Closer to Heaven With You

“I still don’t think it’s fair that I’ve gotta be the hulk!” Johnny yelled as Jimmy passed him his costume.

“It was either that or banana man!” Jimmy replied with a smile.

“But everyone else is in sexy outfits” Johnny pouted looking at his. “I’ve got to paint my face green and everything!” he added.

“Johnny quit your moaning and go get changed. People will be arriving soon.” Lacey said taking her costume from Jimmy and began to walk up the stairs to Zack’s sister’s bedroom where the girls were getting ready.

Unlike Brian and Leigh, Zack still lived with his mom and dad in a large four bedroom house that sat along the beach. In the summer they would often have beach parties there but in the middle of December this wasn’t a regular occurrence. Zack’s mom and dad had supplied an abundance of alcohol and food for the party as part of his birthday present, the other part being a new amp for his guitar.

“Right, time to get some music on and alcohol flowing!” Johnny yelled once all the gifts had been opened.

“I really shouldn’t have worn such a tight costume with you looking so hot.” Matt whispered into Leigh’s ear as he passed her a beer. She smiled and looked up into his eyes. She opened her mouth to say something but was stopped as Jimmy joined them.

Leigh and Matt had been hiding their relationship from the rest of their friends for almost three weeks and it was in situations like this where they found it hard to be around each other, especially once there was alcohol in their systems.

Leigh stood talking to Leana and Jimmy, glancing over to Matt who was talking to a tall, slim, brunette who was also dressed as Super Woman. She was obviously flirting with Matt who from where she was standing didn’t seem to mind that much.

With every glance over she took another long sip of her drink. With a deep sigh she realised that her glass was again empty.

“I need another drink.” Leigh announced after she’d quickly finished the one in her hand.

“Fuck Leigh calm down, you’re getting through them tonight!” Gena said.

“So” she stated simply and walked off towards the kitchen, making sure she made eye contact with Matt as she passed him. She took a bottle of beer from the fridge and took the decision to head out to the back yard instead of rejoining her friends. There were a few people in the backyard so Leigh continued to walk and found herself the other side of Zack’s fence, standing on the beach, looking out at the ocean.

“Sorry, I tried to get away from her but she was having none of it.” The sound of Matt’s voice made her jump; she hadn’t heard him walk up behind her. She turned to see him stood behind her. She smiled weakly at him.

“It’s just hard watching girls trying it on with you – I want to rip their heads off, let them all know that you’re mine!” She stated as Matt stepped forward and placed his muscular arms around her small waist.

“I’m sorry.” He said and leant in to kiss her but she began to laugh. He pulled away surprised.

“What?” he asked. Leigh didn’t reply, she just brought her hands up to his face and gently pulled his Spiderman mask up so that she could see his lips. He let out a small chuckle before his lips met hers. She gently held his face, keeping the mask in place as his hands found their way up to the back of her head, pulling her up to him, deepening the kiss as their tongues roamed each other’s mouths.

“Well, well, what’s going on here?” Jimmy’s voice made the pair jump and pull out of the kiss quickly.

“Jimmy, um, it’s...” Leigh stuttered.

“How long has this been going on then?” Jimmy said walking closer towards them.

“Jimmy, please don’t say anything, we don’t want Brian knowing yet.” Leigh pleaded.

“Yeah, he’d kill Matt if he found out you were groping his sister like that.” Jimmy laughed.

“Please Jimmy, don’t tell him.” Leigh pleaded again.

“Ok, your secret’s safe with me, but you’ve gotta give me details.” Jimmy said and both Matt and Leigh sighed in relief.

“What kind of details?” Matt asked.

“When, where, how long?” Jimmy said as Matt placed his arm back around Leigh’s waist, pulling her close to him.

“Ok, when I was ill a couple of weeks back, Matt came over to keep me company. Then.” Leigh explained.

“And you haven’t told anybody because?” Jimmy asked.

“Because Brian would detach me from my balls.” Matt explained simply.

“Understood.” Jimmy nodded.

“Here you all are!” Leana said walking over to them; Brian, Michelle and Val walking with her.

“What you all doing out here?” Brian asked.

“I came out here to find Leigh, she left to get a drink and didn’t come back, so I came to look for her and found her out here with Mattie.” Jimmy explained, and all eyes moved to Matt asking for his explanation.

“I followed her out; she seemed upset about something so I came to see what was wrong.” He explained dropping his arm from her waist.

“What’s wrong sis?” Brian asked stepping closer to her, looking concerned.

“Oh, it’s nothing, I was just being stupid.” Leigh tried to brush him off.

“No, tell me, what’s wrong?” he said looking into her eyes, inches away from her face.

“It’s nothing, I was just –“ she paused quickly thinking of a reason. “I guess I was kinda depressed, everywhere I looked there were couples; even Matt was getting hit on.” She said glancing over at Matt who smiled listening to her excuse. Brian didn’t say a word he just pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

“Come on, let’s go get hammered” he whispered as he pulled away from the hug, keeping one arm around her shoulders as they walked back up to the house.

“Zack got given a bottle of absinthe earlier, who fancies borrowing some?” Jimmy asked as the group entered the kitchen. There was a unanimous cheer of agreement and Jimmy began to sift through the bottles of alcohol to find the bottle of absinthe. With no glasses spare, Jimmy passed the bottle around the group.

“Come on, I want to dance.” Michelle said after taking a swig of absinthe, seductively rubbing her self up against Brian. Leigh grimaced at the sight as Brian pulled her lustfully into the living room but smiled as she felt an arm on her waist.

“Wanna dance?” Matt asked with a broad smile.

Leigh nodded as Matt began to lead her through to the living room where a number of people were dancing. Matt pulled Leigh close to him, his arms resting on her hips as hers snaked around his neck.

“I meant it earlier, you look so fucking sexy in that outfit.” He whispered into her ear as they danced closely together. Leigh looked up into his hazel eyes and smiled.

“Do you think we could get away with sneaking off somewhere?” she suggested with a sly smile.

“Follow me up to the spare room in five minutes.” Matt replied in a whisper, slowly pulling away from her with a glint in his eyes. She smiled back at him and watched him discreetly as he walked towards the stairs.

Leigh walked into the kitchen and poured herself a drink, something to do before she followed Matt. The seconds seamed to tick by slowly, seaming more like hours. Finally after just two and a half minutes she decided to walk up the stairs.

She weaved her way through the people and was just two steps up the stairs when she was stopped by the sound of her name. She turned out to see Zack bouncing towards her with a huge, drunken grin on his face.

“Leigh! Come and dance with me!” he yelled, grabbing hold of her hands and trying to pull her towards the ‘dance floor’. She smiled at him and glanced up the stairs, in the general direction of where Matt was waiting for her.

“Zack I –“

“Don’t tell me you can’t, come on, come and dance.” He ordered.

“But I was…” she stuttered again, eager to get upstairs. She could dance with Zack later.

“But nothing, you’ve got to dance with the birthday boy, it’s the law!” he argued, pulling her closer to the dance floor. Leigh rolled her eyes and groaned loudly before she took another longing look up the stairs as she was dragged to where everyone was dancing.

Leigh had to admit she always enjoyed dancing with Zack. They could dance closely together, grind their bodies against each other and have a laugh at the same time. There was never anything sexual between the two of them. They were just two people who loved to dance together. The song ended and Leigh tried to leave Zack’s embrace.

“Hey, no, just one more song…..please….” he pleaded drunkenly, his jade eyes sparkling. Leigh glanced again to the stairs and sighed deeply as Zack pulled her close to him again.
As soon as the song ended Leigh pulled away from Zack, this time ignoring his pleadings for another dance.

“Sorry, but I really need to pee.” Leigh called to him as she weaved her way to the stairs. As she reached the top of the stairs she heard a door open and looked up to see an angry looking Spiderman walk out of the spare room.

“Matt, I’m sorry I –“

“Forget it.” Matt mumbled as he brushed past her.

“Matt, wait.” She started grabbing hold of his wrist.

“Zack cornered me and made me dance with him.” She tried to explain. Matt looked up at her through his mask before running his hand up his face, taking the mask with it so Leigh could clearly see the disappointment in his hazel eyes.

“Fifteen minutes I sat waiting in that room.” he said quietly, stepping closer to her.

“Babe, I know, I’m sorry.” Leigh pleaded with him, stepping closer to him, running her hand up his side.

“We could sneak back in there now.” She suggested. A sexy smirk quickly appeared on Matt’s face. a smirk that quickly vanished as they heard familiar giggling reach the top of the stairs. They both turned to see Jimmy and Leana come running up the stairs towards them. Past them and into the spare room that they’d planned to use. Both Matt and Leigh sighed deeply as Matt took her hand in his.

“Come on, let’s just go dance.” He said leading her back down the stairs.