Strawberry Fields Forever

Amelie Richter got out of the shower after a long day of job-hunting downtown as her phone vibrated. Her wet hair clung to her back, leaving her in chills. Little droplets were running down her back, tickling her. In the hostel, she'd become acustomed to cold showers. It was funny that during the last couple of months, she'd been in the most ramshackle huts and apartments of North America, yet every single place she slept at managed to have hot water; San Dean's didn't. She chuckled as she thought that she'd really hit a new low.

Curious, she picked up her phone after drying her hands. She didn’t really expect an answer from Matt, seeing as she really had been trying his patience the night before. But there it was, the response she’d secretly been hoping to get, just a sign he was still interested in maintaining their - well, whatever it was. Friendship, Amelie guessed. It was what he wrote that surprised her.

She didn’t think twice about meeting up with him so late. The day before, she quit her job at the strawberry field. First of all, she hadn’t been able to get out of bed due to a massive hangover, but more importantly, she knew she needed to look for another one either way. And her trip downtown that day wasn't exactly helpful. She'd been offered to sort books at the local library, but she wasn't exactly keen on being inside all day when the Californian spring was in full bloom.

Normally, Amelie was really persistent when it came to jobs. She never quit a single one, not even bartending in New York, where she had been hit on more times on one evening than in her entire life before.

Amelie knew she had about fifteen minutes left until Matt came. As quickly as she could, she jumped into jeans and a black plaid t-shirt. She applied some make-up onto a zit that had decided to just pop up today and then waited. What was she even going to do with him? Certainly, they couldn’t just sit around in her boring and messy room, could they? The messy part definitely was nobody but Lucile’s fault.

Lucile. Amelie definitely didn’t want her to know about Matt, or else she would be mocking her all the time. That French girl had really turned out to be one of the worst nightmares. She’d started to not only bring Darren, but a second guy, too. Amelie thought hard as she tried to remember his name. Was it Troy or Trevor?

Amelie had to swear she wouldn’t tell Darren, who Lucile referred to as “the love of her life”. She shook her head in disgust. Lucile could not really be in love after two weeks with him, she just couldn’t. She wouldn’t cheat either. Amelie didn’t really know love, but those were things she was sure of.

She’d loved Daniel, sure. But she had never really been in love. She knew she wouldn’t have been able to just leave him behind if she really did have those strong feelings for him. So if she had never found true love in twenty years, which she found perfectly normal, then how would Lucile be able to, after just two weeks with a guy she barely knew? It couldn’t be.

To Amelie, real love had to be something different than just attraction to someone, than merely getting along. She thought of a lot of factors that had to “click” so that you could have a relationship worth falling in love with. Family. Future plans. Common interests. Certainly nothing Lucile could know about Darren by now.

When she told the French girl, however, she earned nothing but disfavoring looks. It was clear that Lucile thought Amelie was boring, since she didn't sleep around. But to Amelie, this was just not something she wanted to do. She considered herself as easy-going, as wild even, but Lucile was on a whole different dimension.

Still, Amelie was glad Lucile was at the other guy’s place this night, but she could still come any minute. She decided to wait for Matt outside. That was if he even came. Amelie kept telling herself he wasn’t coming, so that she wouldn’t be disappointed if he really did not show up. After all, a friend could have sent his text. Maybe she had the wrong number.

When she got out of the hall, she was surprised to see that he was already there. He was casually leaning against a dark blue convertible that looked expensive and customized. He owned two cars? She was somewhat surprised. She didn't think he could make that much with music. It certainly depended on what you did, but the car sure made it seem like he was loaded. Amelie felt uncomfortable as she approached him.

Matt looked sophisticated as always in a red and black flannel with a plain white t-shirt underneath and simple black jeans, wearing a nonchalant smile on his face. “Hey there,” she said as she approached him. “Hey yourself, thanks for meeting me on such a short notice.” She shrugged then hesitantly offered him a hug.

His muscular chest bumped against hers and his hand was on her back just for a brief second. Amelie’s heart raced uncontrollably as she deeply inhaled his scent. I could get used to this, she thought. She felt his warm breath hit her neck as his head softly bumped against hers. It sent shivers down her spine. Their hug passed by as quickly as it had started, leaving Amelie with an uncertain feeling of chilliness.

Neither of them spoke as they parted. Amelie’s eyes wandered off to the floor, unwillingly examining his black sneakers. She wondered if they were those expensive ones Kanye West had brought out. They sure looked like them.

Finally, she raised her head only to notice he was directly looking at her. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” he retorted, “just… talk.” His voice cracked. Whatever it was, Amelie knew it had to be something that really beat him up. “Alright,” she said, offering him a smile. Their silence was deafening. It was as if she heard the blood rush in her ears and hear heart pounce violently in her ribcage.

“So do you want to stay here or…” she didn’t finish her sentence, not knowing what else to suggest. She didn’t know what to propose. “Can we just drive around a little?” he asked. The thought of riding through town in his convertible made her giddy like a schoolgirl. “Sure,” she said ostensibly calm. She felt the cool leather against her bare arms as she got cozy on the seat.

Matt looked at her as he started the engine. “You’re crazy, you know that, right?” he said with a chuckle. She thought he was joking, but his expression implied that he was serious. “How come?” she asked. He put the car in drive and then seemed to think. “You don’t even know me. It’s fucking… half past one in the morning and you’re still getting into a car with me for God knows how long,” he finally said.

She let out a chuckle. “It’s not crazy, it’s living a little.” He smirked. “That so?”
“I mean, I know you got kids and all, so you’re probably not going to kill us. Everything else can be settled,” she said with a grin. He seemed to think about her answer, but didn't reply anything.

“Matt?”
“Huh?” he said as he turned onto Main Street. “When was the last time you did something really crazy?” Amelie asked out of sheer curiosity. “I... don’t know,” he said finally, “define crazy.”
“Something like now. Calling someone you barely know and then driving around past midnight. Things like that.”

“I don’t remember,” he replied evasively. Amelie felt that it wasn't exactly what he wanted to say. It just didn’t go together. His tattoos, the wild outward appearance that he covered with long sleeves even when it was as hot as today, and then never doing something crazy – how was that even possible? Amelie understood it was hard with children, but it couldn’t be impossible, especially not when he could drive all night now.

“You know,” he finally said after some minutes of silence, “Before my wife died I did a lot of crazy stuff. And by that I mean... a little crazier than you defined it. Thing is that I regret a lot of those things.” Amelie wasn’t sure where their conversation was heading. She dreaded to ask, but she heard herself ask him anyway.

“Like what?” “I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but hey, I wanted to talk anyway, right?” She nodded, preparing for the worst she could imagine. “Me and my friends…” he made a little pause, thinking of a way to put it, “we traveled a lot. We probably got arrested in more countries than you’ve ever been to. Shit, I probably took more drugs than you know the name of.”

Amelie immediately had to correct herself. The worst she had imagined wasn’t anything like what he’d admitted to right now. And now somehow what he said didn’t go together with what she thought she knew about him.

“Oh,” she let escape. It was obvious Matt wanted to say more. “Ever since she’s gone I feel like I can’t manage. It’s going alright,” his murmurs were barely audible, “but there are times when I think I’d need someone for the household or to just look after them for some hours.”

“No shame in hiring someone. Tons of German high school graduates do that. I wanted to do that too, but I missed the application date for the au pair program.”
“Yeah,” he replied absentmindedly. “Anyway, still interested in driving around with me?” he asked, sounding almost as if he expected her to say no. “Sure,” she replied. “Only if you tell me why you were arrested on the way.” He let out a chuckle. “That can be arranged.”
“Deal,” she said.

“Alright,” Matt said. Amelie could feel his gaze through the rearview. “Anything close to LA you still have on your bucket list?” he asked. Amelie felt a wave of excitement roam through her body. “Wait, we’re headed to LA?” “Yeah,” he grinned, “you said I needed to live a little. We’re currently on the 605, so if there’s anywhere you wanna go…”

As she sat there in this very car, feeling the wind tangle her hair, Amelie became aware of one thing: Matt was nowhere near a boring, responsible adult. He was exactly what she thought him to be, exciting and adventurous.
Maybe he was some more of that than she expected.

Notes

Guys, thank you so much for your comments. I really hope you'll like this new chapter :)

Any ideas what might happen later and what Matt might tell her? What will Brian think of this?

Have a nice Sunday <3