Welcome to the Family

Four hours later, we were standing at some flight attendants' counter at LAX airport. Matt was wearing a baseball cap and giant sunglasses, and he'd put the hood of his jacket over his head, too. It wasn't that he still wanted to hide his 'girlfriend' from the public, but rather that he didn't want the fans to be all over him and get on our nerves.

I had to talk to the woman for some minutes, but strangely, after Matt lifted his shades and she had a small heart attack, she was immediately able to get us some seats on the next Air Canada flight to Montreal and even apologized for not having any spare ones in business or first class. Matt was glad about that anyway, he thought it was less likely to be noticed in the economy class anyway. He did, however, have to sign a couple of things for her daugther, daughter's friends, sister's daugther and even the neighbor's sister's cat Turnip. Don't ask me why, the woman was a freak.

Roughly half an hour later we were sitting in the Air Canada lounge, where Matt had poured himself a drink since he was afraid of flying. I had to chuckle at the imagination of the tough guy getting scared whenever the plane made small movements, but I knew better than to tease him with it. Let's just say I was too nice and fair sometimes, and I just really hoped he wouldn't grow tired of my dull attitude soon. I still didn't fully understand how it had happened anyway. Us, being in this situation. But I was enjoying it nevertheless, at least most of the time.

There was, of course, still this certain ache for more in me. I didn't even know what I was looking for by saying 'more', but I did know that I wanted more than just kissing whenever Mister Rockstar wanted to. I wanted the real thing, and even though I was afraid to admit it, I wanted it to be with love, not just lust. I wanted him to feel the same way about me if we were to go further. I knew I would have gone along anyway, but I wanted him to go for it for the same reason that I did, and I knew my reason was having a really big crush on him. Also, I didn't know if I could stop myself from really falling in love with him if we went that last way.

The universe has a strange way of blessing me, I thought as I watched Matt's slightly trembling hand holding his drink. Half a year ago I was a timid, overly emotional wimp, and now I am feeling so much better. Spontaneous, fearless, self-confident and proud are some adjectives I would now label myself as. Besides, I am about to go on a fake romantic trip with a handsome man who is both a wild rock star and a tame gentleman that I have feelings for.

"So, Matt, are you scared yet?" I finally decided to tease him, and he just huffed, "Shut up, you're as bad as Syn. It's not funny, you know? It's a phobia, for Christ's sake!" To loosen up his tension, I asked, "Do you mean Johnny Christ?" and he started laughing hysterically. Oh boy, what is this doing to him? I chuckled and then concentrated on my book again until our flight was called and we finally boarded.

"So Vicky, provide me some kind of distracting entertainment. Why don't you tell me some more about your family. Your grandad for example, just anything, I'm about to die here," Matt ordered in a trembling voice as the plane started moving, and I gladly accepted his wish.

"My grandad, Opa, was born in Germany a couple of years before World War II. When he was about nine, his parents decided to immigrate to America since they knew there would be a war. Somehow, they ended up in Montreal, don't even ask me why. They changed his last name to Duthuringe here, which means 'from Thuringia' in French. They couldn't pronounce his German last name. Anyway, that's where he met my grandma, who had a pretty similar story, and they married when they were eighteen. That was the reason why he stayed in Montreal after the war, while his parents moved back to Germany.

"My mom was born in Montreal. She has a brother, Étienne. He lives in Belgium now. When my mom met my dad, a German tourist, she was only eighteen. The two of them fell in love, my mom went to Germany for a year, then added a year, then added a year, you know, just how it goes. They got married, had me and my sister, moved to LA because my dad wanted to expand to Silicon Valley. He's an entrepreneur by the way. Internet security software is what he does.

"Anyway, Kaylee and I spent all our summers in Montreal and at Lac Louisa, where my grandad has this cabin. Our winters and some springs or falls were spent with my dad's parents in Germany. But after Kaylee died, I didn't want to go anymore. Too many memories. I saw Opa every now and then because he liked to visit us, but we've known about his weak heart for a while now, and we kind of expected him to die soon. We already made arrangements for the time after his death a long time ago. You know, what will happen to his house, his cabin, his dog and so on."


Time passed quickly as we talked about our families, childhoods and siblings and got to know each other even better, and before I knew it, five hours were over and the captain switched on the fasten seatbelt signs as we were landing. Matt immediately tensed up and reached for my hand, and I felt a warm, good-kind-of-aching stitch in my guts when his skin touched mine.

"I hate landing," he confessed, and his grip tightened. "Breathe," I advised, and began gently massaging his hand with the Rev tattoo, turning my head so he wouldn't see my grin. Again, I condemned myself for my feelings, but some reckless voice inside my head kept telling me how beautiful it would be to start something real with M Shadows, and that I could be the one. Crazy, I know.

Despite Matt's occasional mumbles that we were going to die and that he would murder everyone on the entire planet, evaporate all oceans, freeze all deserts and explode the sun and the moon - business as usual - we touched ground safely and eventually got off the plane, claimed our baggage and then marched to the rental car service.

Three hours and over a hundred dollars worth of groceries - which Matt insisted on paying - later, we finally arrived at my grandad's cabin.
It stood there like it always had, with thick plants climbing up the smutty white walls, and the cherry red entrance door was unlocked as I expected. We immediately found Axel and gave him two portions of food before unloading our stuff. We didn't even bother to bring it upstairs to where the bedrooms were, but immediately changed into our bathing suits and walked to the shore.

Lac Louisa was a beautiful, giant lake with dark, cold water and many small, circular islands and a long shore with pebbles and dark, gritty sand and lots and lots of nature. The islands were mostly uninhabited or there was just a single small cabin on them, and the majority of the isles was covered with moss and trees. I took a deep breath, soaking in the clean, crisp air. It smelled like it always had, trees, nature and fish - but in a good way.

"Want to go canoeing?" I asked him and immediately unlocked the door of Opa's small boathouse. In there were a couple of canoes and one old motorboat that had been broken for as long as I could remember. "Sure, that sounds cool. Do you have one for two? So we could, you know, continue our beach date, after all?" Matt suggested and gave me a dimpled smile.

Okay Matt, you're weird. We're on a freaking trip together, and now you want a date? Like, who defines when it ends? Wasn't this whole thing some sort of endless date, somehow? Then I remembered I still had to reply to Matt, who was looking at me as if I was possessed by dark forces.

"Unfortunately, no. But we could still go the same way, maybe even to the same island?" I grinned, and he suggested picknicking on one of the islands. We went back to the kitchen and packed a bagpack full of food and a bottle of wine - "this is Canada, your principles and diet stuff are not even valid here, end of discussion" - and then started our boat trip. After about forty minutes and going around five different small islands, I steered the canoe towards the island right across Opa's cabin, so that the way back would be very short. We pulled the canoes on the island and then sat down and unpacked our goods.

"Vicky, I got a proposition to make," Matt said shyly and moved right next to me while taking a sip out of the wine bottle. I gave him a curious look. "We both know we have a lot to talk about, you know, us, this thing. But do you think we can enjoy this time to ourselves without questioning every move and... you know, questioning why we're even doing it?" he asked, and I swallowed.

I don't know. Can we?

Notes

What do you think Matt wants?

Comments, guys, I need to know what you're thinking .____.