Chapter Text
Alex, Alexa and Matt had been taking a stroll around Sheffield City Centre when Alex's phone started ringing in his jean pocket. Arctic Monkeys had just completed their Humbug Tour a month prior and the members had gone back to their hometown for some well deserved time off with their friends and family.
Alex answered his phone after the first ring, knowing who the caller was due to the special ringtone he and Matt's best friend Marilou had set for herself, but the young man barely understood what she was saying through the sobs that came out of the device. If he had to take a wild guess he knew her scumbag boyfriend was involved in some way and so when the girl finally paused to get some air in her lungs, Alex said he'd be there as fast as possible and hung up.
"Who was it?" Alexa asked, noticing the change in her boyfriend's mood.
"T'was Mar," he replied as he stuffed his phone back in the pocket of his jeans. "She was a sobbing mess, couldn't understand a single thing."
"Her boyfriend?" Matt asked, disgust coating his voice. Him and the rest of the boys didn't like Benjamin one bit. They did try giving him a chance when Marilou started dating him, they really did, but six months had passed and Ben just kept getting worse. Marilou would dismiss their concerns by saying that he was intimidated by them and that's what caused him to act so differently when the Monkeys had met him, that he was a real sweetheart who treated her nicely when they were alone, but that wasn't enough to convince her lifelong best friends.
"I don't know but I'd bet my life he had to do something with it." Alex answered truthfully.
Ten minutes later the trio was knocking on the door of Marilou's apartment, preparing for the worst. Their redheaded friend opened the door, hot tears staining her cheeks and eyes barely visible due to their sudden puffiness. Matt, being the closest to the door, immediately took her in his arms and rubbed his hands soothingly against her back as she continued crying on his shoulder. Alex and Alexa each latched onto both sides of their friends, the former pressing soft kisses in the mess of ginger curls that rested on top of her head. After a few minutes, Matt suggested to go in the apartment and get comfortable so she could tell them what happened and Marilou whispered a soft "okay" once she had calmed down a bit.
The group settled down around the living room, Marilou sandwiched between Alexa and Matt on her settee while Alex sat in front of her on the coffee table. Matt had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, keeping the girl close to his side to offer her the warmth and support he knew she needed. This wasn't their first rodeo.
"He cheated on me." Marilou blurted out, ripping the bandaid quickly.
"He did what ???" Matt gasped in shock while Alexa muttered a "I'll fucking kill him" under her breath. Alex remained silent but one look in his eyes was enough to know he could've set the whole city on fire.
"He cancelled on our plans because he said he was "sick" so I went to his flat to bring him soup and cuddles but instead I caught him in bed, fucking this random girl," the redhead continued, wanting to be done with this as fast as possible. "It's nothing, I'll get over him. I just need to cry it out of my system and I'll be okay."
"Lou..." Alexa sighed as she rubbed her hand up and down her friend's arm. "Babes, I'm so sorry."
Matt and Alex didn't speak a word, only exchanging glances between each other as they knew they were both seconds away from exploding.
"It's fine, I just wanna get high out of my mind, watch Mamma Mia and forget about it," Marilou said after getting more comfortable against Matt.
"Then that's what we'll do M," Matt answered, trying to add some cheerfulness to his tone. "I'll even go buy you weed right now if needed."
"It's fine, I just restocked yesterday." Marilou mumbled as she used her sleeves to wipe her cheeks and her nose. Gross , she thought as she saw the snot on her navy coloured oversized sweater.
"Why don't you and I go get changed in comfy clothes and clean your face properly while the boys get everything ready?" Alexa suggested, grabbing the redhead's hand and squeezing it gently.
Marilou nodded her head and let herself get dragged by the brunette down the hallway to her bedroom.
Alex ruffled his hair and after a few minutes of groaning and trying to calm himself down, he looked up at Matt who was already staring at him. "I could cause as much damage as a nuclear bomb right now."
"I know," his best friend replied, "Me too." Matt sighed as he rubbed his face with both hands. "But we're not doing anything about it right now," he added with a pointed look.
"Lou needs us." Alex agreed, getting up from his spot to go find the Mamma Mia DVD he knew his friend had laying around somewhere in her flat.
"I swear to God if I ever see that bastard again..." Matt trailed off as he got out the bong and weed.
"You're not gonna do anything about it," Marilou finished for him as she and Alexa walked back in the room, both in flannel pajama pants and loose tshirts. "He's not worth it."
"Yeah but no one hurts my better half," Matt argued before dropping a kiss on the girl's forehead.
"Matt, he was a scumbag. You and Alex and the rest of the boys have told me so, it's my fault I was too stubborn to listen to yous." The redhead answered as she slumped back on her emerald green settee.
"None of that bullshit." Alex ordered before settling next to his best friend. "It's not your fault he's too much of a wanker to know what he just lost. Now grab that bong and start smoking."
One hour later the group of friends were all properly high, singing along to the ABBA soundtrack of the movie. The four of them had managed to all squeeze on Marilou's settee, though Alexa was sitting in Alex's lap so it wasn't much of a tight squeeze.
"Do you wanna know," Marilou started as she sat up from where she had been cuddling with Matt, "do you wanna know what that slag said when I caught him?"
None of her friends replied, all looking at her, waiting for her to continue.
"I don't even remember exactly what the words were because it was just so stupid... but basically he took a jab at the size of my tits because hers were clearly so much bigger than mine... said something about them being too small and not bouncing enough or-"
"Lou, as much as I love you I need you to stop right there before I get up and go beat him up." Matt interrupted, his high no longer preventing his anger from boiling hot in his veins.
"Yeah and your tits are fucking perfect, don't let anyone tell you anything but that." Alex added as his red shot eyes were back on the telly.
"Yeah that too." Matt agreed, nodding his head.
Marilou lightly smiled at her best friends. "Thanks boys. I mean, I already knew that, but how do you know?"
"Alexander, I think it's time we tell her." Matt sighed, rubbing his face with the hand that wasn't resting around the redhead's shoulder.
"Tell me what?"
"I think it is Matthew." Alex acquiesced, turning his head to look at Marilou. "Mar," he paused, thinking over his words, "we have seen your tits, quite a few times actually," he admitted.
"It was always by accident though," Matt quickly added.
"Yeah, I still don't understand why you were never scared to get changed in your bedroom at your parents' house with the blinds open, but Matt and I accidentally, and I'm heavily emphasizing on the word accidentally here, saw your bare chest from our bedrooms a couple times." Alex explained.
Marilou kept moving her head from left to right, staring at both of her best friends with her mouth open and her eyes as round as they could be due to their puffiness. Alexa sat there with a slightly horrified look on her face, not knowing what to expect next. Finally, the redhead burst out laughing, her cheeks becoming as red as her hair in a matter of seconds, her three friends joining in soon after.
"Oh I am so glad you told me this while I'm high as hell," Marilou managed to blurt out in between laughs. Though as soon as she calmed down, she didn't hesitate to smack Matt and Alex behind their heads at the same time. "You pervs!!"
Alex kept on laughing at her reaction while Matt tried to defend himself. "Hey! Like he said, it was all on accident! You've always been like a sister to me, trust me I never wanted to see them in the first place. Even when I was a horny teenager."
"Thank you Matthew, I appreciate it," Marilou answered as she giggled.
"I actually can't believe he said that, is he an adult or fucking fourteen years old??" Alexa still couldn't quite believe what Benjamin had said. Tits are tits, no matter their size they are always greatly appreciated by heterosexual men.
"Well now that I think about it, he did act like a teen a lot." The redhead replied as she thought about it. "I was always picking up after him, whenever he was drinking he'd always get shitfaced. Oh and I had to remind him to do his laundry almost every week."
"Lou I love you but you have such shite taste when it comes to choosing a romantic partner." Alex said, almost sounding disappointed. Marilou was the best person he knew and that he would ever know, and it broke his heart every single time whenever he had to pick up the pieces left by the damage of whatever scumbag she was dating. She deserved better, so much better. The world on a silver platter wasn't even barely enough for someone like her.
"I have to admit your girlfriends have always been better than your boyfriends." Matt pointed out, to which Alex and Alexa both agreed.
"Yeah that's because women are still better than men, no matter how much of a bitch they are." Marilou answered.
"No truer words have ever been said." Alexa agreed, both girls giggling together.
Silence comfortably fell over the group, par for Mamma Mia playing on the telly. "Do you guys mind staying over for the night?" Marilou quietly asked after a few minutes.
"Of course we’ll stay Mar," Alex immediately replied. "Even if we didn't want to, I think we're all too high and tired to go back home."
The friends laughed, Marilou sliding in a soft "thank you" before all of their attention went back to the last thirty minutes of the movie.
Once the credit scene and the last notes of Waterloo were over, the four of them all went to the bedroom down the hallway. Marilou and Alexa to climb in the former's bed, Alex and Matt to grab the spare mattress the redhead kept against her wall as well as some comfy clothes of theirs that Marilou had stolen through the years so they didn't have to suffer sleeping in jeans.
When Alex had first started dating Alexa, never would he have guessed the friendship that would blossom between his girlfriend and his girl best friend. Yes, Marilou had always gotten on well with his former lovers but with Alexa, sometimes it felt like both girls were dating each other and he was the awkward third wheel tag along best friend. He didn't mind, he knew Alexa didn't swing that way and Marilou wouldn't actually steal his girlfriend from him, and he was glad that the two most important girls in his life (except for his mum of course) cared so much for each other.
And so it wasn't a surprise that whenever the trio ended up having a sleepover, Alex would find himself stuck to sleep on the settee or a different bed than his girlfriend. The young man brought the spare mattress to the sitting room with Matt's help and both of them started chuckling once they realised they forgot to move the coffee table out of the way to lay the piece of furniture on the floor.
__________
A groan left Marilou's soft pink lips as she woke up ten hours later, sitting up on her bed and rubbing her eyes. It wasn't the sun shining through her curtains that woke her up, nor the chirping of the birds mixed with the sounds of cars driving by outside. A rich smell of coffee floating through her flat pulled her out of her slumber and for a second she thought Ben stopped by to bring her breakfast in bed like he'd do sometimes, only for the girl to remember the previous day's events.
Tears started streaming down her face once again and when she caught sight of her cheating ex boyfriend's sweater laying over the chair in the corner of her room, Marilou fell forward, her comforter muffling her cries.
At the same time a gentle knock sounded from her door, Alex appearing from behind it a second later. He didn't know if his friend was still sleeping so he tried not to make a sound but when he saw her body shaking with sobs he quickly abandoned that idea and climbed on the bed, pulling the girl in his arms as he reclined himself against the wall.
Alex delicately rubbed his fingers in circles against Marilou's back, whispering soothing words in her ear while she clung to him like he were a lifebelt. In a way, he was her lifebelt. Through all the hardships life has made her face, no matter where he was in the world, Alex always helped Marilou make it back to the surface when she felt like she was drowning.
"Let it out Marie, cry it all out." Alex softly said, pressing kisses to her head.
"I don't even wanna be sad about him," Marilou confessed once her sobs had died down. "I'm tired of being sad."
"Here's what I suggest: Matt and I will spend the day with you - Nick and Jamie too if you want - and we'll be sad all day with you. I'll make that carbonara pasta that you love so much and then around 7 or 8pm, you'll plop in the shower so the lads and I can take you to the pub where our drunk arses will do literally anything to cheer you up. How's that sound?" Alex suggested.
"Alexa isn't joining us?" The redhead asked as she looked up to her best friend.
"Nah," Alex answered, a tiny bit of disappointment lacing his tone. "She has to be in London this afternoon, that's why she's already gone."
"Oh." Marilou didn't even notice her friend's absence when she woke up. "Where's Matt?"
"Went to his flat to go get changed and grab some fresh clothes for me."
"Ah."
"So, did I come up with a fantastic plan for today or not?" Alex questioned again, squeezing Marilou's side as he did so.
A small smile appeared on the girl's face. "Yeah you did. And get Nick and Cookie to come over too please."
"Alright Red." Alex said, planting a kiss on the top of her wild mane. "I'll go make you a cuppa coffee."
"What would I do without you?" Marilou jokingly asked as her best friend got up from her bed.
"That's a question you and I both don't wanna know the answer to." He replied, making his way out of her bedroom. "I'll put a record on, any requests?"
"Hmmm," the redhead pondered, tapping the index finger of her right hand on her bottom lip like she always did whenever she had to make a decision. " Songs of Leonard Cohen please mon chou (my darling) ."
"Your wish is my command, ma joie (my joy) ."
Being best friends with Marilou O'Shea for most of his life meant that now at the age of twenty-four, Alex knew a fair share of french words and expressions. Marilou's mother, Marguerite Laurent-O'Shea (or more commonly known as Margo by family and friends), not only was born and raised in France but was also the french teacher at a secondary school in Sheffield. She would always take immense pleasure in helping Alex and Matt with their French whenever the boys were over at the O'Shea's house when they were kids. Now the two boys wouldn’t say they’re fluent in french, but they knew a bit more than bonjour, merci and où sont les toilettes? (hello, thank you, where are the bathrooms?)
As Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne ringed through the small Sheffield flat, Marilou reluctantly got out of her bed, grabbing some fresh clothes before making her way to the bathroom. As soon as she was done with her business, changed in a new pair of forest green sweatpants and a black vest, her curls tied in a bun at the base of her neck and her glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, the girl joined Alex in the common area. She sat on a stool at the bar that delimited the kitchen from the rest of the room and took a sip from the mug that was placed in front of her. By that time, the third track of the album, titled Winter Lady , was coming to an end.
“Thank you Al,” Marilou acknowledged after swallowing her quite big sip of coffee. The beverage was still a little bit hot on her tongue but she liked it that way. Alex responded with a smile and the both of them continued drinking their coffees in silence, enjoying Cohen’s genius on this somewhat pleasant morning of May.
“The boys should be here soon,” Alex estimated once he had washed his now empty mug. “Gave Jamie and Nick a run down of what happened so they don’t bombard you with questions.”
Marilou thanked him again, he really knew her too well.