Hundred Percent

It was mid-morning when he called.

It was her day off, she had just finished smoking the joint she had rolled earlier, and was now halfway through the third season of some tattoo competition show when her phone rang from the kitchen. Nina ignored it at first, content in watching a middle aged man with a neck tattoo and a soul patch critique another man’s tattoo of a portrait that some woman wanted of her son on her back. The tattoo wasn’t necessarily bad, it just looked...well, no, it was really bad. Like actually terrible. It didn’t look like her son at all. But, hey, that’s what you get when you sign up to be a tattoo artists’ guinea pig.

Her phone rang again.

Releasing a heavy sigh, she slowly pulled herself up from the couch, cringing at the popping noise that came from her knees. She should probably stretch more. She rounded the corner to her kitchen and glanced at her phone, seeing a dorky picture of her friend, Matt, lighting up her screen.

Oh boy. Here come the warm and fuzzies.

Matt Sanders. He was her best friend. Had been since they were, like, three. Their fathers worked for the same business and became best friends so it was only by default that her and Matt would too.

Nina owed a lot to Matt. He’d been there for her through, well, just about everything. They learned how to ride bikes together. They learned how to swim together. They fell in love with Metallica and Pantera and Wu-Tang Clan (their guilty pleasure) together. They even confided in one another about losing their virginity. A little weird, but that was their friendship.

She met all of the guys through Matt. Jimmy and Brian, then Zack and Johnny. She watched as they grew from twerpy teens to the grown men they were now. She’s seen them do nothing but work hard and push themselves to their wits end to make their dreams a reality. She was there through all of their successes and their failures. She was even there for Matt’s first band, Successful Failure.

But through everything, including all the fights and drama in high school to touring in a van during Warped Tour, her and Matt’s friendship never faltered. In fact, it did nothing but grow stronger. And, if Nina was being honest with herself, maybe a little too strong on her end.

But can you blame her? He was just...just fucking perfect. He was everything she wanted in a guy. He was strong and smart and funny and so painfully attractive it made her head hurt. But he was also her best friend. And he’d never really shown any interest in her like that, so she didn’t either. She stuffed it down, way, way down, hoping that it would eventually dissipate and she would just see him as the same little shit he was when they were growing up. But every now and then, especially when he was away on tour or after he would say something really meaningful and profound, those feelings tend to resurface. Like right now, for example.

Grabbing her phone from the counter, she answered with a grin. “Hey, Mattie, what’s up?”

“I’m in your driveway, baby.”

Her brows furrowed as she stepped to her front window, pulling back the blinds. Sure as shit, there he was, leaning against her car with his phone pressed against his ear.

“You are indeed in my driveway,” She mumbled, eyes squinted curiously, noticing his car wasn’t with him. “Not that I’m not incredibly happy about it, but why are you in my driveway? And how did you even get here?”

She watched him shrug his shoulders, kicking a pebble down by his feet. “Because I missed you,” He mumbled, giving a pout. “And I walked here from Brian’s.”

She snorted. “Are you drunk?”

“No,” He paused. “Maybe. Lil’ bit. Brian had Jagermeister.”

“Of course he did.”

Matt groaned, and she watched him kick another pebble. “Neenee, are you going to come out here or should I come in there? Because I can see you through your blinds and this is starting to get a little weird.”

“You’re the one that called me when you could’ve just come to the door. If anyone is making this weird, it’s you.”

He scoffed, “You’re weird.”

“You’re insulting me now? I thought you wanted to come in my house?”

“I DO.”

“THEN COME INSIDE, MATT.”

Silence. And then a snort. “That’s what she said.”

“I’m hanging up.”

“WAIT.”

“What?”

“Do you have any beer? I don’t want to come in if I just have to leave again to go get some.”

She rolled her eyes, taking a single breath. She loved him, she really did, but she was going to throttle him and not feel guilty about it. “Matt, buddy, when don’t I have beer in this house?”

“Never.”

“Exactly. So-”

“But what kind is it?”

She was too high for this. “It’s Corona, Matt. Just please, for the love of God, come inside.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a second.”

“Okay, bye.”

“Love you.”

“I love you too, Matt.”

Her doorbell rang. “That was me.”

“No shit. I’m hanging up.”

She rolled her eyes. Again. An amazing guy, but a giant pain in the ass. She slipped her phone into the waistband of her shorts before answering the door. Matt was leaning against the frame, hands tucked into his front pockets and a lazy, dimpled smile on his face. She’d never understand how someone so intimidating could be so fucking cute all at once.

“Hi, Neenee.”

“Hello, Mattie.”

She barely got the two words out before she was crushed against his chest. One thing she’d never admit to anyone but herself? Matt gave the best hugs. He was huge and inviting and warm, and he always smelled way too good. A mixture of pine, spices, and the occasional hint of weed. Heavenly. Intoxicating. It was home.

“I fucking missed you,” He murmured sweetly against her hair, smoothing a hand down her back. “It’s been forever.”

“It’s been roughly three and a half months,” She grinned, nuzzling herself against his pecs. She felt like floating. It meant the world to hear him say that. “But I missed you too.” And she did. So fucking much.

“And,” Matt said, pulling away with a stern look on his face...kind of stern, anyway. He was a little drunk so it didn’t quite have the same effect as it usually did. “I’ve decided that you’re going on the next tour. Do not argue with me, it’s not up for discussion. You’re going and that is final.”

Nina raised an eyebrow. “Are you gonna tell my manager or am I? Because he’s not going to like that. At all.”

Matt shrugged. “I’ll just beat the shit out of him and then he’ll have to be okay with it,” He gave a cheeky grin and landed a swift smack to her ass. “Beer still in the mini-fridge?”

She rubbed her backside, giving him a glare that would melt steel. “You’re a douche. And yes. Grab two.”

Just then, her phone rang again, and she groaned. “What is with you people?” Taking a peek at her screen, she saw Brian’s face and answered. “Haner, my time is valuable. What do you want?”

“Well, nice hearing from you, too. It’s not like I haven’t seen you in almost four months or anything,” He muttered sarcastically. “Anyway, shithead, I wanted to know if Matt was there. He was over at my place and Carmen called, and the two of them got into it. I left the room to give them some privacy and the next thing I know, he’s gone.”

Nina frowned. She honestly had forgotten all about Carmen. The last she’d heard, the two of them were just keeping things casual and planned to end it when Matt and the guys left for tour. She never even got to meet her. Guess it was a little more serious than she thought.

“Yeah, he’s here. Showed up a couple minutes ago. He didn’t say anything about Carmen, though,” She murmured, lowering her voice as Matt came into the room. He shot her a questioning look, and she just mouthed Brian, to which he responded with a nod before chugging the rest of his beer. Nina stared at him, wide-eyed, as Brian continued talking on the other line.

“She’s a bitch. But don’t tell him I said that. Actually, ya know what, he’d probably agree with me. Also, on a more important note, I miss you. When are you coming over to see me? We live like three minutes from each other, so what the hell?”

Ah, that’s right. Brian’s drunk too. Fucking Jagermeister.

“I miss you too, buddy. I have next weekend off so I was thinking we could do something here at the house? Invite everyone over and have a rager like old times?” Matt suddenly reached for her phone and she slapped his hand away, drawing out a surprised gasp. She raised her eyebrows at him, as in, don’t fuck with me, and received his middle finger in return.

“Fuck yes. Absolutely. I’m so down. I’m inviting everyone.”

“Wait, no, Brian, not everyone-”

“I gotta go, I have to make some calls.”

“Damn it, Haner-”

“Love you, bye!”

“We’re having a party next weekend?” Matt asked as the line went dead.

Nina sighed, cursing that spikey-haired fucker. “Not if I kill Brian first.”

The two were quiet for a few seconds, each taking sips from their own bottle, before Matt cleared his throat. “Did...did he tell you what happened?”

Nina straightened up, setting her beer down on the table beside her couch. Sober Matt was a tough nut to crack, in the sense that he wasn’t exactly the most open when it came to his feelings. But drunk Matt? Like an open book. No filter. “He mentioned it. Said that you and Carmen got into an argument?”

He nodded solemnly.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He sighed, slouching further into the couch cushions and kicking his vans off of his feet. “She’s...I just don’t want anything to do with her anymore. And at first, I thought we’d be able to just do the whole ‘no strings attached’ thing. But then she started catching feelings and I told her when this whole thing first started, that we weren’t serious and that I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but no she just had to go and start liking me and telling her mom about me and now her parents want me to come to their cabin next weekend for a family thing that they’re doing and I really don’t want to go because I don’t even like her like that. Sure, was she a great lay? Absolutely. Did we have a good time? Sure! But do I want to date her? Nope. Not at all. Never.”

“Well…”

“And honestly? I don’t even think she likes me that much. I think she just wants me for my money. Which makes it even worse because I feel like that’s why most people are even my friends anymore, ya know? I mean, not you, obviously. Or the guys. Or the Berry’s. But sometimes it feels like that. I don’t know, she just makes me really unhappy.”

Nina sighed, taking another sip from her Corona. She placed a comforting hand on his chest, giving him a couple pats. “Then, buddy, you need to put your foot down and tell her so. She won’t know unless you make it a hundred percent clear that you aren’t interested. Some people need that.”

His hand captured hers and held onto it tightly, lacing their fingers together. She knew not to think much of it, but her stomach did a flip and her toes curled. Why did he have to be so cute all the time?

“Are you the kind that needs that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, you know...do you need a guy to tell you straight up if he likes you or not or can you just pick up hints?”

Nina swallowed, trying to seem as chill as possible on the surface. On the inside? Completely freaking the fuck out. What was he hinting at? Was he even hinting at anything at all? Or was he just drunk and talking in hypotheticals? And why was he still holding her hand like that? “Um, I mean, it can go both ways. I guess it just depends on how well the guy can drop his hints. But for the most part, I prefer people to be straightforward.”

Yeah, that was a good answer. Totally chill.

Matt nodded, seemingly satisfied with her response. He held on tightly to her hand, playing with her fingertips and tracing the tattoos that sported her knuckles. “I guess I’m like that, too. I like people to be real and up front. I like when girls say what they’re feeling. I don’t like passive-aggressiveness. You know what I mean?”

“Sure do,” She murmured, watching as his fingers continued to trace past her wrists down to the piece on her forearm. He seemed fixated, until he glanced up and met her gaze. She saw something that she hadn’t seen in those pretty hazel eyes in a long time; anxiety. “What’s going on, Mattie?

He shrugged, “Just this whole thing with Carmen, I guess.”

She nodded, squeezing the hand that was currently still tangled up with hers. “And you’re sure it’s nothing else?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“But you’re sure?”

He grinned. “Yeah, baby, I’m sure.”

“Positive?”

“Yup.”

“One hundred percent?”

“Yes, Nina.”

“Absolutely, positively, one hundred percent sure?”

“I swear to god, I will destroy you.”

She snorted. “In what fucking world would you ever destroy me?”

His sat up straight, eyes open wide as he laughed in disbelief. “Um, in every world. Have you seen me? I’m twice the size of you. I could take you in a second.”

“Matt, you haven’t been able to take me since we were in like the ninth grade,” Nina teased, sitting up on her knees. “What, you lift a few measly weights now and think you can try me?”

“Bet.”

“Oh, don’t start. You will not win this battle.”

Matt stood, shrugging out of his flannel, leaving him in a black v-neck that hugged his abs a little too tight and made Nina’s insides flip once more. Damn him. “Apologize.”

It was her turn to laugh. “For what?!”

“Saying that I couldn’t take you.”

“But you can’t.”

“Okay,” He shrugged, seemingly indifferent. “Just know that you started this.”

“Started wha--MATTHEW CHARLES SANDERS PUT ME DOWN.”

“But I can’t.”

“LIKE HELL YOU CAN’T!”

“No, really I’d like to but I just can’t. Not until you say sorry.”

The glare she was giving him could have vaporized an entire city. He grinned, taking a few seconds to adjust her before slowly walking towards the back sliding glass doors. He was not doing what she thought he was doing. Was he?

The turquoise gleam from her pool came into view and her stomach dropped. He was doing it, wasn’t he? Not on her fucking watch.

“Mattie, my buddy, my pal, my amigo, the absolute love of my life, if you so much as even consider dumping me in that pool, you will wake up without a penis tomorrow, I swear to God.”

“Aw, you know you don’t mean that,” He spoke cheerfully as he continued towards her back patio. How was he even holding her up? Hadn’t he just been shitfaced a few minutes ago? “In fact, you definitely don’t mean that, because you once told me a long time ago that you’d rather die than ever be within ten feet of my penis. Which, logically, doesn’t make sense because my penis is attached to me, therefore to be within ten feet of me is to be within ten feet of my-”

“If you say penis one more time, I’m just going to kill myself instead.”

He roughly adjusted her position, jabbing his meaty shoulder into her stomach. “Don’t say that. Anyway, look how beautiful it is outside,” He held onto her with one hand, using his other to slide the door open. “Such a lovely day for a swim, isn’t it?”

“Matt, come on, don’t do this. What do you want me to say? That you can take me? That you can beat me up? Okay, fine, you can take me. There, happy? Now put me down so I can beat your ass.”

Matt clicked his tongue against his teeth, stepping out into the sun and closer to the edge of her pool. “See? That really wasn’t so hard. But honestly, I’ve already carried you this far out here, you might as well go for a dip, yeah?”

Suddenly, without giving her even a second to prepare, the bastard flipped her over his shoulder and held her in a cradle, hands under her knees and back as she hovered over the edge of the water.

They made eye contact. She shook her head. His grin widened.

And then he dropped her.

Cold water rushed all around her, soaking through all of her layers. She was under for less than a second before shooting up out of the water with a gasp, glaring at the asshole who threw her in.

Matt was doubled over, holding onto his stomach, cackling. The amount of time it took him to catch his breath was roughly the same amount of time it took her to swim to the side and pull herself out. Matt sighed contently. “Oh, baby, you have no idea how worth it that was. You can do whatever you want to me now. I can die a happy man.”

Now here’s where things got tricky. There were really only a couple things she could do. A) She could shove his giant, tattooed ass into the pool just to see how he’d like it. However, if she was being honest with herself, and not that she would ever in a million years admit this to Matt, but he was quite a bit bigger than her. It would be like trying to shove a brick house into the pool, and she didn’t think she was physically capable of doing that. Or, B) She could wait and plan something. Get Brian and the guys in on it and really fuck him up. Maybe do it next weekend at the party? Oh absolutely.

But as she stood there, soaking wet, with mascara running down her cheeks as Matt laughed at her once more, she made a split decision that was more an act of defiance than anything else. What brought her to do it, she’d probably never know, but when the idea sparked in her brain there was no way to extinguish it.

So, hesitantly, she glanced around, just to make sure her neighbors weren’t out, and made sure she met Matt’s stare, before reaching down and pulling her shirt clean off.

The smile wiped itself from Matt’s face so fast it’s like it was never there in the first place. So fucking worth it.

To be honest, and by no means was she bragging, Nina had a nice body. Her tits were pretty big, her stomach flat, her hips wide, and her ass was big enough you could bounce a quarter off of it. Basically, she was hot and she knew it, and she knew Matt well enough to know that he knew it, too. And no straight, red-blooded man could resist looking at a pair of boobs.

Matt swallowed. “What are you doing?”

She shrugged, making a show of ringing her shirt out and tossing it onto one of the deck chairs. “My clothes are wet, and I’m not tracking water into the house because somebody decided to be a dick.”

“Do you have to do this here? I mean, your neighbors might see,” He said, eyes not leaving hers for even a second.

“Oh, you care about them seeing?” She snorted, slowly reaching for the band of her shorts. “Because I don’t.” And with that, she pulled them down her legs and off her feet, ringing them out and placing them next to her shirt.

“Nina, I’m serious,” His eyes were shut now, and she could see his hands were clenched in his pockets. “Let’s just go inside.”

She pursed her lips, before giving a cheshire grin and saying in her softest voice. “Am I making you uncomfortable, Mattie?”

His eyes snapped open, bright hazel and full of contempt. Their eye contact only lasted for a brief second before doing exactly what she hoped he would do.

He checked her out.

Eyes roaming down her neck and between her collarbones before plunging into her cleavage. She wore a black bra, solid lace; nothing fancy. His gaze faltered for a few seconds before travelling further down from her ribs to her belly button, until he finally made it to the matching panties.

“What are you doing?”

“You already asked that.”

“I’m asking again.”

She shrugged, goosebumps creeping up her legs and down her arms. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea? “Trying to avoid getting water on my floors. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” She sauntered off towards the sliding doors, adding a sway to her hips. “I have a show to get back to. You comin’ in?”

She paused, hand gripping the door handle, watching Matt...watch her. He seemed fixated, but he was no longer looking at her body. He was just looking at her, in the eyes, with the strangest expression on his face. He looked almost...angry? Well, she certainly hadn’t expected that.

“Something wrong?” She asked, half teasing but also half concerned. She was really hoping she didn’t make an absolute fool out of herself. How asinine would it be to throw away over twenty years of friendship because she stripped down to her undergarments in broad daylight? She’s definitely done worse than that, especially with Matt present.

He cleared his throat and looked away. Shaking his head, he followed behind her, silently, into the house. She shot him a silly smile, in hopes of toning down the tenseness in the air, but was met with an intense stare and a raise of his eyebrow.

Oh, hell. She’d pissed him off.

Deciding to just cut her losses and save herself anymore embarrassment, she murmured something about going upstairs to change, before darting off down the hall towards the staircase.

Once the door was shut behind her, she ran to her bed, grabbed the nearest pillow and just screamed into it. How could she be so dumb? How could she possibly get any stupider than she already currently was? Oh, wait, easy answer. Just strip down in front of all her friends and while she’s at it, might as well put on a little song and dance. Maybe just take a few pole dancing lessons and become a stripper. Didn’t Brian say they would be using strippers at the live shows for Scream? She could do that. And then she’d be able to tour with them! No, wait, no she couldn’t because she was never showing her face in front of them ever ag-...

...someone just knocked on the door. Not the front door, her bedroom door.

Matt. Oh, shit.

“Uh, yeah?”

“Can I come in?”

“Uh, yeah, just gimme a sec,” She searched her room quickly for something to cover herself up with. Coming up empty handed, she ran to her closet and was about to start digging through her drawers when the door opened.

“You don’t have to cover yourself up, I just saw everything anyway.”

Shiiiiiiiiit.

Matt was now in her bedroom, she was still half naked, and he still had that angry look on his face.

“Yeah, that’s...that’s a good point,” She swallowed, slowly stepping away from her closet and taking a seat on the edge of her bed. “What’s up?”

“We should talk about some things.”

Oh, God help her, she was going to throw up. Like projectile vomit all over herself.

“Uh, yeah,” Even she could hear the shakiness in her voice. “What things?”

Matt took a few steps away from her door and closer towards her bed. Between where her bed sat and where her closet was, there was a small desk she had set up for late night inspiration or procrastinated deadlines.

See, Nina was a journalist. She wrote, edited, and configured pieces for music, extreme sports, and other more obscure magazines. It started back in the day when Avenged was touring for Warped Tour and she decided to drop out of her summer community college classes to join them, per Matt’s requests. She probably would have done it anyway, because she hated community college, but Matt’s persistence was definitely a major factor in her decision. He wanted her to tour with them so badly he even offered to buy only her a motel room while the rest of them crashed overnight in the van. She told him not to bother, that she had no place on the tour if she couldn’t handle suffering like the rest of them, but who could say no to that?

Anyway, halfway through the tour, while taking pictures of the guys performing and trying to flood the venues with as much Avenged merch as possible, she got pulled aside by the leader of an alt. rock magazine who wanted to run a story about the band. Nina had always had an interest in journalism and reporting, so with the approval of her boys, she offered to write the piece on them. The publishers liked her work so much, they hired her after the tour ended and she ended up working with them for another three years until another company scooped her up and offered to pay for proper journalism classes. After that, she found her career doing something she loved and the rest was history.

But, back to the problem at hand.

Matt sat down at her desk, swiveling towards her in the rolling chair. Nina could barely look at him for more than a few seconds at a time before the mortification creeped in and she had to look away. She was focused on picking at the loose stitching from one of her throw blankets when she realized Matt had said her name.

She cleared her throat and met his gaze head on. “Yeah?”

He bit into his bottom lip, running a twitchy hand through his short curls. “So, I’m still a little drunk, so we probably shouldn’t even be having this conversation now, but what you just did-”

“Was probably the dumbest shit I’ve ever done,” She blurted out, cutting him off. “I was just trying to get a rise out of you, and I wouldn’t have done it if I even thought for a second that it would make you uncomfortable or mad. It was really stupid and I’m so sorry, Matt. I don’t want you to think that I’m...I just don’t want you to think poorly of me.”

Matt snorted, his cheeks deepening as his smile widened. “Baby, I’d never think poorly of you. I’ve known you too damn long to ever think anything bad about you.”

Oh, okay. So she didn’t just ruin her longest running friendship. Sweet.

“What I was going to say, was that you caught me off guard. I just wasn’t expecting you to do something so-”

“Stupid?”

“Hot.”

“Yeah, I know, I just thought-...wait, say that again?”

“I said it was hot.”

Her brows furrowed and her eyes held his gaze, just to see if he was joking or not. She saw the same angry expression in his eyes, with his tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek, and his hands folded together tightly in his lap, and she realized that it wasn’t a face of anger that she was looking at but rather his expression of lust. Nina, up until this point, had never seen what Matt looked like when he was turned on.

Oh, it was a damn good look on him.

She allowed herself a few breaths before raising her right leg and throwing it over her left, squeezing her thighs together in hopes of calming the throb that had suddenly started between them. The fact that she was still in her bra and panties didn’t make anything any easier, either.

“Oh, okay,” She replied with, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible. “That makes me feel less like an idiot then.”

Their eyes met again and it felt like the entire room shifted. She felt hot, not sexy-hot but sweaty-hot, like the temperature had risen ten degrees. She wanted to shed layers but how could she when she only had one layer left? And why did it feel like this wasn’t Matt she was talking to, but someone entirely new? She’d known this man practically her entire life. They’ve been best friends since before they were even potty trained. How could she look at him, having known him her whole damn existence, and feel like she was looking at a stranger? A stranger that she, by the way, really wanted to have sex with right now.

“Nina, I don’t want you to feel obligated to answer, and if you tell me no, I swear to God, I’ll never ask you again, but…” He paused, running his tongue over his bottom lip, and quietly asked, “Do you...would you have sex with me?”

Yes. Of course. Absolutely. Definitely. No questions asked. Without hesitation. Sí señor.

But wait.

“Mattie,” She asked softly, making sure to hold his gaze. “You’re not joking, right? You’re being completely serious?”

She watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. “Yeah, I’m being serious. Hundred percent.”

“And what,” She paused, trying to figure how to word what she planned on asking next. “What would...change between us?”

He sighed, leaning forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his denim clad knees. “I don’t know. But, I’m not gonna lie to you, Nina, this didn’t just start today. I’ve been...well, I’ve been attracted to you for a long time now and not just sexually. I mean, like...shit, this is hard to fucking explain.”

Nina felt her stomach now flipping over and over, her insides twisting and turning in the best way possible. “Are you saying that you want to be more than friends, Matt?”

Matt nodded, pinning her with his stare. “That’s exactly what I want. It’s what I’ve wanted since were were, like, seventeen.”

He’s wanted her...since they were seventeen...and now they’re going to each be twenty-seven this summer...that means that he’s wanted her…for ten fucking years.

“That’s almost ten years, Matt.”

“Yeah, I know.”

She let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, and slowly started to grin. She couldn’t believe this was happening. This was easily the best day of her life. The day she found out Matt Sanders had a crush on her. “Well,” She peered up at him from beneath her lashes. “It’s a good thing I’ve wanted that since we were fifteen.”

She couldn’t believe that she’d just said that. In her bra and panties. In her bedroom. In front of Matt. What an unbelievable fucking day.

And the expression on Matt’s face made it all so much better. He looked...like a kid on Christmas. His eyes lit up so bright, it reminded her of the first time they’d gone and seen Metallica live. He was so thrilled and exhilarated and she never thought she’d see him this happy again. But here she was, watching him look at her like she was the greatest gift he’d ever gotten.

“Are you serious?”

“Hundred percent.”