Rerun
Grey skies over and storm clouds sway
Lying alone and wasting the day
Listening for footfalls, impatiently wait
Twilight is falling when you arrive late
But I don't care because now you're here
And in your smile cares disappear
Wherever you touch me feels so right
I want to be with you, baby, tonight.
-'Want to be With You', Becca Ryan and Matt Gallagher-
Becca couldn't help but glance nervously at the speedometer as the car sped along the highway back towards campus. Matt noticed her stare, lifted a hand to rest gently on her bare thigh.
"It's okay, baby. I know what I'm doing, I haven't drunk at all."
"I know."
She sat and watched the lights racing by, laid her hand over his to trace patterns on his skin. The sky – a peculiar shade of orange – reminded her of fire, and she swallowed. Matt glanced over briefly. "It's going to rain, baby. Good job the party's inside." As if the spoken words were a charm, fat drops of rain began to fall from the sky, increasing rapidly in speed and volume. The swish, swish of the wipers melded with the purr of the engine and Becca lay back in her seat with her eyes closed, concentrating on the feel of Matt's skin against hers to fend away the worries which continued to plague her. Sensing her mood, the boy murmured, "You want some music on, Becca?"
"Sure." His hand left her leg and she heard him push a CD into the player, heard the music start; couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips as she recognized the track. Matt knew her so well; he could always make her feel better. "You keep this CD in your car?"
"Why not?" She opened her eyes in time to see his grin. The music was a recording of their band; the song that was playing, one the two of them had written, and Becca's own voice filled the car that flew through the dark and the rain.
Grey clouds over and storm clouds sway, the music sang. Lying alone and wasting the day. "Listening for footfalls, impatiently wait," the two grinned at one another as Becca harmonized with herself. "Twilight is falling when you arrive late."
Matt indicated to turn into campus, picked up the next phrase smoothly so that his voice melded with hers. "But I don't care because now you're here, and in your smile cares disappear."
"Wherever you touch me feels so right." Becca's eyes met the boy's as he switched off the engine, the music stopping as both started to lean towards each other.
"I want to be with you, baby, tonight." He finished the song with his lips against hers.
She let him hang there for a moment longer before drawing back abruptly, a smile pulling at the lips he wanted to kiss. "Not in the car," she teased as he groaned. "Come on, Matt." And she opened the door, stepped out with a gasp into the cold rain
Warm hands caught her about her waist and spun her soft body against his harder, more muscular form; everywhere they touched fires sparked under her skin. Those hands skimmed up her sides, a chuckle rumbling in Matt's throat at the sudden catch in Becca's breath, at the way she gripped suddenly at his shoulders for balance. "But it's raining outside, baby," he brought his mouth down to whisper huskily in her ear, and because his mouth was there anyway caught her earlobe between his teeth, nibbled.
"I hadn't noticed." The way she gasped the words slightly ruined the caustic effect. "Can we please go inside? I'm getting wet." That laugh sounded in her ear again, and she rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see it; trust him to pick up on the unintended innuendo. "I'll get you for that, Matthew Gallagher."
"Is that a threat or a promise, Becca Ryan?" he mocked her, ran his hands through her already dripping hair. And then his head dipped down so that his mouth met hers again, tongues tangling together and his lips curving into a smile as she moaned into his mouth, incapable of answering.
Somehow they made it upstairs to Becca's dorm, Matt reaching behind the girl to turn the lock as he pressed her up against the door. Her hands twisted desperately in his hair, melding their mouths together as if either of them had any intention of trying to let go. His hands caught her as her feet left the floor, shoes abandoned as her legs wound about his waist. Matt stumbled back to the bed, pulling Becca down on top of him and finally releasing her from the kiss.
Her dark, wet hair swept down like a curtain around their faces as Becca balanced herself with one hand on either side of his head. His gaze met hers, filled with shadows that made them impossible to read, and for a moment she could only smile down at him with desire plain in her grey eyes. His hands caught at her waist again, slid his thumbs down to graze her hipbones before tugging lightly at the top of her shorts. Becca gasped as one hand continued tracing the line of her hip down while the other slipped into the pocket, drew out her cellphone. "Switch it off this time, baby?" he murmured huskily.
Her only reply was a breathless laugh as she leaned in closer to press a kiss to the hollow of his throat where his heart beat loudly, that movement pressing her body down onto his so the rising heat between them only smouldered more fiercely.
Unable to bear it, Matt rolled them both over, pinning Becca's wrists above her head with one hand and covering her mouth with his to swallow the gasp of surprise as his fingers ran lingeringly down her side, along her bare thigh to hook his hand behind her knee, pull her leg – cold drops of rain still clinging to her skin – up over his hip. Tearing his mouth away from hers, he swept his tongue gently over her throat, teasing the neckline of her top and drifting just along the curve that her bra cup didn't quite cover.
His name a sigh on her lips, Becca raised her other leg to where he had lifted the first one, running her bare foot along the back of his leg, arched her body against his. She spread her fingers over Matt's lower stomach to elicit a sharp gasp from him, slipped a hand into the pocket of his jeans to remove his cellphone. "Nobody's going to ring either of us tonight, baby," she breathed into his ear.
Because neither of them exactly got to sleep until around three, and it was the weekend, they were still asleep at ten; Matt on his back with his arm around Becca who was snuggled close into his side, head on his shoulder. They would probably have stayed like that a good few hours longer had Jen not burst loudly into the room, making Matt shoot bolt upright and dislodging Becca whose eyes flew open immediately. She stared at her friend in sleepy bewilderment, automatically tugging the quilt higher around her.
"Becca! Matt!" Jen flung herself on the foot of the bed, dark shadows standing out under red-rimmed eyes in a chalk-white face. Neither of the other two noticed her state at this point.
"I swear I locked the door!" Matt groaned.
"She's got a key." Becca winced, flung a hand across her eyes. "Why the hell did I give her a key?"
"Your fucking phones were switched off. Your phones…" She swallowed. "Becca, listen to me –"
"Fuck off, Jen. And I mean that in the nicest way." Becca buried her face in Matt's shoulder for a second, his arm sliding around her, before looking back at her friend. "Unless this is a way of getting back at me for waking you up last party time, I thought you were over that –"
"Becca. Shut up." Both of them looked at her, for the first time noting her smudged make-up, the fact that she was still in last night's clothes, her trembling lower lip. "There's been another fire."
All colour washed out of Becca's face; Matt's arm tightened convulsively around her and for a long moment there was silence. "Where?" he asked at last, voice flat. "When?"
"Hamish's house. Shit, the whole house, about midnight. It started earlier, but that's when it really went –"
Becca reached out a hand to her friend, drew her in closer for a hug – it would have been awkward in any other situation, but both girls were trembling too hard to care. After only a moment's hesitation, Matt wrapped his own arms around both of them, but he only pressed a kiss to Becca's hair. The three of them clung to each other for a long while, seeking and receiving mute comfort.
It was Becca who broke the hug, drawing back slightly but not removing her hand from Jen's. "Who?" she whispered.
"Not Hamish. It started upstairs, they think…Rom and Harry …" Becca closed her eyes, her hand clutching Matt's as a strangled sound escaped his throat. Rom – the girl was in Becca's class. Harry, her long-term boyfriend, on Matt's soccer team. Had been. "And then Hamish's cousin Lucie, and the boy she was with. But they don't – can't –"
"Shit. Shit." The words tore themselves in a whimper from Becca's lips, her eyes squeezed closed as if by blocking out sight she could make it not happen. "No. No, shit…"
"Becca. Becca, baby." Matt's arms drew her in, held her against his chest as she sobbed.
"Jamie. Jamie was with Lucie. Jamie, Jamie…" her voice died away in a moan as Matt froze.
"Jamie." The boy shook his head violently. "Jamie."
"No. Jamie's okay, he drove back over with me and Dan this morning. Jamie's okay, Becca." Jen stared directly into her best friend's face. "He's okay." Becca nodded slowly, hesitantly, unable to disbelieve but with her heart still racing.
"Four more dead," Matt whispered. "Harry. Shit, Harry."
"Jamie's okay?" Becca repeated stupidly. "He's here?" Jen nodded, and Becca tried to scramble up. "I need to see. Need to check…"
"They're downstairs." Jen climbed off the bed, started towards the door. "You two get dressed and I'll tell them…" She stopped in the doorway, turned back with agonized eyes. "I didn't know where you were. I couldn't reach you. I thought…"
Becca's voice was hollow as she replied. "It wasn't us, Jen." Yet again, people had died but still they were okay. It hadn't been them, and once more the two girls' gazes met with that silent agony. Thank God it wasn't us. Jen nodded, tears welling up in her green eyes before turning to flee.
As soon as she had gone, Becca scrambled out of bed and began to grab the first clothes she could find, shimmying into her underwear and jeans as Matt silently sorted his own clothes from the tangle on the floor. Only when he had finished dressing did the boy look up; saw the tears that blurred Becca's grey eyes. He was across the room in two steps, gathering her against his chest to let her sob, but knew better than to say anything right then. The girl clung to him, face buried against his shoulder. "Is it wrong of me to be glad?" she whispered.
With one hand, Matt tilted her face up towards his. He knew what she meant; understood the cold relief that was flooding through his veins, relief that it hadn't been them. So much like last time; but the fire had missed them twice now. The boy crushed his mouth to hers, lips moving desperately together as if in an attempt to reaffirm their life, vitality. "We're alive, Becca," he replied after pulling back at last. And then he added, with a sentiment so much like Jen's of three months ago that a shiver ran up Becca's spine, "It wasn't us."
The others were waiting downstairs when they appeared in the doorway. Becca let go of Matt's hand and went straight to Jamie, flung her arms about the surprised boy's neck.
"You're all right," she murmured. "When I heard – Lucie –" His arms slipped around her waist awkwardly for a moment, until she let go and scanned the room to see who was there. Just Jen, Dan and Jamie. "Where are the others?"
"Chris and Candy went back home. Hannah had to go to hospital with smoke inhalation issues, so Josh, Jack and Amy went with her." Amy was Jack's current girlfriend, an old friend of his sister's who had finally been introduced to Hannah's twin. "Everybody –" Dan's voice choked over the word, and he corrected that to, "The band's okay."
"What happened?" Matt asked quietly.
There was a long silence. "They don't know yet," Jen admitted at last. "They do know that it started upstairs, and spread. Josh says Hannah had passed out on the stairs; he'd just gone to get the car keys from Jack, people started screaming about the fire. He actually ran back in to get her."
"Jesus," Becca swore softly. So they'd nearly lost Hannah too…
"Someone called 911, and there were about four firetrucks. Dozens of cops, rounding us all up. People from the news, cameras…the cops took witness statements from us all. It was absolute chaos, and then Jen realized neither of you were there." Dan squeezed his girlfriend's hand.
"We couldn't reach you on your phones, and no-one had seen you. We couldn't get near the house, so it was only when it started getting light we could see your car had gone…" Jen's fingers sought out Becca's. "Thank God you're okay, honey. For a moment I thought…"
The sentence was left hanging. They all knew what she'd thought.
Four more people dead. That made eight. Chloë, Cam, Chessie and Ken the first time. Harry, Rom, Lucie and some unknown boy the second. Two fires; Becca fought off her superstition that these things come in threes, but there was still a faint nag of uneasiness she couldn't ignore.
"It might be a good idea for you to phone the guys at the hospital," Jamie suggested. "Candy was stressing out, too."
"Sure." But right then nobody made a move. They sat like that for a while longer; Dan and Jen linked by their hands, Becca between Jen and Jamie with Matt just opposite her. Their eyes met, and they looked away quickly.
These things come in threes…
Third time lucky…third time unlucky.
Jesus, what was wrong with her?
Please review to let me know what you think…love, Jude ;)