Too Close For Comfort

Matt POV

I woke up the next morning hearing groaning coming from beside me. I opened my eyes, and Lacey was cuddling into me and she was awake. I waited to see how she was going to react to everything that happened last night. I did want to make the first move or say anything, so I just waited for some sort of sign.

“So, last night-“

“Ugh, yeah. I’m never drinking again, I swear.” What the fuck? How could she say this to me?

“What do you mean by that?”

“I feel like shit ran over.” She cuddled into my shoulder. “My mouth is really sore, and I have this weird taste in my mouth.” She looked up at me. “Did I do anything stupid last night?” She innocently looked up at me. Fuck.

“No.” And then before she could say anything else, I climbed out of bed. I muttered a ‘morning’ to Zacky, Johnny, and Brian and fixed me a cup of coffee and walked into the back room, making sure to not sit in the same spot from last night. She didn’t remember? That makes everything go to a new level of awkwardness. Should I tell her? Should I not? What if she would think last night was a huge mistake? Damnit, Matt. You fuck everything up. You just took advantage of your best friend and the girl that’s like your little sister because you were horny and having horrible thoughts about her, you sick fuck. Fuckin’ shit. How was I going to deal with this?

“Ugh. I hate hangovers.” I could hear Lacey mutter from the hallway as she made her way to the front. I listened as stumbled down the hallway.

“Good morning princess.” Brian greeted her.

“Shut up. Do you have to be so loud?” She muttered and I could hear her sit down.

“And how do you feel this morning?”

“Like I’m dying. And I don’t remember anything past eating dinner. What the hell happened?” She must have noticed me freaking out.

“Well there was the fact that you were screaming the whole way to the club after dinner.” Johnny piped in. No one would forget that. Except for Lacey.

“And you danced on a table. And Matt stopped you.” Zacky added. God, I remember that. Also didn’t help yesterday.

“And you were going to pay a guy to strip. But Matt made him go away.” Brian laughed. And that.

“And then there was that guy you accidently spilt your drink on. And you almost got in a fight with him, but Matt stepped in.” That guy was a drunk asshole. And was maybe six inches taller than Lacey. He was trying to start a fight with her because she ruined his shirt, and she said sorry.

“Oh, and you tried to use the boy’s bathroom. But Matt stopped you.” That was embarrassing.

“And there was that guy who you gave some number to, and then you took it back from him because you forgot you were a lesbian. And then Matt had to make him leave you alone.” That was funny. Once he heard the word lesbian, he was obsessed with her, wanted her to make out with Leann and Zoe.

“And you made out with another girl.” Wait, that didn’t happen.

“And you flashed your boobs to the whole club.” Or that.

“And then you puked on the dance floor.” That either.

“Holy shit. I’m really not drinking. Again.” She continued to mumble.

“Lacey, do you want some coffee while I’m fixing mine?”

“Oh my god, that smell.” And then she was puking in the bathroom. I think its best to not tell her about what happened last night. It might be best. I took another sip of my coffee before putting it down on the table, and getting up and heading to the tiny bathroom. The door wasn’t locked, so I walked right in, almost smashing Lacey with the door. After moving around some, I finally maneuvered myself to where I was standing behind her and holding her hair as she vomited the contents of her stomach. There had been plenty of times that she had done this for us, someone needed to this for her. I pulled a hair bow off of her wrist and pulled her hair into something that resembled a ponytail, and grabbed a wet rag for her, and waited for her to be done.

“Better?”

“Much.” She groaned as she leaned back against my legs. I wiped her face off and sunk down to the floor behind her, with a leg on either side of her. “I’m sorry for drinking so much last night.”

“It’s okay, it was a special occasion, and how many times has it been you in my position?” Her laugh was mumbled as she turned into my chest. We both sat there for the longest time, I just wrapped my arms around her until she deemed herself ready to get up and go to work, since she was already 10 minutes late.

*****
“Lacey are you okay?” I could hear Jimmy ask on his microphone as we were doing soundcheck. She gave us a thumbs ups as she plugged something up. We’d all been watching her all day, and she was sick. It was her own fault since she drank so much, but she wasn’t complaining at all. She was turning a green color though.

“Fuckin’ a.” Was all that she moaned before she ran to a trash can and threw her head in it.

“Time out.” I called as I handed Zacky my microphone and jumped off the stage, and over to her. As soon as I put a hand on her back, she was pushing me away.

“Do. Soundcheck. Now.” She muttered in between gasping breaths. “I’m fine.” She slapped my hand away from her and stood up. She wiped her mouth and pulled a pack of gum from her back pocket.

“You sure?”

“Peachy keen darling.” She forced a smile and looked at me.

“You can take the day off.”

“I’m fine. I promise. I’m not taking a sick day because I’m hung over. Now go do soundcheck.” She shooed me away and went back to work. By the time soundcheck was over, she’d visited the trashcan again, but she refused to go lay down. I felt bad for her. And I felt bad for me. Should I tell her? Should I not? No, not now, not yet.

After the show that night, I was drinking a beer with the guys from all the bands as the crew finished packing our stuff. It had been a few hours since the show had ended, and I had only seen Lacey once, as she handed me the warm cup of tea to help my throat. She had stayed only long enough to tell me that she was fine, the show was amazing, and that she’d see me later, and left me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I kept looking toward the door, awaiting her arrival.

And that’s when Lacey walked in sucking on a Popsicle.

And that’s when I dropped my beer.

And that’s when I had a very vivid flashback, only it wasn’t that Popsicle in her mouth. Everyone turned to stare at me, including Lacey, who was walking over to me.

“Did I scare you or something?” She laughed as she nodded hello to the others, before sucking on the damned frozen ice.

“You couldn’t scare a mouse. I was just zoning out.” She made a face at me before turning to Matt Berry and started talking about something that happened during the show. I kept glancing at her, and scolded myself when my eyes focused on her mouth too long. Oh damn, this isn’t going to be fun.

***The Next Day***Lacey POV

The show was over for the night, and we were all back in the bus, heading to the next town. I was in the front, eating cereal while I was talking to Brian and Matt Barry about the show that night. I was watching through the hallway, seeing Matt and Zacky sitting in their bunks across from each other, talking about a new song idea.

“Lacey?” I snapped my head up, not even aware of that fact that I had zoned out. “You okay?” I nodded my head before quickly coming up with an excuse.

“I was just trying to be nosy.” I shrugged as I returned to trying to catch the marshmallows floating in the milk. That’s all, I was being nosy. Totally not staring at my best friend.

I had no clue why these feelings were coming up. Matt was my best friend, but he wouldn’t ever think of me as anything more. I mean, it’s Matt, uh, look at him. I had no clue why he chose to spend all of his time with me. He wasn’t with Val anymore, and he could just go out like the single guys do and hook up with a girl. He just chooses not to.

I’m not going to lie, I was happy to have Matthew spending all of his free time with me. I liked to pretend that it was so much more than just hanging out as friends. I imagined that his hands lingered longer than necessary whenever he touched me, that the look in his eyes when we talked was something more. Hell, I even wanted to be the cause of his morning wood.

It was then that I heard Matt’s voice drifting down the hallway. Instantly my insides tightened, and it suddenly became 20 degrees hotter in the cramped bus. One term popped into my head, something that I heard often from other females at concerts: panty wetter. That’s what they called every member of the band, but it was usually used when speaking about Matt’s voice, especially with the slower songs. And I had to fucking agree.

There was something about Matt Sanders that turned me on more than any one else. My sad list of guys I had been with wasn’t long at all, I had only had sex with one guy, but it wasn’t like I was a prude. But no one had ever turned me on as much as Matt did unknowingly. I wanted to explode on a regular basis. This was way more than a crush, and I had no clue what I was going to do about it.

***A week later***

“Another fucking Jack?” I watched as Lacey pulled the card from the table.

“Fourth Jack, Four shots!” Jimmy shouted as he grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels from behind him and got the shot glass off the table. I watched as Lacey scrunched her nose but accepted the shot from Jimmy. As soon as she was done, another shot glass was shoved in her face, until she had taken her four shots. Zacky was next, and picked a king.

“So, the rule I’m making is that after every turn, you have to kiss the person to your left.” He smirked as he poured part of his beer into the cup on the table. And then he leaned to his left and kissed Lacey. Lacey wasn’t expecting it, so she was turning to face Zacky at the same time, and their lips met. It was only for a second, but they still touched. I was jealous. Really jealous. I really even didn’t notice when all the guys started to fight to move beside Lacey, just to avoid kissing another guy, I was too busy wanting to punch Zacky. Maybe I was a bit over jealous, but no one should get to kiss her, unless it was me, and I knew that wouldn’t happen.

“I’m cutting you off now.” I decided to cut this game short, at least for Lacey. And since Lacey was the only girl playing, she was doing most of the drinking. She didn’t even want to drink, but everyone talked her into it, saying they needed a girl. So when it came to pick a date, they all picked her, and everyone already knew how bad she was when it came to tasks like questions, she’d always laugh instead of returning with another question. And she was now completely drunk.

“No, I’m having fun. Let me finish this game.” She tried to put up a fight as I reached over and grabbed her cup from in front of her.

“No, you’re done now. You didn’t eat anything today, you’re going to be sick as it is.” She stuck out her bottom lip but I poured the rest of her drink down the drain. “And you should go to bed. It’s 2 am.” The lip came out again, further this time. “Come on, up. Get ready for bed.”

“Lacey, you should sleep with me tonight.” Brian shouted as she stumbled out of her seat.

“So you can drool on me? No thanks.” She smiled at him as she made her way to the bunks and where her clothes were. I saw her go to pull her pants off.

“Lacey, babe, don’t change in the hallway.”

“Oh, right.” She giggled as she grabbed some shorts and walked into the bathroom. A few minutes later, she walked out wearing someone’s sweat shorts and her hair pulled up. Instead of heading to my bunk, she walked back in the front. And sat down on Matt Berry’s lap, and grabbed his drink out of his hand and took a sip.

“Bed?” She looked at me. She shook her head no and I stood up and took the drink out of her hand, giving it back to Matt.

“But I’m not tired Matty.” She wasn’t moving, so I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder and carried her to the bunk and laid her in it.

“I’m not sleepy Matt.”

“Go to bed.”

“Asshole.” I went back to the front after I closed the curtain. Within five minutes, she came back in. I sent her back to bed. She came back 7 minutes later.

“Go to bed. Seriously.”

“But its boring. And everyone’s out here. I get lonely. And bored.” She pouted as she stood in the doorway.

“If I go lay down with you, will you stay in there?” She smiled and nodded. I got up and she skipped to my bunk, climbing in first. I climbed in behind her, not bothering to take anything off, since I was only going to stay in here until she fell asleep. She cuddled up to me, her head resting on my shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I kissed her head and settled into the bed, closing the curtain and engulfing the bunk in darkness.

Suddenly I felt a pair of lips on mine.

“What was that?” I could hear her giggle.

“Well, I just wondered what it was like to kiss someone with a lip ring, and you had yours in tonight.” She moved so that she was laying on her back.

“Well, that wasn’t anything. You can’t judge that, I didn’t get a chance to show you what it’s really like.” This earned another giggle from her.

“Well, do you want to show me then?”

“Just so you have a fair representation.” I felt her turn her whole body turn back towards me, and I did the same. I rubbed the back of my hand against her cheek, and gently pulled her face towards mine. I wasn’t really thinking when I placed my lips against hers. I almost expected her to pull away, but she didn’t, she actually tilted her face so that the kiss was deeper. I had to pull away before I got carried away. I waited patiently after I ended the kiss, wondering what she would say.

“Not bad Matty. I’d definitely recommend it to a friend.” I could see her smiling in the dark bunk. What the fuck? What did that mean? Recommend kissing me? Or someone with a lipring? I waited for her to say something, anything. And when I heard her breathing even out and her grip on my shirt loosen, I knew she was because she’d fallen asleep. She was confusing. And as of that moment, I knew that I couldn’t let her get drunk again. We were 2 for 2. Both times she’d been drunk she’d been too friendly, and unlucky for me, I’d been the one she chose to be like that with. Why me? Was it because we were so close, that she thought she could do it and it wouldn’t bother me? Because it did. I mean, it probably wouldn’t if I currently wasn’t wanting to rip all her clothes off of her and do things you shouldn’t want to do with your best friend.

I never noticed the flash that went off, because somehow I had fallen asleep.