Safer To Hate Her

“C’mon, I want to get to the front!” Jessie was super excited to be at the concert. She’d managed to get four tickets free and gave me two of them. I’d invited Austin but just as friends. It was weird, the more I got to know him, the more I felt like he was more of a best friend, just one that I fancied a little. As for Jessie, she invited Darren, a guy that she’d been seeing for a while. She dragged Darren off to the barriers, whereas Austin and myself went to the bar to get a drink. We sat down on the bar stools and ordered our drinks. We were in mid conversation when a guy I recognized from school approached the bar. He was godly looking. Clearly Austin knew him as they did one of those ’bro handshakes’.
“Hey man!” Austin smiled.
“Didn’t really see this as your kind of scene?” The guy laughed. I felt bad for dragging Austin here when I knew he wasn’t into my kind of music.
“Well this one,” He nodded in my direction, “begged me to come with her. And who could resist that face.” I felt my cheeks going pink.
“Oh right. Why I haven’t I been introduced to your girl, Brooks?” The guys eyes looked me up and down with a smile on his face. And I thought Austin’s smile was perfect. Then something just slipped out my lips.
“Because I’m not his girl.” I couldn’t help but see the look of disappointment in Austin’s eyes but my attention was quickly focused on the guy.
“It’s Matt.” He said with a smirk and stuck out his hand.
“Amber.” I took hold of his hand, and expected him to shake it, but instead he pulled me off the stool and into a hug. I was surprise but I wasn’t complaining. He smelled gorgeous and I couldn’t help but notice the length of the hug was quite a lot longer than a usual hug.
“So who are you here with?” Austin’s question made Matt pull away, looking slightly awkward.
“The rest of the band,” Matt replied. I could imagine him in a band, he had the look, “Josh needed some inspiration.” The fact that he was in a band made him ten times more attractive.
“What do you play?” I asked taking a sip of my drink.
“Bass.” I looked at his hands, they were quite big and bass players have big hands so it kind of fitted. I nodded and gave him a smile. We just looked at each other for a while, I couldn’t resist his chocolate button eyes, and it was only when Austin suggested we go find the other that our eye contact broke. Austin intertwined our fingers, making me feel slightly awkward in front of Matt after all that eye sex. When we found Jessie and Darren they were having a full on make out session. Both me and Austin looked at each other and shook our head smiling. Then all the lights went off and the stage was lit up with different colored lights. Jessie pulled away from Darren and started jumping and screaming. I hadn’t even notice that Austin had let go of my hand and position himself behind me so he could wrap his arms around my waist. I felt slightly uncomfortable, I hadn’t really got round to telling him how I felt we should just be friends. I hadn’t told anyone. The two support bands were really good, they were called For The Foxes and The Summerset. They were kind of indie bands, still their songs were really catchy. Without any warning Jessie snatched me out of Austin’s arms and pulled me into the toilettes with her. I plonked myself on the side whilst she peed. A group of slutty girls came in and gave me dirty looks, before reapplying their tons of makeup. Jessie finished her business and washed her hands.
“So you and Austin are finally together?” She wondered, looking up at me expectantly. I shook my head instantly.
“No, well, I don’t like him in that way I don’t think.” I sighed, slightly confused by my own feelings. I didn’t understand how I could just lose a crush so easily. Jessie looked as confused as me.
“What? But you’ve been all smitten for the past few weeks?” I could feel the sluts eyes on us, interested to know the gossip but I ignored them.
“Yeah but that’s all him. I think he likes me a lot more than I like him. Urh, you should of seen the look on his face earlier when I was hugging Matt.” Jessie’s eyes got wider.
“Wait, who’s Matt now?” She almost yelled excitedly. I shook my head, laughing at her eagerness to find out about my love life, and dragged her out of the toilettes. She started poking my sides to make me spill but I resisted her childish behavior. Darren and Austin were in deep conversation when we found them, so Jess made me go get a drink with her. Some how she managed to get us some beers, even though we were only 17. We found a table in the corner of the bar area and her questioning began again.
“So who’s this Matt?” She pestered, as I pulled the bottle to my lips.
“That would be me.” I almost choked when Matt’s voice came from behind me. I was so embarrassed and my cheeks were burning up. I mean, I’d only just met the guy, then he hears that I’ve already been talking about him. There was a taller guy behind him, slightly chubby with choppy hair.
“And you must be this Amber Matt’s been going on about.” The guy gave me a smile, making me blush even more. I kind of felt happy to find out that it wasn’t just me, and that he’d mentioned me to his friend. I couldn’t help but notice the way Jess looked at Matt’s friend, she was practically taking his clothes off with her eyes. They both had sat themselves down at the table, Matt next to me and his friend next to Jess.
“The name’s Josh.” Matt’s friend smiled at us, mostly at Jess though. I bet she was going crazy inside.
“I’m Jess,” She was quickly to reply, “and well you already know that’s Amber.” Jess gave Matt a smirk, making him laugh nervously. Josh and Jess were quick to get into conversation, which just left Matt and myself.
“So…This is slightly awkward…” Matt laughed once again.
“Just a little,” I matched his laughter, “Shouldn’t of been talking about me then!” I stuck my tongue out at him like a child.
“Say’s you!” He poked me in the ribs, making me squirm. The contact gave me shivers. I had no clue what had come over me but all I could think to do was poke him back. He managed to grab my hand before I could even touch him. For a few seconds we just looked at each and our hands, which he had by then intertwined. It was weird, usually if I guy I had just met held my hand, I would freak out but with Matt it felt almost natural, like we’d been friends for ages. We were too busy looking at each other, that we failed to notice Jess and Josh go off.
“The next act is coming on? Want to go watch?” Matt broke the silence, pointing at the stage. I knew I was meant to be there with Austin, but this was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
“Sure!” I smiled, looking down shyly. With our hands still intertwined, we joined the crowd of people swarming the stage. Once Mayday Parade appeared on the stage, the crowd went wild. I hadn’t really heard of them so I didn’t join in, and Matt simply smiled.