Chapter 15 Matty
Chapter fifteen
Matty
Daddy bought me a house. It needed a little bit of work, but we could get it all done before we moved in.
The cute house was across the street from a park where Donny and Kay could come over and play, and it had three bedrooms. One for us, one that we were adding acoustic tiles to for Drake to play music and stuff, and the third for me to have my own playroom. I was seriously excited about that.
Drake pushed open the double doors. They were like fire engine red and solid. The designer, Pyper, tapped the front of one of them before going in. “How do you feel about these?”
That was an easy answer. “I’d rather have something with glass to let in more light.”
“Not so in your face, maybe tone it down,” Drake added.
“Gotcha.” She made a note on her tablet. Then followed Drake inside. “Landing zone?”
“That’d be great.” The door opened into a wall, but it wasn’t in your face or claustrophobic. It was light and airy and would be even more so with glass doors and a place to drop our stuff. “We have a bench in our place now. So we can sit and get shoes on and off.”
“Mmhm…makes sense.” More tapping on her tablet. I liked that she was taking our thoughts into account.
We walked through the rest of the house, explained the soundproofing, and what we liked and didn’t like.
But we were getting Daddy Saxon to decorate the playroom, so nothing for her to do with that.
There were two living rooms, so we wanted to turn one into a bonus space, kind of like the one at the big house, only smaller.
Drake wanted to be able to have the guys over, and I didn’t blame him.
“Wet bar, pool table. Gaming console. Music. Maybe we could get speakers built in all over the house?”
“Yep. Floors?”
“I don’t mind them, but let’s talk kitchen.
” I led her to the most questionable area of the house.
The floor tiles looked kind of Spanish and ran through all the main areas of the house, which I liked, but it also meant we might have to make some changes.
“This bar.” I slapped the countertop that stretched from the wall to the other side of the kitchen, blocking it from the small living room.
“I’d rather have an island, so the access is easier.
You know. It should flow. And the cabinets shouldn’t end here.
” Changing the peninsula into an island would allow more cabinets to stretch into the next room.
I indicated the window where the cabinets should stop.
“It’s tight. Pulling this out will help, but also that wall. It’s wasted space and closes it in. We could get rid of that. What do you think?” Pyper asked. She was serious and classy, with brown hair pulled into a low chignon and a nice flowy pantsuit.
I looked at the wall she was talking about.
In the kitchen, it was a long blank wall, but on the other side was a small dining area.
“Do we need a dining room? Most of the time it’s just us and if our friends and fam are over, this is too small.
Let’s do like the big house and put a big table outside.
” I pointed to the back of the house. “Then we can steal this for more kitchen or a pantry.”
Drake nodded. “I like that.”
“Great.” Pyper made another note. We walked through the kitchen and into the small living area. “Pulling this out steals some of this room, but it’s still cozy.”
“Opening up these doors will make it feel bigger.” I opened one of them and stuck my head outside.
“What do you mean, open them up?” Pyper followed me to the door.
“Take these out and put in those big ones that open completely up.” I tried to demonstrate with a hand motion.
“Like the entire wall.” Drake opened the other door. They were nice glass doors, but they weren’t what we wanted. Why have French doors when you could open up the whole thing?
“Yes. Got it.”
“Maybe we could use one of these in our room, so we can have access to the pool.” Yep. Drake said pool. I did a happy dance, wiggling my butt. I was already planning pool parties in my head.
“Okay. Let’s go see.” Pyper walked back into the house.
We looked at the rest of the rooms and what work we needed, including rearranging and reframing the bathroom so I could have a nice big standalone tub.
It was very exciting. I’d never been able to do anything like this, and neither had Drake.
That’s why we hired Pyper. She came highly recommended from the Midnight Hunt guys. She was professional but warm.
This would be much better than living with the other guys, too. Not that I didn’t love them, but privacy was needed. Especially since I liked running around with no clothes on.
Of course, the rest of the guys were still staying in the big house longer.
Except Finn. He’d already moved to a big new apartment down the street.
The others would eventually find new places to live, though.
Midnight Hunt wanted the big house for a new band.
Our guys could all afford these new homes now, too.
Since their album was a hit. And their tour went so well.
Soul Shred was well on their way to being stars.
I was so proud of Drake. I put my hand on his cheek. “I love you, Daddy.”
He pulled me into a hug, lifting my feet off the ground. “Love you, too.” He swung me around before putting me down. “Let’s finish this up and get back to the house.”
We picked dinner up on the way home and shared it with Gonzo and Tank. Then we made hot cocoa and went upstairs to finish decorating the tree. This would be our last Christmas in this house. It all seemed so perfect, like a surreal dream.
The last few months have been a lot. With Rocktoberfest and the other West Coast shows.
Including being back in Vegas but at a big venue this time.
They toured from April through July, then had a break.
After that, they had four more months, including the big festival that Drake always wanted to do.
They were on a tiny stage on the first day, but they weren’t well-known.
Yet. Next year, they would probably get a better spot.
After the festival, they played a big show in Vegas, and Andre from the club where I used to work got to come see it.
“It was cool seeing Andre again.”
“Do you want to move back to Vegas?” Where the hell had that come from? We were buying a house together. Making a life.
I did not hesitate. “No. No way. This is my home, where you are, Daddy. That’s home, and it’s where I want to be. I go where you go.”
“You need a life of your own, too.” My grump had a sweet soul. He worried about my happiness. Sometimes, I didn’t know what to do with that. I’d been on my own too long.
I hung another ornament and stepped back to look at it. “I’ve actually been thinking about that.”
“The ornaments?”
“Duh, no.” I took a sip of my cocoa, then picked up a plastic icicle. “I want to open my own dance studio. I want to teach.”
“Teach dance?”
“Yeah. I’m sure as hell not getting on a pole, and we know I can’t dance.”
Gonzo poked his head up the stairs at that moment. “The hell you can’t. You’re one of the best dancers I know.”
“I mean ballet.”
“Oh. Right. I know you used to do that. Whatever happened with that anyway?”
I took my drink in both hands and sat on the couch, tree forgotten, and sighed.
“I hurt myself years ago, and it put me out of that world forever.” It still hurt that losing that career also lost my parents.
Looking back now, they were toxic. My mom was obsessed with ballet, and from the first moment I took an interest in it, she pushed me hard.
And dad would do anything to make my mother happy.
I think he felt guilty because getting pregnant with me was what ended her dance career.
It was a fickle world. I did love dance, though.
Not just ballet, and I thought I would be a great teacher because of how much I loved it.
But I was balanced, lacking my mother’s obsession.
“Sorry to hear that, Matty. You’re too sweet to be sad about it, though.”
“You’re right, Gonzo. And that’s why I want to teach.”
“Great idea, bro.”
Drake slid his arm over my shoulder. “Yep. I agree. Great idea. I’ll help you all I can.” He kissed my cheek. Yep, Daddy was a big ol’ sap.
A few hours later, Finn came by, and like the year before, we all sat around the fire pit.
We had brandy again, and the guys smoked their fancy cigars.
Drake stretched his long legs out in front of him.
“This has got to be our go-to every year. Next year, we’ll all be living in different places, so I offer up our place to meet. ”
Finn nudged Tank. “That works for me, but where’re you going to be?”
“Next year? Hell, if I know. Probably someplace like you have.”
“Me too.” Gonzo took a sip of his drink. “Can’t see having a big property with a yard and maintenance.”
“Right. I like the pool and the gym and shit at the complex, and good security, and I don’t have to do shit. Like mow lawns.” Tank puffed on his stogie.
“But you can’t make it perfect. You know, for you.” I watched their reactions, expecting pushback. “We met with our designer today. Our place is going to be, well, perfect.”
“Yes. For you.” Finn tilted his head and pointed at me, a tendril of smoke snaking up from the end of the cigar in his hand. “That ain’t me, man.”
“Ah…” Everyone had different ideas of what perfect was, and maybe Finn didn’t need to change anything at his place. “Well, we shall put a fire pit in so you all can come over for this brotherly bonding thing.”
“Well, all right.” Finn lifted his glass.
“Cheers!” Tank held up his glass, and everyone else lifted theirs.
Drake chuckled, the sound low and deep. “Merry Christmas, brothers. And Matty.” He leaned over and kissed the top of my head.