Sing for Absolution

["Fuck I didn't know! Ahh I'm corrupting the innocent girl!"]

Matt followed her excitedly and began clambering up the boulders. He couldn't help but let out a whoop when he reached the top and jumped up to touch the stars.

"I think I touched one~" he whispered conspiratorially and took her hand, reaching their entwined fingers toward the stars.
 
[XDDD "Yeah right! Get outta here!"]


Alyne stood at the very top with Matt, not even caring or aware that this was higher than she had ever gone. The rock to stand on was smaller, and the drop sheer off one side. None of it mattered - she felt warm and safe and wonderful! She giggled at Matt and wrapped her fingers with his, reaching up for the stars and standing up on her tiptoes.


"I think I touched one too! The purple one!" she said excitedly, then wobbled a bit and half fell into him, giggling the whole time. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she whispered, smiling.
 
Matt laughed, catching her as she fell into him. "I like the red ones. Didjoo know that if they're red they're coming towards us. And if they're blue they're moving away. And if they're really blue, they're moving away really fast. And if they're really red, they're moving towards us faster? If they're white, or yellow, they're not moving at all. Also if they're blue they're really hot. And if they're red, they're cool, for stars. It gets confusing cos sometimes a red star is moving away from us so it gets a little blue, makes it purple, or a blue star is moving towards us, so then it gets a little purple too. And if a red star is moving towards us then it's really red too. And if a blue star is moving away it gets really blue too. That's how astronomers can tell how fast something is moving towards us or away from us. But they have to be careful in case a star is already red or blue to begin with. It's called the red and blue shift. Cool, yeah?"
 
Staring up at Matt with a blankly fascinated expression, she listened to everything that he was saying and quickly found herself getting lost. Honestly, if they weren't so.. erm.. messed up, she would have known precisely what he was talking about. Probably. However, right now, she just started giggling at him and shook her head.


"You are so utterly ridiculous and adorable," she proclaimed, then took his hand again and tugged. "Come on, let's go back and lay down and watch them all dance for us! I wish I could dance, but I can't, I'm too clumsy. Perry always said it was the only thing that made me not be pretty," she babbled, giggling a bit.
 
"Perry's a dick and I'm gonna put him in his right place," Matt said with a giggle, and then snapped his mouth shut. "Shhhhhhh don't tell on me though." He followed her back down the rock pile. "I'm pretty clumsy too, and I definitely can't dance" he said. "Imagine tripping over an amp in front of a crowd of ten thousand people." He nodded. "Yep."

"Anyway, you're plenty pretty, so don't take anything that guy says seriously. Besides, he's nobody. What's he do for a living? He runs a bar. Whoopdie doo. 's not like he runs the city, and even if he did, that doesn't mean anything. He prolly jus thinks he's a big shot cos no one's tried to stand up to him before."

Matt lay back down and after helping Alyne back down in the grass he put his arms behind his head and stared up at the sky again quietly.
 
"You?! You're going to put him in his place? I'd love to watch, I bet he'd probably start to cry!" she declared, giggling. She laughed as he spoke of tripping in front of thousands, shaking her head. "That's why I don't do anything in public except sit on a stool and play my drum! Nobody notices if I get all nervous and miss a tap! I missed one when you came to the bar the other day," she said, nodding.


She blushed deeply as he called her pretty, the compliment soon forgotten as she giggled at him continuing to verbally tear Perry apart. Laying down next to him, she raised her fingers up to the stars and twirled them around in wonder.


"I've stood up to him before and it didn't turn out so well. I had a bruise for a week. Andrick was sooooo angry," she confided in a whisper, then giggled and looked over at him.


"This is the most fun I think I've ever had."
 
Matt turned his head and blinked at her. "Perry hit you?"
 
Alyne shrugged and looked away, back up at the stars. It wasn't something that she liked to dwell on, and the feeling of melancholy was starting to wind into the giddy rush that had been there just moments before. She didn't answer, just sidestepped the question and avoided his gaze.


"How long has your band been together?"
 
"Hey don't ignore my question." Matt demanded, sitting up and gazing down at her. "Answer me! You can't just say something like that!"
 
"I'm sorry.. I shouldn't have mentioned it. It's not important. It was a long time ago.. He was drunk and I was tipsy and he thought that.. well.. We just don't see each other the same way," she said, sitting up as well and turning away from him to put her chin on her knees as she gazed down at the dark valley.
 
"Hm," was Matt's only reply. He was gazing out to the East now, which was getting lighter as the very early morning was dawning. He plucked another liberty cap and was about to eat it when he thought better. His mood was off now, and it wouldn't be a good idea. He hadn't had a very strong high from only the one shroom and could feel himself coming down. He wasn't sure if it was the conversation or that it was truly wearing off. He hugged his knees to his chest and remained silent, watching and waiting for the sun to come up. He had only just met this girl the night before. He felt unqualified to know such an intimate detail about her only knowing her for such a short time. He began pulling at the grass without realizing it, ripping it between his fingers.
 
Alyne couldn't even think of anything else to say. She had misstepped, and it was entirely her own fault. The conversation had swept her up and she had said the first thing that came to mind when thinking of Perry. It wasn't her fault was it? Yes, it was. She sighed and curled up tighter, frowning sadly at herself. This is why she couldn't have friends, wasn't it? Made sense.


Once the sun had popped over the horizon, she stood and brushed herself off, still not really daring to look at him.


"You should go back."
 
When Alyne had finally spoken to him again, her words fell on deaf ears. Matt had fallen asleep sometime between when the sun had made it's nearby presence known and when it had finally popped over the horizon. He was slumped in an awkward position that he would likely regret upon awakening. His fingers were still tangled in the grass even though his grip had relaxed. The dew that had formed as the sun rose sparkled in his hair just as it sparkled in the grass.
 
When he didn't answer her, Alyne turned and saw that he had fallen asleep. She blinked and smiled a bit, shaking her head. Oh dear, he was going to be cursing himself later for that.. Well, she couldn't pick him up, but she couldn't very well just leave him up here alone. She sighed and walked back a few steps, then curled up against a pair of rocks that formed a slight shaded slope. It was more comfortable than she had expected, and she soon fell asleep with both of her arms wrapped tightly around her bodhran.
 
When Matt finally awoke, the sun was high in the sky and beating viciously down on him. He groaned and rolled onto his back, throwing an arm over his eyes. He guessed by the position of the sun it had to be noon or maybe even one in the afternoon.

"Fuu-uuu-uuuck," he groaned, his body was stiff and he was almost certain he had a sunburn on the back of his neck where the sun had beaten down on his sensitive pale skin. He stood up, stretching stiffly and groaning again. He was groggy, had not gotten nearly enough sleep, and had no real idea of where he was.

He looked around, bleary eyed and spotted Alyne against some rocks.
 
Alyne woke up a couple hours after she had fallen asleep, but it was still early and she was still exhausted. So, after rolling over and finding a new position, she had gone back to sleep. She was still deep in her dreams when Matt woke up, not even stirring as he groaned and muttered.
 
Unsure of what to do, Matt fidgeted for awhile. He didn't know if he should wake Alyne or not and inwardly argued with himself if it was a better idea to leave her alone or to wake her up. Finally after much internal debate he decided she probably slept out here on a regular basis, since he frequently fell asleep when he was out stargazing, and that she could take care of herself, after all, she lived around here. After looking around some more, he could see that he was on top of the mountain that rose up above the village and farther below he could see the lake. He found the path that lead down to the village and followed it stiffly, finding his knees giving out on him a few times from his exertion down the mountain the night before.

As he ambled into the village there seemed to be a commotion and Matt wandered over to see what was going on.

"Matt, you stupid prick!" he heard Dom shout and he turned toward his friend who was stalking angrily toward him. "Where the fuck have you been?" Dom hauled him off down the path toward the village and when they were out of sight he pushed Matt against a tree. "Where's that girl you were with last night? People are looking for her!"

"Oh…" Matt pointed up the hill, she's up there… we were stargazing last night…"

Dom gave an exasperated huff. "Did you fuck her?"

"What? No!" Matt said, shoving Dom off of him and continuing down the path. "What the fuck, mate? Jesus!"

"We're trying to record an album here, Matt."

"No shit," Matt said, spinning toward Dom. "You can hardly lecture me about that."

"I've been there every single day, Matt!"

"You've been there but you haven't. This hasn't been your priority and you can't fucking lie to me about that!"

Dom spat at the ground, "God, I'm sorry about all the shit that's going on in my life right now!"

"I don't want to hear about it," Matt said coldly. "Maybe just- turn your phone off or something for awhile."

"Speaking of phones, did you lose yours again? Because I called it and it went straight to your voicemail."

"Yes, I did," Matt hissed. "In the lake."

There was silence as they walked and suddenly Dom snorted. "Oh my god someone needs to glue that thing to your face."

Matt's shoulders relaxed a bit and he chuckled quietly. "Shut up."

More silence. "Your neck is really sunburned."

"Thanks, Sherlock, I'm aware. And it hurts like bloody fucking hell."

More silence. Dom tried again at conversation. "We can try that idea you had last night. I didn't forget about it."

This seemed to visibly relax Matt and he nodded, his head getting focused back on the music.

"Jus let me take a quick shower or summat first, kay? Sorry I disappeared on you."

"Used to it," Dom mumbled out of earshot of Matt as Matt headed into his cabin to shower and change.

[So I'm thinking we'll have to do some scene skips here soon enough. Let me know if you've got any ideas.]
 
Andrick was the one who finally came across Alyne, recalling the spot from her showing it to him when they were children. He shook her awake and she murmured absently, not waking up until he shook her twice more.


"Damn it, Alyne! The whole fucking village is searching for you and all you're doing is sleeping up here?! What is wrong with you?!" he yelled. She blinked and cowered back, noticing for the first time that Matt was gone.


"I was just up here watching the sta-" she began, but Andrick cut her off again.


"Stars. Right. Like always. Look, Alyne, it's about time you grew up. I'm leaving and you're not going to have somebody watching out for you to make more mistakes. You need to start looking for a husband or something," he said, and she just stared at him in shock. This wasn't medieval times, who did he think he was?!


"I'm not getting married on your whim," she hissed, then stood and stalked down the hill.


Several hours later, Alyne was sitting on the bus bench and gazing down at the resort when Perry walked up to her. He was looking smug, and she didn't even look at him.


"So, I heard you're in the market for a husband.." he began, and she got up and glared at him.


"Perry, damn it, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm not interested? I wasn't interested when I was drunk and you tried to take me in the alley and I sure as hell am not interested now," she snapped at him in a hiss, too furious to act like her usual timid self. His jaw dropped and he smacked her, stomping off back to the bar without even caring that she sprawled back on the sidewalk.


[I dunno! xD]
 
Things in the studio had started to go a bit more smoothly and they were starting to make headway on some songs. Dom had taken Matt's advice and turned his phone off, which seemed to be helping him get his head back in the music.

Tuesday night, Matt went to bed early, surprising everyone, not only that he'd actually gone to bed and hadn't fallen asleep at the piano or some other random place as he typically did, but that he was going to bed at such an early hour. Some started to worry that he was getting ill.

"Great," Dom and Chris mumbled together. Just what they needed. Their front man getting ill. Dom vowed he was going to make sure Matt was taking better care of himself so no more unforeseen circumstances held them back.

Matt's alarm went off at 4 am Wednesday morning and he staggered out of bed and into the bathroom where he took a shower that was cold because it took ages for the water to heat up in his cabin. It woke him up and he dressed quickly, realizing he needed to ask Dom to do his laundry because he had nothing left but his baggy green jumper and his pair of corduroy trousers. He pulled the oversized jumper over his head and pushed the sleeves up over his wrists somewhat unsuccessfully. His clothes were almost always too big for him. The only time he'd ever had any real success with clothes that fit him properly was when they'd been in Japan. Japanese people were about his size and so he'd done a lot of shopping while he was there, mostly by Dom's request. Matt actually hated shopping but he couldn't argue with Dom that clothing that fit properly was more beneficial.

"And you actually look good," Dom had teased, much to Matt's chagrin.

But for what Matt lacked in stature, he made up in personality. He grinned into the mirror as he brushed his teeth, the grin flawed by one crooked front tooth.
At 4:30 Matt was out of his cabin and making his way up the mountain. It was still dark. The sun didn't creep up over the mountain until almost 7:00, even though it was summer. Matt was in the sleeping village at 4:50 to meet the train. He was determined to beat the mail carriers.

Matt had streaks of good luck and bad luck. Today seemed to be his lucky day because the train rolled in early at 4:53. He hoped the crates of liquor would be easy to spot or hear. He flashed his toothy grin again when the railroad crew began unloading the village goods. The crates clanked obviously. Matt made his way through the hubbub and snuck off with two of the seven crates.

He reasoned it would be better to make off with only part of Perry's stock and not all of it. It would be less suspicious that way. Matt ambled his way through the woods toward the cliff face that dropped down to the lake. He found a dry creek bed that made his trek easier and was surprised that it lead straight to where he needed to be. He wondered if water flowed here in the spring and made a waterfall. It would make sense then that Matt had fallen into a drop off when he'd tried to make his way around the edge. Well, this would be the perfect place to get rid of evidence then. Matt heaved the first crate over the edge of the cliff, listening for the massive splash when it hit the water. He was about to toss the second crate over but thought better of it and cracked it open instead.

"Awh yeah," he giggled. This crate had Jack Daniels, which Dom loved, and a couple bottles of vodka. Matt began to wonder what had been in the crate he'd thrown overboard. He hoped he hadn't wasted any precious wine but shrugged anyway. He decided he'd hide this for now and once some commotion had died down over Perry's lost stock, he'd sneak up and get the bottles for a fun evening. Maybe on a night when Chris went to visit Kelly.

Matt shoved the crate into a bush and covered it with leaves and twigs. Matt gathered some stones and made a noticeable pile directly across the dry creek bed from the bush where he hid the crate. Perfect.

Matt pushed his sleeves up again and made his way into the village. Time for breakfast.

[mwahaha. Don't worry. I got this.]
 
The next day, Alyne woke up to an empty house. Andrick was gone and had left a short note that very tersely told her that he'd be back in a year 'or so'. He hadn't been due to leave for over a week. She felt heartbroken and abandoned, and didn't even have a chance to beg him to stay. He had no idea now that she had a deep bruise along the left side of her jaw - not that she would have shown him anyway. She sighed and threw the note on her bed, then carefully applied makeup until the bruise was gone. It'd be good until she took another shower, probably.


"Time to be social.." she muttered to herself, though she had no intention of doing that. She stopped by the bar and picked up a few bagels and cream cheese to go since Perry never came in that early. Bag in hand, she walked out and went up to the place she had taken Matt. Everything was crashing down now. Oh well. She shook her head and pulled out a bagel, listening to the cries of the birds.


[XD Oh, Matt..]
 
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