Clash Of The Rockbands
Sincere Apologies And Glowing Forgiveness
Jen’s POV
“This weather is absurd,” I grumbled beneath my breath. The navy blue, stormy sky spilled sheets of very cold rain down upon Huntington Beach. And, of course, I found myself without a sweater or umbrella (seriously, it’s summer in California; who is expecting rain anyway?). I shivered as I stood waiting to cross a street. I wrapped my arms around myself, but that didn’t help any. I was just sopping wet, and there wasn’t any way for me to warm up.
Finally, the sign across from me flashed the person walking. I stepped forward, not even ducking my head to keep the rain off of my face because the rain already streamed down my face like sweat or something. I had walked halfway across the street when suddenly headlights flashed onto my legs. I glanced over to see a car skidding right towards me. The person behind the wheel looked horrified, and I knew the guy was braking, but the roads were a little slick from rain and he couldn’t get any traction.
I froze like a deer in fucking headlights. This wasn’t going to feel pleasant, not at all. I began to think random things like: I wonder if the impact will break my leg. Hopefully my head won’t go through the windshield. Someone around here better have a cell phone to call 911. I ain’t lying in a rain-soaked street for hours upon hours as someone tries to find a phone to call 911. Ugh, the hospital bills will be sky high. THIS SUCKS.
Suddenly, I felt an arm coil tightly around my waist. The person dragged me out of the car’s way, and we landed on the edge of the street, in a large puddle, might I add. I looked around, and even through the driving rain I could recognize my savior.
“See?” Matt asked, raising his eyebrows. “I knew one day I would have save your life.” I huffed at him, dragging my wet hair away from my face. “I’ll take you to my place to get dry. It’s not far from here.” Before I could protest, Matt scrambled to his feet before pulling me up into a standing position. He seized my hand in his and led me down the sidewalk, the sheets of rain still falling upon our heads.
**********
The warm air of his house felt glorious against my cool, wet skin. Matt led the way upstairs to his bedroom, which looked exactly as I remembered it. Nothing much had changed, except possibly the placement of some things.
“I don’t even have any dry clothes,” I told Matt as I suddenly realized it.
“Well, one night you spent the night,” Matt began as he walked over to his closet and opened the door. He began to rummage around in the bottom of it, finally pulling out a plastic bag. “And you forgot some clothes.” He walked back over to me and held the bag out. I took it and looked inside to see a pair of jeans and a tank top.
“I wondered where these went,” I murmured as I pulled the tank top out to get a better look at it. It looked pretty plain, a solid block of iron gray with a strip of black running around the hem. The blue jeans looked plain as well: just a pair of light blue skinny jeans.
“But what about underwear?” I asked Matt, looking up at him. He looked over from where he stood next to his dresser, pulling out dry clothes for himself.
“Uhhh...” He looked suddenly thoughtful. “I could throw them in the dryer really fast, I guess. You’d have to hang out in the bathroom until they dried, but it would be better than having wet underwear.”
“Okay,” I replied.
“Just put them on the floor outside the bathroom. I’ll pick them up when I go downstairs.” Matt told me before looking back to rummage in his dresser.
“Alright,” I said. I walked out of his bedroom and across the small, narrow hallway into the bathroom. “Do you want a towel?” I called back across the hall.
“Yeah,” Matt answered, stepping into view. I quickly tried to ignore the fact that he now wore only a pair of wet boxers (stay focused, Jen) and quickly grabbed a towel out of the cabinet and threw it across the hall at him. I stepped back into the bathroom and closed the door.
As I dragged off my wet clothes, I thought about this sudden meeting. It came out of nowhere, practically, like fate or something. I bet not many girls can say that fate brought her and M. Shadows back together again. I wrapped a towel tightly around my still-damp body and slowly opened the bathroom door just enough to put my underwear on the floor.
Yes, I understand how awkward this seems. It honestly didn’t feel too awkward, though; I mean, he’d seen me in just my underwear before. It wouldn’t be much difference for them to be off my body and him handling them. And he was being nice; he’d offered to help me dry off and warm up instead of just leaving me soaking wet on the street. That had to count for something.
I retreated back into the bathroom. I dried my body off with the towel and then coiled it tightly around me again. I dragged the hair tie on my wrist off of my wrist and tied it onto the towel so that it would stay securely closed. I wrung my hair out in the sink. It didn’t have the blue in it at all anymore, not even in the bangs. I had cut it, too, so that it now hovered right at my shoulders. All of us girls had lost the crazy-colored hair, except for Kim, who just said “Fuck this” and dyed all of her hair hot pink. She’s the color explosion of the band now.
I stood in the bathroom for a few minutes. But I still didn’t get any warmer. With a low sigh, I dared to venture out into the house wearing nothing but a towel. Hopefully, it would shock Matt so much that he would just swoon or something, and I could get some coffee or something and rush back up to the bathroom.
I stepped carefully down the stairs, knowing that Matt was down here somewhere because my undergarments were gone from the floor outside the bathroom. I looked around as I stepped down into the hallway: still no Matt. Cautiously, I walked into the kitchen, only to find Matt standing with his back to me, making some coffee.
“Is that decaf?” I asked. Matt glanced around at me and then looked back at the coffee machine, but did a double take. I felt heat burn beneath the skin of my face, and knew I was probably beet red. I crossed my arms tightly over my chest because it made me feel better about the towel staying in place.
“Yeah,” he answered, tearing his gaze back to the coffee machine. “Do you want some?”
“Sure,” I replied.
“Your stuff should be dry in a few minutes.” Matt told me. I saw that his gaze was aimed at my feet as he turned back around to face me.
“I’ll just go back upstairs until then,” I said. Matt nodded, still staring at my feet. I turned and climbed back up the stairs.
A few minutes later, Matt knocked softly on the bathroom door. I walked over and carefully opened the door so he could only see my head and part of my shoulder. He silently handed me my undergarments. I thanked him before closing the door.
I quickly dragged on the warm clothes. They instantly warmed me up a bit more. I smoothed the front of my tank top down before stepping back out of the bathroom. I went back downstairs and into the kitchen.
Matt sat at the small, square kitchen table. A coffee mug sat in front of him, and another one sat across from him. He looked up as I stepped in, and seemed relieved to see that I was fully dressed. I sank down in the seat across from him, curling my still-cold fingers around the steaming mug.
“Is it hard for you too?” Matt blurted out suddenly. I looked up at him, slightly alarmed. “Do you regret it all too? I know I do. I realize now that how overprotective I was being was completely foolish of me. I honestly thought what I was doing was the best for you. I was too stubborn to realize that it just made you want to get away from me. I was rude that night at the bar too. I shouldn’t have been so jealous.” Matt said all of this in a rush, so fast that I almost didn’t catch all of his words. I blinked at him for a few moments, letting it sink in.
“Yes,” I finally whispered, looking down into my coffee. “It’s very hard for me. As for the regret thing, I definitely feel regret. I should’ve tried to negotiate with you. But then I didn’t want to talk about it. It was my way or the highway. I regret not talking about it with you more. I just let it get worse and worse.” I looked back up at him to see him staring intently at me. “And...and...” I couldn’t keep anything from those beautiful brown eyes. “And I missed you a lot! I wanted more than anything to just...to just...SEE you again! I wanted to tell you that I knew you thought it was best for me, and you only had my best interests in mind, and you never meant to behave like you did! I wanted to talk about it, and see if we could make up! At first, I was fine being away from you. But then, I just missed you more and more each day! And it got worse and worse and worse over the past two years. But now that you’re here, in front of me, I’m not sure what to do! Should I apologize, or should I be the one accepting the apology? Is either of us to blame for what happened? I don’t know.”
“I blame myself,” Matt told me, his voice quiet. “I was the overprotective one that smothered you. I didn’t mean for it to smother you! I thought you would be grateful to have a guy willing to protect you...but I got carried away with it.” I took a drink of my coffee, and it warmed me up from the inside out as it slid down my throat.
“So...you should apologize?” I asked slowly. Matt nodded. “And I forgive?”
“If you wish,” Matt replied. “Jennifer, I offer you my sincerest apologies.” He sounded like it too. I had never heard him so sincere.
“And Matthew, I offer you my glowing forgiveness,” I told him just as solemnly.
We stared at each other for a little bit longer before looking back down at our coffee. I looked out of the window above the sink to see the clouds parting to reveal a weak, watery sun.
“Thanks for the coffee,” I told him as I rose swiftly to my feet. “And thanks for drying my undergarments.” I strode quickly out of the room and back up the stairs to retrieve my wet clothes. Back in the kitchen, I felt half tempted to kiss Matt, but I feared his rejection. Maybe he didn’t love me anymore.
I scooped my clothes off of where they sat folded neatly on the sink in the bathroom. I turned around to see Matt standing in the doorway, blocking my path out into the hallway. Slowly, he reached out and picked the wet clothes on my arm up.
“I think I should dry your actual clothes, too,” he told me seriously, but his eyes danced with hidden humor. “So they won’t wrinkle, you know.”
“Damn those wrinkles,” I replied, keeping my voice serious. “Damn them to Hell.”
“Yes,” he agreed as he reached out and curled his hand around mine, “damn them all to Hell.” He pulled me gently towards him, pressing his lips lightly against mine.
“That’s no kiss,” I breathed against his lips.
“What is? I seem to have forgotten,” he breathed back. I smirked before smashing my lips against his. Matt dropped my clothes as his hands slid to my waist. I wrapped my arms eagerly around his neck, pressing my body against his. Matt’s lips smirked against mine as he backed out into the hallway and pressed me back against the wall.
I pulled my lips away from his. I stared into his brown eyes.
“So...does this mean we’re back together?” I asked. He laughed.
“What do you think?” he replied before pushing his lips against mine.
“This weather is absurd,” I grumbled beneath my breath. The navy blue, stormy sky spilled sheets of very cold rain down upon Huntington Beach. And, of course, I found myself without a sweater or umbrella (seriously, it’s summer in California; who is expecting rain anyway?). I shivered as I stood waiting to cross a street. I wrapped my arms around myself, but that didn’t help any. I was just sopping wet, and there wasn’t any way for me to warm up.
Finally, the sign across from me flashed the person walking. I stepped forward, not even ducking my head to keep the rain off of my face because the rain already streamed down my face like sweat or something. I had walked halfway across the street when suddenly headlights flashed onto my legs. I glanced over to see a car skidding right towards me. The person behind the wheel looked horrified, and I knew the guy was braking, but the roads were a little slick from rain and he couldn’t get any traction.
I froze like a deer in fucking headlights. This wasn’t going to feel pleasant, not at all. I began to think random things like: I wonder if the impact will break my leg. Hopefully my head won’t go through the windshield. Someone around here better have a cell phone to call 911. I ain’t lying in a rain-soaked street for hours upon hours as someone tries to find a phone to call 911. Ugh, the hospital bills will be sky high. THIS SUCKS.
Suddenly, I felt an arm coil tightly around my waist. The person dragged me out of the car’s way, and we landed on the edge of the street, in a large puddle, might I add. I looked around, and even through the driving rain I could recognize my savior.
“See?” Matt asked, raising his eyebrows. “I knew one day I would have save your life.” I huffed at him, dragging my wet hair away from my face. “I’ll take you to my place to get dry. It’s not far from here.” Before I could protest, Matt scrambled to his feet before pulling me up into a standing position. He seized my hand in his and led me down the sidewalk, the sheets of rain still falling upon our heads.
**********
The warm air of his house felt glorious against my cool, wet skin. Matt led the way upstairs to his bedroom, which looked exactly as I remembered it. Nothing much had changed, except possibly the placement of some things.
“I don’t even have any dry clothes,” I told Matt as I suddenly realized it.
“Well, one night you spent the night,” Matt began as he walked over to his closet and opened the door. He began to rummage around in the bottom of it, finally pulling out a plastic bag. “And you forgot some clothes.” He walked back over to me and held the bag out. I took it and looked inside to see a pair of jeans and a tank top.
“I wondered where these went,” I murmured as I pulled the tank top out to get a better look at it. It looked pretty plain, a solid block of iron gray with a strip of black running around the hem. The blue jeans looked plain as well: just a pair of light blue skinny jeans.
“But what about underwear?” I asked Matt, looking up at him. He looked over from where he stood next to his dresser, pulling out dry clothes for himself.
“Uhhh...” He looked suddenly thoughtful. “I could throw them in the dryer really fast, I guess. You’d have to hang out in the bathroom until they dried, but it would be better than having wet underwear.”
“Okay,” I replied.
“Just put them on the floor outside the bathroom. I’ll pick them up when I go downstairs.” Matt told me before looking back to rummage in his dresser.
“Alright,” I said. I walked out of his bedroom and across the small, narrow hallway into the bathroom. “Do you want a towel?” I called back across the hall.
“Yeah,” Matt answered, stepping into view. I quickly tried to ignore the fact that he now wore only a pair of wet boxers (stay focused, Jen) and quickly grabbed a towel out of the cabinet and threw it across the hall at him. I stepped back into the bathroom and closed the door.
As I dragged off my wet clothes, I thought about this sudden meeting. It came out of nowhere, practically, like fate or something. I bet not many girls can say that fate brought her and M. Shadows back together again. I wrapped a towel tightly around my still-damp body and slowly opened the bathroom door just enough to put my underwear on the floor.
Yes, I understand how awkward this seems. It honestly didn’t feel too awkward, though; I mean, he’d seen me in just my underwear before. It wouldn’t be much difference for them to be off my body and him handling them. And he was being nice; he’d offered to help me dry off and warm up instead of just leaving me soaking wet on the street. That had to count for something.
I retreated back into the bathroom. I dried my body off with the towel and then coiled it tightly around me again. I dragged the hair tie on my wrist off of my wrist and tied it onto the towel so that it would stay securely closed. I wrung my hair out in the sink. It didn’t have the blue in it at all anymore, not even in the bangs. I had cut it, too, so that it now hovered right at my shoulders. All of us girls had lost the crazy-colored hair, except for Kim, who just said “Fuck this” and dyed all of her hair hot pink. She’s the color explosion of the band now.
I stood in the bathroom for a few minutes. But I still didn’t get any warmer. With a low sigh, I dared to venture out into the house wearing nothing but a towel. Hopefully, it would shock Matt so much that he would just swoon or something, and I could get some coffee or something and rush back up to the bathroom.
I stepped carefully down the stairs, knowing that Matt was down here somewhere because my undergarments were gone from the floor outside the bathroom. I looked around as I stepped down into the hallway: still no Matt. Cautiously, I walked into the kitchen, only to find Matt standing with his back to me, making some coffee.
“Is that decaf?” I asked. Matt glanced around at me and then looked back at the coffee machine, but did a double take. I felt heat burn beneath the skin of my face, and knew I was probably beet red. I crossed my arms tightly over my chest because it made me feel better about the towel staying in place.
“Yeah,” he answered, tearing his gaze back to the coffee machine. “Do you want some?”
“Sure,” I replied.
“Your stuff should be dry in a few minutes.” Matt told me. I saw that his gaze was aimed at my feet as he turned back around to face me.
“I’ll just go back upstairs until then,” I said. Matt nodded, still staring at my feet. I turned and climbed back up the stairs.
A few minutes later, Matt knocked softly on the bathroom door. I walked over and carefully opened the door so he could only see my head and part of my shoulder. He silently handed me my undergarments. I thanked him before closing the door.
I quickly dragged on the warm clothes. They instantly warmed me up a bit more. I smoothed the front of my tank top down before stepping back out of the bathroom. I went back downstairs and into the kitchen.
Matt sat at the small, square kitchen table. A coffee mug sat in front of him, and another one sat across from him. He looked up as I stepped in, and seemed relieved to see that I was fully dressed. I sank down in the seat across from him, curling my still-cold fingers around the steaming mug.
“Is it hard for you too?” Matt blurted out suddenly. I looked up at him, slightly alarmed. “Do you regret it all too? I know I do. I realize now that how overprotective I was being was completely foolish of me. I honestly thought what I was doing was the best for you. I was too stubborn to realize that it just made you want to get away from me. I was rude that night at the bar too. I shouldn’t have been so jealous.” Matt said all of this in a rush, so fast that I almost didn’t catch all of his words. I blinked at him for a few moments, letting it sink in.
“Yes,” I finally whispered, looking down into my coffee. “It’s very hard for me. As for the regret thing, I definitely feel regret. I should’ve tried to negotiate with you. But then I didn’t want to talk about it. It was my way or the highway. I regret not talking about it with you more. I just let it get worse and worse.” I looked back up at him to see him staring intently at me. “And...and...” I couldn’t keep anything from those beautiful brown eyes. “And I missed you a lot! I wanted more than anything to just...to just...SEE you again! I wanted to tell you that I knew you thought it was best for me, and you only had my best interests in mind, and you never meant to behave like you did! I wanted to talk about it, and see if we could make up! At first, I was fine being away from you. But then, I just missed you more and more each day! And it got worse and worse and worse over the past two years. But now that you’re here, in front of me, I’m not sure what to do! Should I apologize, or should I be the one accepting the apology? Is either of us to blame for what happened? I don’t know.”
“I blame myself,” Matt told me, his voice quiet. “I was the overprotective one that smothered you. I didn’t mean for it to smother you! I thought you would be grateful to have a guy willing to protect you...but I got carried away with it.” I took a drink of my coffee, and it warmed me up from the inside out as it slid down my throat.
“So...you should apologize?” I asked slowly. Matt nodded. “And I forgive?”
“If you wish,” Matt replied. “Jennifer, I offer you my sincerest apologies.” He sounded like it too. I had never heard him so sincere.
“And Matthew, I offer you my glowing forgiveness,” I told him just as solemnly.
We stared at each other for a little bit longer before looking back down at our coffee. I looked out of the window above the sink to see the clouds parting to reveal a weak, watery sun.
“Thanks for the coffee,” I told him as I rose swiftly to my feet. “And thanks for drying my undergarments.” I strode quickly out of the room and back up the stairs to retrieve my wet clothes. Back in the kitchen, I felt half tempted to kiss Matt, but I feared his rejection. Maybe he didn’t love me anymore.
I scooped my clothes off of where they sat folded neatly on the sink in the bathroom. I turned around to see Matt standing in the doorway, blocking my path out into the hallway. Slowly, he reached out and picked the wet clothes on my arm up.
“I think I should dry your actual clothes, too,” he told me seriously, but his eyes danced with hidden humor. “So they won’t wrinkle, you know.”
“Damn those wrinkles,” I replied, keeping my voice serious. “Damn them to Hell.”
“Yes,” he agreed as he reached out and curled his hand around mine, “damn them all to Hell.” He pulled me gently towards him, pressing his lips lightly against mine.
“That’s no kiss,” I breathed against his lips.
“What is? I seem to have forgotten,” he breathed back. I smirked before smashing my lips against his. Matt dropped my clothes as his hands slid to my waist. I wrapped my arms eagerly around his neck, pressing my body against his. Matt’s lips smirked against mine as he backed out into the hallway and pressed me back against the wall.
I pulled my lips away from his. I stared into his brown eyes.
“So...does this mean we’re back together?” I asked. He laughed.
“What do you think?” he replied before pushing his lips against mine.
♠ ♠ ♠
Damn wrinkles.=}