I Saw Your Heart as It Overtook Me

Matt's POV
I continued to stare at Zacky long after he had finished telling me exactly why he wanted Lauren to stay in Huntington. His words seemed to stick in the thick membrane that made up my brain.

This can't be true ... This can't be right.

His reasoning was understandable and every word he spoke I comprehended. But when I added everything together to view the entire situation as a whole, my mind was still trying to process the information and register it into my intellect.

I shook my head as if trying to shake out Zacky's words and rested my head in my hands.

"Zacky, I can't promise to keep something like this from Lauren." I muttered. "You have to tell her ... she had a fucking right to know."

"Matt, you'd better not tell her. You swore to me you wouldn't tell her." He said, his voice rather shaky.

I brought my head up and looked over at him.

"Zacky ... either you tell her or I will."

"No." He said. "No, don't you dare tell her Matt ... We've already decided that it's better if she didn't know."

Although his voice was stern and sounded as if his mind was set, he was begging me with his eyes to agree with him.

"What do you mean 'we." You mean you and ... " I trailed off, not daring to mention 'who' aloud in case Lauren was randomly walking by the room.

Zacky nodded his head.

"Yeah."

He continued to plea to me with his eyes to keep my word. I knew how important it was to him for me to keep my mouth shut. I mean, he's one of my best friends and after all these years I've known the man I've never known him to beg for anything. It simply wasn't in his nature to do so.

"Alright ... Fine then." I sighed, nodding my head as well. "So you got your ways and Lauren's staying here."

"Well ... " Zacky trailed off. "I'm not so sure now."

I shot him a funny look. What the fuck; first Zacky's set about Lauren not going with us and now he's 'not so sure?' Holy calhoons, would the man just make up his mind already as to what the hell he wants?

"Jimmy just called me; that's who I just got done talking to when you came up here ... Mark, his tech, got into a bad car wreck. He'll be fine but he won't be able to teach for this tour." He paused, scratching the back of his neck. "Jimmy's trying to get a hold of Kevin or even Jesse to see if they'd be able to fill in but it doesn't sound too hopeful."

"Okay." I said slowly. "What does Lauren have to do with any of this?"

"Jimmy asked me to asked Lauren if she'd possibly be able to tech for him."

"Hmm ... So are you actually going to ask her or are you just gonna lie again and tell Jimmy she said no." I asked, not really meaning to make it sound so rude.

"Come on man, don't start that shit." He mumbled. I'm gonna sked her and I know she's gonna say yes."

"Well, it looks like you lost then."

Still not trying to sound rude here.

"Matt ... Could you maybe talk to her ... Talk her into staying?" He asked quietly.

"I can't do that Zacky." I sighed apologetically. "If I did she'd be asked why I suddenly don't want her to go. And if she asked I'll have to fucking tell her."

He looked at me and instantly knew I wasn't going to give in this time.

"Alright ... I'm gonna go ask her right now." He said as he stood up.

I watched Zacky as he made his way across the room and disappeared through the door.
How the fuck did he expect for me to keep a secret like this from Lauren?

"Gah, why the hell do these Baker's have to be so damn difficult?" I asked out loud.
I shook my head and stood up to walk across the room, carrying the secret Zacky expected me to take the grave ... or at least someone else's grave anyway.

**************

Well ... Zacky asked Lauren if she'd be willing to be Jimmy's tech and she said yeah. So she was going with us after all. I admit I was fucking psyched because she was going but at the same time I felt fucking guilty because during that time I'd have to keep that damn secret.

I just told myself not to think about it and hopefully I'll eventually forget about it.
Anyway, right now I'm back at our house packing some clothes for Lauren because we wouldn't have enough time in the morning to come back and pack.

You're probably wondering why she's not with me. Well, that'd be because she is currently drunk off her ass back at Zacky's house. Apparently while me and Zacky were having our chat, Lauren was raiding his liquor cabinet (which was actually like every other cabinet in their kitchen), numbing her aching head with some tequila.

Although she was drunk when she said she'd tech, it didn't make any difference because we all knew she would say yes even if she was sober. The only thing was that chances very slim that she'd remember she was going on tour with us and when she woke up the next morning on the bus she'd probably do her 'happy dance' all over again.

Not that I was protesting against her 'happy dance'; honestly I thought it was kind of cute.

I grabbed a couple extra duffle bags from the closet and started to go through Lauren's clothes, trying to guess which ones she'd want to take. I gave up trying to think like her after a couple of minutes and just decided to grab all her black t-shirts. After I stuffed them into one of the duffle bags, I grabbed all (well, not all but most) of her jeans and stuffed them into the bag as well.

I zipped that bag up and started to throw some of her favorite shoes into the other bag. I carried the bag into our bathroom and threw in her toothbrush, hairbrush, some hair spray and other crap for her hair, her allergy medicine, and a couple extra towels. I zipped that bag up as well and went back out into the room, grabbing the other bag.

I slung both of them over my shoulder and went back downstairs, grabbing Lauren's purse on the way out.

About ten minutes later I was pulling up into Zacky's driveway. I grabbed Lauren's stuff from the passenger seat and packed it inside.

I saw Lauren sitting on the couch with Amber, still clearly drunk. It looked as if the rest of the gang had already gone to bed. I set her bags down next to mine and went over to join them.

"You know Amber." Lauren slurred, tossing an arm around Amber's shoulders. "If I dropped my first name ... me and you would like ... have the same name."

"Oh really." Amber laughed. "How's that?"

"Well ... My name's Lauren Amber Baker ... And, if I dropped 'Lauren' my name would be just Amber Baker ... Just like yours."

Lauren flashed Amber a very toothy, drunken smile as if to finalize her reasoning and nodded her head.

"Oh, I smell what you're steppin' in babe." Amber said, nodding as well.

Amber looked up at me and shook her head, suppressing a laugh as Lauren rested her head on her shoulder and closed her eyes.

"She insisted on waiting up just for you Matt." Amber whispered. "I think she's ready for bed now."

I let out a little laugh and nodded my head, agreeing with her. I walked over and stood beside the couch, gently taking Lauren in my arms.

"What? Who you is?" She asked, opening her eyes to look at me. "Oh, hey babe ... I wanted to wait for you and make sure you got back alright."

Although you could literally hear the alcohol in her voice I can't help but admit that her words sounded so ... well ... adorable I guess. I don't know. It just sounded like something a child would say but hearing it come from Lauren, it was just too cute.

"Oh, I feel so loved now." I said, readjusting her in my arms so she could rest her head on my shoulder.

"Yeah." She giggled. "Because I love you very, very much."

"I love you too baby." I replied, somehow managing to kiss her cheek.

"Aww, that's so sweet." Amber grinned from her spot on the couch.

I flashed her a thumbs up and started to make my way across the room and to the steps. I made it upstairs and automatically headed for my room I usually crash in whenever I stayed over here at Zacky's house. Ironically it was Lauren's old room.

As soon as I got us inside the room I shut the door behind me and stepped cautiously over the random amp cords and what not scatter across the floor, making my way across the room towards the bed.

I sat down on the bed and began to strip Lauren down to her undergarments, gently settling her under the covers once I had rid her of them. I stripped down to my boxers and climbed in beside her.

"Baby?" She whispered as she scooted closer to cuddle with me.

"What's up hun?"

"I'm so happy I get to go with you guys." She mumbled, resting her head on my chest.

I frowned slightly as I felt her skin burning up from all that damn alcohol she had been drinking but still I couldn't help but love the feeling of her soft skin pressed against mine.

"I'm happy you get to tag along too." I whispered, wrapping an arm around her waist to hold her in place.

"Hey, I'm not just 'taggin along'." She said defensively. "My skills are greatly needed."

I tried my hardest to hold my laughter in and it was proving very damn hard to do.

"Yeah, that's true too babe." I said, tightening my arm around her waist. "That's true."
End of Matt's POV

The next morning I woke up with a pounding headache, partly because of all the alcohol I had consumed the night before and partly because of the 'loving pats' I had so kindly received from my brother.

Reaching up to hold my hand to my head that felt like it had been cut open with a fucking machete, I opened one eye and slowly swiveled it around the room. I didn't really recognize exactly where the hell I was but I felt my heart drop when my eyes ... actually, eye ... landed on a clock. It was already 11:30 which meant that Matt and the guys had already left.

That son of a bitch left without even telling me goodbye!

I sat up, obviously way too fast for my own good and let out a little groan as my headache seemed to intensify [haha, that sounds weird].

"Fuck!" I yelled, leaning forward to press my hands to either side of my head, right over my temples.

"Baby?! Are you okay?!"

What the fuck ... Matt?!

I heard footsteps running towards me and I looked up to see Matt standing there, looking like he'd seen a ghost.

"Matt? But ... what ... you ... " I trailed off, feeling very fucking confused indeed.

"A-are you okay? What happened?" Matt asked in a rush, coming over to take a seat next to me.

"I ... I sat up too fast and it didn't seem to mix too well with my headache." I said, letting him pull me into his arms. "Baby ... Aren't you supposed to be ... " I trailed off, finally realizing where I was. "What the fuck am I doing here?"

"Well, if you'd rather be back home I'd be more than happy to buy you a bus ticket back." Zacky said, walking into the room to sit down on the couch across from us.

"Shut up." I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him; hell yes I was still mad at him for being so bitchy last night.

"Hmpf."

I turned back to look up at Matt, resting my head on his chest.

"Anyway ... the reason why you got to come with us was because you're Jimmy's drum tech for the tour." He said gently, wrapping his arms around me so we could sort of cuddle.

"His drum tech? I don't know anything about teching though."

"Oh, there's not much to it." Jimmy said, popping into the room, leading Alyssa along behind him. "All you have to do is basically set up my drum set for me, replace any parts that need to be replaced, play around on them to make sure they're good to go."

"Oh ... Cool ... Do I get paid for it?" I joked.

"Yeah, if you want we could pay you." He said, nodding his head.

"You don't have to pay me Jimmy." I blushed. "I was just joking."

"Eh, if you say so." He mumbled, taking a seat next to Zacky, pulling Alyssa to have a seat on his lap.

Zacky shot him a dirty look and then turned towards me and Matt to shoot us a dirty look.

"You guys are lame." He muttered, getting up and took off.

"He's just jealous because his better half had to stay in Huntington." Jimmy said, rolling his eyes.

I shook my head and looked back up at Matt, flashing him a smile. However, my smile faltered and soon faded away altogether when I saw the look in his eyes ... the look that said something was up.

"What's wrong babe?" I asked, frowning slightly.
He shook his head, flashing me a smile.

"Nothing."

"Oh ... So what was with that look?"

"What look?'

"The look that says something was troubling you."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'd tell you but Zacky would beat my ass into the ground." He grinned.

I sighed and let out a little laugh.

"Okay then, I'm gonna let that poor excuse slide for now." I smirked, reaching up to place a kiss on his lips.

I knew I was just gonna find out his little secret sooner or later. And I was opting for sooner rather than later.