Disclaimer: I do not own How to Rock.
"Um..hi"
He felt small as their eyes looked at him. The silence that ascended upon the three people was anything but comfortable. Even as Mat's eyes stayed on the floor, he knew that a glance from them would come his way. I mean, he did the same thing. From the small glances, he could see Stevie's worry, saw it reflected in her eyes. He could see Zander's antsy side show, his head deep in thought, while his leg bouncing slightly. Finding the silence agonizing, Mat could no longer take it and spoke up with the first words that came up in his thoughts.
"What are you guys doing here?"
His sudden question hung in the air, suffocating him the longer it went unanswered.
"Well...um...we saw you on the news"
"Its on the news?"
"Yeah"
In spite of himself, he let out a low growl, clenching in hands into tights fists. Of course it would be on the news. His dad was famous! Mat let out a ragged breath, closing his eyes trying to calm himself. After a moment his eyes opened again, and he looked up at the only friends he had.
"Did, did they, what did they say about him?"
"That's why we came here. Mat what happened?"
His question was only met with another question. And he was forced to stay silent, not wanting to give them the answer to their question. Worst of all, he was left with only more questions. Questions that he knew Stevie and Zander couldn't answer.
"Mat?"
He avoided their searching eyes. But he didn't move when he heard the sound of a chair moving closer to him. He took in a shallow breath of air, eyes now locked with the white tiles on the floor. Then, he felt on a hand on his shoulder. Mat looked up in surprise, to meet Stevie's face. It only took him a split second to read her face. It only took him a split second to flinch away. Her hand stayed in the air, but pulled back, as though it had been burned. Stevie looked away from him then, and instead turned to Zander, urging him in a silent way to do something.
"Hey Mat, about your-"
"Why don't you guys hate me?"
Zander's mouth closed, forgetting all about the sentence that he had begun. Stevie turned to Mat, eyes wide.
"What?"
"Why don't you guys hate me?"
Mat looked up when he spoke now, pushing the fear that was eating at his insides.
"Mat, whatever happened, already happened. Its in the past now"
"And plus, you need friends right now. Right?"
He looked back and forth, from Stevie to Zander. He was at a lost for words.
"I..um..."
A rush of air spilled into the room. Mat had expected only the faces of strangers. Not the flashing lights of cameras and the hoots and hollers from the paparazzi. The three stood up quickly, as nurses came to try and block the crowd of people, blocking nearly the entire doorway. Mat slowly backed away, trying to get away from the ever growing frenzy of the call of his name. Everywhere he heard the call of his name. It was driving him insane. Two hands gripped his arm, and he turned around, just to meet with Stevie's silent words. He looked over at Zander who nodded in agreement. Everything passed by in slow motion.
The grip on his hand stayed strong as the three of them flew by the hallways. He still didn't hear anything as they stopped by a room and exchanged a few words. He only saw the way their mouths moved. All he understood was the final wave from Stevie before they disappeared down the hallway. Mat turned to face the door that he was standing next to. After a moment of just taking a look, Mat caught sight of a person through the small window of glass on the door. Mat's hand lingered above the doorknob, hesitant to come in. He stalled, looking at the world that was painted outside the hospital window. But he could only stall for so long. His eyes returned to the metal doorknob of the wooden door. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his hand and knocked softly.
"Come in"
His eyes closed for a moment as he heard the voice. But despite the uneasiness in his stomach, his hand moved to the door knob and pushed down.
They held their hands loosely within each others as they quickly left Mat. Their steps were barely heard, the commotion by the doorway still in motion.
"We won't be going anywhere through that"
Zander and Stevie halted to a stop at Stevie's comment, and she felt the grip of his hand on her wrist. Zander looked around, eyes flicking over anything and everything.
"Here, this way"
Stevie felt a soft tug on her wrist as she turned towards him and followed. They ran down another hallway, barely missing a few nurses and patients. Soon enough they got to the back door of the hospital and Zander pushed it open. With a nod, Zander urged Stevie to follow and they broke into a jog across the vacant parking lot of the hospital.
. . .
He leaned on the side of his van, soaking in the heat of the glowing sun. Behind his shades, the shining rays didn't bother him much. In the midst of the silence, he heard the sound of steps pounding on gravel. He turned to see two people jogging across the lot of the hospital. Brown hair, lean, ripped jeans. He'd seen her before. He pushed his shades down and took hold of the camera hanging on his neck and brought it up closer to his eyes. He then focused the lens on the two forms running not far from him.
Snap.
Snap.
Hope everyone enjoys this chapter, till next time. Love PBL.