Chapter 4
Mateo
12:13 PM
I called Lydia earlier. Rufus and I were going to try to keep our relationship a secret just for fun, but Lydia.. She already knows. She knew from the second I introduced him to her, even if we weren’t a thing yet. I never came out to her, but she just…knew. I guess we’re still going to try to make a game out of it around Malcolm, Tagoe, and Aimee, though, which should be fun.
The person I’m worried about telling is my dad. He’s always been supportive of me no matter what, but naturally I’m still concerned. When do I tell him? Telling him right when he wakes up would be weird, I mean, he probably doesn’t want to hear about ME the second he wakes up. Or maybe he does?
Either way, Iwant him to meet Rufus. My dad was there for me my whole life, he always has been..but that’s not his burden anymore. I love him too much to keep relying on him. I have Rufus, Lydia, and hopefully, the Plutos.
When my dad wakes up, I hope he’s proud of the person I‘ve become.
I hope Rufus is proud of the person I’ve become.
Speaking of Rufus, he is currently asleep next to me. We both invited our people over at 1:30, and he’s sleeping. Shouldn’t he be getting ready? He’s so careless..And I love that about him.
He never seems to worry about much, at least in the short time that I’ve known him. Even when we were supposedly dying, he wasn’t worried. He practically welcomed death. I feel a cold rush down my spine, I don’t want to think about Rufus dying.
I feel a shift next to me. Rufus must be awake.
“You up?” I whisper to him.
“Mm..” He grumbles. Cute.
“I’ll take that as a yes?”
“Mhm.. why are you whispering if I’m already awake?” He gives a gentle laugh and sits up.
“I’m just trying to be considerate!” I roll my eyes at him.
“Well, it’s much appreciated. What time is it, Teo?”
Teo. My face grows slightly red. People have called me that before, but somehow, when it’s coming from him, it feels different.
“Teo..” I mumble under my breath. “OH! It’s around noon-ish.”
He grins, “Thanks, Teo.”
He knew, of course he knew. I’m so readable. I’m not necessarily mad that he realized, I just wish that it wasn’t so easy for him.
Rufus got up, presumably to get ready for our “we lived” announcement. Before he leaves the room, he stops in his tracks.
“What is it?” Did I do something wrong?
He just smiles,walks over to me, leans down, and plants a kiss on my lips.
I feel my stomach twirl and my head spin. “What was that for?”
“Felt like it.” He shrugged.
God, he’s so annoying! He knows exactly how to make me feel dizzy.
“Go get ready!” I yell-laugh, shooing him away with my hand.
He raises his hands in the air like he’s been caught by the police, and walks out. I’ve had small crushes before, but nothing ever like this. He makes me want to scream and giggle into a pillow. I have a MAJOR crush on my boyfriend.
“My boyfriend” I smile to myself.
“What was that?” Rufus yells from the bathroom, he very obviously has toothpaste in his mouth by the way he’s talking.
“Nothing!” I smile even wider.
“Okay, weirdo.”
I should probably get ready, too. I’ve never been one to have a sense of style. Everyday, it was kind of just whatever I found in my closet first, which was usually a hoodie and jeans. I’m going to try today, though. It seems like a fun little experiment.
I walk into my room and take a look at my closet. Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t much to work with. I found a gray hoodie, a jean jacket, and some ripped jeans that were pretty baggy on me.
After putting the outfit on, I realized that I look like a wannabe skater. I didn’t look bad though. Not bad at all. I sprayed on a little bit of cologne to go with the outfit, and from there, I was pretty much good. I didn’t really need to do much to get ready, unlike Rufus.
“Roof? What do you think of my outfit? Ew that sounded annoying. Still.” I walked into the bathroom to show him.
His cheeks flushed a little bit as he looked me up and down. “You look.. Different.” He smirked.
“Different?”
“Good. I meant you look good. Not that you don’t always look good,” He rambled, “I just meant-”
I interrupt him by connecting our lips. It’s unusual for me to make the first move, but it made him stop rambling. Regardless of me kissing him, he takes charge somehow. He places his hand on my lower back, pulling me closer to him. My body heats up in response to this.
He pulls away from this kiss, burying his head into my neck.
“You smell nice.” He mumbles into my skin.
“Oh and I’M the weirdo?” I giggle, placing a kiss onto his head.
“I stand by what I said, yo!” He says, letting go of me.
He stares at himself in the mirror, fixing his barely grown out hair. I can’t help but watch as he does this. He’s so much more confident than I am. I’d be that confident too if I was that pretty. God, every time I look at him I think of something mushy and cringey. What’s wrong with me?
“You enjoying the view over there?” Roof laughs, not looking away from the bathroom mirror.
“Very much so.” I reply with confidence, even though I feel like my knees are about to buckle.
“Good to know. I’ll be sure to-”
The doorbell rings, cutting him off. My face loses all of its color as I feel a buzz in my pocket. I pull my phone out to see a text from Lydia,
“I’m here early. Let me in!!!”
“She’s here early..” My voice quivers.
“Mateo Torezz.” Rufus grips onto my shoulders.
“Hmm?” I humm.
“What happened wasn’t your fault. She isn’t going to be mad at you. Okay?” His voice is stern.
“Okay.” I take a deep breath.
Rufus lets go of me in order to let me reach the door. I don’t feel like I can do it. Can I really face her after almost dying? I step in front of the door. Holding onto the doorknob, I take in one more deep breath.
As soon as the door opens, I am thrown to the ground by the force of Lydia’s hug. I yelp and start to laugh..until I realize something.
She’s crying.
“Lydia..!” I sit up, pulling her up with me, still holding onto her.
“I missed you. You-” She sobbed, “You fucking scared me, you idiot.”
“I missed you too. More than you could imagine. You missed me so much that you came early, huh?”
“I’m sorry!” She backs away out of the hug, sitting across from me. Using her sleeve, she wiped the tears off of her face. “I was too anxious to see you. I couldn’t wait anymore.”
“I’m just giving you shit,” I playfully punch her arm, “I’m glad you came.”
She nodded as her eyes trailed off to the doorway to the hallway. All of the sudden, she starts to laugh.
“Are you high? What are you laughing at?” My eyebrows squish together.
She just shrugs while still laughing. Curious, I look behind me at the doorway. Standing there, I see Rufus. Lydia was laughing at his presence. She was laughing because he was eavesdropping.
“Your boyfriend is eavesdropping on us!” She continued to laugh.
“I can see that!” He waves at me, laughing.
Lydia was hysterical.
“Is it really that funny?” I question, starting to laugh myself.
“No!” She snorts, “I’m just really, really happy to have you-” she pauses, “to have you two back.”