Next to me
Imagine Dragons

Matthew Gray

Hair?

Check.

Clothes?

Check.

Face?

Double check.

Here I was standing like that for hours, doing this same checklist over and over again in my head.

Today was my first official date with Justin and also the first date I had after months. So saying that I was nervous would be an understatement.

I'm dying from the amount of nerves that are in my body! The ground seemed to shake beneeth my feet whilst my hands were all sweaty. My body also looked pretty tense.

What if I didn't look good enough?
What if my character sucked?
What if Justin would change his mind about me?

What if? What if? What if!

God I swear my life sounds like one of those boys in these cliché gay stories on Wattpad. My story would go viral on there I bet!

But this wasn't just some simple Wattpad book, no this was real life and I have to deal with whatever was about to happen this night.

I took one last look in the mirror to see that my gray eyes were practically shining and not as dull like they used to be. My hair wasn't messy like every other day, today my dark and slightly curled strands were styled into a neat quiff. I wore a casual black muscle t-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans along with green All Stars. The necklace that Rain gave me on one of our dates hung around my neck, just for the extra luck tonight.

All of the sudden the doorbell rang which made my heart stop at an instant. I knew my mom was about to walk to the door so I rushed downstairs, quickly passing her in the progress and opened the door with a huge smile that I wasn't aware of.

The moment I saw him took my breath away as the pair of green eyes were piercing themselves into mine. His golden locks were perfectly styled like usually. His light skin glistened against the moonlight. He also wore a black shirt, but with a brown leather jacket over it and a pair of dark jeans with some simple sneakers. He looked drop dead gorgeous, the only thing he needed were wings and a halo. There he was:

Justin McCall

Once we made eyecontact I felt my nerves calm down a bit. That's just how we stood there for I have no clue how long. Both of us were staring at one another, not even bothering to say something. I think this was overwhelming, new and scary for the both of us. Luckily, this silence wasn't awkward or anything in fact it was comfortable and nice.

"You.. w-wow, you have got me speechless here Matz. Every time I think that you couldn't get any more beautiful, you just prove me otherwise every single day and just like right now. You look so hella beautiful'' Justin spoke up and broke our silence.

''T-thanks, you l-look also very good yourself'' I stuttered whilst blushing at his compliment.

''Now, shall we mister Gray?'' He asked in a fancy way and offering me his arm which made me laugh as I took his arm.

''We shall'' I mimicked him and tried to keep my laughter in.

''Matt don't forget to be home at 10 PM again!'' My mom yelled from far behind me.

Wait.. Has she been spying on us?

''Will do miss Gray!'' Justin yelled before I closed my front door so she wouldn't bombard us anymore with her embarrasing talk.

I hadn't even told her about this date yet. I knew she would either flip or faint like some teenage girl.

With this playfull and comfortable atmosphere between Justin and I, we walked towards his car. He opened the car door for me. I smiled thankful at him and took my seat. Eventually Justin got to the driver's seat and started driving.

''So where are we going?'' I asked curious and watched him.

He looked really good today and I couldn't stop watching him. Just the fact that he tried to look even better for me made my heart swell and my stomach fill with butterflies. He normally already looked like some angel and right now he was trying to top that.

He took a chance to look at me and focused back on the road again.

''It's a surprise'' He smirked cheekily.

''Oh come on! I don't like surprises you know that'' I whined.

I never liked surprises or celebrating my birthday even before what happened with Rain. I just didn't want someone spending so much time, effort and money in me as we could also do something simple or nothing at all.

''You will like this one, I promise you'' He laughed then.

I nodded and looked at the window. The moonlight was honestly glowing like there was no tomorrow and the dark green trees that we were passing were looking pretty calming yet I couldn't help but get nervous all over again. My fingers were fidgetting and slightly shaking.

What if it all just goes wrong?

''Hey, are you nervous?'' He took another glance, but looked back at the road.

''N-no?'' I tried to lie so he wouldn't laugh at me, but he seemed to smile and took me by surprise by grabbing one of my hands.

''Liar'' He laughed soft and drove further.

I smiled at that and looked back outside again, until we arrived after a couple of minutes.

''Stay here'' he said before getting out of the car, rushing like a dork to the other side to open the door for me again.

''Thanks, but you know you don't have to right?'' I laughed at him whilst I got out of the car.

''I know you like simple, but here is where you go wrong babe. You are a perfect boy who should be treathed like one'' He said and had a huge grin spread across his face, probably because he knew that I would be blushing like I did right now.

''Stop that dork!'' I yelled while covering my red and flustered face.

He awed before taking my hand, leading me to wherever he had his 'surprise'. I actually felt kind of flattered with all of this. He knew he didn't need to do his best yet he did all of it. He put 100 percent into this date while something small and simple was already enough. This was just a sign to me that he meant every word. He wanted all of it just as bad as I wanted.

''Okay, I need you to close your eyes now babe. I will lead you and not let you trip like last time at that cliff'' He grinned in a adorable way.

I couldn't help but smile and trust him with this so I closed my eyes without even arguing which had to mean a lot since I always tell him off when I needed to. I think I just trusted him more over time and tonight already started so great, so why would I not listen to him?

I felt his warm hands covering my closed eyes and for some weird reason I felt my stomach making backflips as my body felt all tingly. We started walking and as promised, he didn't make me trip this time. After a while we stopped and I grew more nervous, excited and curious at the same time. I slowly felt the warmth of his hands leaving my eyes.

''You can open your now eyes Matz'' He whispered in my ear, creating goosebumps over my whole skin.

I did what he asked me to do and opened my eyes. My eyes widened surprised and my mouth fell open whilst I gazed like an idiot at the situation right in front of me.

We were on a beautiful lighted grass field where you could see the sun rise. There was a table for two, all served up with cutlery and decorations. Beautiful colors reflected from the skies, creating this astonishing portrait. Flowers were spread across the stunning view.

''Do you.. Like it?'' I heard Justin ask from beside me so I looked at him in shock especially when I saw the poor boy chewing his lip nervous.

''Of course I like this Justin! Thank you so much'' I said and meant it.

He smiled soft, took my hand and led me towards the table. He helped me sit down before he went sitting in front of me.

"I know your favorite is spaghetti so I asked some help to make some for you'' He said while smiling.

''You are extremely nice today, it's almost scary. Who are you and what have you done to my Justin?'' I said and smiled wide.

"I just want to show you that I can be different than only just teasing and being mean to you'' He smiled and scooped up some spaghetti on both of our plates.

''Well, you succeed'' I said and helped him with filling some drinks into our glasses.

''Bon appetite'' I smiled once everything was set and started eating

My mouth exploded with all different kinds of flavor, but still had a good balance with each other. It almost melted on my mouth.

''I hope you like how it tastes?'' He said and watched me while he started eating also.

''It tastes wonderful Justin! It's really good, you should try to cook more often'' I smiled and ate further.

I honestly love every kind of food, but this spaghetti was almost better than my mother's.
That had to say a lot right? I hope my mom wouldn't kill me for thinking that.

''I didn't like cooking. Really, everything went wrong in the kitchen. You should've seen me! It was a chaos. But for you I would do it many more times'' He laughed and took my hand from above the table as he already finished his food.

That boy eats freaking fast!

I finished mine after a while. Now I knew it was time to talk, ask questions and for some reason I felt even more nervous than I was before.

''Do you enjoy this night?'' He asked me.

''Yes, definitely. Thank you a lot! Are you enjoying it also?'' I took a sip of my drink and watched him.

''Even if we were shopping or something, I would still enjoy it as long as I'm with you'' He winked.

''Stop flirting you tease!'' I laughed and felt my cheeks getting hot.

''Okay okay babe, calm down. How about you sing something for me?'' He smiled.

''I don't think I can do that. I never really sang for someone except for Rain, I'm sorry..'' I apologized and felt bad for it.

It was already hard to play the guitar and sing after Rain died. I wasn't ready to go back to that and especially not singing in front of my loved onces. My face fell after that thought.

''Hey, no it's fine Matz'' He caressed the back of my hand in a comforting way, making me feel better in less than a second.

A calming silence errupted between us as our eyes were still holding this intense eye contact, making me long for his soft lips on mine. Man, I loved his neverending bright eyes.

After a while he asked me another question.

''Do you think you could actually do this? I mean, I know you still have trouble with Rain and stuff'' He explained more serious now.

''It will be hard, but I think I can and it's also time for me to move on, give others a chance. I don't want to waste and push away my happiness. If I won't do it now, it'll never happen'' I answered.

His entire face lit up from my answer I think, because he had a wide smile on his lips and his eyes were sparkling in a way that I couldn't describe to you.

''So.. how are you really doing now Matt? You don't need to answer if it doesn't make you comfortable'' He said once he sensed my anxiety.

''It's okay.. I know I still need to work on everything, but for now I actually feel better than before. I also don't have any pain in my body anymore and you spending the time with me these days helped me a lot'' I answered genuine.

''That's really good to hear. Do you wanna stay here or are we ready to leave?'' He smiled and gripped my hand tighter.

''Yeah, it's almost 10 so let's go'' I smiled yet felt a bit disappointed, because I didn't want to end this fairytale night.

But it was getting late after all and my mom still didn't trust me with leaving me out of her sight. Time flew by whenever you enjoyed something.

I got up and helped him with packing everything up before taking it to the car.

Once we put everything in the backseat, I walked towards my side of the car and shivered since it started to get cold outside.

"Are you cold?" I heard Justin ask from behind me which made me turn around.

"A little bit.." I shrugged, not thinking too much about it.

He smirked a bit and took his brown leather jacket off as he walked close in front of me.

"W-what are yo-" I tried to finish my sentence, but he was so close to me that I had to look a bit up to him since he was taller.

A soft smile was brought up to his lips as he put his jacket around my shoulders.

"Here.. It even looks better on you than it does on me.." He whispered soft, probably also overwhelmed with this delicate moment.

"Thanks.." I smiled then.

He helped me to get in the car again and once we were driving on the roads, there was another silence. This one was different, more of a sad one and I think it was because of the fact that both of us didn't want this night to end.

Tonight had been wonderful, we had so much fun together and talked about so many topics. I wasn't pretending to be happy anymore and I knew I could be myself with him. We laughed, enjoyed and smiled.

Maybe this could be a cliché gay Wattpad story after all.

We eventually pulled up at my house, Justin got out and helped me another time with getting out of the car and now he was leading me to my front door like a real gentleman.

''Today was one of the best days that I had in a while, thank you so much for this date Justin, I certainly needed it'' I smiled and took a step closer to him.

''Of course, no problem. Everything for my perfect boy'' He said in a serious way while staring back at me.

Why was he so nervous?

The night had arrived, the skies were dark and this stars were showing their shine. It was so dark outside yet his forest green eyes were shining bright.

''Bye Matty'' He said and was about to turn away, but I stopped him by grabbing his hand to make him turn back around.

''Matt? What's wr-''

I interrupted him by pushing my lips on his soft red ones. My heart stammered against my chest non stop and I threw my arms around his neck to pull his body closer to mine.

He was taken back by surprised, because he didn't kiss me back. But after a while he melted into the kiss, snaked his arms around my waist to pull me even closer to him. His hand played with my hair, making me moan and he took that as his chance to slip his tongue within my mouth.

Our bodies against each other reeked with warmth, the sparks were literally igniting everywhere and the world around us felt like electricity. This kiss was filled with fire, love and also a bit of rush.

Damn it felt addicting to me.

He broke the kiss and gave me one of the brightest smile of the day. He cupped my cheeks and softly caressed them before placing one last kiss on my lips.

''Good night Matz'' He said before turning around and taking place in his car. He wasn't leaving yet though, probably to make sure that I got safe inside.

So once I got back inside the house, I leaned against the front door all love struck.

''Wow..''

And oh, stupid things I do
I'm far from good, it's true
But still, I find you
Next to me