They Both Die at the End: Fanfic

The Afterlife Part Two

A/N: 1k? I must be dreaming. Either that or somebody slipped something into my subway sandwich...

Thank you guys, SO MUCH! Thanks to everyone who's voting and commenting. I never imagined any of my stories would even get to 1k. Love you all!

M a t e o T o r r e z
6:00 a.m.

"Stop moving so much, Mateo."

"I'm sorry! I can't help it."

Rufus put his hand on my knee and it immediately stopped bouncing. I thrummed my fingers against the table.

"Hey. Let's just get it over with, yeah?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. He swore under his breath. "Get it over with?"

"I'm sorry, Mateo—"

I barked out a laugh. "We're talking about meeting my mother for the first time, Rufus, not ripping off a bandaid."

"I know. I didn't mean it like that."

I rolled my eyes and glared at the table. I didn't feel like myself. I felt numb. I was probably being too harsh with him.

I sighed begrudgingly. "I know. I'm... I'm sorry. Im just really nervous."

"It'll be fine, I promise," he said, holding out his pinky. I stared at it for a moment before linking mine with his, giving our hands a solid shake. He gave me a cheeky grin. "Even if you don't like her, you've always got me."

I elbowed him and laughed. He smiled and grabbed my hand. "There's that smile. Do you think you're ready?"

I blew out a breath. "I think so."

I called for Jen. She materialized to our left.

"Hi! How can I help you today?"

"I want to call my mom."

"Okie dokie!"

She smiled and held out her hand. The blue stream of pixels shot from her hand. A wall of them formed in front of us. An ellipsis danced across the screen. A moment later, a disheveled woman appeared. She had dark wavy hair and eyes identical to my own.

She squinted at us and wiped at her chin, yawning. "Who are you two?"

Her eyes seemed to stare into my soul. I bit my lip and pressed my leg against Rufus's. "Estrella Torrez?" I asked, although I already knew what her answer would be.

"Yeah, that's me. What can I do for you?"

"Um." I scratched the top of my head, wondered if it was possible to hang up.

This was a bad idea. I should have at least waited until she would for sure be awake. She's not going to like me.

Rufus nudged me with his shoulder.

"Mateo Torrez. My name is Mateo Torrez."

She stopped combing through her hair with her fingers and studied me. Her lips parted and her eyes widened. "I don't know what to say." Her accent seeped through.

"How about 'nice to finally meet you'?" Rufus joked, causing Estrella to pull her eyes away from me. They narrowed.

"And who might you be?"

I had two options here: tell her the truth, that he was my boyfriend—although that had never been officially established—and kept me company on my End Day; or lie through my teeth. There was also a third option: hang up, run away to somewhere, and change my name to Filipe.