Closeted Pleasure

4- New York

After we landed to New York I finally felt that feeling of homesickness. In the whole 13 hour flight, all I could think about was him; Bruno, and how is he doing. I know it will be weird waking up every morning and my neighbor will be a random stranger, go to an English school with, again; RANDOM strangers, our new home, my new room, the language. OH MY GOD! I DONT KNOW THE LANGUAGE!

I nudged my mom as I started having an anxiety attack. She turned to me and kneeled down "Victor? What's wrong?" she asked. I tried to calm down so I can communicate like a normal person but all that came out was "the-th-the language, B-Bruno, s-school" I muttered as my face started to go pale. She sat me down and gave me some water "Victor......I know it's going to be hard but-" she stopped and sighed "our future is going to be so great baby; it's just you and me against the world. And you know what? I'll live one life for the two of us if I have to." she smiled and ruffled my hair.

She was right; no matter how much I love Bruno and the others one thing is for sure. Right now it's just her and me against the world. I smiled and hugged her waist with tears streaming down; now, calm at last. "Come on baby, let's go check the apartment." she said and got up getting her bag whilst I drank some more water, got my bag too and followed her.

As we walked out of the airport, my eyes widened like 2 small moons of surprise and anxiousness. The city was huge! Probably bigger than the town I lived in. I squeezed my mom's hand as I was terrified from everything around me. It was like I was a garden gnome in front of giants, cars, trees and buildings. We approached a man who I think he was the taxi driver that will take us to the apartment. He looked like he was the same age as my mom; tall, probably 6 foot with light brown wavy hair, some of them slipping away from the 1 ton gel he had on, hiding his dark green eyes and he had dark skin making me wonder where he is originally from.

My mom approached him slowly and gave him a warm smile; "Hello Mateo. It's so good to see you" she said as she leaned close to him and hugged him. 'Who is this guy?' 'How does he know my mom?' I kept asking the same questions to myself worried, scared and anxious about the answer my mom or I will be giving. I walked to them and stood there with a slight glare in my eyes and my hands crossed that reminded me of my old high school principal. I'm not allowing a weird species of an ape touch my mom without even sharing a monopoly game or at least a look at me first.

My mom finally pulled back from the tanned grasshopper and turned to me, seeing my confusion and fright on my face. "Victor this is Mateo-" "no shit" I muttered. She nudged me "He's a friend of mine" she finished and smiled awkwardly. I nodded and looked at him. He smiled and gave out his hand "Hello Victor" he said with a weird accent giving me the exotic vibes almost instantly. I took his hand and shook it. He didn't seem harmless; he was like a teddy bear inside a grown man's body. He was kind of hot too. "Hello Mr. Mateo, it's a pleasure to meet you" I said and gave him a small smile. My mom smiled at the both of us "Okay so Mateo here will be our flat mate if that's okay with you baby" she said, still the warm smile permanently stuck to her face. "I don't mind, as long as his nice and respects personal space" I said and put my hands in my pockets of the hoodie I was wearing since we landed. It was very cold in NY, and it's only September. "I do respect privacy Victor, I'm not an Imbécil"(jerk) he smiled and walked forward. I didn't know what he meant because the language he was talking was fucking weird but smooth. I smiled to myself like an idiot as I walked to his car and got in.

The road to our flat wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be. I got the chance to know more about Mateo and how does he know my mom; "So how do you know my mom?" I said sitting shotgun after a long disagreement with my mom about being polite and all. He smiled "We went to college together, not the same classes but she was my roommate and umm" he stopped and looked down, his cheeks flushing a small shade of red "we were dating for 2 years" he continued and I immediately lost it. He was not bad looking but he seemed the guy that would treat someone with respect, something my own dad never did. My mom smiled "Those 2 years were splendid and they are kept in my heart Mateo" she said and sat back. "That's cute!" I said and smiled with them "so where are you from?" I asked as I was so intrigued to find out "Spain, I'm Latino" he said with a warm smile. My eyes widened with excitement "I KNEW IT!" I shouted with a slight enthusiasm in my voice. He chuckled "Did you now?" he smirked "well duuh you called me an Imbécil and that's not English now is it?" I smirked proudly. He nodded and smiled looking at the road "Fair enough; but you sound TOO excited about me being Latino. Why is that?" he asked. "I just love people who are different than others you know; different nationalities, different cultures. But I guess my love for Latinos is on another level. The culture of Latinos is so beautiful and unique and interesting, I read so much about it and I just love it" I smiled brightly and looked at him, seeing his eyes shining from happiness and his white smile showing even more than before; "I'm glad you see it that way Victor, you're a great kid" he said and turned to face me. In that brief moment I felt so warm like someone was hugging me tight. I like Mateo, his an okay guy and I hope i won't have to destroy his beautiful face and just chill and get along with him.