Come into the Water

chapter seventeen

Mateo and I drove to Lila and Rafael's apartment in his car. I hadn't known that he was coming to my job to see me, but I was grateful that he did. Lord knows what would have went down between Samael and myself if Aimi hadn't interrupted us.

We talked about the little things. We spoke about the new girl that he was causally fucking, his mom getting a promotion, and him adopting a kitten that he wanted me to meet. But I never once mentioned what I had been up to. I was hesitant, trying to avoid the topic of conversation, but it of course failed.

"So," Mateo muttered. "What have you been up to lately?"

"Just work," I smiled wearily.

"Really?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. He stole a brief glance at me. "How are you and your roommates? Getting along?"

Getting along. I nearly snorted, but I simply nodded. "Yeah."

"I spoke to Aimi," he said. My heart nearly stopped. Had she told him that I had sex with Aries? Or that Silas had fingered me? I didn't update her on any of the recent and frequent activity. But I was hoping she wouldn't have told him without my consent. "She told me she met one of your roommates and that he was hot."

I broke into a grin. I had almost forgotten the awkward encounter that Aimi and Silas had, had in the kitchen over a month ago. It felt so long ago that it had became a distant memory. Silas and I hadn't spoken about it. And neither had Aimi and I.

"Oh, yeah," I nodded. "She met Silas."

"She said that he was tall, blonde, blue eyes, and the facial structure of a renaissance sculpture."

I blinked. "That is...oddly specific."

He chuckled. "You know Aimi. She's overdramatic."

"But," I thought aloud, "she's right. He's very attractive."

"Ah," he nodded. "Well, I still need to meet these roommates of yours. I need to be able to see for myself."

"Even if you think they're attractive, you know that you won't admit it."

He scoffed. "Are you calling me insecure?"

"No," I stressed. "I'm just saying that you perceive every male as a threat in any of our lives. You hated Rafael for six months."

He shrugged. "I just didn't think he was right for Lila."

"You thought that before you met him. You need to stop being so overprotective."

"You guys are like my sisters, Nat. Of course I'm going to be overprotective."

"Stop," I cringed, holding my hand up. "You know how much I hate when you say that. We've had sex and on multiple occasions. Find a better analogy."

He pouted. "But you are like my sister that I had sex with."

"Mateo!" I hissed. "You are so annoying."

He laughed. "Fine. You're like my step sister."

"You know what? Just leave it," I shook my head.

We found parking a couple of blocks away and began our way to the apartment. We stopped briefly at the store to get some snacks. I got Lila's favorite honey barbecue chips, and the mint chocolate chip ice cream that Rafael had liked so much. Meanwhile Mateo got nearly the entire store. By the time we were leaving, we were lugging bags filled with things we weren't planning on getting.