Whoever She Is

Being alone with Kimberley was awkward for Matt.

Like, really awkward. It was fucking torture, actually. He was pretty sure she hated him or something, after what had happened with his snooping and breaking her stuff. He'd since paid her back but he'd been avoiding her for four days straight, ducking out of the room whenever she came in or shuffling around behind his friends.

So it was only just typical fucking luck that Matt found himself out getting supplies with her. They had a night off in a hotel, glory be to God, and both bands desperately needed to stock up on food and razors and toilet paper... all the boring everyday stuff that they went through in the blink of an eye. Matt cursed Max for calling Kimmi over and suggesting she join him at the last minute. It's not like he was going to say no and look like a complete dick. So he just had to grin and bear it.

Or at least, bear it.

There wasn't much grinning going on.

It didn't help that they were in the middle of fucking nowhere. The hotel they were booked at was more like a larger-than-average bed-and-breakfast near a whole lot of forest and country roads and fields filled with cows and stuff.

They had been walking for thirty minutes when Matt finally made an attempt at speaking like a normal human being.

"I think we went in the wrong direction."

Kimmi glanced at him, raising her eyebrows. "I was only following you, I thought you knew where you were going..."

Matt snorted. "Are you serious?! This place is so confusing, and it's full of British people, I think we fell into an alternate dimension or something."

It was true, the family that ran the b&b were all from England and it seemed a good few of the surrounding residents were as well, judging by the accents of those who had directed the other guys to the nearest place where they could get alcohol.

"Well that happens sometimes, doesn't it? People from another country settle here, make a business, and then other people from the same country are drawn to it because it's familiar, it's like home," Kimmi shrugged.

"I knew that," Matt muttered. "But still, it's confusing as hell, and I can't understand what some of them even say! I bet that's why we're lost."

"Okay, you said we were going in the wrong direction, you didn't say anything about being lost."

"Well, we're lost, okay?"

"Great. I'm starving."

Matt sighed, mentally slapping himself right in the face, and then kicking his own balls for good measure. What an idiot. "I know. Me too. I'm sorry."

"Can't we just head back?"

"We can try..."

Try they did. But there were so many turns and forks in the roads that it left them both clueless, and they ended up picking a direction at random and walking that way, completely aimless, for another half hour.

"I don't even know what I'm looking for any more."

"Gas station? Another car? Signs of human life?" Kimmi suggested, gesturing around to all the sheep in the surrounding fields. The constant bleating of lambs wasn't helping Matt think at all.

"Maybe... or perhaps shelter," he made a face, glancing up at the sky.

It had been getting gradually darker as they walked, and it was beginning to look like the heavens might just open up and send a torrential downpour to wipe them out of existence.

"You have got to be kidding me," Kimmi muttered, stopping to look up.

There was lightening and a crash of thunder to punctuate her sentence, and Matt let out a long groan.

"Shit," he said. And then he said it some more, because they were stranded in the middle of nowhere and it was going to fucking rain. "Shit, shit, shit."

"There has to be... a bus shelter or something."

"Really? On this wild untamed country road?" Matt countered, looking around, and spotting something tall and red in the distance. "What is that?"

"It's... it can't be," Kimmi frowned, squinting her eyes as if it would make the object move closer so they could see it better. "It actually can't be."

"Can't be what?"

They both winced at the first cold, heavy spots of rain pattering down and hitting them.

Matt glanced up, silently cursing the gods of weather with all the worst swear words he knew in multiple languages, and Kimmi tugged on his sleeve. "Come on."

She started jogging towards the red object, and Matt was confused for a moment but he followed anyway until it came into a clearer view. It was a fucking old English phone-box. In the USA.

"What the hell is this doing out here?" Flyzik panted as they swung the door open and threw themselves inside just as the rain came down like a waterfall, completely drenching everything outside. It was loud inside the booth.

"I have no idea," Kimmi shook her head, tucking her long hair behind her ears to try and tame it somewhat. "Maybe... maybe it's here as a... as a tribute?"

Matt gave her a weird look, wrinkling his brows together and raising them slightly. "A tribute? To what, exactly?"

"Well, that village full of people from the UK, maybe these phone-boxes are out here because they had them placed specially or something. I was almost sure I saw another when we were in the buses driving along; I was up front, looking out the window. But I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks because I didn't get a proper look."

"That's insane."

"People are insane."

"Do you think it's a working telephone?"

"Of course it's not a working bloody phone, why would they actually wire them up to make them--," Kimmi broke off at the sound of Matt inserting coins into the slot and hearing the phone beep briefly to life. "--work...?"

"It takes American change," Matt beamed.

"Oh my God, these people went all-out for customised phone-boxes brought to the USA," she blinked.

"I'll call the guys."

Matt practically used up half the money in his wallet taking the time to explain to Alex that no, they were not dead, just lost, and they were stranded in the rain with no mobile phone signal and only an old English phone-box to help them. It took another three minutes of explaining about the phone-box.

"Alex, would you please just get a fucking cab out here or something and save us?"

"Alright, alright, keep your hair on, me and Jack'll be there ASAP."

"Thank-you," Matt sighed in relief.

"And just you keep your dick in your pants 'til we get there, amigo."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Matt said all too quickly, face turning pink.

"Ha, whatever. Dick in pants, Matthew. Dick. In. Pants. See ya soon."

Matt muttered goodbye, turning his back to Kimberley until the skin on his face calmed down. He didn't find himself blushing easily so this was a weird occurrence and he kind of wanted to smack himself for acting so girly.

"So how long until they get here?"

Matt cleared his throat and turned around. "He just said soon. We can order pizza or something later and just... shower and forget today happened."

"You wanna forget about it?"

Matt faltered. "Well... it's been awful hasn't it? Don't you?"

"I don't know about awful... it was okay. Sure, we got lost, and it's raining, but... it wasn't so bad," Kimberley rolled her eyes, smiling at him. "I guess you're alright company, for an idiot who breaks my camera and everything."

Matt flushed a light shade of pink, ducking his head, but he started laughing. If that hadn't finally broken the awkward, awkward ice, he didn't know what would. "Why, thank-you, you're too terribly kind."

Kimmi just shook her head at him and glanced away, leaning back against the wall of the phone-box. The rain hammered down on the roof of the stall and long minutes of silence passed by in complete silence, both of them tired from the trek it took to get here. It wasn't long before Matt started to get cold, shivering in his jacket, and once glance at Kimberley told him she was freezing in just a hoodie. He removed his jacket quickly, clumsily hitting his knuckles on the glass of the booth and muttering a curse in pain. It didn't deter him though, taking two small steps toward Kimmi and offering his jacket.

"Here, take it if you're cold," he insisted.

"But then you'll be freezing!" she argued, about to take a step back and increase the space between them, but there was no room to move away.

Matt's brow crinkled, shrugging a bit. "Just don't want you to be cold."

"Well I don't want you to be cold."

"Just take it? I'm trying to be a gentleman here," Matt rolled his eyes, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"You'll absolutely freeze, no."

"Come on! It won't be long until the guys come get us, take it?"

Kimmi glared at him, trying to stare him down, but she ended up blinking first with a defeated sigh. She did a neat turn to slip her arms into the jacket while Matt held it out for her, turning back around even closer to him than before.

"Oh," she blinked, swallowing.

"Oh," Matt repeated, even more quietly, teeth clinking as he chewed nervously at his lip-ring out of habit.

They just looked at each other for seconds that stretched on forever and ever, and Alex's words rung in Matt's head. Dick in pants, but he hadn't said anything about lips on lips. Before his bravery slipped away, Matt cupped his hand around the back of her neck and bent to kiss her. Despite her shivering, her lips were warm, and pressed harder, more eager than ever. He couldn't stop himself from grinning against her mouth when he felt her hands on his hips and her own lips moving with his.

Of all the places Matt had daydreamed about kissing this girl, a phone-box wasn't one of them.