Give Into Me

“So, you never told me what you and Caroline talked about the other night.” Matt brought his eyes up from the piece of paper in his hand to the bass player sitting across from him. It had been almost a week since his run in with Caroline after her show and the pair were currently sitting in Brian's living room waiting for the dark haired guitarist to get out of the shower.

“It doesn't matter, it didn't go all that well.” Matt answered with a bitter laugh, remembering how quickly she had made her exit, and with another guy no less. He couldn't even describe the amount of jealousy he had felt, and still did, merely thinking about the way he was touching her. His jealousy didn't just end there, Matt found it hard to digest the fact that Riley had seemed to keep her at ease and make her smile when that used to be his job.

“Clearly, since she left with another guy.” Johnny laughed bringing the beer bottle to his lips. Matt clenched his jaw, he was rapidly growing annoyed with the man across from him. He bit his tongue, trying to calm himself.

“What did you end up doing?” Matt forced himself to ask, even though he could care less about the answer. Anything to get Johnny off the topic of Caroline. Johnny shrugged as he swallowed his mouthful of beer before answering.

“Hung out with Travis and a few of the other tech guys.” He said casually, draping his arm over the back of the couch he sat in. “He wants to meet up with all of us for drinks sometime soon, he's in town til the tour starts in October.” Matt nodded, silently agreeing to the offer Johnny put forward.

“You guys ready to hear the fuckin' greatest solo known to man?” Brian bellowed as he descended down the stairs, guitar already in his hand.

“You say that about every solo...” Johnny pointed out with a smirk, Brian sent the smaller man one of his many ridiculous faces before sitting down with them.

“What's with you Shads?” Brian questioned, noticing Matt's lackluster demeanour. Matt shrugged it off and insisted that he was perfectly fine and used his familiar excuse of simply being tired with the long studio hours. Brian seemed to have believed it since he let it slide and began moving his fingers along the neck of the guitar.

Normally Matt was the one leading and directing the whole process of creating songs but today he had other things on his mind. Zacky showed up a few minutes later and Brian promptly took charge, letting Matt sit back and listen. Or at least pretend to. The whole time he was planted in the leather chair, the only thing he could think about was when he'd see Caroline again.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

“This is a lot different than where I'm from.” Caroline turned her head to look at Riley walking next to her, his hands stuffed into his pockets and a half smile on his face.

In the week that had past since seeing Matt, all Caroline had done was think about him. The first few days had been the worst, she had tortured herself by deliberately looking at small trinkets that reminded her of him. There was the photo of the two of them just after the boys had gotten their City Of Evil gold records, Matt held the record proudly as Caroline was perched on her tip toes kissing him on the cheek while Jimmy stood behind the pair with his mouth formed into the shape of an 'O' as he pointed to them.

In the bottom of a drawer she found an old birthday card from him, one he had sent while he was on tour, apologizing for missing her birthday and promising he'd write her a song to make up for it. A promise he had kept true to. It seemed like wherever she looked, there was something there that brought him back in her mind. However, Riley had been taking up most of her time as of late.

She had shown him around Los Angeles as best she could with the limited knowledge she had of the area. When he quickly grew tired of the frenzied city, he had somehow talked her into driving down to Huntington Beach, to see where she had grown up. When he first suggested the idea she was slightly hesitant but once they had arrived at the pier she forgot all about her worries and enjoyed the vivacious city she called home.

“Yeah, I bet it's a little different than Kentucky.” She answered, looking at their surroundings. After the day at the pier, Riley had wanted to see more of the quaint beach town and he enquired about the park she had talked so much about. Upon his incessant badgering, she have given in and they were now walking through Central Park. Caroline's doubts about coming back to her hometown were starting to resurface, the park brought back several memories, some good and some not so good.

“So you've been awfully quiet.” Riley said with a suspicious tone in his voice, which had told Caroline that she was doing a poor job of hiding her feelings of hesitation about their current environment.

“Sorry, this place just brings back a lot of memories.” Caroline let her eyes scan the park, it hadn't changed much since she had last seen it other than the new playground for children and the addition of a dog park.

Riley nodded his head. “Does it have anything to do with that guy from the show?” Caroline turned her head to look at Riley with wide eyes and a slightly parted mouth. She didn't expect him to pick up on the reason why she had been so temperamental recently, Riley was more perceptive than she initially gave him credit for. He flashed a half smile while she continued to stare in amazement.

“How...” She trailed off but failed to get out the rest of her sentence.

He chuckled looking away. “You aren't that hard to read Caroline,” He explained while Caroline pouted to herself. She had thought that she had gotten better, she had seemed to fool Matt for the most part. “I'm just wondering what happened? Were you guys together?”

Caroline inhaled a deep breath and gave him a weak smile. “Kind of, it's hard to explain...” She began, her mind drifting back to three years ago in the very same park her and Riley were currently standing in, when things with Matt had changed.

“There you guys are!” Zacky and Matt turned around at the sound of the feminine voice calling after them, Caroline jogged towards them. Matt smirked at her appearance, she was dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, a pink plaid shirt and her dark brown cowboy boots. Caroline stopped just short of him and Zacky, placing a small hand on her chest as she regained her breath.

“What are you doing here?” Zacky asked stepping forward to hug the brunette. Caroline squeezed him tightly before letting him go, she glanced from Zacky to Matt. Caroline noticed a few men standing off to the side, one of them held a large video camera, and the other held a fuzzy microphone that was attached to a long pole.

“Lacey told me you guys were here. Who are those guys?” Zacky and Matt looked behind them at the two men and their equipment.

“We're recording ourselves for our DVD.” Matt said, while Zacky nodded with a knowing smirk. One of the guys waved Zacky over.

“My time to shine. Good seeing you Caroline.” He waved to her and she smiled in return. Caroline turned her eyes to Matt who had been staring at her since she had arrived.

She felt a blush creep onto her cheeks and forced herself to look anywhere but at him. She heard him laugh which she took as a signal that it was now safe to look up. Matt nodded over to the bench a few feet away, she happily followed and sat down next to him. From their position on the bench they had a clear view of Zacky being filmed by the camera, he was attempting to climb a tree. Caroline giggled to herself then looked over at Matt.

“Where's everyone else?” She asked softly, as Matt's content expression transformed into one of annoyance all to quickly.

“As in everyone else do you mean Brian?” He challenged, his voice came out rougher than she was used to.

“No,” Caroline paused to look at him questioningly. She was very puzzled as to where his sudden mood change had come from. “I meant everyone cause the only two people I saw were you and Zack.” Matt didn't seem satisfied by the answer she gave him as he clenched his jaw, his annoyance only escalating.

“Caroline, I'm not dumb. You and Brian have been spending a lot of time together lately. I confronted him about it but he gave me some bullshit story about guitar lessons.” Matt knew that he shouldn't have come off so aggressive but the conflicting emotions he had been feeling over the past few weeks couldn't be bottled in any longer.

Matt had thought that helping her record her demo would let him spend more time with Caroline and for a few days it had done just that. However, Caroline was getting frustrated with the way the guitar sounded and she had enlisted Brian to give her hand with it. At first he only stopped by the studio occasionally but then Caroline began spending most of her time outside of the studio with Brian and it had stirred up some feelings that Matt didn't know he had towards the small brunette.

Caroline laughed to herself. “We're just friends Matt. He actually is giving me lessons.” She assured him with a smile.“Even if we were seeing each other, I don't see why it's a problem. I'm single, he's single and we're both adults.”

Matt chose not to saying anything for fear that the wrong words would slip out, he simply kept his gaze on the green scenery in front of him. He had been moody for several weeks and while he was usually that way during the recording process, he had taken it a step further this time around. Jimmy had been the only one to figure out why and decided to confront Matt about it a few days prior. It had taken the drummer three long hours to finally get Matt to realize what he needed to do about the situation, all he had to do was tell her how he felt. It turned out to be a lot more simple in his mind than actually doing it though.

“Why does it bother you so much?” She asked softly, studying his tense features. He licked his lips and kept his eyes locked onto the various people strewn through out the park.

“It doesn't.” His voice came out hoarse and rough, sounding like he had just swallowed a handful of gravel. Matt shifted on the bench as an uneasy silence washed over the pair. Caroline chose to break the silence, by twisting his backwards baseball cap the right way and tugged on it lightly.

“Stop being so serious!” She stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes, Matt couldn't help but laugh, showing off his infamous dimples. She smiled brightly at her successful attempt to lighten the mood.

“Sent in that demo yet?” He asked, his voice on its way back to normal. Caroline nodded slowly.

“Danielle's making me send it to this producer in Nashville. He's pretty well known so it may take a while for him to even listen to it but I'm hoping for the best.” Caroline crossed her fingers with an eager smile. Matt was about to tell her about him handing off an extra copy he made, to a producer he knew in Los Angeles but before he got a chance, Jimmy, Johnny and Brian appeared, half empty forty's in each of their hands. Caroline was about to stand up but he grabbed her arm lightly, she turned back to look at him.

“Do you wanna hang out tonight? I gotta go back to the studio for a bit to finish up some vocals, but...” He trailed off waiting for her to tell him that she was busy and maybe another time.

“Yeah, sure. Around eight at our usual spot?” Matt nodded, as Caroline smiled and got to her feet making her way over to greet the three approaching men. Jimmy ran over to her wrapping her in his arms and spun her around until both of them couldn't stand straight. She laughed wildly, clutching her chest as Brian wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Matt sighed heavily and ran his hands over his face, mentally preparing for something he hadn't done in a long time.

Later that evening Matt found himself sitting once again in the park, feeling somewhat anxious. He was in the back of his truck, sitting on the edge of the frame, one of his legs bouncing up and down. He hadn't yet thought of how to tell Caroline what he wanted to but he figured if he over thought it too much it'd come out much worse than it would if he were to simply wing it and speak from the heart.

He glanced at his cell phone to check the time, it was a quarter passed eight, she was fifteen minutes late. Matt had stopped by her house earlier to pick her up but her mother had told him that Caroline wasn't home. He assumed she had something to do before and taken it upon himself to go without her and park in their typical spot.

As if on cue he felt a gentle touch on his back. “Hey.” Caroline spoke softly with a smile.

“Hey.” His came out rough and scratchy from the strain he had put on it earlier in the studio. He cleared his throat and got up from his spot to walk to the end of the bed.

“Sorry I'm late.” Caroline apologized as he held out his hand for her to take before she lifted herself inside the back of the truck. The blanket was already spread out, he left it up to Caroline if she wanted to sit or lay down.

“I stopped by to pick you up earlier...” He began as she sat herself down on the blanket.

“Oh yeah, I went to Brian's for a while, he just dropped me off.” Caroline answered with a smile. Matt ignored the small pang of jealousy knowing she had been with his friend.

“Why are you still standing up?” She playfully grinned up at him as she was now laying down with her hands neatly folded on her stomach.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about something.” He took his usual spot next to her, sitting closer to her than he normally did. He cast his eyes up at the darkening sky. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Caroline staring at him, a curious look gracing her features. “It's not polite to stare you know.” He said in a semi serious tone, to show her he was kidding he flashed a small smile.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about something.” She answered, reusing his words with a smirk. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she didn't laugh like he had expected. Instead she sat up, her eyes darting everywhere but at him.

“You've just been acting weird lately and I wish you would talk to me.” Her eyes eventually rested on her hands sitting in her lap. Her fingers grabbed at the hem of her plaid shirt.“Sometimes I think you forget that I'm not just one of the guys. You can talk to me you know.”

Matt couldn't quite believe what he was hearing, she thought that he saw her merely as another one of the guys. He wasn't able to hold in his laughter as a deep rumble escaped his throat, Caroline's eyes held a puzzled gaze. Matt sat himself up as well, his back up against the cab of the truck.

“Believe me when I say I don't think of you as one of the guys. One, I don't see Johnny jumping around in short shorts singing 'Man, I Feel Like A Woman' at the top of his lungs like you.” Matt chuckled at the mere thought, and Caroline did the same.

“Though, I'm sure if he was drunk enough it wouldn't be hard but I'm positive he wouldn't look nearly as cute as you.” Matt's mind drifted back to a party at Jimmy's place where Caroline had drank a little too much and broke out into song while wearing quite possibly the smallest pair of shorts he had ever seen. He hadn't been able to keep his eyes off her the whole night, even though Val had been at his side a majority of the time. He remembered hitting Zacky in the back of the head when he caught the rhythm guitarist also staring.

“New goal for the next tour.” Caroline replied with a wide smile and Matt nodded.

“Two, you're a lot prettier than any of them.” A light blush spread across her cheeks, and her lips curved into a shy smile. “Except maybe Brian, he has all of us beat in the pretty department.” Caroline giggled softly, which evoked a smile from him. His smile faded as he realized that his opportunity to say something was now or never.

“And three,” Matt swallowed the lump forming in his throat, his eyes locked with hers. “I've never felt so attracted to someone before and not just physically either. Everything, musically, emotionally... so trust me, I don't think of you as one of the guys.” He stared at her intently for a moment, searching for an inkling of what she was thinking.

He mostly just read confusion, and a little bit of surprise. Her mouth hung open slightly and brown doe eyes stared intently at him. Matt considered pretending like the admission hadn't meant anything but something inside told him to seize the moment. Listening to his gut he slowly leaned closer, his hand reached out to cup her cheek. Before she got a chance to respond he just barely grazed his lips with hers, he couldn't even call it a kiss as their lips had touched in the briefest way possible.

“What are you doing?” She leaned back, her expression was one of confusion, and fear. She looked like she had just seen a ghost.

“Well, I was going to kiss you but with how terrified you look right now I'm reconsidering it.” He laughed. He watched her brow furrow as if what he said had seemed like the most idiotic thing in the world. She bit on her bottom lip looking to be in deep thought, he waited patiently for any kind of sign of what was going on in her head.

“When did this happen?” Caroline breathed, she sounded almost overwhelmed by the situation. “When did you realize you had feelings for me?” She asked in a soft voice.

“I've always been attracted to you, Care.” He said with lustful smirk, she rolled her eyes and fought the blush creeping back onto her cheeks. “But I didn't realize it ran a lot deeper than that until I thought you and Brian were secretly seeing each other. Jimmy realized it before I did.” He laughed.

“I swear he's smarter than all of us.” Caroline laughed along with Matt. She thought back to the time Jimmy had confronted her about her blossoming feelings for Matt which had slowly developed over the course of their friendship but peaked just after their third CD 'City Of Evil' had gone gold. She had felt stricken with guilt for feeling things for someone who was taken but that didn't matter to the drummer, he never judged her or told her it was a lost cause. He simply told her that timing is everything and gave her one of his infamous Jimmy hugs.

“Can I kiss you now? Because I've wanted to do it for a really fucking long time.” Caroline laughed, it wasn't the most romantic of requests but that was Matt. She knew full well that he was never one to sugar coat things. His eyes locked with hers and Caroline's features softened, and a shy smile broke out across her lips.

“Of course.” She said, moving her body slowly closer to him on purpose. He inwardly groaned at her teasing, like he had done many times before but those times she hadn't been aware of what she was doing unlike now.

“You're killing me with how slow you're moving.” He stared at her with a firm look in his eyes. Caroline curled up next to him, flashing her innocent smile and big brown doe eyes, immediately making him forget. He grinned, dimples and all as he leaned down gently capturing her lips with his. He felt her sigh into the kiss, as if she had been holding her breath until their lips met. What Matt didn't know was that Caroline had been waiting for that moment far longer than he had been.