As Matty woke up, his head throbbed and the fact that his phone was ringing was no help. He let out a loud groan as he answered it.

"Hello?" He grumbled, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Matty? I'm at yours, where are you?" Alice's accent seemed to be thicker over the phone. He opened one eye to look at the time, it was midday.

"I'm...um...I'm..." he stumbled, not sure what to tell her.

"Did you forget we're having lunch with my parents at one?" She asked, Matty's eyes opened fully and he let out a sigh.

"Of course not, I'll be back in half an hour." He replied.

"Please be quick." She sounded stressed. If there was anything Matty knew about Alice, it was that she craved her parents approval more than anything. He would lose serious boyfriend points if he messed this up.

"See you soon." He mumbled before hanging up. He rolled over just as Kat walked in, dressed for work.

"I thought you got Sunday's off?" He asked, she jumped at his voice.

"You're awake." She pointed out. "Oh, yeah I'm just covering for someone for some extra money." She shrugged. He nodded.

"I'm meeting Alice's parents at one." He sat up and rubbed his face. Kat let out a laugh.

"Well you better get going and make yourself presentable. You look like shit." He rolled his eyes and got out of bed.

"Can I shower here?" He asked, she nodded as she looked through her draws for some socks. Before she could do anything about it, he was hugging her from behind. "Thank you, Kitty." He mumbled against her neck. She turned around in his grasp and smiled.

"Anytime." She held his face in her hand and squished his cheeks together. He chuckled before running his hand through his hair roughly.

"Go and shower. I won't be here when you get out but call me after lunch and tell me how it all went." She smiled, he smiled back.

"Thanks again." He stared down at her lips but she turned away before something happened.

Matty dried himself quickly, not bothering with his hair as he pulled on his black t shirt and jeans before running out of Kat's door and towards his house.

When he got there, Alice was waiting outside on her phone. She looked pissed when she saw him.

"Matty! Where have you been? We're going to be late!" She shouted as he ran towards her, he cut her off by kissing her hard.

"I'm so sorry, I had a rough night last night." He said, her eyes became sympathetic.

"Are you okay? Are you up for meeting my parents?" She asked, concerned mostly for herself that he was going to show her up.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. Let's go before we're late." She pushed him into the car and getting into the drivers seat.

"Okay so my parents are going to be harsh but just stand your ground; they are just testing you." She went on and on trying to prepare him but Matty was not feeling his best.

He was lying to her, every minute he was with her he was lying about where he was last night and what he did. She didn't even know he used, or that he stopped but started again last night. He didn't want to disappoint her but the craving for the drugs was more than his craving for her. He leant against his window and closed his eyes.

"Matty!" Her voice yelled, he opened his eyes to see they were there. "I swear to god, just stay awake for the next couple of hours and then you can be a sleepy idiot. Just keep it together for the next few hours please!" She looked upset and angry. Matty sighed.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. She rolled her eyes and got out of the car, he followed.

"Mom! Dad!" She put on a smile as she saw her parents. Matty pushed his hair out of his eyes and walked towards the middle aged couple. He watched as she hugged them and then they're eyes lose their glow as they focused on him. "This is my boyfriend, Matty." She smiled, he held out his hand.

"It's nice to finally meet you." His hand stood in the air alone for an awkward second before Alice's mother shook it.

"And you, Matty." She said politely, her father just stared at him. "Shall we go inside then?" She pulled her hand away from him and they walked into the cafe.

They ordered their coffee, each couple sitting across from each other. Matty subconsciously put his arm on Alice's leg but she pushed it off softly so he placed it around her chair instead.

"So Matty, what do you do?" Her dad asked. Shit. Matty was already in trouble.

"I'm in a band. We play around the country." He exaggerated, they had played outside of Manchester a few times but nothing huge.

"So you're unemployed?" He assumed, Matty's mouth opened and Alice winced.

"Not...technically...we earn a bit from the shows." He replied, Alice put her hand on his leg and squeezed it. Her dad sat quietly, sipping his coffee.

"So, Alice. How have you been?" Her mother asked, Matty tried not to let out a groan as his head pounded. He sipped his own coffee.

"Good. Matty has shown me almost the whole of Manchester. We went to a concert a couple of weeks ago which was super exciting and I'm spending Christmas with Matty's family." She slipped in there. Matty could've pushed her off her chair, as if they didn't like him enough.

"Really? Have you...met them?" Her mom asked, she shook her head.

"Not yet." She faced him and ran her hand through his hair. He gave her a quick smile but somehow felt she was playing up to something. "But soon." She turned back to them. Matty didn't appreciate this suddenly.

"Yeah, at Christmas. You're going home for thanksgiving aren't you?" He said, she nodded.

"Oh, thank you honey for making time for us." Her mum laughed passive aggressively. Alice laughed and sipped her coffee.

"So Matty, are you Christian?" Her dad asked, Matty almost choked on his coffee as Alice's eyes widened.

"No...not really." He stumbled on his words.

"Not really? Do you believe in god?" He asked, Matty bit his lip.

"No." He sighed eventually.

"Oh. What a shame." He said to his coffee before taking a sip.

"It really is. I am so jealous of Alice and her faith but I can't force it. It just wasn't in the cards for me." He explained, her dad squinted his eyes at him and nodded.

"That's fair. God has not shown himself to you yet." He nodded, Matty's eyes widened but he didn't say anything.

They finished their drinks and stood up to say goodbye. Alice's dad shook Matty's hand while the girls hugged.

"He's not the one honey, he's the one before." Her mum said a bit too loudly. Her dad looked at Matty apologetically before turning to hug his daughter.

Matty got in the passengers seat and rubbed his face again. Alice got in a few minutes later and they waved to her parents as they walked away.

"They hate me." Matty sighed, Alice didn't say anything but she didn't start the car either.

"Could you not pull yourself together for a few minutes just to try and impress them?" Alice burst, Matty's eyes widened.

"What did you expect Alice? You know what I'm like, you know what they're like and I'm not going to sit there and lie to them." He defended but Alice was too upset to comprehend it. "I'm just gonna speak plainly now."

"Wow what were you doing before?" She muttered but he ignored it.

"Do you even like me Alice? Because I for sure like you but if you're just with me to spite your parents then you can piss off." He spat at her, she glared at him.

"I don't like you Matty, I fucking love you and the fact that my parents don't think you're the one fucking kills me." She retaliated, his eyes widened. She just told him she was in love with him.

Matty stared at her and she stared back. He was already lying about so much, but this was big. Telling someone you love them can't just be thrown around and Matty knew this; which is what makes what he did next ten times worse.

"I love you as well." He lied straight through his teeth, his heart wrenched but he ignored it. "And I'm sorry, that I wasn't on my game today. Like I said, I had a rough night." He said quickly as if he were covering up his previous statement.

"Yeah, where even were you last night?" She asked.

"Drank a bit too much at the show so I crashed at a friends." He replied a bit too fast, Alice just turned her head away from looking at him. "I can't be perfect all the time, Al." He said with a smile, hoping to lighten the mood.

"One in a while would be nice" she muttered as she turned the car on. He knew she wasn't joking which is why he didn't reply. It seemed as if every conversation they had was a rollercoaster that he didn't want to go on anymore.

She dropped him off at his house, giving him a reassuring kiss as she stopped.

"I'll come over later yeah?" She said, he smiled and kissed her again.

"Please." He replied as he got out the car and she sped off. As soon as she was out of sight, he got out his phone and rang Kat.

"Healy, how were the parents?" She answered a minute later. He broke out into a grin.

"They hate me, but what's new?" He pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"That bad huh?" She asked, he stared at the street he lived on and analysed every house on it.

"Honestly wonder whether she actually wants me sometimes." He grumbled, Kat gasped.

"Matty that's an awful thing to say." She scolded him but he shrugged.

"She told me she loved me but she doesn't mean it." He didn't know whether that was true but it's what he would tell himself from then on to get through whatever was happening to him.

"Are you sure? Girls don't throw that around lightly" she explained, Matty bit his lip.

"Do you love me, Kitty?" He asked quietly. There was a pause from her end.

"Of course I do Matty. You're my best friend." He squeezed his eyes shut before looking to the sky and shaking his head and hanging up.