Surrender Your Heart

Kylie woke up the next day in a bad mood. She hadn't slept much the night before due to the constant stream of thoughts that were running through her mind. Or rather, the constant stream of Matt related thoughts. She couldn't stop thinking about him. She couldn't stop thinking about the way his dimples appeared when he laughed or smiled, or the way he could be very responsible but also very immature. And then of course, the scene of him calling her babe would take turns with the scene of their kiss, running through her mind like a cheap drive in romance flick.

She tried to relax as she got ready to go in to the studio, but the idea of having to see Matt was making her nervous. She got dressed in a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt, slipped on some flip flops, and flew out the door. She drove quickly to the studio, seeing as she was late for taking so long to relax herself this morning. It didn't take her long to get to the studio, park, and hop out of her car. She walked briskly up to the door, swinging it open and walking inside. She was greeted by Jack, whose face had previously been pressed against the glass door. "Hi!" he said loud enough that everyone knew someone had arrived.
"Kylie!" Squire called from somewhere deeper inside the building.

Rolling her eyes and patting Jacks shoulder, she said "Thanks Jack attack.” The gangly guitarist smiled goofily while the blonde slunk off in the direction of where she assumed her boss was. "You yelled?" she said to Squire when she found him sitting around with the other guys.

"This is the latest you've ever been. I wouldn’t normally mind, and I guess I still don't, but you do realize if you were to ever open you're own recording studio or something like that, you'd never be able to be late like this right?"

Kylie sighed and took a seat at the big table. "Yes Squire, I know. I just slept late that's all." The older man shrugged and went back to his conversation with Rian and Alex about some drum part they were working on.

Kylie let out a sigh and pulled her laptop out of her bag, letting it power on. She pulled up her internet browser and went to her email. While she was browsing through the junk messages, Matt came over and took a seat next to her. "Well," he said to her, pulling her from her thoughts, "You proved me wrong. I guess you weren't avoiding me, were you?"

Kylie looked up at him. He was offering her a teasing smile, so she knew he was being kind of sarcastic. "Oh shut up," she laughed.

He laughed too and said, "What?"

Scowling playfully, she said, "You knew I was avoiding you; you just wanted to be difficult and make me suffer."

Matt smirked. "Probably. Why were you avoiding me in the first place though?"

Kylie's expression quickly changed from playful to deadpan. "Where have you been for the past few days? We kissed," she said, lowering her voice. "I knew things were going to be awkward, and I just wanted to avoid any unnecessary awkward situations if at all possible."

Matt nodded. "I know we kissed Kylie, but who said it was going to be awkward?"

Now Kylie was confused. Was he being serious? "Seriously? We kissed and you rejected me like a rotten potato. Of course things were going to be awkward!"

Matt opened his mouth like he was going to object or say something, but stopped himself. "What were you going to say?" Kylie prompted him.

He shook his head. "Never mind. Except you... No, never mind. I'm going to go see if Jack's broken anything yet. Be right back," he said, standing up and walking away.

Puzzled and wondering what Matt was going to say to her, Kylie shook her head and continued to screw around on her computer.

Around ten minutes had passed before Matt came back into the control room. He sat down next to Kylie and took a deep breath. Kylie looked at him like he was insane. “Go on a date with me,” he said simply.

She was shocked. She almost fell out of her seat. She almost dropped her jaw to the floor, but refrained from doing either. “Wh-what?” she stuttered.

She wasn’t the only surprised one in the room. Everyone had heard Matt, so everyone was surprised. To almost all of them, with the exception of Squire, it was coming out of left field. No one knew of Matt and Kylie’s kiss, except Matt, Kylie, and Squire. “Go on a date with me,” Matt said again.

For a few minutes, the whole room was silent. Neither Matt nor Kylie noticed though. They were too wrapped up in one another. “Why?” she asked him, her voice quiet and small.

He sighed. “Because I want you too.”

She just nodded and didn’t say anything for a minute. Then she spoke up. “Okay.”

Matt smiled at her. “Yeah?”

She smiled back and nodded. “Yeah.”

Alex was the first one who wasn’t Kylie or Matt to speak up. “What the fuck is going on here?”
Kylie smiled. “Be quiet Gaskarth, and go back to whatever it is you were doing before you decided to be obnoxious.”

Alex tried to protest, but now Squire stopped him. “Let it go, man. Go into the booth and let it go. If there’s one thing you should have learned by now it’s that Kylie is stubborn and won’t give out any information she doesn’t want to give out. So just let it go.”

The blonde smiled and silently mouthed a thank you to Squire. She looked at Matt and said, “Where and when?”

***

Later that night, Kylie could be found in her room, standing in nothing but a towel, trying to figure out what one wears to an acoustic show, which was what she and Matt decided on doing for their date. They were going to go to an acoustic set and then go out for sushi. She finally pulled out a silver and black satiny top and a pair of dark wash jeans from Hollister. After picking out a cute pair of flats, she threw on some underwear and a bra, her clothes, and continued to get ready. She took her time while she transformed her hair from straight to soft curls, thanks to her new curling iron. Once she was finished, she slipped a thin black headband on her head and then finished the rest of her getting ready routine—contacts, brushing her teeth, make up, etc.

She walked out of her bathroom and slipped on a cute black ¾ sleeves cardigan and slid her feet into her black leather ballerina flats. Grabbing her black wristlet filled with her ID, money, phone, and lip gloss, she walked down the hall and down the stairs, into the kitchen. It was now five to seven; meaning Matt would be there any minute to pick her up.
She took a deep breath. She had never been so nervous and/or excited for a date in her whole life. Sure, she had gone on her fair share of dates, but none of them seemed to work out or were any fun. None of them had been played in her mind a million times before happening. This one had, and she was ready for it.

Finally, the doorbell rang, making her jump. She walked slowly towards the front door and laid her hand on the handle, taking a breath before opening it. “Hey there,” she said with a smile.

Matt smiled back. “Hey,” Matt answered, taking a step inside. He gave her the once over and smiled. “You look gorgeous, as expected.”

Kylie blushed. “Well thanks; you don’t look too bad yourself.” Kylie checked Matt out. He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt and jeans; simple, but it totally worked.

He smirked. “Ok well, ready to go?”

Kylie nodded and walked out, locking up and preparing herself for the night ahead.

***

Kylie and Matt got to the acoustic set right when it was starting. It was a small, local band that neither Kylie nor Matt had ever heard of, but it was fun regardless. The bar was their chosen location of the night, mainly because Kylie didn’t feel like getting all sweaty being packed in with other people. So, the two ordered drinks and took a seat at the bar. Since it was only an acoustic show, it was quiet enough that the two got to talk. Kylie, being the child that she was, wanted to play twenty questions and Matt, being the guy that he was, politely agreed.

“So, I’ll start,” she said happily. “What’s your favorite candy?”

Matt shook his head. This girl was so odd and random, but he wasn’t complaining. She was interesting, too, and beautiful. He smiled at her and said, “You’re such a little kid. But to answer, Snickers. You?”

“Sour Patch Kids or Swedish Fish for sure.”

“Good choices; ok, what's your favorite season?”

“Fall,” she told him with no hesitation. “It can be warm, but then there can be cold days too. I love that. What about you?”

“I personally love summer; warm weather all the way.”

Kylie nodded. “I respect that.” He laughed at her formal tone. She asked, “Cliché, but favorite band?”

Matt shrugged and took a drink of his beer. “New Found Glory had quite an impact on me so probably them. What about you?”

Kylie shrugged too. She thought for a few minutes before answering. “Either Valencia because the lyrics get me every time, no matter what, or Jack’s Mannequin because I’m a sucker for anything acoustic or full of piano,” she told him, wondering if he caught her reference.

Matt smiled. “Brand New… clearly you like them too?”

Kylie laughed. “God am I glad you caught that. I think I might have had to end the date right now if you hadn’t.”

“Well, then that makes two of us. Wouldn’t have been fair to end a date after such a short time.”

Kylie blushed and thanked her lucky stars that they were in a dimly lit room because it was hiding her red cheeks quite well. “Well, how many questions is that?”

“Three… we have seventeen more to go.”

Kylie smiled mischievously. “Well, I guess its going to be a long night then.”

***

After awhile, the two left the acoustic show, having answered the twenty questions successfully. They had moved on from the questions at one point to argue over which was better, the east or west coast? Matt finished the fight by telling Kylie they should agree to disagree, and now Kylie, as the pair was making their way towards the sushi restaurant, was gloating that she had won by default. “You practically gave up, therefore I win!” she exclaimed as they walked side by side towards the restaurant.

Matt rolled his eyes. “In what country?”

“The U. S. of A.!” she exclaimed giddily, running ahead of Matt and turning around sharply so she could walk backwards, facing him. “I win by default; ask anyone, they’re going to agree with me!”

“Well yeah they’re going to agree with the pretty girl and not the guy. By default,” he added with a smirk.

Kylie blushed again and turned around, waiting until she was beside Matt to start walking again. “Whatever,” she muttered, “I still win. Agree?”

The tour manager looked at the girl next to him with a small smile. She refused to look at him. When they passed under a street light, he could see what had been a blush slowly disappearing from her neck and cheeks. She was cute when she blushed, or was embarrassed, or when she got really excited about something. Because he wasn’t paying much attention to what he was doing, Matt’s hand brushed against hers as they walked on the sidewalk. Instead of pulling away, he grabbed her hand and held it lightly, waiting for her to protest. She never did though. She just smiled and gave his hand the tiniest squeeze.

When they finally got to the sushi place, the got seated right away. Kylie ordered herself a California roll and a Philadelphia roll, and because Matt wasn’t too used to sushi himself he ordered the same thing. Their food came rather quickly and when it did they dug right in. They were both starved. After taking a few bites, Kylie said, “What do you think?”

Matt shrugged, taking another bite of his Philadelphia roll. “I like this one better, but overall it’s not too terrible.”

Kylie smiled. “Trust me kid, you’ll go far.”

After finishing his rolls, Matt leaned back in his seat and took a sip of his Pepsi. “So, what do you want to do after this?”

Kylie took a sip of her drink as well and shrugged. “I don’t care; I just don’t feel like going home really.”

He smiled. “Good, because I don’t feel like taking you home.”

They finished eating and paid, then left the restaurant. They walked down the sidewalk and Kylie realized that the beach was right across the road. “Let’s go walk on the beach,” she suggested and Matt agreed.

The pair sprinted across the road, hand in hand, and made it to the beach safely. Kylie slipped off her shoes and rolled up her jeans, then made a dash for the water. “Kylie?” Matt called after her, not sure what the crazy girl was up to.

She just laughed and continued to run. She stopped as soon as she hit the water. Letting her feet get wet, she turned around to face him. “Come here!” she yelled, hoping he would do as told.

Shaking his head, Matt took off his shoes and rolled up his jeans also, then walked slowly towards Kylie. “You are probably certifiably insane, you know that right?” he asked her as he walked into the water next to her.

She smiled. “You like it,” she said cockily, not expecting an answer.

Of course, she got one though. “Yeah, I do.”

Her blush returned, full force. She looked up towards the moon and shook her head. “Why do you do that?” she asked him quietly.

“Do what?”

“Why are you acting all flirty and nice and shit to me now, when the other day, me kissing you completely freaked you out?”

When Matt didn’t answer, Kylie sighed and tore her gaze from the full moon above so she could look at him. It took him awhile, but he finally answered. “I told you, Ky. I didn’t want you regretting it. I never said I didn’t want to kiss you, because I did; oh god did I ever. I just didn’t want you to think you were making a mistake okay? Because that would have sucked for me worse than you could know.”

“So, you wanted to kiss me?”

Matt smiled. “Yeah, I did.”

Taking a small step forward, she said, “Do you still?”

“What do you think?” Before she could answer, he closed the gap between them, leaning in to kiss the blonde. He rested one hand on her cheek and one on her side, while both of her arms snaked around his neck. They were going for a reenactment of their first kiss. Kylie pulled him closer and suddenly got that urgent feeling, the feeling that she couldn’t be close enough to Matt. Unexpectedly the kiss heated up. His hand trailed up her side and rested on her other cheek and then both hands trailed down her side to wrap around her waist. Neither could be close enough to the other. The urgency grew. Lips parted and tongues skimmed over each other, dancing together. Standing in the dark, alone, he trailed kisses from her lips to her neck to her collarbone, and then back up stopping only to catch his breath.

Now it was Kylie’s turn. She kissed his lips, his neck, his collarbone, and went back up kissing him fully on the lips only to have her own lips catch his lip ring. It was her turn to stop them now. Pulling back only slightly, she smiled. “We should probably leave before someone reports us or something,” she told him, out of breath.

Matt laughed; he was out of breath too. He leaned his forehead against hers and smiled. “Yeah, ok. Where are we going to go now?”

Kylie took a deep breath. “Come over; we can watch a movie or something.”

“You sure?” Matt asked, knowing full well what she meant by that or something. He was happy to go over to her place and continue where they left off, but he was serious about not wanting her to think it was a mistake, especially not now; not when he was feeling like this.

She smiled up at him. “One hundred percent. Come on, let’s go.”