Note: This Day Eleven is geting pretty long aha! Still not over after this chapter! I don't know when I'll update next, this week end might be busy.
Lyrics are not mine, I was too lazy to write some myself so I borrowed from the band that is representative of Mind Pollution for me: The Damned Things. Yeah, Mello totally has Keith Buckley's voice for me. The song is 'Handbook for the recently deceased' but I renamed it for the purpose of the chapter.
No proofreading, again, sorry! (I'm really being lazy about everything lately, you can spank me!)
DAY ELEVEN – 4 contestants / 1 to be eliminated (part 3)
Matt didn't want to go downstairs. He was hearing the music perfectly from where he was sitting, even with the door of the bedroom closed, but he just didn't think he could stand in front of Mello right now. Not with his red eyes and his snotty nose. He wasn't one to cry easily, but he had been turning what had happened in every direction possible in his mind from the moment Danny had left the room and said he would fix it, and Matt didn't see an exit to this.
He was well aware that the dare was not the problem. The problem resided in Mello's reaction, in his autism. Things like that would happen, and not only did Matt feel like he was unable to prevent it, because it was his personality to use sarcasm and jokes, but he was unable to solve it. If his and Mello's personalities, and he was adding Mello's syndrome in the equation, collided, how was it supposed to work? Matt would only end up hurting Mello all the time, and Mello would always be on the verge of freaking out, and it just couldn't be that way.
Matt was mainly scared that he couldn't cope with Mello's autism. He wanted to, but where he had thought it possible, it was revealing to be extremely difficult. He had been a little too optimistic it seemed.
He felt like he had lost Mello anyway, so why bother with such thoughts? This hurt too, thinking that a simple joke could end their relationship, when it had barely begun. Maybe Mello had just taken that as a way out now that he had had what he wanted? They hadn't had sex per se, but it was close enough, so maybe Mello considered that enough to move on...
Matt heard all the others leave their rooms, and he decided to follow. He didn't really have a choice anyway, and it was better to just line up downstairs than have Danny or even Mello come here to fetch him and bring even more attention to him.
He quickly went to the bathroom to throw some cold water on his face, and joined everyone in the main room.
Mello had his eyes on Matt as he walked down the stairs, Matt reluctant to look at him. His pride was very much against Mello seeing that he had cried, but he could hardly hide it.
He stood next to David, waiting for Mello to speak, looking down.
"Okay guys," Mello's voice seemed unusually void of life, "You know that music is everything to me, and since I haven't really dug in the topic as for now, I decided to show you, and have you participate in the behind the scenes of being a rockstar."
Mello couldn't help but glance at Matt from time to time, but the redhead avoided looking at him. The singer wanted to smile at him, make him understand that it was okay, but he didn't get a chance.
"Today, you will stay here, but you will be busy. I want you to write lyrics for a song. I know that this is not something you're used to do, but I want to see your creative spirits in action. Those Ipods contain the music that is supposed to go with the lyrics, just try to make it rhyme, and avoid the cheesy stuff, if you know what kind of lyrics I usually write, you know what to do. You have all my band's CDs available here," Mello gestured to the table, "if you need them for reference, and who knows, your lyrics could be on our next album, so put those brains in action and impress me."
Mello was about to move from where he was standing when he remembered something he had to say. Damn, he really couldn't focus today.
"I'll check what you've written tonight at 7pm, that leaves you with enough time to kill it. The winner will go on a date with me, and believe me, you don't want to miss this one."
Matt wouldn't look up, but Mello's patience was running thin. He needed to make things right before he exploded. The situation was making him edgy, and he knew himself well enough by now to know that it wasn't the best way to keep control, when everything was at risk to set him off.
Danny was holding a pile of spiral notebooks and a handful of pens for the contestants. As he was about to distribute them, Mello pulled one of the notebooks from the pile, stole a pen, and scribbled something quickly before handing the notebook to Matt. The redhead looked at the singer – he couldn't avoid it this time – surprised when Mello's fingers caught his as he took the notebook. Mello was smiling sheepishly, and Matt's heart suddenly found its place back where it belonged.
A little stunned, Matt didn't know what to think. Mello obviously looked like he wasn't mad at him, and he felt a lot better, but still... he didn't know if it would really work out between them, this fight had happened so fast, so strangely even, this autism things wasn't as easy to deal with as it seemed and maybe Matt didn't have the shoulders for that. He was now full of doubts.
But for now, he had lyrics to write. He had no idea if he could do that. It was like writing a poem, right? If so, he was fucked, because he hated poetry. He was impermeable to it, even. But he needed to win the date. First because he needed to spend time with Mello and know for sure if he could cope with such a relationship, and possibly speak about his doubts, although he might make Mello freak out once again, but maybe they could find a balance in this mess, he didn't want to give up without trying anyway, as scared as he was. And second, because jealousy. Mello was his now, and he wouldn't let him to anyone, as fake as the date would be. Mello's time was his if it involved a date, no one else.
Matt surprised himself with his train of thought, because he wasn't the possessive type. He could probably put that on account of his state right now. Being here in the show, cut from the real world, with all the drama happening lately, it was putting a great strain on his emotions, and he didn't think straight sometimes.
He decided to fetch some food and coffee, and since David and Joshua were each in a bedroom, and that himself didn't want to go to his, all three bedrooms were a no go now, and Charly was obviously staying in the main room, sitting on a couch, Matt just sat at the kitchen table with his notebook and his pen. The place was as good as any.
He had no idea what to write, and he racked his brains fruitlessly for a couple hours, the others coming and going to pick something to eat as well.
At some point, the mansion became extremely quiet.
Matt's thoughts began to wander, and suddenly, something struck.
If he had to write lyrics for a song, he should use his feelings. It was obvious that some of the band's songs related to Mello's feelings - he had heard a few songs by now – so maybe that was a good lead to use.
Opening the notebook, Matt decided to give it a try. He didn't expect to see something written there already.
I'm sorry, and I love you. Win this.
Matt didn't believe his eyes. If he had felt better earlier, now, he was on top of the world.
He was stupidly in awe in front of Mello's handwriting too, because it was beautiful. It had obviously been written quickly but still, the lines were neat, it almost looked like calligraphy.
He tore the page off the notebook, and, careful to fold it neatly, he slid it in his pocket to keep it.
He noted down a few ideas that he could use, sentences that could sound good, themes that he wanted to touch on, and began to work from there.
Three hours later, he had two verses and a semblance of a chorus, he just had to rework that to make it rhyme.
While doing so, another verse came to him, and a few minutes later, he had a fucking song. Okay, it didn't rhyme, he hadn't managed to do it, but for some reason, it didn't look weird.
The more he read it, the lamest it looked to him, but it was too late to start again, and he knew he could never do better than that anyway, so Matt decided that it was it.
Charly came in the kitchen to make some coffee. There was still one hour to go, but he seemed to be done as well.
"Want some coffee?" the mohawk boy asked Matt as he was filling the coffee machine.
"Yeah, sure."
Charly waited for the coffee to run, obviously going over what he had written, his back turned to Matt, and served the dark liquid once it was ready, sitting at the table.
"Damn, it was a hard one this time." he sighed, "Not that I want to win the date, but I couldn't even if I wanted it anyway, that's just shit." he let his notebook fall on the kitchen.
"Not sure I did better." Matt chuckled.
"Well, let's hope the others did worse then." Charly smiled to the redhead.
"Yeah..." Matt smiled back. He knew that Charly wasn't trying to trick him or fetch informations, his situation in the show, although the production might not have shown it during airing time, was clear, Mello kept him because he appreciated the guy's personality, but he had no interest in him, and Charly had none in Mello either.
"Do you mind?" Charly asked, pointing out at Matt's notebook.
"Not at all." Matt pushed it across the table, Charly doing the same with his.
As Matt read Charly's lyrics, he had to agree: that was shit. It was really terrible.
He wasn't sure his own lyrics were good but at least they were not as bad, so he still had a chance.
"You wrote that?" Charly looked at him dumbfoundedly.
"Yeah, why?" Matt was feeling uneasy now, was it that bad?
"I don't know, it looks so... good?"
"Really?" Matt had the greatest difficulties to imagine that his lyrics could be considered good. Barely okay, but good?
"Yeah, really! Damn, you've got skills man! They don't even stand a chance!" Charly exclaimed as the two others joined them in the kitchen.
"Hey, talk for yourself, I did pretty good myself." David laughed, waving his notebook in the air with a satisfied expression on his face.
"I'm out." Joshua raised his hands in defeat, "I barely have six lines and they don't even rhyme, that's really not my thing."
"Show me!" Charly asked David, holding out his hand to get his notebook.
"No way!" David protested, "So you can steal mines? Hands off!"
They all laughed. There was not a real tension between them. All three other contestants seemed to have accepted the fact that Matt and Mello had connected and that Mello already had his winner, and none of them resented Matt for that, fortunately.
"But you know Matt, I don't care that Mello's all over you, I still want to win the dates, that's my only chance to do things I couldn't do otherwise so the game is still on, at least for the challenges!" David said, smiling.
They ate snacks while waiting for Mello to come back, and chatted idly, but soon the singer's voice resounded along with his apartments' door opening and closing.
"Guys? It's time to give your notebooks back, teacher Mello is here to correct the tests!"
The boys went to the main room, Mello gesturing for them to sit, while he walked to the front door.
The contestants were surprised to see the rest of the band come in. Tommy was here, along with Mike the drummer and Tyler the bassist.
"I suppose that you recognise these guys, but just in case, I'll introduce them."
Mello did so, the guys joining the contestants on the couches, facing them, after greeting everyone.
Tyler contrasted with the rest of the band with his nerd glasses, tartan shirt and necktie, he looked more hipster than rocker with his perfectly trimmed beard, brown hair and green eyes.
Mike had his head shaved, tattoos all over his arms, and he was built like a tall brick wall.
Tommy looked close to Mello in stature, although he was slightly taller, and his hair was long, wavy and brown.
The singer sat in his usual fuzzy armchair, as Danny brought drinks, glasses and a mountain of chocolates on a silver plate.
Mello unsurprisingly started digging in the chocolate pile right away.
"So, Mike, Tyler and Tommy will be judges as well, even if I have the last word in this, and I really hope that we have some good material here, who knows, we could use your lyrics in a song?"
Danny handed a notebook to each of the band members, and they started reading.
"Oh, of course, we don't know who wrote what so we will be totally impartial." the singer added. The notebooks were all the same, and Mello had no idea how each of the contestants' handwriting looked like, but he counted on the note he had written in Matt's to cheat.
Tyler immediately started to laugh.
"Holy shit." he said, wiping the tears of laughter falling from his eyes. Tommy bent to read the text and started laughing as well.
"I haven't read something that terrible since the chicken dance." the guitarist said, "At least it's funny."
"Okay this can't obviously win, it's not even complete and it doesn't rhyme, sorry to whoever wrote this." Mike said, passing the notebook he had to the bassist, who read it quickly before giving it to Tommy.
"I agree, I think we can definitely eliminate those two." he said, handing Mike's and Tyler's notebooks to Mello, who surveyed them quickly.
"Agreed, I have much better here." Mello said, throwing the two notebooks on the coffee table.
"I don't know about yours, but we have a winner here." Tommy agitated the notebook he had received from Danny between two fingers, "And I'm serious, this shit is good enough for a song."
"Show me."
Tommy and Mello exchanged their notebooks, and as soon as Mello started to read, he knew that Matt had written this. Not because of the note he had written himself earlier, because it wasn't there, and he was realising that he couldn't have cheated this challenge, but because what he was reading was screaming out loud about their story together.
Yes, this had to win the challenge, not because it was Matt, but because it was amazing.
"This one's not as good."
All the other musicians read both texts, agreeing on the winner.
"So, who wrote this one?" Tommy asked, reading the first line out loud.
"It's me." Matt replied, completely dumbfounded that the whole band loved his lyrics. And that he had won the challenge. Loyally, even.
"Hey, we want to know what he wrote!" Joshua said, clapping his hands in good spirit.
"Yeah, read it Mello!" David added.
"I'll do better than that, I'm gonna sing it, just give us a few minutes." Mello said, "Tommy, come with me, let's see what we can do."
Tommy followed Mello to his apartments.
"Remember the melody we were working on? It could work I think." the blond said as Tommy picked up an acoustic guitar sitting in a corner.
"Yeah, I think that can do it." he started playing.
Mello hummed over the music, placing the words in his head, until he had a pretty good rhythm. He then began to sing as Tommy adapted the melody slightly. It wouldn't be perfect, but the lyrics were falling into place quite nicely.
They left the room after twenty minutes and came back with the others.
"So, guys, you will have the privilege to hear a possible new song tonight, called Chaos."
Then Mello began to sing, and Matt felt really weird hearing his lyrics in the singer's mouth.
We're breaking up, getting lost in the static
You're getting blurry, right in front of me
The footsteps growing quiet in the hallway as I let go
The gravity that attracts us helps us implode, or else we'd keep dividing but I know
We're aimed straight at each other
We are doomed to crash, so strike up a fire, light up the town, because
We're aimed straight at each other
This was meant to last
So don't try to fight it, the chaos will calm us down
Our lips move but we speak in a language that neither one of us can understand
You sleepwalk through the tape and the sirens, and I let go
The rules of our attraction were carved in stone
And yet you keep resisting, but I know
We're aimed straight at each other
We are doomed to crash, so strike up a fire, light up the town, because
We're aimed straight at each other
This was meant to last
So don't try to fight it, the chaos will calm us down
Mello stopped there, his voice slightly breaking on the last words. He quickly regained his composure, and Tommy, glancing at him, started to applause, everyone following.
"Well, congrats, Matt, this shit is good. Are you into music or something?" Tyler asked, wondering if the redhead was maybe in a band himself and was used to write lyrics.
"No..." Matt was feeling a little uneasy because Mello was staring at him and the others were all over him with questions and congratulations and he had just thrown in the open his feelings for Mello in lyrics and... he was kind of losing his footing there.
"Hey, has someone checked that he didn't cheat? Maybe it's not even his lyrics!" David said suddenly, poking his tongue out to Matt. It was more an attempt at teasing the winner than anything, but Mello was already checking on his smartphone. Which didn't really surprise Matt, and he didn't take offence for that. Had he not known Mello, he would certainly have been hurt for the lack of trust, because he was not a cheater, but it was Mello and well, that's what he did.
"Nope, totally original lyrics." the blond said, grinning to Matt, "Well, then I guess we'd better get going because the date won't wait."
He stood up, the other musicians doing the same.
"Thank you guys for your hard work, it's not everyone's thing to write lyrics and I appreciate the effort you put into this." he said, holding out his hand to the redhead, "I'll see you tomorrow but for now, Matt and I have a date, we're going out with my band."
Matt repressed a frown. They wouldn't be alone, and although Mello didn't seem angry anymore, Matt would have loved to talk things over to clear the situation completely, and express his doubts as well.
The band and Matt climbed in a huge limo and drove away.