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Who Are You?

Diamond in the Rough

.:.:.

Elise followed the group to her new apartment. Her “following” meaning her new roommate was dragging her by the arm.

“You’re gonna’ rip the poor girl’s arm out of its socket, Lee!” Lacey huffed from behind them.

Leana rolled her eyes and smiled at Elise. They approached the B section of the buildings as Elise caught on the door numbers.

She counted in her head. “11…13…annnd 15”

The jingle of keys brought Elise out of her thoughts. The door was opened before she was instantly pulled inside.

“Welcome home!” Leana beamed with excitement.

Elise looked around and instantly felt her anxiety subside. A black leather couch, sofa, and chair took up most of the area of the living room. A decent sized TV decorated the entertainment center directly across from the couch. Magazines and notebooks littered the small coffee table in the center of the room. Upon one entering the living room, the patio was directly to the left while the kitchen and dining area was across on the right wall.

“This is better than awesome.” Elise admitted under her breath more to herself than the group. After living where she had for the past six months, even a dumpster would have been a breath of fresh air.

“And this is your room.” Leana spoke, bringing Elsie back to reality again.

"I gotta stop doing that" Elise thought while rubbing her head, not even noticing they had walked down the hallway and to the rooms.

Leana turned the doorknob and pushed it open for her before bouncing back to the gang in the living room.

Elise was met with a large window straight ahead from the entrance. Thick blackout curtains hung on the rod which were complimenting to the warm beige walls of the room. It was plain inside with no furniture except for a mattress and bed frame sitting to the right of the window. Humbleness and appreciation overtook the woman; Leana never mentioned a bed and she was beyond grateful for that. Elise traveled here with nothing more than a few pairs of clothes, toiletries, bedding, and a laptop.

A hand softly touched her shoulder, causing her to turn around. Leana could sense the emotions in the air and offered a warm smile.

“Everyone is going to have pizza and beer here tonight. Come join us so we can all get to know you! And I apologize for my boyfriend earlier. He has no verbal or physical filters but you’ll grow to love him. Now come!” She pulled at Elise again as they made their way to the living room.

.:.:.

“The ‘tour bus’ was completely miserable.” Johnny groaned into his beer before taking a sip.

“You seem to be using the word ‘tour bus’ loosely.” Elise giggled.

Jimmy laughed with a mouth full of pizza, “That’s because it was a fucking van loaded with equipment and sometimes six, seven, sweaty people.”

Elise looked around the room at everyone enjoying themselves. Everyone but one; Matt. She had conversed with each individual but only long enough with him to learn his name. She didn’t feel as if he disliked her but more that he was distracted. A diamond in the rough, perhaps?

They were all very down to Earth despite the up and coming fame they shared. She had a hunch who these people were when they all first met but she wasn’t going to turn into a fan girl. She had heard their music before and were now quickly becoming her favorite band.

Elise piped in, “I think I remember you guys playing at Chain Reaction in Anaheim last year!” Her memory came back to her as visions of herself and Claire danced around to their music.

“Oh, shit! A fan” Jimmy squealed nearly giving Leana whiplash from shaking his petite girlfriend.

“Stop, stop! My poor beer!” Leana whined as she cradled the bottle to her chest.

Elise eyed the beer but knew better. They had offered her a drink multiple times when the food arrived but she declined. Alcohol didn’t agree with her personality much but that hadn’t stop her from enjoying a beer or shot every now and then. It wasn’t until her sister’s near fatal accident that turned her off completely.

Johnny’s phone buzzed through the laughter, finishing his beer before sending a quick text back.

“Brian just got onto his connecting flight, he should be here in an hour. My DD and I should head out.” He slurred a bit while grabbing Lacey’s hand.

“Can we go? Please?” Jimmy whined to Leana, making sure to draw out the E sound in please.

She smacked his arm, “James, I can’t leave Elise by herself, that would be rude!” She crossed her arms and playfully turned her body away.

“I really don’t mind. I was thinking about getting set up here and talk to my sister before bed.”
Elise offered before taking out her phone. The room fell silent causing Elise to look up from the screen. “What?” She asked shyly.

“We’ve been talking for three hours and you never thought to mention you had a sister!” Gena laughed.

“I honestly thought I did…” Elise replied with seriousness. “She’s my twin, actually. Two minutes older but she acts both five years younger and older, if that makes sense.”

"Maybe some day we'll get to meet her!" Gena excitedly threw her arms in the air.

Elise beamed at the thought of having her sister around everyone.

Johnny, Lacey, Jimmy, and Leana began to head out before Leana stopped in the doorway, causing the three behind her to run into each
other.

“Do you need help moving your stuff in, dear?” Her roommate asked kindly.

Elise’s immediate reaction was to deny her offer. As soon as she opened her mouth, she was cut short.

“I’ll help her. You guys get going. LAX is a bitch around this time.” Matt softly spoke.

The group nodded and voiced their goodbyes before leaving. Zacky and Gena began straightening up while Matt and Elise made their way to her truck.

“Didn’t want to be stuck in a car with Jimmy and Johnny going at it the whole time?” Elise teased while looking up at Matt. His dimples appeared as he shook his head.

“Honestly, I feel bad about the way I’ve been ignoring everyone tonight. Especially you.” Matt admitted looking towards ground. His reasoning for ignoring them, ignoring her, was ridiculous but that didn’t stop him. “I hope helping you move your things will grant me at least half a brownie point from you.” He chuckled.

“Maybe the dried, burnt corner of the brownie.” Elise snickered causing Matt to laugh.

She took this time to actually look at this man and was glad she did. His glasses were gone exposing his hazel eyes. Hazel was always her favorite eye color. She could feel her cheeks softly blush.

He turned his attention back to gathering her stuff before shutting the doors and she set the alarm. A few too many beers were causing him to stumble but he refused any help from her. It was pretty impressive he could carry everything but irksome that he wouldn’t accept help.

Shamefully, she walked behind Matt the whole way. Her stare fixated at the way his shoulder muscled moved with his fluid pace along with something else a little lower that moved with each step. Again, her pale cheeks warmed to a light pink at her actions as she quickly looked down the rest of the walk back.

.:.:.

Zacky and Gena were smoking right outside the apartment when Elise and Matt returned. Gena shook her head at the sight of Matt carrying the totes and bags, a laugh emitting through her smile as Elise rolled her eyes.

“I know Jimmy is the dramatic one so this guy,” Elise jabbed her thumb at Matt, “this guy must be the stubborn one.”

Shaking his head, Zacky replied with a simple, “You’ve no idea.”

The couple said their goodbyes as Gena gave her new friend a hug. Elise thanked them for cleaning up and headed back inside where Matt was sitting on the leather OS chair, another beer stuck in his grasp.

“Thank you so much for helping me. I appreciate it.” Elise smiled as she locked the door behind her.

Matt raised his beer, “Anytime, Lady.”

“Mind if I start getting my things set up? I don’t want to just ditch you…” she scratched her forearm in a nervous fashion.

He only made a “shoo’ing” motion with scrunched facial features that told Elise to not be silly, he didn’t mind.

“I’m used to being alone.” He replied with a smile.

Elise had never seen a more faux show of emotions than his. Not wanting to press the issue, she only nodded and walked back to her room.

Notes

I appreciate the feedback from everyone! This was originally going to be one chapter but had gotten to be much too long. So, I decided to split it. Until next time, please comment, rate, and critique!

Comments

Well damn! ;) glad you’re back!

So glad you came back! That update was definitely worth the wait.

Buggaloo Buggaloo
6/2/19

Communication is difficult, but I swear sometimes technology makes it ten times harder.

Buggaloo Buggaloo
3/23/19

Woo! Go Matt for taking charge! Definitely worth the wait

That's definitely the best way to stop the teasing. I love that Matt was bold enough to cut the bullshit so to speak.

Buggaloo Buggaloo
3/21/19