Dirt

Over the next couple weeks Matt was on his best behavior. I think he understood that he had to earn my trust back. It wasn't something that could be handed over in a couple of days. I had fully recovered from my cold, and was back on schedule for the big concert the label wanted to put on. I hadn't received any more notes or pictures from my creeper, and I had almost hoped that because of this, maybe he or she had given up seeing that I now had a bodyguard around all the time. I had no way of knowing.

I had managed to convince the girls, Brian, Zacky, Johnny, and Jimmy to come up for the concert. It was exciting and slightly surreal being the eight of us again. Actually, it was more like ten of us since Johnny brought Lacey with him and Jimmy brought Marley. I was really glad to see that Jimmy and Marley were still together. He deserved someone who made him happy. We all went out to dinner the first night everyone got there and it was slightly awkward that there were four couples paired together, and Matt and I were single. But everyone tried to smooth it over and we made the best of it.

It was the night of the concert and I had to leave my friends early so I could do a sound check at the venue and get dressed. I put on red skinny jeans, with some black studded lace up booties. My shirt was a sheer black and white striped sleeveless button up. It was really see through, so I put on a white tank top underneath. I put on chunky black and gold jewelry, and my make up was pretty heavy considering it had to be seen from the stage. After some vocal warm ups and a couple high fives from the band, I was ready to go out. I was introduced by Gabby, and as the crowd cheered, I stepped out into the blinding lights.

The concert was going great. I sang all the songs from the EP, a few songs I had written that no one really knew, and some covers, just because I could. I looked over to the side of the stage that Matt was on to see him give me a thumbs up with a huge smile on his face. I looked over to the other side, where my managers were with a rep from the label, to see them do pretty much the same thing. I was having a great time, and the crowd was really sending me good energy. We started a cover song, Fall of Troy's 'F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.', and I pulled a young girl on stage to dance with me.

Apparently, that is a signal to some people that it's okay for EVERYONE to climb on stage and dance around, causing a giant clusterfuck on the stage. People were everywhere. It was really hard to see the band with all the extra people running around. Several people came up to hug me, or pat me on the back. I tried to keep calm and keep singing, but I was starting to get an anxiety attack. I eventually just stopped trying and the band faded out in the confusion. I stood on my tip-toes and craned my head around looking for Matt. I could just make him out in the crowd, trying to make his way over to me. We made eye contact and he told me to stay where I was. He would come to me. I nodded and continued to get hugs and handshakes from the people on the stage. Eventually I felt people touching my ass or petting my hair. It was really disturbing, and I was having a hard time discerning who was touching what.

A huge hand grabbed my wrist and started pulling me in the opposite direction of Matt. I felt a heavy, hot breath on my ear. "This is the perfect time for us to meet. I'm glad we're finally going to be together."

Oh, hell no. I whirled around to face a tall, but fairly skinny guy. He had shaggy sandy blond hair and a long, angular face. If circumstances were different, I may have found him kinda cute. He smiled down at me as I tried to pull my arm from his grasp. He sneered and gripped me tighter. I went to my old backup defense move and kicked him in the balls. A few of the fans standing around us cheered and laughed. That made me feel better. If Matt couldn't get over here, at least I figured these people would help me out. Turns out, I didn't really have to worry about that. Just as the guy was getting back up Matt came barreling past me to pick the guy up by his shirt. Matt hit the guy once in the face, and he crumpled into a bloody mess on the floor. Holy shit.

"Matt, I think that's the guy," I told him quickly.

He only nodded in acknowledgment as he picked the guy back up off the floor and twisted his arms behind his back. Matt seemed to magically produce a pair of handcuffs from his pocket that I had no idea he even carried. He cuffed the guy and carted him off the stage with one hand, dragging my behind him with his other. At the scene we caused, the crowd on stage seemed to calm down a bit and started to disperse. It also helped that the cops had shown up and were taking people away. Shortly after we were joined by Jimmy, who pulled me into a big hug. "Holy cheesy balls, that was crazy!" He noticed the bleeding guy in Matt's grip. "Uh...is this the creeper?"

The guy looked up at Jimmy with a glare. "I'm not a creeper. I was trying to help her get out of the crowd. Then this gorilla comes along and breaks my nose!"

"You told me you were glad we could finally be together. That's pretty fucking creepy." He didn't respond. He only turned his gaze on me and smiled. It gave me the fucking willies.

A police officer showed up after most of the crowd had been cleared and wanted to know what we were doing with a bleeding guy in cuffs. I sat with him and explained the whole situation; from the creepy letters, to Matt being a bodyguard, to the guy grabbing me on stage. Once I decided I wanted to press charges for harassment, they took him down to the precinct. The cop told me I would have to go down to sign some paperwork, and Matt informed us that we would also be getting a restraining order. After that, the club cleared out. The manager was a little more than pissed that we had taken away all of his paying customers for the night, but Zacky calmed him down by letting him know that the ten of us were going to be drinking there for a while. Then he proved his point by ordering a round of shots and a bottle of champagne. Everyone toasted to the catastrophe of a night. Except Erin. She had cranberry juice.

A little while later I had to say goodbye to my friends so Matt and I could go down to the police station and sign whatever they needed me to sign. When we got there, the officer looked really nervous and escorted us back into one of the private rooms. He sat down across from us and took a deep breath. "Ms. Carter, I wanted to let you know that the city of Seattle owes you a great debt of gratitude. My Captain wanted to be here to tell you himself, but he's currently gathering evidence to make our case against Jacob Weinstein, the man from the club." I told him I didn't really understand what he was talking about. "Detectives have been looking at Mr. Weinstein for several B and E's, and the rapes of two women." I gasped. Matt took my hand in his. "He also has a history of B and E's and harassment of a former girlfriend. With your evidence and statement, we think we have enough to put him away for a long time."

I was shocked. I didn't know what to say, so Matt talked for me. They discussed a few more details and I signed everything they wanted me to. Matt held my hand or was touching me in some way; with a hand on my shoulder, or back, or even my knee. He was there the whole time, silently supporting me. We were finally given the okay to leave, and once in the car I started to laugh uncontrollably. Matt asked what was wrong with me. "I don't know," I told him. "Why the hell does trouble follow me around like that? Is it me? It's gotta be me. No one else has shit like this happen to them. I feel like Harry Potter. That kid couldn't catch a fucking break. All he wanted was to go to wizard school like any other normal wizard kid, but NOOOO. Voldomort had to be a douche nozzle and make his life a living hell."

Matt laughed. "I'm pretty sure you're delirious. What the hell are you talking about? It's not you. Sometimes bad shit just happens to good people. You're okay though, right?"

"Yeah. No real damage. It was just kind of scary. Thanks for being there."

I could see him peeking over at me from the corner of my eye. "I'm always going to be there."

Two days later, our friends had to leave. We had decided that before they go, we would separate for the day so the girls could spend time together and the boys could do whatever bonding thing it is they do. The girls voted, and we decided to get some mani/pedi's before going out to a nice lunch. We figured it would be relaxing for Erin, since she'd been feeling like throwing up for the past few days. We were currently sitting in the big chairs having our feet done.

"So, I was thinking," Lacey got the attention of the group, "that if you have a girl, Erin, Lacey is an awesome name. I'm not saying you HAVE to name the baby after me, but that'd be nice."

"I'll totally take that into consideration," Erin informed her with a laugh. She looked slyly at me. "I'm more interested in what's going on between Matt and Ash." All heads turned to me and I laughed.

"Nothing is going on," I said. "He's doing his job, and I'm continuing to live my life. What?" I asked at their incredulous faces.

"Nothing," Jessi said sarcastically. "We totally believe you. And I also believe in a jolly fat man who breaks into millions of houses in one night so he can eat their food and leave them 'presents'."

"You leave Santa out of this," I warned her. "He didn't do anything to you. And what do you guys want me to say? We talked a couple weeks ago, and he made it pretty clear that he's still in love with me." There were squeals and 'aww's' all around. "Yeah, yeah."

"We already knew he was still in love with you. Anyone with eyes and half a brain could see that," Marley told us. "What we really want to know is how you feel about him."

I shrugged as I thought about how to answer. "When he first got here, I hated the thought of seeing him. It wasn't so much that I was mad at him still, but...I was still hurt, for sure. But, he's been trying really hard to show me that I can trust him. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss him, or how we used to be."

"Have you told him that?" I shook my head. Erin smacked my arm lightly. "Why not?"

I pulled a face. "I'm scared."

"Aw, honey, we know." Jessi patted my hand. "But, if it turns out that he's telling the truth and he never does anything to hurt you again, then wouldn't it have been worth it?"

I rolled my eyes. "When did you become an after school special?" She only grinned at me. "My brother's changing you."