Chapter 1
Mateo
11:00 AM
I woke up, groggily. Next to me was Rufus, fast asleep. God, he looked so precious. For a moment, he didn’t look like someone who got into bar fights. He didn’t look like someone who punched his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. He didn’t look like someone who was about to die.
My heart ached..our time together was almost over. How much longer did we have left together? What time is it? I checked my phone. Upon checking the time, I felt a rush go through my body. I started to shake.
I really, really didn’t wanna wake up Roof, but I had to. I was shaking, confused, and about to cry.
“Roof!” I shook him, making sure he wasn’t dead. “Rufus, wake up!”
“Huh..?” Rufus rubbed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Shakily, I pulled out my phone. “Look at the time!”
“You gotta hold the phone still, man..”
He held my hand to steady the phone. He studied the screen until he realized what time it was. I’ve never seen someone jolt awake quicker.
“HOLY SHIT?!” Rufus sat up, confused. “HOW ARE WE ALIVE?!”
“I don’t know! I just woke up and saw that it was the next day..”
All of the sudden, Rufus pulls me into a hug and practically smothers me. As he does this, I start to sob into his shoulder.
“Why are you crying?” Roof asks me, wiping the tears off of my face.
“Because.. We made it. I get to see my dad wake up from his coma..” I start, “I get to watch Penny grow up. I get to be with you.”
We both laugh, not because what I said was sweet, but because what I said was stupid.
“We should probably tell people that we’re uh.. Alive and well.” He suggests.
“Yeah.. We should.”
Rufus got up out of bed and pulled out his phone. Before I could even ask, he was calling Aimee. I wasn’t jealous, however, I was worried. I knew that they were over, and I knew that Aimee had a new boyfriend, but what if Rufus didn’t like me? We met last night, maybe it was a heat of the moment type of thing. He probably just didn’t want to be lonely on his last night of living...I should ask him later. For now, I have people to call, too.
I don’t have people to call. I have one person. Lydia. I don’t know how she’s going to react, which scares me. I just have to rip the bandaid off, I guess.
I click the little green phone button and call her. The familiar ringtone plays for a little too long. I wonder if she’s even going to pick up..
She does.
“Who the actual fuck is this?! Are you trying to play some kind of sick prank on me?!”
“Hello to you too, Lydia..” I feel myself start to sweat, nervously.
“Mateo..?” She recognizes my voice. “How the hell are you alive..?”
“I have no idea.. Rufus is alive too! Deathcast was wrong, I guess.”
“You say that so casually.. When is Deathcast ever wrong?”
I shrug. “Now?”
“No shit. I have to see you, oh my god. I miss you so much.” Lydia gushes. For once, she gushes.
“It’s only been a day!”
“A LONG day.”
I laughed. “True.. I can meet up with you later. I kinda have to talk to Rufus.”
“About?” Her tone of voice grew stern. I swear, sometimes she speaks to me like I’m her kid.
“About us. I wanna know if I was just some one night stand because he was lonely and knew he was gonna die anyway.”
“ONE NIGHT STAND?! YOU GUYS HAD SEX?!” She screamed.
I pull the phone away from my ear. “NO!? THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!”
“I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK! JEEZ!”
“I’M SORRY!” I laughed once more. It was nice to just talk with Lydia again. I know it hadn’t been that long, but the truth is, I missed her, too.
She sighed. “Man.. Yesterday was rough. Today will be better. See you later?”
“See you later.”