《 issue: roommate ~ greece, nhc 》 {COMPLETED}

28

"Mattie, this is George, my..." time seems to stop as I await the rest of his sentence, expecting him to label me as his 'friend', "boyfriend." The word seems hesitant, quiet, vulnerable, and my heart drops into my stomach in surprise. Reece looks absolutely terrified.

Mattie's eyebrows raise quickly, and she steps back slightly, her head swishing between both of us, before just blinking rapidly.

"Boyfriend? You're gay, Reece?" She doesn't seem judgemental in the slightest, only slightly hurt, but Reece doesn't seem to see that. He covers his face slightly and cowers away from her gaze.

"Please don't hate me." He says softly, still hidden behind his hands. My heart breaks seeing him like this, and I breathe in deeply, feeling also awkward between the two friends.

"Reece," Mattie sighs, letting out a disbelieving laugh shortly afterwards, "I could never hate you. I just really never, ever saw this coming from you. But I definitely don't hate you." She smiles softly, sitting next to Reece and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. He looks at her with wide eyes, clearly surprised by her reaction.

"You don't?" He murmurs, making her roll her eyes.

"Of course I don't, you bloody idiot." She chuckles, and eventually he joins in.

"Well that's you at least, I don't even want to start to imagine how the rest of the gang will take it." Reece breathes out, resting on his shorter friend, who nods sympathetically.

"Yeah, I can't make any promises there bro." She sighs.

I'm not sure what my take on her is so far. She's very confident and bubbly, shown through how she speaks, but something about her seems dangerous and mysterious. At the same time, she has this friendly, kind aurora coming from her. I'm not sure if I should be afraid or friendly towards her. To be fair, that is how I expected most of Reece's friends to be like. Having only met a few (most of which are what he calls his "toxic" friends that he's trying to distance himself away from, for my sake, i.e. Max, the guy who tried hitting on me in front of Reece), I don't really have much judgement to go by, but a lot of them are over-confident, trouble-makers; lets just say, I'm not sure how well I would fit in with them.

"Anyways, George was is?" She asks, proudly sticking her hand out in front of me. I politely nod, holding a tight smile and shaking her hand. "Lovely to meet you, I'm Mattie, one of Reece's friends. It's nice to finally meet the person who's been stealing our main guy from us." She teases, winking at me at the end. I just laugh lightly, letting out a soft apology. She studies me silently for a few more moments before turning back to Reece.

"He's not your usual type. He's much quieter. I like it." She states simply, making me and Reece both simultaneously blush. She then quickly gets up and slaps the table lightly. "Right, well, I'd better get back to work, would you guys like something to eat or drink?"

After ordering, Mattie leaves us alone, and we stay momentarily stunned into silence together, Reece bitting his lip slightly, before hesitantly leaning forwards to reconnect our hands, making me smile slightly.

"I don't know how you do it." He sighs, seemingly defeated, and I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"Do what?" I ask softly, squeezing his hand in reassurance.

"Coming out." He chuckles half-heartedly, closing his eyes momentarily. "That was my first time coming out to anyone, and I swear I felt like throwing up. She's been my friend for years though, so I knew she was gonna be totally fine with it, yet I couldn't help feeling that way. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to tell anyone else from my friend group, let alone my parents." I let him get his feelings out, just holding a sympathetic look.

"I know it's hard baby, trust me. You'll get used to it though. I know you're probably afraid of acceptance, but at this point in your life you're trying to find the people who will stick with you no matter what, so if they don't accept you, then that's their loss. I'll always be here for you baby, I promise." Reece watches me in admiration, his eyes glowing slightly and his grip on my hand getting even tighter.

"Well now I definitely like you. That was adorable." Mattie's loud voice interrupts us, making me jump slightly as she sets down the drinks in front of us. A slight blush coats my cheeks as I look down at the table, but Reece continues gripping my hand tightly. She apologises and leaves, laughing slightly, and I look up to see Reece with a matching grin on his face.

"You're so shy, it's adorable." He comments, making me blush even more.

We start eating as soon as our food arrives, both of us hungry, and we enjoy the music playing in the background. Reece and I talk, but I can't help but notice how he avoids talking about his family life and early years. I don't ever want to pry where he's uncomfortable, but I feel like he doesn't trust me, and that's a hurtful thought.

"School was hard for me, though. I came out when I was thirteen and there was no going back from then onwards. Kids back then were nowhere near as accepting." I ramble on, and Reece nods, keeping his mouth closed tightly. My eyebrows furrow in slight wonder, noticing him deep in thought.

"Reece, you okay?" I murmur, making his eyes snap up to me. He seems to realise my look and quickly shakes his head, as though removing himself from some fantasy he got stuck in.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about... that maths test we have coming up." He makes up. "Have you started studying for it yet?" It does hurt me slightly every time he redirects the conversation away from what I really want to find out about him; I feel like he's never going to open up to me, his life is going to be a constant mystery. I don't know if I can live like that.

"Hey, you know what we should do?" He quickly says, cutting me off. I see a remote amount of sparkle return to his eyes, and I appreciate it; I have to admit, seeing Reece happy can change my mood and thoughts instantly. Every worry of mine is pushed aside, and I find myself transfixed by his smile, the lingering sense of adventure, the different tone in his voice. I can't help but love it.

"What?" I ask hesitantly when I see Reece beginning to arise, but he holds a cute, excited smile that captivates me enough to do the same.

"We should dance!" He says excitedly, and I hold back slightly, my eyebrows raising in displeasure.

"Reece, I can't dance." I whine, tugging my hands that he has now grabbed. My comment seems to have no effect on him as he continues tugging me and manages to pull me to my feet. I grumble as he drags me into the centre of the dance floor, now being surrounded by a group of people all moving around freely. Reece sends me another wide, excited grin, making my stomach churn.

"I'll have to teach you then."

this chapter is all over the place, wow. sorry about that.

anyways, i have officially decided i'm going to make a sequel for this book! it might not be released for a while and i'm hoping to get this book finished before the end of this week, so i'll probably release the sequel at the end of summer (which to be fair is in only like a month and a half). i'll start writing imagines again though!

also, prepare yourself for some D R A M A.

love u all x