Lost ... For Love and Phone

“Never”
Mia looked at her friend, not believing a word she said.
“Never?”
“Never. You heard me”
Mia had disbelieve all over her face “You can tell me as many times as you want, but I don’t believe you. You would seriously say ‘no’ if Matt offered to take you to bed?”
“To bed, the kitchen table, the bathroom floor. Yes. I would say no. The man is married, my dad was a cheater, I’m not hurting his wife or kids as much as my dad did us.” Izzie replied with a stubborn look on her face. Mia knew her friend well enough to see through the facade and could see the hurt shine through. Time to retire the subject.

The two women just had dinner in a nice little restaurant and were sitting in their hotel bar now, both a large glass of beer in front of them.

When their favorite band announced their European tour, Mia and Izzie were quick to make arrangements. They bought tickets for both the concerts at Mia’s home country as Izzie’s and planned some nice hanging out time around it by booking hotels too. Izzie had to beg Mia’s husband, but he finally agreed for the women to have three-day trips in Germany as well as the Netherlands.

“Do you think they will play the same setlist as they did last week?” Mia mused, taking a sip of her beer. She knew better than to keep up the subject of Matt. Izzie was so convinced, but Mia was wondering what would happen if they were ever so lucky to meet the band. Izzie was always joking about the lead singer, but both of the women knew the big mouth would disappear quickly if the man was really in front of her.

“Guess it will be a little different with them being able to do the full stage set up over here, but that’s the good thing about going twice. We will definitely have the full experience!” Izzie smiled widely, enjoying the time she was spending with her friend. “We’ll see tomorrow, can’t wait, though I’m already kinda bummed that at this time tomorrow everything will be over again”. Mia pushed her friend’s shoulder “Don’t even mention that! It will go by too fast anyway, let’s not think about it.” The women finished their beers and Mia got up from her stool. “I’m going to call my dear husband, wish him a good night without me. Are you coming?”

Izzie wanted to give her friend some room, seeing they were sharing the same room, so she held up her hand for the bartender to order another drink. She smiled at Mia “I’m going to have one more drink, I will be up in half an hour”
Mia nodded “Okay, see you in a bit”

With that, Mia made her way up to the room, leaving Izzie in the bar. Izzie grabbed her phone from her purse and checked her email and after that her social media. She noticed a picture by the band, placing them in a bar not even that far from them. For a second her stomach tumbled. She knew that bar, it was weird that they were so close and for a split second she was tempted to call Mia and head over there. Then she changed her mind again. For one she was a strong believer of respecting one’s privacy, even if you were in a big rock band. Second she was sure that she would never have the nerve to approach them anyway.

She smiled at the other messages and got totally lost in thoughts. About her day tomorrow, about the concert, the fact that she was going to see her favorite band twice in one week.

Izzie got startled when someone sat down, only one stool away from hers. At this time of the night it wasn’t that busy in the bar anymore and her and Mia had been alone for the most of the night.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, is this seat taken?” A deep warm voice greeted her, the accent fully American. Her heart did a little jump, without her even knowing why. When she looked up to tell the stranger he could take the seat her heartbeat went into overdrive. The man was wearing a cap, but his eyes seemed lightened up and Izzie had no problem at all recognize him.

The man had already sat down on the stool, but seemed to wait for her answer anyway. Izzie was only able to stutter a reply “N-n-no, be my guest”. She quickly averted her eyes to her phone again, too scared to even glance at the man.

So this was what happened when she would finally meet the singer she was always joking about.

Izzie had no idea what to do, she still had the large glass of beer in front of her, it would be really weird if she would leave immediately. But it would be even weirder to stay. She couldn’t just sit here, sitting next to him. To that man that was even more mesmerizing in real life than she could’ve even imagine. She was afraid to move, her heart beating 200 beats per minute, her palms getting all sweaty.

“I’m Matt” a hand appeared in her line of view. Izzie looked up, meeting the eyes that were dancing in pleasure “But seeing the way you are sitting there all stiffened after I sat down here, I guess you already knew that, didn’t you?” Matt’s smile was contagious and the first thing Izzie saw when she finally had the nerve up to look up to him. The dimples were real, oh they were definitely real. When she finally reached his eyes they were still full of fun and there was something else she couldn’t really decipher. For a moment she was baffled by the man. The man she made so many jokes about, the man she had fantasized about secretly, the man that was still holding his hand out to her. When she finally put her hand in his, she was screaming inside.

“Izzie, and yes. I know who you are”
“Good, then we can skip my introductions and you can tell me about you” he smirked.
“I-I-I-“ Izzie wasn’t normally short of words, but that man was robbing her of any coherent thought she had in her head. Matt chuckled “Oh come on, Izzie, my friends are all still out drinking, I’m feeling a little under the weather so I’m back here already. You need to entertain me.”

“You haven’t been feeling well for a while now, have you?” Izzie finally found her voice and remembered the show in Germany only a few days before. Matt had been drinking more water than usual and she had seen him cough a few times, leaving some higher and lower parts to sing by the audience or Zack and Brian. She had to ask him, afraid he wouldn’t be able to perform the next day. “I mean, you seemed a little off last week in Hamburg too” she quickly added.

“Ah, a real fan I see. You saw us in Hamburg? Attending here tomorrow too?” Izzie confirmed his questions with one simple nod. Matt bend his head before he spoke, his voice serious and a lot softer “Yeah. I don’t know. The doctors say I should take it easy and I am, I promise, but somehow it just won’t go away. I’ve taken antibiotics and everything.”
“Is it okay for you to perform?”
“I have to. I can’t cancel unless I completely lose my voice.”
“But you need to take care of yourself, you will have a problem if you lose your voice, then it won’t be that easy to fix!” Izzie’s caring personality got the best of her and she rushed the words out. She put her hand over her mouth when she saw Matt look at her with a raised brow. Ah damn, maybe she had taken that too far. She had that problem more often when she was enthusiastic and passionate about the subject. She would get too agitated.

“Don’t feel embarrassed. It’s just. I’m closely monitored, I think the docs know what to do” When he winked at her she thought her heart stopped. That man… When her heart picked up again, it was going even faster than before and she felt that annoying blush come over her face. Always there, always unwanted. A sly smile came over Matt’s face, almost as if her red face amused him, making it even worse.

“Tell me something about yourself? You from Amsterdam?”
Izzie chuckled a little at his question “What?”
“All you foreigners think the Netherlands only consist of Amsterdam”
Matt laughed with her “No, I know the Netherlands consist of more than Amsterdam. We drove here from Germany, so I’ve seen more of the Netherlands and we were in this other town when we were touring with Metallica.”
“That’s where I live” Izzie smiled.
“Do you like it there? What do you do?”
“Nosy, aren’t you?”
“Just making conversation. I want to know more about you” Now it was Matt’s time to blush and for a moment they took each other in with shy glances. When the silence became too heavy, Izzie began to talk.

She told him about her job as a communication specialist for a company in her hometown, about how she liked her job and how she had so many fun times with her colleagues. Then, as if it was nothing, she told him about her parents’ divorce, about the difficult relationship she had with her siblings and how her life had changed since she moved into this apartment. She didn’t know why she just told him everything, but Matt could only listen to the woman, getting more and more drawn to her vivid storytelling, even though she was touching some painful topics. He loved how she just opened up to him as if they had known each other forever. There was just something about her, something he couldn’t put his finger on, something that caught him completely by surprise.

Izzie stopped talking when she noticed him staring at her. “Shit. I always do this. Oversharing. Talking too much. I’m sorry”
“No! Don’t be!”

Matt found himself getting pulled into her stories more and more and he was in in no way ready to say goodbye. He felt panic coming up inside of him, he would do everything to keep her talking “Can I buy you another drink?”

She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help herself. “Okay, one more, but then I really have to go to bed… I mean, I have a concert to go to tomorrow” Izzie winked at the man next to her. She was starting to feel comfortable around him, maybe even too comfortable. She never expected to get past the fangirl stage when she would finally meet him, but talking to him was so easy. He made it easy.

“I do have one condition for another drink”
Matt looked at her with a questioning look and a smile on his face. He realized he would do probably almost anything she would ask of him. The condition wasn’t as exciting as he would have hoped, he realized with a surprise when she started to talk again.
“You are talking next, buddy, I’ve done enough talking for the night.” Matt was ready to argue that statement, he would listen to her as long as she wanted to talk. Even if it would take forever. But apparently she was done and he didn’t want her to leave.

“Okay, fine by me, but you need to ask me some questions, cause I’m not really good at telling stories randomly. Not if you want them to have some content” he winked.

Izzie’s head was spinning, not only by the wink, but with all the questions popping up in her head. She knew that most of the questions in her head weren’t meant to be asked. She wouldn’t even dare, so she decided to stay at the safe side: work.

“How did you guys manage to pull off all the communication around the new album? It’s so fascinating for me, not only as a fan, but definitely from my profession too” She was the one to wink now, causing Matt to stutter the start of his answer, before he got a full sentence out.
“We had so much fun with it! It was a shame the album leaked a few days before though” Matt’s look was sad, or at least he tried to pretend, but then the mischief took over “Tell me, Izzie, were you a good or a bad girl?”

For a split second Izzie was shocked by his question, but then she realized what he asked “Bad, I have to confess, but does it help that I got up real early to see the Capital Record Show? Stupid time difference” Matt chuckled “Okay, you are forgiven. Missing sleep over us deserves you some credit.”
“Well, I thank you, good sir”

They smiled goofily at each other, both enjoying their back and forth. Izzie was the first to break it, well aware that she was half flirting with a married man with kids. “Okay, but that didn’t answer my question. How did you do it? Who’s idea was it?”
“We all wanted to do something different, not release a single first and then an album, and so on, but I guess Zack did the outline and then we all came up with stuff that fitted into that plan. Believe me, lots of fun stuff is still coming, things no one will expect of us.” The smile on his face was contagious, it was clear to see that he was enthusiastic about all of it.

“Me sitting here, well past my bedtime, hasn’t given me the right to more information?”
Matt shook his head “Nope”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. It would ruin the surprise”
Izzie let out a sigh “Damn, you are killing me, dimples”

As the words left her mouth, realization hit her hard. Why did she have such a big mouth? Now everything would be weird.

To her surprise Matt’s look was nothing but happy and smiling “Dimples, huh? And I’m not even trying that hard” To prove his point he really pulled out the dimples this time. Izzie had to force her mouth shut as she mumbled a “good god”. The blush that instantly pulled over her face was one of the things that Matt found incredibly cute about this woman and he was dreading the moment of saying goodbye. A moment that approached quickly, seeing their glasses almost empty.

They talked a bit more and in the end, they must have talked about most subjects the album, the tour, the marketing around it and the creative ideas behind it. Izzie also told him that the band needed to hire someone for social media, which was answered by an “already ahead of you” from Matt. But then the moment was really there. The two of them stepped into the elevator. Both of them pushing the buttons for their floors. Matt a lot higher than Izzie’s. .

The ride up was quiet until they almost reached her floor “Thank you for this night, Matt, I will cherish this forever and think about it every time I hear you sing”. She closed in on him and softly kissed his cheek as the door dinged to indicate the arrival to her floor. Izzie moved away from Matt and stepped towards the door. When she made the step out her hand was grabbed and she got pulled back. She shot a surprised look over her shoulder, meeting Matt’s begging eyes.

She then knew she had been a liar to her friend. The ‘Never’ had been transformed to a ‘Definitely’.

Notes

I was feeling like writing a super sappy romantic story. So here it is :P