ANSMELL
come out. 12:33 PM
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i looked down at my phone, reading ansels message. i tapped mattias shoulder, shutting the t.v. off causing him to whine, he pulled himself off the couch - stretching loudly. we walked out, locking the door behind us before hopping into the car. ansel watched as we climbed in, mattia in the back and me in the front. he pushed his sunglasses up, reversing the car out of the driveway.
"ready for nonna brooks?" ansel asked, pulling onto the street with a grin.
"is she pulling cheeks?" i asked, looking at the rear view mirror to see mattia.
ansel chucked, "oh, you know she's pulling cheeks." he turned the music playing on louder, hushing us.
"sounds sexual." mattia said, texting.
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the car came to a stop in front of a wide house. we got off of the car, following one another inside of my grandma's home - we went through the house, straight into the backyard.
"AH!" nonna said, practically jumping from her chair, she held her hands up high with a huge smile, "che bella!" i reached into to hug her, she grabbed my face and left a big, wet kiss on each of my cheeks.
"oh, matti! bel regazzo!" she hugged him, and took his face in her hands - pulling his right cheek before kissing it. mattia widened his eyes, looking directly as me. i flashed a big smile. "hi, nonna brooks." he smiled down at the short lady that stood before him. she smiled and let go. nonna pat mattias back once before taking a seat again. my mom motioned us to say hello to our poppy who sat quietly on the bench with corrine. we went over, greeting him.
"poppy, this is mattia." he smiled, "do you remember?" poppy nodded and stood on his feet, holding his hand out. mattia placed his hand and shook it firmly. corrine watched with a smile.
"blair, introduce me." i shot her a look, raising my eyebrows to her. mattia and ansel chucked together.
"corrine, you know this is. remember before dinner yesterday? what you said?" she widened her eyes, nodding her head to me to make me shut up. i smiled, and placed my hand on mattia's back softly before walking back up to where my parents and my nonna sat. mattia followed and took a seat on a chair beside me.
"so, mr. mattia - what's been keeping you busy, huh?" nonna asked, directing her attention towards him. he shrugged, with an embarrassed look on his face.
"just school and soccer mainly, mrs. brooks." he lied, glancing to me, then to my parents. mom smiled at him lightly. "ya dad has you working at the restaurant too?"
he nodded, "i try to help out but things have been hectic."
"good boy, i think it's good to start workin' em young." she said, holding a thumb up to mattia with a smile. mom and nonna started talking, taking the attention off of mattia. i scooted in closer to him, "let's go get a drink?" he nodded before we walked inside together. i opened the fridge, grabbing a water for myself. mattia came behind me and grabbed himself a water as well, shutting the fridge door.
"soccer and school hmm?" he rolled his eyes at me, taking a sip from his bottle.
"yes, soccer and school. only."
"what about the girls? and the fame?" i nudged him softly, smiling. "i just didn't want her to ask what kind of videos i post and have to show her." i nodded in agreement.
"like the ones about zendaya's ta-?" he cut me off, laughing loudly.
"so you have watched my videos then?" my cheeks turned bright pink. "aha."
"i follow you!" he widened his eyes, grabbing his phone out of his pocket quickly. he remained silent, tapping away on his phone. i felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket as he shut his phone back off. i smiled at him, drinking from my water.
"my fans are going to rip you into shreds." he joked, knowing the truth is somewhere hidden between that.
"what a problem-starter." he began looking out the kitchen window, his eyes went straight to the hammock that was placed between two stumps in the backyard. he turned to me, "when did they get that?" i shrugged. "i haven't been here in four years, remember?"
"oh yea, i forgot cause you've been so annoying for the past two days - it seems like you never left." he laughed to himself. he's not funny.
"had to make up for the lost time." i opened the backyard door, waiting for him to go out. he walked out, straight to the hammock - i followed. he took a seat on it before i took a seat beside him, we laid back onto the ropes, his long legs pushing us off of to start swinging.
"blair?" he questioned.
"hmm?" i replied, closing my eyes as the may air breezed. the birds chirped along, and the tree leaves moved with the wind. there was a faint noise of kids playing next door.
he cleared his throat, "when you said were weren't kids anymore earlier - what did you mean?" i laid my head against his shoulder, opening my eyes once again. thinking for a second.
"i just blurted it out." i shrugged, closing one at up at him as the rays from the sun began to shine through the trees.
"what were you thinking about when you 'blurted' it?" he asked, air-quoting my words. we swung in silence for a minute, but not the good kind of silence i talked about earlier.
"do you remember when we first met?" he nodded.
it was the first day of first grade. the first days are always the hardest, especially if you don't know anyone. we sat at our assigned classes lunch table, i was the first one to sit until he came along. i watched as the short, spike-haired kid sat in front of me with his lunch bag, i smiled at him, hiding my teeth. he smiled back, hiding his teeth. for the rest of lunch, we sat quietly - enjoying each other's company as we do now. this went on for the rest of the week, until monday came along the following week. i sat down in my regular seat with my lunch bag, but mattia was nowhere to be found. come to find out, he had missed school so i decided i would wait until tomorrow to speak to him. not that i had much of a choice.
tomorrow came, and mattia appeared in his lunch seat again. he smiled at me like he always did, and i smiled back like i always did - still hiding our teeth. i opened my mouth to begin to speak, he turned his attention towards me and i froze up. he just watched me in confusion. i sat quietly, saddened by my failed attempt to speak to the stranger in front of me. i found myself simultaneously poking my tongue between the small gap placed between my front teeth. i've done this since i was a child, and it's gotten to the point i cease to notice it anymore. the small boy inches closer to me from across the table slightly, and smiled at me cheekily without showing his teeth (yet again.) i stared at him, before he began to smile with teeth - peeking his tongue between the tiny gap that appeared between his front teeth. i widened my eyes, smiling. "we can be called the gaptians."
he smiled a genuine smile down at me as i tried to stick my tongue between the tiny gap between my teeth. "still a gaptian?" i asked, laughing softly as he reached his arm around my neck, pulling me in kindly.
"always."
