Pol Rubio, a young philosophy graduate, isn't feeling his best lately. And he usually is. Working at a dead-end job and living an unfulfilling life was not what he had envisioned his life to be. Until one night, when he recalls a previous failed rel...
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"Manuel? Manuel!" Matteo shakes me into consciousness.
"Hi Matteo," I say as I smile and wave at him. My sight is still adjusting. I forgot what happened in the last two seconds. But I can taste the blood in my mouth and I can feel my cold wet pants against the floor. "Did I pee myself?" I ask him.
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"No we were just cleaning the floor before you came. What are you doing here, Manuel?" he asks as he tries to pull me up. Matteo's still wearing his uniform. He's taking the year off to work and save up for university. Although I have a feeling he won't go there because he'd be too in love with what he's doing now. He looks the same as always, although I notice that he dyed his hair blond. He's probably had help from Chicca. I remember when we were still together, she also tried to dye my hair blond. We had an argument about it and we almost broke up at the time. I guess she got what she wanted eventually. Just with a better guy.
"What's the show?" I ask.
"It's a ballet...Spanish director. Why are you here, Manuel?"
"What? I'm not cultured enough for theater?"
He makes a very annoyed noise. Clearly not in the mood to take care of me. "Why are you here, Manuel? Are you looking for Simone? Because he's not here."
"I⎯" Am I? I am I looking for Simone? "No. I actually wanted to talk to you." I'm lying again. I lie a lot. Even more so these days than before.
"Then why didn't you say that earlier?"
"I don't know. That security guard was annoying," I say cleaning myself up.
"That's not a very good reason to punch someone, fra. You're lucky I was able to stop them from calling the police."
The guard passes by and eyes me. I give him the finger but Matteo immediately pulls my hand down.
"Stop it, asshole." He crosses his arms like an old person which makes me laugh. "What do you want?"
"Is your shift over? Do you want to hang out? Grab a few beers?"
Matteo checks his phone for the time. He shakes his head. "No, I can't, Manu. I still have a few hours left."
