Finn had finally done it. He had saved enough money to attend the town's all-boys school. After years of bullying from the public school, he was ecstatic to start his first day.
Of course, Finn hadn't expected to be 20 minutes late on the first...
I wake up to a throbbing pain in my head. "Fuuuck," I groan before sitting up. I ruffle my hair a bit and open my eyes. My eyes scan the room, and I feel my heart rate quicken. The room I'm in is unfamiliar and is definitely not mine. I look down, and my jeans and shirt are gone. "Oh no, no, no, no," I say in a panicked tone.
"Will you be quiet," Mateo grumbles.
I whip my head to the left to see Mateo lying on his stomach with his arms under his pillow. His face is smashed into the pillow, and his eyes are closed.
Hazy images of last night's kiss flood my memory. Embarrassment paints my cheeks red. "I-I, d-did, did we?" I stutter, letting out a shaky breath.
"You wish," He says without opening his eyes.
"No, I don't," I mumble, falling back into the pillow.
"Oh, really?" He opens his eyes and looks over at me. "Because I seem to remember someone being very touchy last night."
"All we did was kiss, right?" I ask as I am unsure of the details of last night. Everything is really hazy after meeting Jade.
"Yeah. You were so drunk after getting your ass kicked at beer pong that doing anything with you would've basically been rape," He explains.
"So, where are my clothes?" I ask, running my hands through my hair.
"You said you were hot, so you stripped down to your boxers. Then you flopped on my bed like a fish and passed out."
I look over at him and get a full view of his tattoos. The ones that were on his neck are small butterflies that look ethereal. On his arm, what I thought was a tattoo sleeve is actually a cuff. Inside the cuff is a multitude of designs, and upon closer inspection, I feel silly for thinking it was a sleeve.
"I like your tattoos," I blurt out in response.
A light blush covers Mateo's cheeks before he lets out a sheepish "Thanks."
"Wait, what time is it?" I ask, sitting up.
Mateo glances over at his nightstand, presumably at his phone. "Almost eleven."
"Shit." I hop out of bed, which causes Mateo to sink up. He rubs a hand over his face.
"What's wrong?" Mateo asks as I start searching around for my phone.
"I pretty much missed my entire shift." I was supposed to work from 7 to 12. I feel my eyes start to well up with tears.
My back is turned to Mateo as I opened up my phone to find a message from Tori. It says, "You missed work today so you can pick up your paycheck next week. Gonna assume you don't feel well. Get better soon."
Mateo says, "Well, it's not like you really need the money or anything. Just have your parents spot you."
Well, Mateo, not everyone has parents that hate him. Not everyone needed that money so they could eat this month. Not everyone needed that money to be able to afford a uniform. Tears start to stream down my cheeks. "I have to go," I mumble.
"Let me take you home," Mateo says, starting to climb out of bed.
I start to pull on my jeans, my t-shirt, and shoes. "No, it's fine." Mateo must have heard the crack in my voice because he goes silent for a minute.
"Hey, are you okay?" I turn to Mateo. He shrugged on a t-shirt and a pair of sweats.
I angrily wipe my eyes. I'm not upset that I'm crying. I'm upset that Mateo is seeing me crying. He walks over to me. Mateo grabs my face and wipes away my tears with his thumbs. I'm still silently crying. "What's wrong?" He asks, still holding my face in his hands.
"I-I do need the money." I blubber out.
"What do you mean?" He looks confused. Mateo lets go of my face as I pull away.
"Nevermind," I wipe my face again. I've called down a bit. "Thank you for letting me stay." I make my way toward the door.
"Finn, wait." Mateo grabs my wrist, turning me toward him. "If you're not gonna tell me what's wrong, let me take you home."
No, I don't want him to know I live in a shitty apartment complex. "It's fine. I like walking."
"Well, now I'm definitely taking you home. It's raining," Mateo tells me this as he pushes past me through the door. "Come on," He says.
I follow after him. I'm positive my face is puffy, and my makeup is smeared everywhere. "Thanks," I mumble.
Mateo leads me to the garage and has me get in a car. I don't know much about cars, but the expensiveness of this one is evident. He pulls out and starts to drive. "Where do you live?" Mateo asks, looking over at me.
I avoid his gaze as I rattle off my address. I can feel Mateo's gaze lingering on me. He knows it's the garbage part of town. I can feel it.
Mateo turns on some music, so we aren't driving in silence. When we arrive, Mateo stops in front of the complex.
"Thank you for driving me home," I tell him in a quiet voice. I grab the handle, but it's locked.
"Finn." Mateo doesn't continue talking until I look at him. He leans in close to me. "Is there something you want to tell me?" Mateo asks.
"No," I answer, my eyes darting to the floor of the car.
"Finn."
"Fine! I'm poor as shit! Is that what you wanted me to admit! You wanted me to tell you that because of skipping my shift, I'm gonna be living on school lunches and food bank shit just so I can pay for my uniform! Or did you want to hear about how they'll probably shut my power off when my check bounces this month!" I'm still not looking him in the eyes. My gaze is cast down toward the ground.
Mateo grabs my chin, forcing me to look at him. He presses a kiss to my lips and says, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
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