Pretty Bird; B-Sides

Tonight was Sunday night, the night reserved for the endless eating of candy and the endless of viewing of Matt Kean's reserved favorite style of movie; the b-rated Ninja movies. Only found in one video store in all of Sheffield, Matt had been their loyal customer for years, ever since he found the place in secondary school. And, ever since then, he had been there every Sunday afternoon, ready to pick out another movie to add to his viewing collection.

This time was different, though. He did walk into the store at the same time he always did, 4:15. And, he did do the same thing he always did, headed straight to the ninja movie section. This time though, instead of the normal teenaged acne ridden boy sitting behind the counter, there was a girl...a very pretty girl.

He didn't think much about it at first, much too concerned with picking out the perfect movies for the night. His eyes scanned through the titles, passing over the ones he had already seen before. The pickings were getting slim; he would soon be out of luck with viewing movies he hadn't seen before. Finally, he settled on a movie, something about a group of ninjas having to defeat another group of ninjas. The plotline didn't really mean much to him; he loved the cheesy overexaggerated special effects and the awkward, English dubbed dialogue the most.

"Is this it?" The pretty girl smiled up at him, taking the DVDs and picking up the scanner. She paused for a second, looking up at him with her big blue eyes, as if needing his permission to scan the movies.

"Uh, yeah." He replied, giving the girl an odd look as she stared up at him a few more seconds, studying his face as her fringe fell into her eyes. The action of her hair falling into her face jarred her out of her spaceout, making her immediately jump back into scanning his movies.

"Can I see your ID?" She asked after a few awkward seconds, her eyes looking back expectantly at his. He just shrugged, pulling his black wallet out of the back pocket of his dark washed skinny jeans, flipping it open and showing her his driver's licence.

"You are him!" She exclaimed, slamming the movies down on the counter, her face erupting into a huge smile. "You're Matt Kean!"

He just stared, before taking out 10 pounds and putting the wallet back in his back pocket.

"You're in Bring Me The Horizon!" She squealed, her hands clasping together as her big eyes stayed glued onto him. She obviously couldn't feel any of the obvious awkwardness Matt was experiencing. She was much too wrapped up in the moment. "Kevin said you came her sometimes but I didn't believe him. But he wasn't lying!"

"How do you know its me?" He finally said, the small smile popping up onto his lips as he leaned against the counter, his hands resting on the surface.

"Well, I saw your ID!" She said, staring at him awkwardly for the first time, as if she just noticed the amount of weirdness she created between them. "What are you on about?"

"I could have stolen it." He shrugged, still keeping the small playful smile on his lips.

She just stared blankly, before shaking her head a few times, stuffing the movies into a bag. "Well," She started, looking back up at him again without the starstruck look in her eyes. "Is Oli as much of an arrogant asshole as he seems?"

Matt just laughed, nodding slightly. "Completely. Worst bloke I ever met."

She just scoffed, taking the 10 pound note from him and opening the cash register. "What a poor girl he married then, aye?"

"Oh, no. She's a bitch too. I hate the lot of them."

"Really??" She exclaimed, the same stupid look returning to her face. "She seemed nice on myspace!"

"They're all terrible people. Racists, heroin addicts." He smiled even wider, completely pleased that his stupid girl was believing every stupid sarcastic lie he fed her.

"Wow!" She said, handing him the plastic bag containing his two DVDs. "Well, so much for Oli being fit, then? I love his hair."

"It's fake." Matt laughed, walking out of the store and away from her.

"Some people..." He laughed under his breath, walking through the cold Sheffield air to his car. He made it to his car, unlocking it from the key on his key ring, the red lights from the brakes illuminating the almost pitch black night. Suddenly, a voice broke the silence...a female voice.

"You're a damn good liar, you know." She, whoever she was said, as if she was out of breath. Matt rolled his eyes, expecting to see the stupid teenaged movie place girl there, as if she somehow escaped from behind the counter and ran across the parking lot to tell him off.

"Look, it was a joke." He said, turning around. He stopped in mid word though, as soon as he saw it wasn't the movie store girl at all. It was a girl he hadn't seen before, with short black hair and a plain back hoodie, similar to the one he was wearing.

"Well, obviously." She scoffed, rolling her eyes and motioning back to the video store behind them. "I don't think she got it, though."

"Do I know you?" He finally stuttered out after a short pause, his mind trying desperately to find her face in any of his past memories.

"Oh....no." She all of a sudden looked like the uncomfortable one, her face flushing a light pink color even visible in the fleeting colors of the sunset. "I just heard you, I was behind you in line. I thought you were funny."

"Oh...cool. Thanks" Matt forced out next, instantly feeling a little bad for making her uncomfortable. "Well, she deserved it. I couldn't help myself." He smiled genuinely at her, before his brows furrowed, realizing that it was probably the first time in a long time he worried about making someone feel uncomfortable in the first place. "I'm Matt."

"I'm Sabrina." She said along with a smile, the blush still lingering on her cheeks. "I know about your band, though. I promise I'm not a fangirl. I don't care about Oliver Sykes and how fit he is."

"Well, that gives you one point already." Matt shrugged, making both of them smile wide. He then opened the door to his car. "Are you parked close?"

She shook her head, her plastic bag full of DVDs making a whistling sound as the wind blew through it. "I walked, actually. I live in a flat just down that way there." She motioned and pointed over past the parking lot, down a street illuminated by streetlights.

Matt stopped getting into his car, his eyes following where Sabrina was pointing. "Oh...looks far." He said, as she shrugged. "You want a ride?"

"I don't want to be trouble." She shrugged, shaking her head lightly as her short black hair rustled in the breeze. "It's not a bad walk."

"Aye, but its nighttime. Don't want nothing bad happening to you. Get in." Matt motioned over to the passenger side door, before getting into the car himself. He waited a few seconds before sticking the keys in the ignition, Sabrina catching up to him and sitting inside next to him, her seatbelt clicking in the holder.

"Are you normally this nice to girls who listen in on your conversations?" Sabrina asked, setting her bag down by her feet in the car as the headlights flipped on and Matt backed out of the parking space.

"Only when they get impressed." Matt laughed, his eyes flashing back to her as he put the car into drive.

"And how often is that?"

He shrugged again, pulling out of the parking lot and down her street, making sure to go under the speed limit, enjoying her company.

His lack of response killed the conversation, both of them just driving down the road until the manicured flowers and trees on the sides of the road turned to houses, and complexes of flats.

"It's this one." Sabrina pointed to a brick building, a large shady tree besides the last available parking spot. It was so massive and thick, the moonlight was invisible under it, creating a pitch black shadow for Matt to pull into.

"Thanks for the ride." She smiled, turning to him with her hand on the door handle. "I'm sorry, about earlier. If I freaked you out."

Matt just rolled his eyes, smiling at her obvious insecurity. "Love, if you freaked me out I would have ran from you, not let you in my car."

She just blushed a slight shade of pink, opening the car door but remaining in her seat.

"What movies did you rent?" Matt asked, noticing the plastic movie store bag now on her lap, pulled from the floor of the car by her feet.

She blushed even harder, opening the bag to reveal no movies, but candy. "It's the only place close that sells this kind of candy. They don't sell it at Tesco."

"I have an idea." Matt said, letting a certain air of confidence fill his mind as he spoke the words, putting the car in park so he could take his foot off the break. The car rocked slowly from the change in gears, making the open car door rock as well. "I got some movies. Kung fu ones. And I think they'd go well with that candy you bought there."

"You think so?" Sabrina smiled, the soft pink color on her cheeks as she found Matt's movie store bag, and read the backs of the movies. "You honestly like these? They sound ridiculous!"

"Aye, that they are. That's the best part." Matt laughed, taking a movie out of her hand and pointing to the Asian guy on the cover. "You see him? In this one, he's going to end up taking down a part of the Japanese mafia, and I think they said something about beating up some mutant lizards."

"...Honestly?" Sabrina rolled her eyes, an awkward laugh coming out of her mouth. "I don't know, Matt..."

"Right." He turned away from her, looking towards the road instead of at her, the red tinge of embarrassment now present on his cheeks.

"I mean," She stuttered, getting embarrassed too. "I do have lots of movies in my flat. We could watch one of them. I don't just have girly movies. I have dramas, and action, and comedy. Lots. I'm sure we could find one. And I mean, I did buy a lot of candy, I can't eat it all by myself..."

"Well, I'll come up. If you let me pick." Matt turned back to her, opening his car door and turning the car off.

"Fine. I've seen them all before." She smiled, both of them getting out at the same time and shutting the doors.

"Alright, mint." Matt smiled back, walking next to her as she walked into the brick building. They went down a hall, and finally to a door, all on the first floor.

"We'll have lots of fun." Sabrina smiled, opening the door to her flat, both of them shuffling in. Just like Matt Nicholls and his new girlfriend Kelsey, Matt and Sabrina became friends fast. Besides their difference in movie tastes, they shared almost everything else in common, making it easy for them to both laugh and talk seriously with one another. Sabrina appreciated Matt's sense of humor, Matt appreciated Sabrina's ability to see the difference between his jokes and his real conversation. They were a good pair, and got along well, creating one of the more solid, stable relationships in the group.