Chapter 2:

Alfred was right. Matthew was very shy. Extremely shy. He was acquaintances with many people and was generally well liked, but the only person he felt comfortable with outside of his mom and his brother was Elizaveta. Honestly, thank fuck for Liz. He could talk to her about anything with no judgement. He could talk about boys with her without receiving any uncomfortable glances. And she kept her mouth shut too. She wasn't like anyone else from Hickory. She kept people's secrets.

Matthew was trying to get to his assigned free period classroom on the second floor. When he got to the top of the stairs, he saw his brother standing about halfway down the hallway talking to the very popular new kid.

"Hey! Mattie!" Alfred exclaimed.

Matthew gave a half smile, "Hey Al." He said, slowing down his pace just a tad but was still on his way to his classroom. As he walked past, his shoulder brushed up against the new kid's. When he looked over so he could properly apologize, their eyes met. And when their eyes met Matthew had felt like the ground had completely shifted underneath him. His heartrate sped up rapidly and it almost made him feel sick to his stomach. He had to look away before he coughed up his insides onto the unforgiving cold tile floor of the school.

"Hey," he heard the new kid's raspy voice, "You're in my…"

Matthew sped up, ducking his head down low. His face was burning hot. What the fuck was happening to him? He felt like he was going crazy. He couldn't respond. If he said anything, it would have been so incredibly stupid, and he would rather curl up in a hole and hide than leave such an awkward first impression on Gilbert. But… that's what he was doing anyways right? Oh god… He just had to keep walking. He was in too deep now.

His face was still blazing when he sat down at his desk. He wanted to pull out his phone to text Liz about what just happened. Did he even know what happened? Maybe she would have some sort of advice on how to get this feeling to go away, or at the very least she could call an ambulance and so he could get carried away on a stretcher. Matthew was fully convinced that dying of embarrassment is totally possible. It wasn't like Matthew didn't know how to interact with people. He was no where near as outgoing as his brother was, he was way more calculated…and anxious. He knew how to make conversation, but would he lay awake at night and think about what he should or shouldn't have said? Absolutely. The current moment felt like pure torture to Matthew. He had bumped into the new kid and couldn't even squeak out an apology. Who even does that? Gilbert probably thought he was so rude. The thought of anyone having that wrong impression of Matthew made him want to evaporate out of existence.

Matthew pulled out his cell phone and held it underneath the desktop. He opened a new draft to Liz and wrote: "RIP Matthew Williams. Cause of death: embarrassment. Most known for running away from the most controversial person in Hickory after bumping into his shoulder." Before Matthew even hit send, a text message from Liz popped onto the screen. Matthew deleted everything he initially typed out.

"Can we go to the mall l8r? :(" Elizaveta asked. Liz liked to shop, but it was always more of a weekend activity for her. They hated the pathetic excuse of their local "mall" which wasn't even two stories and only had about twenty stores. They had to drive forty-five minutes out of the way to get to a better one. Liz was the only one of the two that actually drove, and she never had the energy on schooldays. So, the fact she was texting him at third period on a Monday? That meant something serious was going on with her.

"Yea," Matthew responded, "What happened?"

"It's stupid… I'll tell u l8r" she responded.

If Matthew had to guess, it probably had something to do with this guy Roderich that she has a major crush on. If not that, then she may have gotten into a fight with her other gay best friend Feliks. He was much more abrasive than Matthew was.

"Ok… ilu" Matthew typed. He knew that she knew, but he liked to remind her as often as he could.

"ilu2 3"

"Matthew Williams! Phone away now," the supervising teacher announced way louder than was necessary.

Matthew's face went beet red and he shoved his phone back in his pocket, "Yes ma'am." He said softly.

At the end of the day, Matthew didn't have to search very far for Liz. In fact, she was standing right at his locker. Ready to go. Matthew greeted her with a warm smile and entered his combination.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Suicidal," she deadpanned.

"Hey, that's not funny. Don't joke about that."

"Fine," Liz huffed, "I would much rather be at the mall recklessly spending my money in an attempt to dull the embarrassment I had to endure today."

Matthew pulled the books he would need for his homework out and threw his locker door shut. "We better not waste any time then huh?"

"Duh!" Liz exclaimed. She grabbed Matthew's arm and pulled him towards the exit, "And I choose the music on the drive there!"

"I wasn't going to argue with you."

Matthew didn't ever have to argue with her. They basically knew each other inside out. Communication was easy for them too. Elizaveta has never been afraid to vocalize what she needed from Matthew, and Matthew didn't need very much to begin with, so he was comfortable with asking for what he needed from her.

They had the same taste in music too. Which for most teenagers is practically grounds for marriage. Whenever Matthew or Liz were having boy problems, they always joked that if Liz was born or boy or if Matthew wasn't gay then they would totally be married. This sounds offensive to the average person, but it was their sense of humor. It was completely absurd and definitely not something they would say out loud in a public space. They knew anyone else would take those statements way too seriously.

Liz plugged in her AUX cord and scrolled through her playlists until she found the perfect one. Their favorite one. A playlist full of Lana Del Rey, Kim Petras, and Doja Cat songs. Before she hit play, Matthew was about to ask what in the world warranted a mall trip on Monday. She wasn't ready to talk about it just yet though, and she communicated this to Matthew by giving him a mischievous grin and starting 'Lipgloss' by Charli XCX. This meant "We'll talk later. It's time for our seated dance routine." They spent the entire car ride singing along to Elizaveta's perfectly curated playlist. It made the long and treacherous journey to a decent mall tolerable.

It was around 4 P.M. by the time they entered the mall. Liz made a beeline for the boba shop that is set up in the middle of the food court. Matthew knew the routine. Bubble tea was always first. Liz would order a melon milk with extra tapioca pearls and Matthew would order lavender milk tea with the standard amount of tapioca. After buying the boba, they would sip on it while walking through a series of shops and Matthew would stand uncomfortably in the women's dressing room, holding Liz's half-finished drink, and judging the outfits she had picked out. Older women who just didn't get it would admire Matthew's patience with his 'girlfriend.' They have even gotten comments before about how cute of a couple they made which always made Matthew turn away to stifle his laughter while Liz would burst into a non-human guffaw.

Matthew and Liz were on their way to the third store when she finally spoke up about what was bugging her. She had already purchased three full outfits, a pair of new earrings, and a handful of face masks off the Forever 21 impulse rack.

"I think I'm ready to talk now, I've met the minimum amount of dollars spent. I'm ready," Liz started dramatically.

"Oh good. With the way you've been acting I was thinking I'd have to start prying," Matthew teased.

"Oh god no!" Liz hated prying. They stepped into Urban Outfitters. She liked their t-shirts. "So you know Roderich?"

"Umm.. I think so," Matthew joked.

"Well, he had like the perfect opportunity to ask me to prom today. And he completely missed it!"

Matthew nodded knowingly, listening while he thumbed through t-shirts on a metal rack and trying to find something he thought Liz would like. "Is Roderich known for his boldness though? I feel like you've been waiting weeks for this. Why don't you ask him out?"

"Because I ask everyone out! I want to be the one asked out for once! Plus, I didn't even tell you everything. There was so much tension between us that even Feliks kept his mouth shut!"

Oh shit that's intense, Matthew thought. "So then what actually happened?"

"Well we were talking about how prom is coming up really quickly. I mentioned that I have a dress but no date yet. So Roderich asked me if there was anyone that I was planning on asking and I told him that I was waiting for someone to ask me. I was trying so hard to scream through like… my body language that I wanted him to ask me! I set it up so perfectly for him! Like… If asking me was even on his mind he would have done it right then!"

"Maybe he got nervous, Liz. He's the silent type."

"Maybe!" Liz exclaimed, getting more frustrated as she was living through the experience again. "It gets so much worse! This was all going on like… within the first five minutes of third period. Guess who walks in."

Matthew shook his head slightly, signaling to Liz he wanted to skip the guessing part.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt! The new kid. He walks in like he's making this huge statement or something. Just his demeanor was like 'Oh I'm so cool. Everyone pay attention to me.' Like way to make a good impression, I guess. Then he comes in and sits down right in front of me."

Matthew felt his face grow warm when Liz mentioned his name. "So his general presence just made everything worse?" He stopped looking at Liz and tried to act like he was focusing hard on the clothing in front of him in hopes she wouldn't see his obvious blush.

"He sits down right in front of us and butts right into the conversation. He was all like 'Oh… you're looking for a date? Well I just moved here and you're pretty hot. Wanna go with me?' The rest of the class was just so embarrassing. I literally wanted to drop dead."

"Oh my god," Matthew responded, feeling a strange tinge of jealousy. "What did you say?"

"I told him fuck no! I don't even know him!"

"What did Roderich do?"

"He didn't do anything. I think that's the worst part! He didn't even come up to me during passing period to talk about how big of an asshole that guy is! Like… this whole time I thought him and I were in this 'flirtationship' or whatever."

"I'm sorry, Liz," Matthew said sympathetically. "I don't know what to say other than that men can just be obnoxious and clueless and…"

Liz cut him off, "Should I text Roderich? Like… should I bring up Gilbert's general insufferable nature?"

"Do you think that would help?"

Liz's shoulder slumped in defeat, "I don't know. Whatever. I'm totally over it. Gilbert's an asshole and if Roderich doesn't want to ask me to prom then fine. It's his loss." Liz moved over to a display table that had a few skirts laid out. She picked one up and held it up to her waist to try and determine the fit and length. She looked through the pile to pick out a larger size and held it up to Matthew's hips, "Mattie? Have you ever done drag?" She asked. She was clearly plotting something and to Matthew's dismay it was probably something he would have to do to help Liz forget about the Roderich/Gilbert situation.

"You're profiling me," he joked. He took the skirt from her and gently put it back on the table.

"Don't knock it till you try it!" Liz huffed, "You should let me do your makeup. I could turn you into such a pretty girl."

"I think I'm good Liz. Try with Feliks."

Liz huffed even louder and shuffled her feet in annoyance. Nothing would work out in her favor today huh? Matthew was right though. Feliks would totally be up for it. She didn't feel like calling him up right now though. But then, she hatched a different plan. Something she knew Matthew would totally be up for. "Want to drive you home and get baked?" she asked, "And we can order pizza or something?"

Matthew threw his arm around Liz and pulled her into a side hug. "You know me so well."

Elizaveta made her final purchases for the spree and hurried back home. It was rush hour, unfortunately, so the car ride home was about twenty minutes longer than it took to get to the mall. When they pulled up to Matthew's house, Liz backed into the driveway and put the car in park. She reached over to Matthew's feet to grab her purse and pulled out her smell proof bag of weed, her bowl, her grinder, and lighter. She ground up enough to smoke, packed the bowl, took a quick hit, and passed it to Matthew.

Matthew looked out his passenger side window just to make sure no one from his family was around to creep up on him. He took a big hit and coughed it out, which made both him and Liz burst into laughter. He took in one more, much tinier puff and then handed it back to Liz. "What do you want on the pizza?" he asked.

"Oh I dunno," Liz responded while exhaling a large smoke cloud. "Dude I want pineapple!"

Matthew didn't know why, but that made him giggle. "Ew… but ok…" he took the bowl back so he could take one more hit before they would get out of the car.

"I have a question," she started.

"Yeah?"

"When I mentioned Gilbert earlier… you blushed. Why did you do that?" Her eyes were already glazed over, and her pupils were dilated. She tried to catch Matthew's eyes and maintain contact but he looked away out of embarrassment, so she instead chose a freckle on his jawline to stare at. He was already blushing again.

"I… I don't know what you mean."

"You're doing it right now!" she laughed, "Do you think he's cute?"

"No!" Matthew said defensively, "I mean… yeah he's cute but he's totally not my type! You know that Liz. It's just that I totally embarrassed myself in front of him when I was on my way to third period."

Liz bounced up excitedly, "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?! What happened?!"

"I just… bumped into him. And I was so embarrassed I literally just ran away."

Liz's expression turned from excited to confused. This wasn't exactly the juicy story she was hoping for, "That's it?" she asked. She put her hand up to her mouth to try and stifle laughter, "You ran away from him? Does he scare you or something?"

"I don't know!" Matthew slumped down. "I bumped into him and I turned to apologize and there was just something about making eye contact with him that made me feel like… more nervous than usual."

"You totally think he's hot!" Liz's grin grew wider. "You know, I don't approve but I'll help you out. I heard he's bisexual."

"You said that about Kiku and then he totally turned out to be straight."

"You're not denying that you think he's hot! And you're not recoiling in disgust at the thought of hooking up with him!"

Matthew shifted in the car seat and met Elizaveta's eyes. "Gilbert is very attractive. However, I do not want to hook up with him. Especially not after what he did to you earlier today. He seems like a huge dick."

Liz's expression softened and she leaned over the center console to give Matthew a hug. "You are so supportive!" she sighed contently. "Let's order pizza I'm getting hungry." She released Matthew from the awkward car hug and turned to open the door. Matthew followed suit and they walked up to the front door of his house together.

Matthew slowly opened the door to make sure Alfred wasn't in the front room. He hated interacting with his brother while he was high.

"Oh is Matthew finally home?" he heard his mother's voice from the kitchen." Shit she was home already?

"Should be," he heard Alfred say. The statement was followed by some heavy footsteps. Though, it sounded like two pairs of footsteps. Matthew really didn't want to be high in front of his own mom. He didn't know how he would even pretend to be sober in front of her.

Matthew ducked his head down to look at the floor so that his mother and Alfred wouldn't see his glassy eyes. Although, Liz's soft "Oh hell no." indicated that the person walking with Alfred wasn't his mom.

"Hey Liz," a familiar raspy voice teased, "Giving that prom invitation some consideration?"

"Matthew, I love you," Liz started. She grabbed Matthew's shoulders and looked at him affectionately. "I can't do this though. Good luck." She turned and walked out the front door and within fifteen seconds, he heard her car start outside.

"Umm…" Matthew stood there awkwardly, staring down at the floor, "Alfred can I talk to you alone?" He started walking up the stairs.

Alfred definitely got the cue that Matthew wasn't sober. He motioned for Gilbert to stay back and followed Matthew to his bedroom.

"Mom's home already? I didn't see her car."

"She parked in the garage this time!" Alfred responded.

"O-okay… and um… what's Gilbert doing here?"

Alfred laughed, "I invited him over for dinner? We're totally like best friends now. Oh, he also needs a weed dealer and I told him I would ask you for a contact!"

"Shhh!" Matthew hushed Alfred quickly. "Are you kidding me right now?"

Alfred clamped a hand over his mouth, "Right… sorry."

"I'm just gonna go to bed. Can you tell mom I'm feeling sick or something?"

"You got it," Alfred responded. This time it was much quieter.

Matthew nodded a quick "thanks" to his brother and shut his bedroom door after Alfred left. He kicked off his jeans and crawled under the covers and tried to concentrate on taking a nap. He heard his brother gallop down the stairs and announce that Matthew wasn't feeling well, which seemed to earn a loud laugh from Gilbert.

He felt his stomach turn into knots. What was so funny to him about Matthew not feeling well? Liz was delusional if she thought he would ever want to hook up with a guy like that. Matthew's type was way more reserved and way less narcissistic.

Although he would admit, Gilbert was extremely hot. More than he would ever admit to Elizaveta.

Hi there! I spent a little longer working on this chapter. I was thinking of making Fridays an update day? Hope ya'll like the buildup!

Please review and be gentle! :3