// C H A P T E R E L E V E N //

They were all seated in a beat up Volkswagen van from the sixties, which may look cool from the outside, but had to be one of the most uncomfortable automobile Lacey had ever sat in. She had already tried to get more comfortable by leaning onto Matty in various matters: her head on his shoulder, her head in his lap, his arm around her and so on, but the only thing she got from that was laughter from Matty's side.

He smirked at her repositioning herself for what seemed to be the twentieth time, "Are you loving this or what?"

Rolling her eyes, she put her feet up on the seat in order to sit crossed-legged, "Yeah, totally what I imagined it would be like."

He laughed at her obvious sarcasm, "Well what did you believe it would be like?"

"I don't know." She shrugged, "I guess I just always thought a road trip would be incredibly romantic and give you this feeling of freedom. But honestly, right now I'm feeling the complete opposite." She said with a nod towards Ella who was sleeping next to her, her head on George's lap while her feet were on top of Lacey's.

Matty laughed at that, "You watch too many movies, love."

She raised her eyebrows at him, "So you don't believe in the utterly romantic idea of a road trip?"

"Well, these are the road trips I experience and as you can see, there's nothing romantic about it. It's mostly just hours of other people drooling in their sleep while you watch the world pass by through your window."

Lacey looked at her surroundings, then back at Matty, "Well of course these aren't the perfect conditions for an incredibly romantic road trip. But imagine: two people who like each other, a destination unknown to them -"

"Sleeping somewhere on the way in the car whilst looking at some mental nature sight." He continued.

"Cuddling by the bonfire."

"Fucking in bushes." He grinned and immediately got punched lightly by Lacey.

She rolled her eyes, unable to contain her own grin, "Way to ruin the moment."

"What's so bad about bushes?" He raised his eyebrows questioningly, the grin still resting on his lips.

She shrugged, "Doesn't sound too romantic."

"So you're a romantic, huh? Want the whole candle, roses, poems sort of thing?" He smiled slightly.

She shook her head, "No, not necessarily. I just don't think that quote-unquote 'fucking in bushes' sounds like something I might enjoy."

"Well, guess we have to see what you'll enjoy when the time comes then." He winked, then put his arm around her, "Now sleep some, you're already lacking last night's sleep and you probably won't get much today either, so better catch up on it now."

Not being able to register much more after him practically telling her that he was planning on being the one who took her virginity, she simply snuggled up to him while her mind explored all the possible scenarios that might happen between them until she fell asleep.

~*~

"Lace..." Someone nudged her, waking her up from her dream.

She had dreamed that she had been standing in the ocean. Waves crashing in all around her, pulling her under and pushing her back up above the surface. Even though the principle of it scared her, she had somehow felt at total ease. It was as if she knew that those waves wouldn't kill her. That they would challenge her, yes; that they might possibly hurt her, yes; but she just somehow knew that she would survive and that made her feel safe even if all odds seemed to be against her.

"Slept well?" The voice that had just woken her asked and she slowly registered that it belonged to Matty.

She slowly opened her eyes, meanwhile rubbing at them to get the sleep out of her eyes, whilst she mumbled, "Mhm."

He laughed softly, "You looked like it. I don't think I've ever seen you this relaxed." He absentmindedly pushed some loose strands of hair out of her face while he muttered, "I was thinking of letting you sleep a bit more, but knowing you, you probably would have thrown a tantrum if you didn't get to see the city before we have to set up and all that."

Sitting up, Lacey rolled her eyes sarcastically, "You know me so well."

"I do know you, Lace." He smirked and then got out of the car.

She stayed behind for a second, a bit stunned by his statement. He was right, he did know her. He probably knew her better than most people in her life, maybe even more than Ella. What shocked her about it was that he apparently also knew it. It made her think about what she knew about him. She had learned a lot on the first day they met, when they lay under the stars, but after that? She knew he liked to smoke weed, probably even loved it. She knew he was in a band that was successful and she knew that he was quite the ladies' man. Other than that she knew nothing about him. He had never mentioned what his dreams were or his plans for the future. It was as if he just constantly lived in the now, not caring one bit about tomorrow. As much as she liked that about him, it kind of scared her as well. Not only because that meant that she also could just be his now, his occupation for the moment until something more exciting comes along, but it also scared her for him. How was he supposed to achieve bigger things if he didn't have anything to strive for?

"Are you coming?" Matty asked after she had been caught up in her thoughts for a while.

Scrambling out of the car awkwardly, she mumbled, "Yeah."

"So..." He started as he lit up a cigarette, and turned to face the others, "What shall we do during our precious free-time?"

"Food." Ross immediately replied, probably because he was ravished from having to drive the whole way from London to Edinburgh.

"Edinburgh Castle!" Ella exclaimed excitedly.

"I guess, we could make our way up there and get some food on the way, is that alright?" Matty suggested, looking at everyone expectantly.

After everyone nodded or mumbled a 'yeah' or something of that sort, they made their way to Edinburgh Castle. The way the guys strolled carelessly along the various streets and corners made it seem as if they had been in the city quite a few times. Lacey kind of hung back, taking in the city at her own pace even if it did not vary that much from London.

"Have you ever been here?" A voice suddenly interrupted her looking at a Scottish street musician playing his bagpipe.

She shook her head, "Actually, no."

Adam laughed, "It isn't all that different from London if you take out the accent and the occasional kilt sightings. If you go up into the highlands it will seem like a whole new world though."

"I bet it's so beautiful there." She smiled.

"It is." He nodded absentmindedly, then turned to look at her, "So I don't want to be weird or anything, but what's going on with you and Matty? Are you two dating or is this just a casual hook up?"

Lacey bit her lip, "I wish I knew myself."

He raised his eyebrows, "You haven't talked about it?"

"No." She shook her head, then took a breath and just let everything out, "It's as if everytime the conversation turns onto the topic of us, he immediately changes the subject. George and Ross both asked us the same thing and both times he just played it off casually, as if it were nothing worth talking about." She felt tears welling up in her eyes, "And it sucks you know? He knows so much about me and what do I know about him? Nothing. I only know about his drug problems, his countless women and his band. I don't know shit about him and that freaks me out."

Adam stopped walking in order to pull her in for a very awkward and very quick hug. When he pulled away, he looked at her intently, "I know this won't help much, but I know he likes you. He hasn't told me shit, of course, but he's never hung out with a girl that was just a hook up for him this often - sure as hell not at our concerts."

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

"His music is the most important thing to him after his brother. He would never bring a girl to our concerts if he didn't want to share his music with her." He seemed to think about what he was about to say for a bit, before he continued, "It's as if by bringing you here, he's kind of opening himself up. Kind of as if his lyrics are his way of explaining himself to you."

"But all your fans hear them, too. It's not as if I'm the only one to listen to them."

Adam nodded, "Sure they do, but they don't get the chance to ask him about them and even if they did he would only tell them the basics, not the whole story."

Lacey looked over at him, unable to hide her surprise at his train of thoughts, "So you're saying that he's probably waiting for me to ask him about it all?"

He shrugged, "Maybe not waiting for you to do so, but probably expecting it. I think he knows that you want to know more about him, but Matty's just not the person to start talking about his private life if he's not asked to."

She thought it over. It made sense to her, Matty didn't seem like someone who wanted to be secretive. He just didn't feel the need to bring up his life story in a conversation, in which he could just as well talk about blatant things such as his favorite movies or artists. On the other hand, he probably wouldn't mind telling Lacey whatever she wanted to know - he probably didn't want to bore her with stories out of his life if she wasn't interested in them.

Speaking or rather thinking of the devil, Matty apparently had stopped walking and had waited for her and Adam to catch up to where he was standing.

He raised his eyebrows at them, "Are you stealing my girl, Hann?"

Adam turned a bit red, or maybe Lacey was only imagining that, and mumbled, "No, man. We were just talking."

"Oh yeah?" Matty quirked an eyebrow whilst putting his arm around Lacey, "What were you talking about?"

Before she could chicken out, she blurted, "About you, actually."

He laughed at her sudden bluntness, "What about me?"

Adam muttered an 'I'm gonna go talk to Ross' and walked away from both of them, obviously feeling uncomfortable at the thought of continuing to listen to their conversation.

"What's up with him?" Matty laughed, as he watched him walk away.

She shrugged, "Probably didn't care to listen to our talk."

"Hmm..." He muttered, still looking at Adam, "I shall ask him later if he's taken a liking to you."

Now it was Lacey's turn to burst out laughing, "He most definitely has not, trust me. This was the first time we even talked properly."

"So?" He shrugged, "The first time we talked I knew I wanted to get to know you a bit more, you don't have to know every detail about a person to be attracted to them."

"But it helps, doesn't it?" She asked.

He turned to look at her, "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." She started and then kind of stopped, not knowing what to say.

"You mean that knowing someone can make them even more attractive to you?" He questioned, trying to continue her failed thought.

She looked down at her feet, concentrating on their movements: left, right, left, right before she mumbled, "What I'm trying to say is that as soon as you know a person a bit better, even if they only tell you useless details about their life, you either know if you like them or are only attracted to them. And on the other hand you also know if the person cares about you, too. I mean, people who don't like you won't tell you much about them, they're just gonna keep it casual until -"

"Lace." Matty interrupted her and stopped walking, forcing her to do the same, "Lace." He said again to get her to look up at him. As soon as she did, he gently placed his forehead against hers, looking deep into her eyes, "Is this your way of telling me that you think I don't care about you?!"

"N-no." Lacey stuttered and tried to pull back, but was stopped by his arm around her waist.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before he let her go and ran his fingers through his hair, "Fuck Lace." He muttered, then looked into her eyes again.

As soon as she could see the hurt in his eyes, she cursed herself for even bringing it up. For her constant nagging about everything. She wished she would have just accepted how things between them were for once. Instead, she had to let her insecure self get the best of her and possibly ruin something that could have maybe been something great.

"I'm sorry..." She mumbled and tears welled up in her eyes, "I didn't mean it like that. I know you care about me, I really do. I don't even know why I said that."

"Shut up." Matty said, then sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to have it sound so rude, but I just hate when you apologize to me for saying what you think. You should not even care about what I think or what anyone thinks for that matter." He ran his hands through his hair again, a habit he had when he didn't quite know what to say or do, "Well, what do you want to know?"

"What?" Lacey asked, perplexed.

He stared at her, "You said you wanted me to tell you more about me, what do you want to know?"

"U-uh I don't know." She shrugged, "Anything really."

He nodded, seemingly understanding, "Well, family's extremely important to me - or better said my brother is extremely important to me. He's still young, only thirteen years old and I just kind of left him, you know? My parents got divorced and then I moved out to do music and now I'm barely even home. And all this time I have to wonder who watches over him. I actually wrote a song about that, it's called Is there somebody who can watch you?. We don't usually play it at concerts, but I'll play it for you later - I feel like it explains a lot."

"What's his name?" She asked, smiling at the protectiveness Matty had about his brother.

"I forget that you're not a fan of our band and know pretty much nothing." He laughed, "His name is Louis. He's actually going to be in our new music video for Heart Out. You should come, I'll introduce him to you. I have to warn you though, he is quite the ladies' man."

She raised her eyebrows, smirking, "Just like his older brother?"

He laughed and shook his head, "Thankfully not, that'd be horrible."

She joined in on his laughter, before she turned to look at him seriously, "I'm sorry I brought all of this up, I know you don't want to hear me apologize for it, because you're all for saying what you think and not caring what other people say about that, but I'm not like that. And this just got so dramatic, I legitimately feel like the biggest drama queen right now."

He rolled his eyes, "I don't give a fuck about how dramatic you act. I fucking like you and if you need me to open up more to be sure about that, then I'll fucking do that. It's no big deal." He then smirked, "Plus I love how your face looks when you get mad or frustrated, you still look so ridiculously beautiful even when an emotion crosses your face that makes most people look horrendous."

Lacey just kind of looked him, not knowing what to say to that as it was often when Matty let his thoughts out, "Messy but eloquent." She finally said, smiling.

He smirked and put his hand around her waist, pulling her towards him and whispered, "Do what your eyes are telling you to do, Lace."

With that, Lacey wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him with all the passion that had built up inside her during their brief exchange. She knew in that moment that she was falling for this guy and that it was irrevocable, but she wasn't scared. She knew that he might hurt her, that his no care attitude might get the best of him, that he might meet a girl that was more exciting than her or that he might simply never fall for her. But somehow it was clear to her that he wouldn't crash her. That she would survive whatever might happen, because what she felt for him was worth it. It was as if she were in her dream again: Matty being the waves that crashed in around her, making her feel so safe whilst being an incredible danger. What a lovely juxtaposition.

A/N: Hello everyone, here is the new update. Sorry it took longer than usual but I like I've mentioned before I was at a friend's place over the weekend and only got back to where I live yesterday evening. I hope it is alright. I wrote it with a ton of breaks inbetween and I didn't proofread it so I feel like it might sound kind of sucky, but it's getting late and I really just want to head on into bed, so I'll just read over it tomorrow. Didn't want to keep you guys waiting though, so here it is. Like I said I took a few breaks inbetween writing and one was right when she confronted him and I had no clue what I had wanted to write so I feel like that part could be confusing (I hope it isn't though, I so need to proof read oh god.) Anyways, also thank you to anyone and everyone who read this over the weekend - I can't believe this already has over 750 reads! One thing that would be even more amazing would be if all you lovely people who read this could just give it a quick vote if you enjoy it, just so I know that people actually do enjoy it and don't just read it to pass time or whatever haha :) much love, m