The Other Side Of The Lens

04. Officially Meeting Mateo

"Let's go to the diner instead of my house," I tell Alison while I'm driving in the direction of our new location. She just nods in agreement. "Good idea! I am pretty hungry," she says. I was hungry too but the main reason I didn't want to go home was because I knew Christopher is still there and I don't want to see him right now.

  Yeah, I know. Avoiding my own brother seems wrong but I just can't look at him the same anymore. I shove the thought to the back of my head and focus on my driving. I take a quick glance at Alison to see if she has a questioning look on her face since I don't want to go home. But all I see is her singing her heart out to "Plastic Hearts" by Miley Cyrus. That's another thing I love about Alison, she doesn't push me to tell her anything until I'm ready to talk.

  Just as the song finishes we pull up to Steph's Diner. No, I don't know who Steph is but what I do know is that the food is amazing. I started coming here when I was 11 years old. Christopher showed me the diner and from there on I have always come here. The bright neon lights that pop out at night are what makes me really love this diner. Inside music is always playing, more specifically 2000's music. Every other diner I have visited has nothing compared to Steph's.

  Alison and I walk inside, the smell of cheese burgers and freshly made fries makes its way up to our noses. As we're walking to a booth, we catch the sight of curly brown curls and chocolate skin. Just as if she sensed our presence, Valencia turns around and smiles at us.

"Hey girls! I haven't seen you two in a minute," Valencia greets with a smile.

"Hey!," Alison and I say at the same time as we're taking a seat at our booth.

"So how was the first day of senior year?," she questions. Valencia is a few years older than Alison and I and she is attending online college since she didn't want to leave her Mom alone.

"It was great," Alison says with a rosy blush spread across her cheeks. Obviously it was great for her because of Alejandro. Valencia turns to face me waiting for my response.

"It was pretty average," I say.

"Okay well, what would you girls like to eat today?" Valencia asks in a polite tone. "I'll get the Chicken Tender Platter with extra fries and a sweet tea please," Alison says with hunger in her eyes. "And I'll get the Bacon Cheeseburger with extra fries and a sprite please," I tell Valencia and she nods. "Okay ladies I'll be back with your food and drinks," she confirms with an assuring tone and Alison and I smile back at her.

  As Valencia walks away, Alison looks back at me with an expecting face. I was sort of hoping she would forget about what we had to talk about. Then again, It's Alison.

"What?" I tell her in an innocent tone.

"You know what? Come on now. Spill," she says with a demanding tone.

"Fine, what do you want to know?"

  Alison scoffs at me. "Uhh, everything."

  I proceed to tell her everything that happened. Starting with how Mateo and I locked eyes before class to when Ms. Garcia sent him out to check on me. The whole time Alison looks very entertained and has a smirk plastered onto her face.

"Ooooo seems like Mateo has a crush on someone," she says in a singsong voice and my face warms up immediately. "He does not Ali just because he smiled, looked at me, and said bye to me doesn't mean he has a crush on me," I mutter while trying to get my warming cheeks to cool down.

"Okay, believe what you want," she says smiling trying to suppress a laugh.

  Just as I finish telling her everything, Valencia comes back with our food and we start to eat like we haven't had a meal in five days.

  Right when we finished our food, the bell signaling that someone has entered rings. I look up and see Alejandro and Adam making their way to a booth on the other side of the room. Alison blushes immediately when she sees Alejandro. While she's busy having her eyes on him, I look around me to see if I brought my wallet down from the car.

"Crap," I say to myself, but Alison seemed to hear.

"What's wrong?"

"I just forgot my wallet in the car. I'll be right back to get it," she nods as I stand up and start making my way to the door.

  Once I step outside I start to wonder how come Mateo wasn't with his friends. Why am I even thinking about Mateo, we aren't even friends and now I'm wondering where he is. I get to my car quick so I don't keep Alison waiting. I know she doesn't mind but still it's rude to keep someone waiting for long.

  I open the car door and get my wallet. As I'm about to step back and close the door I bump into something. Or more specifically someone. I turn around and I am surprised as my eyes connect to mysterious dark ones.

"Mateo?"

"Uh hey Veronica," he greets in a friendly tone. Geez, what a way to approach someone.

"Hi, you really got to practice on how to walk up to someone. Almost scared me," I say and I receive a chuckle from the person in front of me.

"Sorry, I saw you walk out of the diner and thought it was the perfect time to talk to you," he looks at me and his eyes soften a little.

"Oh okay. What about?"

"Well, it's senior year and I thought it would be good to get to know each other. You seem like a nice person, plus we really didn't have a chance to talk in Ms. Garcia's class" he lets out a sigh as if he just let a ton of weight off his shoulders. His nice, broad shoul- Veronica snap out of it! The fact that he mentioned what happened in class makes my eyes widen.

  I turn around to close the car door and look down at my shoes. What am I supposed to say? I mean is it bad that I kind of want to be friends with him? I look back up and see nervousness written on his face.

"Oh uh, sure that sounds great Mateo," I say, trying not to let the nerves get to me.

"Great. So I'll see you around then?"

"Uh okay, I mean yes. You know after all we do go to school together and have some classes together, you know even in the halls we can se-" I cut myself off realizing I'm just rambling. So embarrassing.

"I'm gonna head inside now, I'll see you later," I said while starting to walk back to the diner.

"See you later Veronica," I hear him call out behind me followed by a chuckle.

  I turn my head around to look at him and I see him watching me with a genuine smile.

  Why do I always manage to look weird in front of him?