You're Not What I Was Expecting To Find

“Do you have anything against drinking alcohol?” Matt asked. Charlotte looked to him

“No, why?” she asked.

“Because you ordered water. And I’m sure by now you’ve noticed all of our drinks are alcoholic. And you’re not paying because it’s on tab. So I was just wondering.”

“I can’t drink alcohol yet,” she explained.

“What, you’re not twenty-one?” he asked.

“No.”

“How old are you, then?”

“Twenty. But I’ll be twenty-one next month.”

“Really? Wow.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-seven,” he told her. She was shocked, but said nothing about their seven-year age difference.

“So where did you live before you moved back to Huntington?” Matt asked, sipping his drink, as his hazel eyes locked into her green ones.

“Uh, I was, uh... studying in... Canada,” she told him, her eyes looking anywhere but him. She and Brian hadn’t discussed this part of the plan.

“Really, that’s interesting,” he told her, “You know, your ears turn red when you’re lying.” Charlotte’s wandering eyes snapped to his.

“I-but-I’m not,” gulp, “lying.”

“Well, Brian told me you were in New York, staying with your ill grandmother.”

“I, well, I visited her, but I lived in, uh, Canada.”

“Your ears give you away. Why don’t you tell me the truth?” His eyes softened as he spoke, his posture coming down from his defensive pose and relaxing, hoping to make her feel more comfortable. She looked down at the table, playing with the condensation that had formed on her glass. “Even with your hair down, in that amazing red top, my favourite colour by the way, and with more make-up, I still recognize you from the restaurant earlier. I recognized you the minute Jack brought you across the room. You face is a hard face to forget. My friends convinced you to come meet us here because they’re trying to cheer me up after I found my girlfriend fucking another dude and broke up with her. And they basically hit a bull’s eye. You’re attractive, shy, you’re not a fan, and you wear red. You’re definitely my type. This is probably why I’m so attracted to you.” Charlotte’s eyes snapped to his, locked. There was a moment of silence before Charlotte spoke.

“Fan of what?” she asked in a quiet voice. Matt looked at her for a moment, and then started to laugh.

“Even after Brian used you as a pawn to cheer me up. After you show up looking gorgeous wearing that amazing red top. After thinking you could pull the wool over my eyes. After all of that, you still have no idea who we are?” Charlotte shook her head. “We’re a band, all five of us. Avenged Sevenfold. Ring any bells?” She shook her head again and a new smile broke out on Matt’s face his dimples showing. He watched her as he took several gulps of his drink. But suddenly Charlotte wasn’t in a very good mood. She stood up.

“Listen, if you’re just going to sit here and make a fool of me, playing on my innocence and my lack of knowledge of celebrities, I’ll just leave. I don’t know why I even came, since I was obviously just some huge joke.” She started to leave, then turned back around, fire in her eyes. “You know, the money I spent tonight could have been put towards rent, or food, or clothes. But no, I had convinced myself that maybe, just maybe, there were nice people in this shitty town. Obviously I was wrong. Because the people I’ve met so far, excluding two, are all complete assholes. So you can take your VIP room, your drinks on tab, your adorable dimples and your warped sense of humour and go to hell.”

With that she turned around and forced her way into the crowd of people, trying to make it back to the door she had come through. But when a pair of hands caught her around the waist, she was spun around and her lips were attached to a warm, soft pair with a lip ring. But she kissed back and leaned into the body. Then the person pulled back and she saw it was Matt. She stiffened and tried to get out of his grasp. He kissed her again in that same slow, tantalizing way that made her knees weak.

“You’re amazing,” he breathed before he re-attached his lips to hers. He slid his tongue along her bottom lip and she let him in, their tongues mingling together. She felt his lust and her frustration swirl together as their tastes mixed. He smelled like Axe and Jack Daniels, but she loved it. Her hands moved to grip his arm as his hands moved to her waist, pulling her closer to him. She could feel his arousal poking her through his jeans and she pushed her hips into his. Matt growled low in his throat and tore himself away from Charlotte. He rested his forehead on hers, breathing deep. Not quite as innocent as I thought, Matt mused.

“Wow,” Charlotte muttered. “What just happened?”

“I have no idea. You really think my dimples are adorable?” Matt asked her, his forehead still resting on hers. She laughed and relaxed just a little bit more in his arms. His hands tightened on her waist before he stood straight, making their height different quite apparent. “God, I’ve known you for less than an hour and you’re already driving me insane.” He breathed deep, closing his eyes. When he thought he could finally restrain himself from jumping her and causing a scene, he moved his hand down to grip hers. His giant hand dwarfed her thin one and his soft hands sent more shivers up her spine. “C’mon.” He said and pulled her through the crowd and out the black door into the hallway.

When Matt didn’t head for the front door, Charlotte started to worry. Was he taking her into that crowd of sweating grinding bodies on the dance floor? But he skirted around the edge and made it out a back door into an alley. She breathed in the cool night air. Their eyes locked again and the air in her lungs whooshed out.

“Do you want to get something to eat?” Matt asked. She was about to protest, having already eaten one meal that day, but her stomach growled its own response and Matt ignored what she was about to say, instead taking his answer from her body. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said. Then he pulled out his cell phone. After pressing some buttons, he held it to his ear while it rang. “Yeah, man, we’re going to get something to eat. No, you can fucking get it yourself. I’ll talk to you tomorrow or something.” Then he hung up and pulled Charlotte out to the street. She shivered as the wind swirled around them. He noticed her shaking and signalled for a taxi.