The Life I Had Before (3/?)
Title: The Life I Had Before
Author: Charlotte (altogingenting )
Beta: The fantastic ms_belle10 , thank you so much!
Pairing: Belldom
Rating: PG
Summary: Can they see past their pasts, embrace the present and look forward to the future?
Warnings: This chapter: language
Feedback: Highly appreciated
Disclaimer: I don’t own Muse or anyone/anything related to them, this is pure fiction
Notes: AU
Matthew’s POV
There were five minutes left until my lunch break. I was going to meet Dom during my lunch break. He worked in an office not too far from the record store I worked in, so we had agreed to have lunch together. I was really looking forward to it, but hell, how nervous I was! Last time we met we hadn’t been sober long. This time we would be.
It turned out that my nerves were for nothing. When I met Dom, we easily fell into a chat. We sat down in some stairs at an open place and ate our lunch.
“How have your day been at work so far?” Dom asked.
“A bit quieter than usual actually. I told you it is an independent store, right? The shop next to us, a lamp store, went out of business two weeks ago. Today the owner of my store, Sierra, got asked if she wanted to rent the old lamp store to expand the store. And she said yes! So with the new space, we will start selling instruments as well,” I answered with a smile. When Sierra told me, I couldn’t believe it. Lately, the store had suffered and stumbled a bit, and hopefully this would help it back on its feet.
“That’s wonderful! What was the name of the store again? I would like to pop in some time,” Dominic smiled.
“That would be nice. It’s called Vulture Records, but Sierra is thinking about changing the name to Vulture Music, when the store is expanded,” I explained. “How has your day been so far?”
“Very busy, a lot of work to do. Which reminds me, I have to get back now. It was really nice having lunch with you. Do it again tomorrow? If you have lunch at the same time as today?” he asked smiling.
“That would be nice, see you tomorrow then!” I smiled as we parted and went back to work.
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As I opened the door, I saw Sierra talking to the person who owned the record shop and the shop next door. Sierra seemed extremely happy when I heard them talking about the paper work that needed to be done.
When the owner left, Sierra ran towards me with a gigantic smile on her face.
“Guess what?” she said with a smile
“What?” I asked. Judging by the look on her face this was going to be good news.
“You know, Mr. York, the owner of the premises, has always liked this shop. So he said that I’ll get to rent the new premises for 10% less than the original price!” Sierra squealed, nearly jumping of joy.
“That’s brilliant!” I smiled and hugged her.
It had been some time since I saw Sierra so happy; the last time I saw her so happy was before she fucked up her marriage three years ago. But to be honest, I was surprised she was married for the five years she was. Sierra has a talent for messing things up. This shop seemed to be the only thing she could handle without messing it up.
“I know! I’ll go and call a carpenter, since we’ll need to break down the wall,” she smiled and went to the small office.
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“Matt! I need to talk to you!” a blonde woman said as she entered the store. When I turned around to look who it was, my heart almost stopped beating. It was Rose, the current leader of Resist.
“Rose! Get out!” I hissed. I couldn’t be seen with her. If I did, it was over for me, for good.
“Matt, please! It will just take a second,” Rose said.
“Okay, but you better be fast,” I said. Oh, god, how much I hated her. I told her countless times to stay away from me, that she would only bring me trouble, but she wouldn’t listen, so I helped her by writing a speech, hoping she would go away. That was the second biggest mistake of my whole life; now Rose is more annoying than ever.
“You need to help me write another speech. You’re much better with words than me. Please, Matthew, just one more time,” Rose begged.
“No, I won’t do it. For all I know it could get me killed. Now get out of here!” I yelled, not even trying to hide the hate in my voice.
“So you’re saying you’d rather live in injustice than die for justice? Then you’re a coward,” she hissed back.
“I’ve been tied to a chair, kicked in the stomach and back until I couldn’t breathe, had a knife cut my hand, a knife to my throat and I’ve had a fucking gun pointing at my face. I don’t think you have any right to call me a coward. Now get your arse out of here because I don’t want to see you ever again!” I yelled.
“Fine! I don’t want to see you either!” Rose yelled back and walked out.
If only she meant it. Every time I told her to stay away, she had said that she wouldn’t want to see me again. But she always came back. She didn’t understand that she might get me in trouble if she continues to ask me for help. It wasn’t my fault that she wasn’t capable of keeping the number of members up. The last time I checked Resist had only 20, 000 members.
A couple of moments after Rose left the door opened once again and a 16 year old girl called Melissa came inside. Melissa was one of our regular customers. Last week I had ordered a CD for her, so I guessed she was here to pick it up.
“Hi Matthew! How are you doing?” Melissa asked.
“I’m fine,” I lied. I was not fine at all. Rose had just destroyed my wonderful day. I decided to tell Melissa about the expanding of the shop, knowing it was something she would like to hear. “Guess what? Sierra is going to expand the store! She is taking over the space next door, so we will start selling instruments as well.”
“Are you serious? That is wonderful!” Melissa said with a smile.
“I know, I haven’t seen Sierra that happy in a long time. Here is the album you wanted,” I said as I gave her the album.
“Thanks so much! Have you got any new CDs you think I’ll like?” she asked and gave me the money for the CD.
“It’s only been four days since your last visit,” I laughed. “So we haven’t got any new CDs, but we’re getting new stock in tomorrow, you might want to take a look then.”
“Cool, see you tomorrow then!” Melissa smiled and waved as she left.
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Later, when it was very quiet in the shop, Sierra asked if I could go and buy some paint; of course I said yes. The paperwork was going to be done the next day and the carpenters would start their work on Wednesday.
It was going to be interesting expanding the store. I liked the way the store was, with light walls, not to bright light and a cosy atmosphere. I hoped we could manage to keep the atmosphere. Sierra thought we could, so I chose to trust her.