided he was a lot more childish than I initially thought and left it at that.

By far my favorite thing I found while cleaning his house was the array of different bubble baths under his sink. He had at least seven different bottles of bubble baths with different scents ranging from 'Wild Orchid' to 'Juicy Mango'. I never thought of Matt being the kind of person who would enjoy bubble baths, given the constant dirty state of his bathtub but I guess when he felt the need, he would pick up one of the scented bubble baths and indulge himself. It made me giggle at the thought.

I started cleaning up the front room, dancing around with my feather duster once again when Matt walked into the room. I stopped what I was doing, pulling out my headphones as he walked over to the front door. He turned around, looking at me with a small smile which made me feel very unsure about this situation.

"My mates are here," he said.

I nodded and decided to wrap the headphones over my neck and continue cleaning the house so it looked like I was still doing my job. I could hear them greeting each other while I continued dusting off the bookshelf but didn't really pay much attention to what they were saying. I always hated being around new people. I felt even shyer than I normally felt around people. I just hoped there wouldn't be too much conversation.

"So Azriel," Matt said, grabbing my attention and forcing me to spin around and look at the strangers. "This is Chris and Dom. They're in the band with me," he said, gesturing to the two guys standing beside him. "Guys, this is Azriel. She's the one that's tackled the task of cleanin' my house," Matt chuckled.

I studied the two guys standing near Matt, noticing they were rather good looking. The guy standing closest to Matt was taller than he was and a lot more built by looking over his stature. He had short brown hair and big dark brown eyes that were completely warm and friendly. His rounded face had some stubble present, like he missed a few days of shaving but knowing how Matt put so much work into his appearance, I had a feeling that this guy did the same. He had on a black jacket and a pair of blue jeans, his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. He reminded me of the kind of guy that seemed very intimidating at first but would also make an excellent person to hug since he had that whole teddy bear vibe.

The second guy was skinny and around Matt's height with long blonde hair that was way messier that Matt's ever could be. He had these amazing green eyes and this huge grin on his face, sort of reminding me of a child in the way the features all complimented each other. The thing that caught my attention most with this fellow was the bright yellow skinnies he had on that clung very tightly to the lower half of his body. It was a wonder how he got them on but again, it was just like trying to imagine Symon getting into the pair of Batman under-roos; I just didn't want to know the details on that.

"She's quite the looker, eh?" the one in the yellow pants said enthusiastically, nudging the taller man beside him in the side.

"It's nice to meet you. We've wanted to meet the brave soul that decided to clean this hellhole when he told us about you," the taller one said, ignoring the blonde man's actions.

"Nice to meet you too," I replied, twirling the feather duster in my hands.

The blonde man, I think his name was Dom, jumped over the couch and scurried over to me, making me feel slightly alarmed by his high energy. He took my free hand in his, slightly bowing before me.

"Enchanté Mademoiselle," he said, kissing the top of my hand.

I could feel a blush creeping up on my cheeks as he continued kissing my hand. I bit my lower lip, unsure of what to say to this man to make him stop kissing my hand. This was exactly why I hated meeting new people. I never knew how to act around them or how to be polite about getting away from strange people like this one.

"Oi you prat, get off!" the tall one, Chris, said, walking towards Dom and seizing him away from me. "Sorry love. He's had a tad too much caffeine today is all," he said, still holding the smaller man in his arms and looking at me apologetically.

"It's ok," I said, my voice wavering a bit with uncertainty.

"Jeez Dom, you're goin' ta scare away the one person who's not afraid of my house!" Matt laughed.

"I'm sorry mate but I just couldn't resist. When I see a pretty lady, I gotta greet her properly," Dom replied, sending a wink in my direction.

I looked away, blushing an even deeper shade of red and unable to think of anything to contribute to the conversation. Standing in this room with Matt was at least bearable when he was alone because he was just as quiet as I was but now, he seemed a little more bouncy and energetic than before, somewhat matching Dom's eccentric behavior. I had a feeling that with the two of them together, my only solace would be offered with Chris, who seemed to be a man of few words.

"Alright Don Juan, that's enough of frightenin' the poor girl," Chris chuckled, dragging his friend past Matt and into the hallway. "It was lovely meeting you," he added politely, nodding in my direction.

"I hope we get to speak again beautiful!" I heard Dom said loudly, slightly muffled by Chris's arm.

The two of them completely disappeared from sight, the sound of the door closing echoing loudly in the silence shared between Matt and me. He was staring at me sheepishly as I nervously continued spinning the feather duster in my hands.

"I'm sorry about Dom. He's normally a lot calmer than that," he said.

"No, it's fine. I've got a flatmate like that so I'm used to it," I said reassuringly. "I just tend to get really shy around new people. It's a habit," I admitted.

"Well, we should be locked away in the room for most of the day so no worries. I'll try to keep Dom out of your hair, alright?" he smiled.

I nodded, "Thanks Matt."

Saying his first name aloud was slightly weird because when I normally worked for people, I used titles, such as Mr. or Ms. I wasn't used to people being so casual the way Anthony had been on my first day here. Calling the blue-eyed man before me by his first name seemed a little too casual, like he and I were friends of some sort. I guess I may have been reading too much into this scenario so I pushed it aside, allowing myself to grow comfortable with the casual nature that this particular gig brought.

Matt gave a slight wave before he disappeared into the hall. I let out a loud sigh before letting my shoulders slump a bit in relaxation. I put in my headphones once again, letting music fill the awkward silence in my mind before I went back to cleaning the front room. I finished dusting the furniture and decided that the floor needed to be swept badly so I walked towards the laundry room and grabbed the broom and dustpan, working my way around the room at an expert rate and humming along to the music.

I moved onto the kitchen next, seeing that the dishes from last week's spaghetti were nowhere in sight. I smiled a bit, thinking that they were probably the only dishes Matt did, filling some kind of cleaning quota for the week. Shaking my head, I started washing the dishes, still dancing along to the music. Currently, Elton John was flowing through the headphones, making me pause in my cleaning for a moment to play air piano along with him.

"Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet? But they're so spaced out, B-B-B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets. Oh, but they're weird and they're wonderful. Oh Bennie, she's really keen. She's got electric boots, a mohair suit; you know I read it in a magazine, oh-ho. B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets," I sang to myself, letting my fingers float across the imaginary piano keys.

I dropped my hands, smiling to myself a bit and picking up the last dish, washing it off with a sponge when I felt fingers tapping my shoulder. I jumped, gripping the edges of the plate before whipping around and looking to the person behind me.

It was Dom, standing there with a goofy grin on his face. I pulled one of the headphones out to hear what he had to say, since he commanded my attention away from Bennie and the Jets.

"I was wonderin' if you had a clean glass you could loan me," he said, the smile never leaving his face.

I reached into the dish drainer, pulling out a regular size glass and handed it to him. I turned back to the sink while he thanked me and pulled the fridge door open. I moved away from him a bit, heading over to the kitchen table and beginning to wipe it up so it would be ready to eat at once again.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you before," he said, pouring himself a glass or orange juice.

"It's fine," I said dismissively. "You remind me a lot of my roommate so I'm used to over the top behavior."

"To tell you the truth, I was mainly actin' like that to get a rise out of Matt. It seems since he met you, all he's been thinkin' about is you. We thought he was mad but now that I've had the chance to see you for myself, I can see why he's interested," Dom explained, taking a big gulp of orange juice.

"Wait, what?" I asked, unsure of what to make of this information.

"Look, it's been a while since dear Matthew has been interested in a girl so when he started gettin' all weird last week, I thought that there had to be a girl in the picture. Since you're the only person, aside from friends and family, that he's spoken to, I have to assume that you're the one he's been interested in," Dom said, making me feel even more confused.

"But, he's my boss," I told him, scratching the back of my head.

"So? He's still interested and by the looks of things, you're interested too," Dom grinned.

"What? No. I mean, I like him as any employee likes their boss but that's it. There's nothing more to it than that," I stammered quickly, trying to sound convincing to him.

"Darlin', I've been 'round the block enough to know that you're not only lyin' to me but you're lyin' to yourself," he chuckled. "The sooner you admit that you fancy him, the better it is for both of you."

He spun around, taking his glass of OJ with him as he disappeared from the kitchen, leaving me to stand there, glaring at the empty space where he once stood. I felt my temper starting to rise once again, though I didn't know why. I wasn't really angry with Dom for what he said. I was angrier with myself for actually feeling that way about Matt. It was slightly infuriating that someone that I had just met today was telling me that he could tell who I liked or didn't like. I hated being too easy to read.

I finished cleaning the rest of the kitchen, glancing up at the clock on the wall and seeing that it was only nearing three o'clock and I was nearly finished with everything. I just had to switch and fold the last of the loads and clean the piano room that had been occupied all day by the three older men. I was beginning to wonder if I had to clean that room or not, since they were still working in there on God knows what. I decided that I would finish up the laundry before popping in to see if they needed me anymore.

I wandered back up the stairs to the bedroom with my basket full of clean dark clothes, dumping them out onto the bed and setting the basket down near the window. I folded slowly, giving them more time to mess around in the piano room. I let my mind wander aimlessly to thoughts of Matt while I continued folding the clothes, wondering if what Dom had told me was actually true. Part of me wanted to believe him and the other part of me was telling me that he got his rocks off by meddling in other people's lives, either by telling the truth or making everything up.

Sighing, I shook the thought from my mind and went back to folding. I took the piles of clothing and started putting them in their respective drawers, getting a sense of where they went from watching Matt last week. I continued putting things away, trying to rid my thoughts of Matt's wonderful blue eyes or his small, charming smile. The more I tried to get rid of them, however, the more I kept thinking about them.

I threw myself on top of Matt's freshly made bed, shutting my eyes and relaxing into his comfortable mattress as the music enveloped me. I was listening to Something Corporate songs, which had lovely piano melodies that just made me grin from ear to ear, and letting my mind wander through the different thoughts I was having. I was imagining what it would be like to come by Matt's house to spend time with him rather than clean his home. I pictured the two of us in his kitchen, eating another pasta-influenced meal with smiles on our faces. I imagined the two of us sitting at his beautiful black piano, playing classical melodies side-by-side. I imagined the way it would feel if his hand lightly grazed mine while we played, sending me into frenzy.

It was obvious now that what Dom had said about me liking Matt was completely true but there was no way in hell I would tell him that. It would be completely unprofessional and I made it a rule not to get involved with people I worked for. There was too much to risk with that and I couldn't afford to lose any clients that way. Besides, there was a very slim chance that he was even interested in me the way Dom said he was. Why should I believe some random blonde guy I just met today who kept kissing my hand and telling me how pretty I was? It was a sure thing that Dom was just another loon that needed to return to the mental health facility he escaped from. He was reading too much into his friend's actions.

Anyway, did I even want a relationship? Looking back on the history of boys I've dated, I've made some questionable choices in men. First there was Symon, who wound up being more of a friend rather than a dependable boyfriend, then Drake, who turned out to be a complete jerk after three months of dating. After that there was Andrew, who was perfectly nice and everything but couldn't keep it in his pants if his life depended on it so that ended. Lastly and most recently, there was Percy, who was an amazing person who I had no spark with after about a year of dating. My track record with persons of the opposite sex hadn't been too great so why would I even be considering giving Matt a shot at failure?

I felt the bed shift beside me, which caused my body to instantly go ridged and for my eyes to fly open to the source of the movement. Lying next to me was Matt, his blue eyes staring into mine with curiosity as I pulled the headphones out to hear him. I tried to speak but there was nothing coming out of my mouth that would sound intelligent at this point. My mind had gone completely blank the minute my eyes met his.

"Um, I," I started, feeling as though I would say something completely stupid once again. "I'm sorry for lying on your bed."

"It's alright love. I understand. We all need a break and seeing as it's near four, I understand if you're in need of rest," he said reassuringly.

"Really? It's almost four?" I asked in a daze.

"Yes," he said slowly, sounding slightly suspicious.

"Wow, I guess I've been lying here longer than I thought then," I said, more to myself than to Matt. "I'm sorry about that. I got lost in a train of thought," I apologized.

"Stop apologizing," he chuckled. "I'm not that thick-headed, you know. Everyone's entitled to a break every now and then," he smiled.

I nodded, suppressing the next apology that was dying to escape from my lips. I glanced at him once again; suddenly curious as to why he decided to lie down with me on his bed. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable as it probably should've been but rather, it was calming. All the thoughts I had rushing through my head abruptly ceased, allowing me to focus on the person next to me.

"Was there a reason you came to check on me?" I asked skeptically.

"I just wanted to tell you that we're going to be working for most of the day so you could go on home whenever you finished with your work," he told me, his voice sounding a tad bit disappointed.

"Oh, ok," I said, my voice sounding completely fake.

In actuality, I was very disappointed that my time with Matt was now over. Though I hadn't really seen him as much as I saw him last week when I was here, I had grown fond of the small moments, such as this one, that we shared. It reinforced those feelings of attraction I felt for him, even though I knew I wouldn't be acting on them. I just enjoyed the flutter of my heart when he was nearby. It made me feel good in unexplainable ways.

I leaned up, which in turn, caused him to lean up as well so that we were sitting there awkwardly on the bed next to each other. I bit my lower lip, trying to think of something to say to him other than just another salutation but I had nothing. I wanted to tell him that I didn't want to leave, that I would stay in his bedroom and wait for him to finish working with his band mates so we could share more time together like we did last week but I couldn't say that without sounding like I had lost my mind.

I pushed myself to my feet, standing in front of him and feeling slightly awkward about it. He continued watching me as I nervously let my hair out of its confinement, the long curls spilling over my shoulders, instantly providing warmth on my neck. I ran a hand through my thick mane, sighing deeply as I decided to make my exit.

"I should go," I said quietly.

"Yeah, I guess so," he nodded, pushing himself up to his feet.

I turned and started walking out of the room, hearing his footsteps behind me as we continued down the stairs and to the front door. I grabbed my sweatshirt from the closet, pulling it over my head and grabbing my purse from the ground. Matt had already gone ahead of me, opening the front door and holding it open for me. I glanced back up at him, wanting to say something more than just goodbye.

"Um, tell your friends that I enjoyed meeting them," I said awkwardly.

"Alright," he nodded.

"I guess I'll see you next week," I sighed.

"Alright. Next week then," he smiled.

"Well, bye," I said, waving slightly with my left hand.

"Cheers," Matt replied, making me laugh at his choice in salutation.

I wandered through the bright red door and out to the familiar neighborhood once again, looking in the direction of the metro station before stuffing my hands into my pockets and walking on my way. There was a chilly wind today, which was making me shiver in my lack of a jacket. I huddled closer to myself, making my way down the street to get into the warm train station that would take me home.

"Oi! Azriel!" I heard faintly through the soft music playing in my headset.

I spun around and noticed Matt running in my direction once again, looking very awkward as he made his way to me. His arms were flailing about while a black coat fluttered in the wind that blew against him. He finally stopped in front of me, holding onto his knees with his hands and panting heavily from the ten meters he ran to catch me. I stood in place, feeling my body shake from the cold while I waited patiently for him to say what he was going to say.

He finally looked up at me after catching his breath and smiled.

"It's freezing out so I want you to take my jacket," he said, holding out the black jacket to me.

"Oh no, it's fine. I'll survive," I said, my teeth chattering a bit as I spoke.

'Damn bloody wind!' I cursed mentally.

"I insist," he said, giving me a look that basically said there was no arguing with him.

Sighing, I nodded in acceptance as he held the jacket out for me in assistance. I slipped on arm in, feeling the weight of his slightly larger jacket against my arm, before slipping in the second one. I turned back around, buttoning up the front of the coat and smiling at him.

"Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome," he replied, a tiny grin on his face as he huddled his arms together. "I'll see you next week."

I simply nodded and he turned back around, quickly walking back to the warmth of his house. I stood there watching him walk, a small smile on my face as I brought my hand up to my face to smell the jacket. It smelled like his cologne a bit, which made me smile. I wrapped my arms around my body before turning back around and heading to the metro once again, feeling very appreciative for the jacket.

’Yep, I definitely like him,' I thought to myself as I walked along the street.