If Everyone Cared

Lauren just couldn't believe how easily she found herself lost in conversation with Matt on their way to wherever Matt was taking her. They could easily talk about meaningless things that just came up, making the whole journey enjoyable. They were quiet for the last few minutes, but it was a comfortable silence.

Lo smiled a bit as she thought of what she was in for. She thought that she couldn't be happier after Matt admitted his feelings for her, but yet she knew that she was hiding something big about their night. She wasn't afraid or worried, Lo trusted Matt completely. She was absolutely positive that their night is going to be fun. There was nothing that could ruin the moment for them.

Her smile only grew bigger when she felt Matt taking her hand in his own as he continued driving with one arm. She squeezed his hand a bit, as an idea popped into her mind. It seemed like a great thing, but it was also quite hard to manage. If their date would end up well, she might pop the offer for Matt.

Lauren was shocked when they reached their destination for that night. She couldn't believe that he would bring her here. He brought her to the small restaurant, called Heaven that was in Laguna Beach, literally like twenty feet away from the ocean. Also it wasn't just extremely expensive, but almost impossible to book a table.

Lo just looked at Matt in awe as he smirked at her, knowing that he already scored a goal. Little did he know that he already started it when he just went to pick her up...

"What?"

"What?!" she mocked him as she looked at the place again. "Matt, you can't be serious. This place costs more than my rent."

Matt didn't answer, just rolled his eyes and got out of the car. He went to open hers and offered her a hand as he helped her out of the car. He shut the door and leaned down to kiss Lauren's forehead.

"You're worth it, Lo." he stated causing her to groan and lean her head on his shoulder. "Come on, you were constantly bugging Brian to bring you here once you'll get your GED since you were 10."

"Still, this is too much." she said as she pulled back and looked into a pair of hazel eyes. "How did you even get a table?"

"I might have used my rockstar charm. People can't say no to M Shadows, now can they?" Matt asked cockily as he placed his arm on the small of Lo's back and guided her to the restaurant.

"You're so full of it, Sanders." she said and slapped his stomach playfully.

"You still like me, even though that I'm a cocky bastard." he smirked as a grin appeared on Lauren's face.

"You said it!"

A few moments later they entered the restaurant and they were welcomed by a waiter, who smiled at them politely. He greeted them and asked for the reservation.

"Sanders, the table by the shore."

"Please, let me escort you to your table, Mr. Sanders."

It seems like the night is going to be just full of surprises...

The time seemed to fly away as they were having their dinner a few feet away from the ocean. No one was around them, it seemed like Matt made sure that there wouldn't be any interruptions.

"You did not." Matt stated, as he looked at her in disbelief.

"What, you have to get drunk once in while." Lo stated, smiling innocently at him.

"You did not do that."

"I did and it was the worst experience of my life!" she said loudly as she started laughing at her own stupidity. “Do you know how long did we actually have to run from him? An hour straight, just because we sprayed foam, poured honey and dyed Pottsy’s hair purple. Jess, Jay and I had to run so fast for so long that we literally fell on our knees once we could stop.”

“Now I know that once you come with us on tour I’ll have to keep you away from the kitchen, bathroom and stores. God knows what would happen after a little drinky-drinky.”

“Watch your mouth, Matt, because you might get one late night make over as well even before you leave on tour!” she threatened and Matt pretended to be shaking. “But it’s not like I could do many things with your hair. It’s too short.”

“And it’s going to get shorter.” He told her, making Lo gasp. “What?”

“Matt, you hardly have hair. You want to be bald or what?”

“Maybe, I don’t know yet. Gena’s the one with the scissors.” He said as he shrugged his shoulders. Lo nodded and stayed quiet for a few seconds as she stared at Matt.

It amazed Lo how much could Matt make her grin just by gesturing with his hands or making her giggle when he made a funny face while he was talking about something. It was funny how much they could pay attention to what the other was saying while they were just staring at each other. The truly had a great time together.

Lauren looked up when she felt Matt squeezing her hand a bit. She zoned out and saw that Matt and the waiter were waiting for her. Matt nodded in the waiter’s direction making her look at his way.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

“Would you like some dessert ma’am?” he asked politely and she just shook her head.

“No, thank you. I’m full.”

After silently arguing with Matt about paying her part and later on giving in, she found herself walking down the shore with him by her side. They both were holding their shoes in their hands and talked quietly while sometimes either one of them would laugh at what the other said.

This time they really caught up. Matt told her the best stories and those details that Brian or Jimmy missed out and in turn Lo filled him in with every single little thing that happened to her in New York. Well, not literally but she tried to tell as much as she could about east coast life.

When she thought that nothing awkward could come up, Matt managed to ask one of the question that she didn’t want to hear again.

“And what about that model guy that you used to date? Brian mentioned something about an engagement.”

Lo frowned and when she caught herself she tried to recover so he wouldn’t see the sour look on her face. She wasn’t fast enough, though. Matt saw it perfectly and now regretted bringing up the subject.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to butt into things that are not for me to care about.” he apologized and squeezed her hand a bit.

A small smile plastered on her lips as she looked up at Matt. He was worried about her, which she found absolutely adorable. “It’s not like that, just the way we ended up and why we went through. It kind of makes me seem like a heartless bitch.”

“Why would it? You’re not a cheater, I know that for sure.” He said as he burrowed his eyebrows.

“No, I just didn’t give 100% into the relationship.” She sighed as Matt pulled her closer. “When I first met him I fell for him. Hard, as hard as it was possible with you at the same place being my number one guy since I found out what men were. Let’s just say that in the beginning it was all like a sugar coat, but beneath that we just fell apart. I think we both grew apart, me more obviously, but I’m sure that he wasn’t feeling the same way he did when we started dating.”

“What happened then?”

“He proposed when we went on a dinner to celebrate our first anniversary. And then Kellan just popped the question and I said yes. Then everything got better, we were actually like a happy couple.”

“What went wrong then?”

“You remember when we took all those pictures during my last week here?” she asked and he nodded while grinning. On the last week the guys took her everywhere when Papa Gates wasn’t at home, they even got her drunk for the very first time, much to Brian’s dismay. “I still have them and my flat is filled with those. Pictures of you and the guys having fun with me. Well, Kellan always asked about you and I said that you were just a friend. I don’t he ever believed me, it was too much obvious even in the pictures that I had a thing for you. So that kind of broke his trust in me, not that I could blame him.”

“I just couldn’t act like everything was perfect with the way it was. We had many fights that ended up with slamming doors and yelling at each other. It’s a good thing that we didn’t live together, but that also hurt him in a way.” She explained as she kicked some sand with her feet. “I mean, when you love someone you want to spend all the time you have with them. I guess he realized that and half of our arguments were because of the living situations and my constant traveling because of modeling. Our biggest fight was in June, we have talked twice since then. But that’s enough of me.”

Matt chuckled and they continued to walk down the shore. There was something that Lo desperately wanted to ask, but didn’t know if she should bring it up or not.

“You want me to talk about Val, right?” he asked, completely calmly making her feel a bit uneasy about the subject. “It’s nothing that you haven’t heard of before, I think.”

Growing some balls, she decided to speak up. “I have known you since I was 13, Matt. You always bottle the things up and never talk them out of yourself. I mean you do it, just with the guys and as far as I’m concerned you never talked to them about that.”

He smiled a bit and nodded, a little bit shocked of how much Lauren was literally the only person that knew him just as well as the guys.

“Come on, spill. What happened?”

“You know her, she has always been bossy and bitching.” He started and Lo nodded, motioning for him to continue. “In the last two years it became way too much. Too much as in the constant phone calls, where she would demand to know where I was and the fights because of her accusing me of cheating when I stayed out for one or maybe two hours later with the guys.”

Lauren frowned as she listened to what Matt was telling her. She hated when people did that or when they tried to check up on her a little bit too much. God, that trick would perfectly if you wanted to lose your boyfriend. Seriously, those kinds of people are annoying the hell out of you…

“Almost about two months ago, we went to Vegas to celebrate Jimmy and Leana’s engagement. It was a no chick party, so Val didn’t even like the sound of that. We were already hammered and it was only 11 PM. Val decided that it would be cool to call Brian and ask about me.” He sighed and chuckled when Lo raised an eyebrow. “You know how he is when he’s drunk, so he told her brutally honestly ‘not to get her panties in a bunch, because his man is having fun and she’s fucking irritating’ and also told her that we think that she’s a bitch. Now, guess what?”

“Valary-tantrum?” she asked, referring to the fits that Matt’s ex-girlfriend could throw.

Val would basically scream her lungs out, throw things, stomp on her feet and for last but very not the least, she would love to get all lovely and call all of them on names. All of them, as in the Avenged Family.

Matt just nodded and Lauren cracked up at his statement. “I hope it didn’t drag you down too much, Mattie.”

“No, I feel like myself again.” He said and leaned in to kiss her temple. “I was way over her when you came, I just didn’t know where to start it again.”

“The writing helped a bit, didn’t it?” she inquired and he nodded.

“And especially our newest female vocalist.”

Lauren chuckled and put her arms around his waist as he hugged her closer. She found questioning herself again if this was reality or she was dreaming. Not in her wildest dreams she thought that she and Matt would be walking down the shore, without any distance between the two of them.

At was nearing midnight when they got back to Matt’s Escalade and he started to drive her home. It was cute how much Matt was into holding her hand or just rubbing circles on the back of her hand. She was thankful that Matt’s car was automatic and he didn’t have to shift, because she loved how he would just smile widely at her, making her blush fifty shades of red and pink.

“Thank you for tonight, Matt. It was awesome.” She said quietly as they stood before her door. Matt smirked at her and kissed her lips as he pulled her close, making her feel flustered.

“I, uh… do you, um want to come in?” she asked as she tried to sort of lean back from Matt’s body, but still wanted to be close to him.

“Do you want me to come in?” his voice was low and husky, making chills ran up her spine. He only made it worse when he decided to place a kiss just below her earlobe. He didn’t plan on taking the next step, but he just couldn’t help himself.

Lauren wasn’t the kind of girl who slept with guys right after their first date, but hey. Matt and she had known each other for the past approximately ten years. So he wasn’t some strange guy that she would take home.

Instead of saying anything she just grabbed his hand and literally dragged him inside of the house. As soon as they were inside Matt had pinned her against the door and placed his hands under her butt as he held her up, making Lo wrap her legs around his waist. She could feel Matt smirk into the kiss they shared as Lo started tugging at his shirt.

Matt was now her strange guy.