Solana Forever

S5 E6

Last night was such a great night. When I woke up this morning I enjoyed going over the events in my head. I say events it was the pool party that was the real highlight. I was upset when I remembered today was probably going to be normal again.

When I got in I didn't see Mateo at first which was strange because normally in the morning Mateo would be either at the bar or at reception. As I was walking around between the breakfast tables I finally ran into him (literally). He had his face glued to his phone with a concerned expression.
"God are you okay?" I asked him. It wasn't often I saw him with this level of worry. His eyes flicked up and then back down again.
"Morning" he greeted completely unaware of what I had just said.
"Hello did you hear me?" I clicked my fingers in front of his face to get his attention.
"Yes lovely day" I rolled my eyes. "Excuse me" he gently pushed me aside and ran off elsewhere. I would've followed him but decided against it. If I followed him I would've just been ignored so I thought I'd wait until he looked more attentive.

I decided to get some work done whilst I was waiting to question Mateo. I wandered around the breakfast table pouring milk and coffee and just general breakfast things. I was in the middle of pouring an elderly mans orange juice when I hear Mateo and Leslie arguing at the bar. It quickly ended with Leslie screaming
"Shove it up your arse" and storming off. I put the jug of juice down on the table.
"One second" I excused myself as I ran after her. "Leslie!" She turned around looking a bit put out. "You okay?".
"Yeah just annoyed at the usual suspect" she referred to Mateo.
"I heard a bit of that. Sounded pretty heated. What's up with him?" I looked round at him. He was still on his phone with the same expression as before as he angrily poked it.
"Buggered if I know. I tried asking him but he was putting up that wall" he mimed a wall with her hands.
"Oh yeah I know that wall" I nodded. "I've seen it many many times".
"Him being distracted all day and not communicating with us is no help for anyone" she pointed out.
"Yeah I get you. I think I'll go try get some answers from him" Leslie looked at me like I was crazy. "Hey I've broken through the wall before I can do it again" I walked towards the bar like I was on a mission.
"Good luck with that" Leslie shouted after me. "This walls stronger than any before. It's like the Great Wall of China". After that helpful comment I was feeling super confident about getting through to Mateo. Especially considering he still had his face stuck to his phone.

"Mateo" I tried to get his attention but as I thought he didn't respond to his name. It's okay though because I had already thought of an idea to peel his eyes away from his phone. "My bra won't fasten could you give it a go?". That got his attention. His head whipped up so fast I'm surprised he didn't get whiplash.
"Oh look at that done it myself" I said with a teasing smile.
"You shouldn't tease me like that" Mateo huffed.
"I know but it is great fun". He crossed his arms over and looked like he about to return to his phone. "But" I began as I gently pushed the hand with his phone in away from him. "Now that I have your attention maybe you could tell me what's bothering you".
"Bothering me?" He gave me a fake look of confusion. "Nothing is bothering me". I frowned at him.
"Right you've just been spending the entire morning on your phone to try and beat your high score on flappy bird" I responded sarcastically.
"What is floppy bird?" He asked trying to change the subject.
"Flappy bird is a popular app that is highly addictive and irritating. Stop trying to change the subject". Then Mateo completely exploded.
"Ok so maybe something is bothering me! It has nothing to do with you! I am fed up with British people sticking their noses into other peoples business!" He screamed not even caring that everyone was looking at us. I was taken aback by his sudden eruption because he hardly ever reacted like that.
"Mateo" I lowered my tone. There was no point shouting back because then it would just be a shouting match. "Why are you getting so defensive?".
"All morning I have had people ask me what is wrong and I'm fed up. This is my problem". I came a bit closer to him to try and make him feel like he hadn't lost me yet.
"Well maybe even if it is your problem you could do with some help to try and resolve it" I suggested.
"No no no no no. This is something I'm dealing with on my own!" He literally stamped his foot on the ground. I still hadn't lost hope of helping him though.
"Okay then that's fine. But when you're dealing with it all by yourself with no help just think back to all the times I've managed to get you out of bad situations". He looked very deep in thought. I bit my lip apprehensively.
"Okay you promise you won't say to anyone" I smirked triumphantly. Sometimes you had to tackle things from a different angle.
"Why would I?" I shrugged.
Mateo sighed. "Okay then you can help me".