Under his touch

“It hurts!”

“Hold still!” Matt shouts at me for the fourth time.

His fingers wrap around my shoulder and he holds the ice cold peas right where he had kicked me. I cringe again and try to move away from him but his hold on me is far too tight. I try to focus on the soft background music coming from Zacky's room, he's playing ACDC. My fingers clawed themselves around my bed covers and I let out a loud whimper. My back was so cold, I'd rather the ice not be there at all.

It's times like these I wish I was strong to push him off me.

“It sounds like someone's dying in 'ere.” Brian slurs from my door frame.

Suddenly, I don't want Matt away from me any more. Carefully, I push myself closer to his back and I stop squirming. His hand on my shoulder relaxes and he stops putting so much pressure on my back. I stare up at Brian with wide eyes, watching as he trips into my bedroom. I've seen this scene more than I should have. Matt curses under his breath, he's clearly annoyed, he doesn't want Brian around.

That makes two of us.

“Go away, Bri. We're busy.” Matt tells him harshly, not moving his head up to look at him.

I watch as Brian's eyes narrow into tiny slits. He looks and me and shakes his head slowly from side to side. I couldn't look and turn my head to look down into my lap and listen slowly as his footsteps leave the room. I inhale a deep breath of air, my breathing finally going back to normal. It was one of those moments where I'm thankful for Matt being a stupid control freak.

There was silence as Matt continued to hold the peas on my back. I must be used to it now. Softly, I decide to whistle under my breath so that Bella would come and join us. Within about a minute, I hear Bella's paws thundering on the wooden floor, her heavy breathing exciting and loud. I can stop myself from letting out a smile as Bella appears in the doorway. She sits herself down and stares up at me and Matt. Matt turns to look at her, a sideways smirk playing against his dimples. He loved that dog.

“C'mere girl.” He calls, patting the spot next to me on my bed. She does as she's told and quickly jumps up on the bed, rolling herself around on her back so that she could get her belly rubbed.

Matt moves one large hand from my shoulder and places it on her belly, rubbing her soft fur. She barks in excitement and her tail waves around so fast I could barely see it. I couldn't help but let out a soft laugh and brush the pad of my thumb underneath her chin. While I'm stroking her, Matt takes the ice away from my back and the aching feeling instantly stops.

“There. It's better now, right?”

I nod, “Thank you, sir.”

“It's ten thirty.” He tells me, lifting himself from my bed and telling Bella to get down.

I yawn and find myself feeling a little more tired than I was earlier. I stand up from my bed and pull my PJ shirt down, the material hitting the cool part of my skin making me shiver. Matt pulls back my bed covers for me and I get in right away, my feet feeling toasty warm from where we were sitting. He tells me good night and whistles for Bella to follow him but she doesn't. She sits and stares up at him one paw floating in mid-air. Matt sighs and tells her to 'move it' but she doesn't. I figure she heard Brian coming in my room earlier and that's why she wants to say but I didn't say anything.

“Bella.” He warns, the tone in his voice was horrible. He was getting angry.

Bella lifts herself up and barks at him, her teeth coming back as she lets out the most terrifying growl I've ever heard. I could practically feel my mouth hanging open. Matt would not be happy. I don't even want to look up at him. Bella however, didn't seem phased at all. There was a huge moments silence until my door finally closed and Bella jumped up on my bed.

She puts herself on the side closest to the door and I have no choice but to sleep next to the wall. I don't mind, she's only being protective. I pull the covers over her and let her head rest against my pillow before moving myself so that I can rest my head against hers. Her chest sounds like it's purring like a cat, that's probably what sent me off in such a deep sleep.

It was the burning light resting on my eyelids that woke me up. It make my dark world orange and pushed me away from my deep slumber. I expected Bella to be gone, but she was still lying in exactly the same spot. What kind of dog did that? I reached my hand up and rubbed behind her ears, the purring noise came back.
Suddenly, my door flew open and smashed against my wall. My heart pounded in my chest.

“It's 11am,” Jimmy boomed, “Get up, lazy shit.”

I roll my eyes and grit my teeth when he walks away without shutting my door. I hate it when my door gets left open. These guys weren't born in a barnyard so why do they feel the need to leave doors open? Kicking my bed covers away from me, I gingerly walk over to my door and shut it with a slam. Matt wouldn't be happy about that but screw him, Jimmy did it first. I showered myself but I saw no point whatsoever in getting changed into something productive, I just stayed in my t-shirt and shorts with towel dried hair. I was comfy this way and It was far too hot to wear anything else.

Before even getting downstairs I could hear Matt and Zacky having a brutal battle on what I guessed was another one of their stupid xbox games. I ignored them and walked right into the kitchen only to be met with something that almost sent me running back out again. A tall, blonde girl stared at me, her green eyes burning holes into me. My throat went dry. Who the fuck was this? I took a careful step backwards only to bump into somebody. I turned my head around and looked up to see Johnny looking down at me, his face full with amusement.

“This is, Amber.” He told me, “Amber this is, Kay.”

The girl nodded and smiled a weak smile over at me, the sarcasm plastered on her face. I smiled a small smile back, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly as I grabbed a bottle of water and joined Matt and Zacky in the living room. I sat on the one-seater and stared into the kitchen watching as Johnny handed the annoyed girl some money. He obviously got laid last night and was too hungover/lazy to drive her home. I shook my head slowly and turned to grab a magazine from the coffee table. They were all about music or motor bikes, nothing about fashion or girl things.

“Why can't we buy some better magazines?” I ask, interrupting Zack from his train of thought and allowing Matt to 'kill' him.

He slams his controller down next to him and glares at me, “Because.”

“Because what?”

“Because you made me loose.” He snaps through gritted teeth.

I roll my eyes and turn my head away from him, “Touchy.” I whisper.

“Pardon?”

Shit. He wasn't meant to here that. Catching my breath I push myself up from the sofa and try to ignore the fact that Zacky was following me out of the room. I stop and turn my head up to look at him. He has fire in his eyes. Something else has clearly pissed him off and I just pushed his buttons. I swallow loudly and link my hands together waiting for him to say something.

“I said, pardon.” He snapped moving closer to me.

He wanted an answer, “I-I- Said touchy.” I whispered.

“I'm touchy am I?” He taunted, “We'll see who's fucking touchy.”

I saw a hand rise and I almost screamed. I closed my eyes as it came down but nothing hit me. Surprised, I forced open my right eye and looked up to see Matt holding onto his arm. He whispered something in Zacky's ear and the angry man snatched himself away from Matt's grasp before storming out of the room, screaming to Johnny and Jimmy that he wanted to go out. Matt looked down at me. His mouth formed into a perfectly straight line and his brown eyes icy. I didn't even do anything worth a punishment!

“He's in a very bad mood today, Keavy,” He spoke, “So don't be a smart ass.”

“I-”

“Don't. Be. A. Smart. Ass.” He snapped.

I looked down at the floor and frowned. Something had seriously pissed the guys off this morning, and what's with the whore in the kitchen? I ignored Matt and spun around on my heel making my way back up towards my bedroom. At least in my bedroom I can't annoy anybody. I passed Johnny in the hallway, he told me that Zacky, Jimmy and him were going to play golf. I want to play golf. I ignored him out of jealously and slammed my door before storming over to my bed and landing face first into my pillows.

Why are they being horrible to me? I'm the one stuck here, if they just let me go then don't have to be horrible to me. It sounds like they don't want me around anyway, so why the hell do they keep me here? I sigh, rolling onto my back. I hear a voice in the back of my head telling me to stop being so childish but I ignore it and fold my arms over my chest.

My room is the second biggest bedroom. Brian has the biggest, he has far too many guitars that he has to have out on display. My room was designed by me. It used to be blue up until a few years ago when Zack and Matt helped me decorate it, now it's purple and white. It's gorgeous and the light hits it all day, everyday.

After about ten minutes of over thinking I decide to get up and turn on my old school Play Station. Jimmy had offered a number of times to buy me a new Play Station, but I don't want one. I like Crash Bandicoot and Tomb Raider, all the gun games just don't do it for me. Deciding to start the game from scratch, I know I've got a long day ahead of me. Once I put my mind on something, I can't stop, I need to do it. It's almost like an illness. Johnny thinks I have OCD but they won't get me checked for it, thank fuck.

My door opens to a shirtless Matt, he's been working out, “Aren't you going to come down for some dinner? You skipped lunch.”

I turn my head to glance at the clock, it's five thirty. I've been playing on Crash Bandicoot for five hours and I still haven't completed it. I've really lost my game. I turn to Matt and shake my head slowly, I don't want to face Zacky if he's still in a bad mood. I'd rather starve.

“You're eating something.” He told me, walking in my room and picking my jacket up from the floor and putting it on a hanger. He's like an old lady.

I shake my head, “I'm not hungry.”

“You're lying,” He snapped, “Get down those stairs now.”

I ignore him and carry on playing the game. Maybe if I look too 'involved' he'll leave me alone. Who am I kidding? This is Matt. He stomps over to me and rips the controller away from me. His hand was so huge it disappeared.

“Now.” He repeated, stuffing the controller in the pocket of his basketball shorts.

I carefully push myself from the bed and look up at him. His eyes aren't mad, thank God. I sigh, out of habit, and gingerly walk down the stairs. I can hear Brian laughing about something in the kitchen .Why do they always have to be around? They're everywhere, I can't get a moment to myself apart from being in my room. When I walk in the kitchen I see what all the fuss is about. Johnny's standing with an eye patch on, Jimmy biting his lip.

“What happened?” I ask, shocked.

Johnny points to Jimmy, “Lanky shit smashed me in the eye with a golf ball.”

“The actual ball?” I ask, furrowing my brows.

Jimmy nods, “I don't know how I did it... One second it was on the ground then...”

When Matt walks in the room he laughs, hooting in Johnny's face. Johnny pushes him back and grabs himself a beer, he wouldn't live this one down. Jimmy has a guilty look on his face and follows Johnny still muttering apologies. I look in the fridge and see nothing that I want too cook. By the looks of it the guys have already eaten.

I was about to ask why Matt didn't ask me too cook but I bit my lip instead. There was nothing in here that I wanted so I just grabbed a blueberry muffin from the top shelf and placed myself on the breakfast table. Brian had his arms crossed over his chest, his eyebrows raised at me. It was the 'if-only-Matt-saw-you-eating-that' look. I shrug at him and it makes him smirk.

“You look worn out.” He commented, walking across the kitchen and sitting himself next to me.

I roll my eyes, “Everybody, 'cept you, seems to be in a vile mood.”

“They have reason to be.”

“Why?” I ask turning myself to him, “I won't tell.”

Brian breaths in deeply, “They're coming.”