Forever's Not Supposed to End

Nathan's point of view. Four days later.

Gripping a handful of his hair tightly, I slammed his head into the wall, over and over, and over again.

I was screaming, yelling for everyone to come and watch.

There was nobody around. The streets were empty.

My hands were covered in his warm blood.

I let go of his hair and the man slumped to the ground, I laughed manically.

I raised my foot and stamped on his head with sickening force.

I did it again.

"Come and watch this fucking killer get killed!" I yelled again.

The man on the ground didn't have a face. I didn't know what he looked like. I didn't care.

All I knew is he had killed my brother and I was going to kill him.

"You fucking-"

"Nathan!" I opened my eyes. I was tangled awkwardly amongst blankets, I had clearly been thrashing around as I dreamt.

Matthew was standing over me, gripping my wrist tightly so I couldn't punch the wall again. My fist was bruised and sore.

"Th-thank you," I panted, wiping the cold sweat from my face.

"You were having that dream again weren't you, where you kill the guy that hurt me?" he asked quietly, letting go of my arms and sitting on the bed beside me.

I nodded silently.

"Do you ever think you should see a therapist?"

I laughed loudly.

"I'm not going to kill anyone, if that's what you're worried about," I assured him.

"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried you're repressing things, things you need to talk about to get them out of your system in a healthy way."

I sat up and scooted around so I was sitting next to him on the edge of the bed.

"You've been acting really weird, and I'm getting worried, and it's stressing me out and-"

"Shh. Matthew. Relax. I'll sort something out when we get home OK?"

He nodded slowly.

"OK, now get out, I need to get dressed," I said, forcing him from the room so I could change.

I could faintly hear Hayley and her band practising downstairs in the garage and I dressed as fast as I could, wanting to get down there and watch. We'd watched them practice a lot over the last few days, and hung out with the four guys in the band, and they were all pretty cool.

I bounded into the garage about ten minutes later, after taking a very quick shower and throwing on some clothes.

The band were absolutely killing it, just as they had been the past three days we had watched them practice. Having watched them perform, Matthew and I were struggling to find a reason they hadn't made it big.

The only reason he had highlighted was the fact that, although the band moved around a lot as they played, Hayley stood frozen to the spot, barely moving a muscle. She was singing note perfect, and staring blankly at a space on the wall as she sang the lyrics, seeming not to connect with them.

"I wonder, well how am I supposed to feel,
When you're not here?
'Cause I burned, every bridge I ever built,
when you were here,
I still try, holding onto silly things,
I never learn, oh why?
Oh all the possibilities,
And I'm sure you've heard..."

I crossed the room to Hayley and pulled her microphone out of the stand, pushing it into her hand.

I then took the microphone stand and confiscated it, placing it over near the office chair Matthew was sitting on.

I walked back to her and took the microphone cable, wrapping it twice around her wrist and moving her hand up so she was holding nearer to the top of the microphone. Matthew appeared beside me and started to mess up Hayley's perfectly straightened red hair.

She started to back away, laughing as she tried to continue singing.

Hayley tried to run off in one direction, but the bass player, Jeremy, blocked her way, poking his tongue out at her.

Wherever she tried to go someone was blocking her way.

Matthew snatched her big glasses off her face and the transformation was almost complete.

"Now MOVE!" I yelled, grabbing her arm and forcing her to sway it above her head in time with the music.

"I feel stupid," she mumbled into her microphone, just as the song ended.

"If you guys can make her move, it'll be a miracle, we've been trying for like... years," said Josh, shaking his head as he re-tuned his guitar.

"I think I can do it," smirked Matthew, messing up Hayley's hair again.

She slapped his hands away.

He leaned in and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle and playfully slap his arm.

"Yeah?" he said, grinning.

"OK," she nodded, smiling back.

I wished I could read my brothers mind. I wished I could be him, just to be that close to her.

Jealousy was consuming me. Since the night she had kissed me so passionately, believing I was Matthew in her drunken state, I'd felt differently about the whole situation. There was clearly something going on between them that I wasn't seeing.

For all I knew, they could be fucking eachother senseless every night after I'd fallen asleep. But somehow, I doubted that very much. As far as I knew, Matthew hadn't been with anyone else since Amber broke his heart and his trust by cheating on him.

The band launched into another song and Hayley turned to face the other way, so she wasn't looking at any of us.

She started to tap her foot, then tap her hand against her leg to the beat of the song.

It was catchy, and I found myself tapping my own fingers against the side of my leg as I sank into a chair next to Matthew.

Hayley moved a lot more this time, but whenever she would catch anyone's eye she would either grin or laugh and mess up her words.

Towards the end of the song, Josh took a guitar solo, and Hayley completely let loose and started to rock out, flipping her hair all over the place, jumping up and down, dancing like nobody was watching.

I glanced at Matthew to find him staring, open mouthed, at Hayley.

I laughed and punched him in the arm to make him snap out of it.

For the rest of the practice Hayley continued to rock out and by the time they were done, she was a sweaty mess.

"Look at me, I'm a wreck," she laughed, wiping her face with her hands.

"You should see how I get, It's not pretty," I said and Matthew laughed.

After discussing Hayley's new-found confident streak, the guys from the band left and I could sense Matthew wanting to be alone with Hayley. I had to make a decision. To leave them alone, or to pretend like I wasn't picking up on the sexual tension and continue to hangout with them.

I decided to be a good brother and go upstairs to the room, but not without snatching up an acoustic guitar from the garage, and a notepad from by the phone in the kitchen. I'd make sure this time was useful.

Hayley's point of view

Mumbling something about feeling inspired for a song, Nathan vanished upstairs. I was grateful. The sexual tension between Matthew and I had reached a new level today, and unless something happened soon, one of us was sure to explode out of frustration.

"I liked your sexy dance moves," mumbled Matthew in my ear, sneaking up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist as I stood looking out of the kitchen window at the slightly overgrown back yard.

"Don't. I feel awkward doing things like that," I said, turning around so I was facing him.

"Don't feel awkward, you looked great. You looked like.. really confident, and the way you flip your hair? You got me all... overwhelmed," he whispered, sending a shiver down my spine and making my heart rate increase.

"If I didn't know any better Mr. Leone, I'd say you were trying to flirt with me," I said, smirking and leaning back against the counter.

"Is it working?" he grinned.

"Maybe a little," I giggled.

"Good."

Our eyes met and I pulled his face down to mine, crashing our lips together. He smirked into the kiss and I giggled slightly.

"OK, sorry, I'll be serious," he mumbled against my lips, one hand settling in my hair, the other on my hip.

He deepened the kiss, and I allowed his tongue to trail over my bottom lip, making my knees feel weak.

His hand moved from my hair to my cheek. My hands were on the back of his neck and I slowly trailed one further down his back, pushing our bodies together.

The contact seemed to flip a switch in my mind, and I felt fear, remembering the last time someone was kissing me whilst I was pressed against a kitchen counter.

"Stop thinking about him," Matthew mumbled against my lips, obviously noticing me tense up.

"Come on," he led me to the couch where he sat down first, then looked up at me expectantly.

I laughed and sat on his lap, pressing my lips back to his instantly.

His left hand snaked under the hem of my shirt and his fingers grazed over the skin of my hip.

Without breaking the kiss, Matthew slowly lowered himself down into a laying down position, pulling me with him, so I was hovering over him, my legs straddling his hips.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, breaking the kiss for a second.

"Trying to make you relax and realise I'm not about to force you to do anything you don't want to do, and this way, you're in control, if that's OK?" he asked.

"You're just the sweetest thing," I said, pecking his lips quickly.

"Well, I do try my best," he chuckled, but stopped abruptly as I started to kiss his neck.

"I-I- don't think that's a good idea," he said breathily, both hands now on my butt.

"Why?" I whispered in his ear. He removed his hands hesitantly.

"Because, that's like my one main weakness and I just can't, oh-" he whimpered as I went back to his neck, smirking to myself as I grabbed his hands and placed them back where they had been just a moment ago.

I was testing myself and him. I wanted to see how far I could let this get before I freaked out about it too much. Oliver was a presence in my mind, but so far I was able to ignore it. I wanted to test how far I could push myself before I had to stop.

I also wanted to test Matthew, to see how far he was physically capable of going before he had to stop. I had a feeling he wasn't going to have a limit, and if he did, he wouldn't tell me, he'd find a way to manage whatever pain his head was causing him.

"I'm going upstairs now..." I trailed off, kissing him gently, almost teasingly.

"And if you want to join me, you're very welcome," I said softly, then climbed off the couch and walked to the door.

I stole one last glance back at him, and the look on his face told me everything I needed to know.