Me and Mateo have been talking for a few minutes, exchanging each other's likings. "I like astronomy, stars are pretty" "I agree, the sky's always very beautiful" - "I don't favor pizza." "Pizza? Pizza is really good, are you okay?"
After a while of conversation, we both got more adventurous. "Your braces are adorable." His text lit up my screen. What! This is when I started panicking. My mind raced as I thought and rethought of what to type. Eventually I sent something back. "And your glasses are adorable." I hid my face in my chest waiting on the reply.
"Nooo, I doubt it. And your braces aren't the only thing adorable about you so." That's when I screamed.
"Oh? What else is there?" ...
The noise of the alarm disturbed my sleep as I stretched over to turn it off. The beeping came to a stop, then I pulled the sheets off of me so I could get ready to start another day. Jeez, is it only a Tuesday? I groaned.
My eyes averted slowly to the phone on my bedside, the thought of Mateo giving me enough motivation to start the day. After a while of tidying my room and myself, I was ready to leave for the second day of camp.
Eventually after getting myself together and driving to the school district, I was already walking into the band room. I put my things onto the floor next to everyone else's, I began to feel nervous as I made eye contact with Mateo across the room. Oh crap, I have to talk to him today. I forgot.
I turned around, acting like I was busy with my own business to avoid conversation when I saw my best friend walk in the room. I felt relieved as I ran up to her, and pulled her into a tight hug. "Hey Louis!" I loosened the hug, allowing her to put down her belongings beside mine. "So, Mateo is here, you going to speak to him?" I hid my face with my hands. "No...Yes." I mumbled.
After a while of chatting with Louis and greeting my other friends as they came in, I was forced to talk to him. "But I don't want to, I'm scared!" I exclaimed to my friend Jessica. "You have to Belle, you have to make progress!" She replied, sitting me down in a chair, while she brought him to me. Ugh, she knew I wouldn't have enough confidence to walk to him myself. Twerp.
Louis ran off to talk to one of her other friends leaving me with Kate and Milo. "So, you nervous?" Milo asked. "What does it look like honey?" She laughed at my remark, leaving us all in silence as I saw Mateo walked towards us. I ducked my head in embarrassment. He stood beside me, waiting for a start of conversation. "Say hi! Or something!" Jessica yelled at me. "Hi." I said, not raising my head.
I saw his smile from the corner of my eye. "Hello!" He waved. "Oh for lords sake Arabelle!" Kate raised my head up, as I then met eyes with Mateo. "Say something!" They all yelled, my face burning. "Say 'how are you?' " Milo suggested, patting my back for reassurance. "How ar- are y... you?" My words were all scrambled and I felt my heart race as embarrassment covered me from head to toe. You fool! I knew you'd stutter, you always do. Ugh! This is so embarrassing...
I raised my head up to see Mateo covering his smile. "Progress!" He said, chuckling. All I could feel was embarrassment.
I was forced out of my seat, in hopes that I'd go up to him and speak. Oh how they were wrong. "I wish I could hug him." I muttered, as I continued to walk off from the embarrassing conversation at hand. My friends tried stopping me but Jessica had heard my silent words. "Mateo! She wants to hug you!" Shoot. Dang, go back home Jessica. Mateo walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me. I felt numb as he rubbed my back. I love this guy.
Later as lunch arrived, my hunger hit its peak. We spent the day running and rerunning drills. Lunch was considered a 2 hour break for me. I sat at my normal lunch table, while I waited for my friends to sit beside me. In my surprise, Mateo sat seated next to me. My friends all smirking, Louis started a normal conversation. I joined in.
"So, since Mateo and Arabelle seem to be the drama, let's talk about them shall we?" Jessica said, as I gave her a 'shut up' look. She ignored me and continued on in the conversation.
As she spilled every detail of my life to Mateo, I felt my anxiety rise. My hand began to shake, I asked for Jessica's hand but she came up with another suggestion. "If you really want to hold someone's hand, hold Mateos. I'm sure he wants to." She smirked. Jessica, I hate you.
She grabbed my hand and placed it with Mateos. "But my hands are sweaty Jessica!" I yelled, irritated. She once again ignored me, more interested in both of our hands.
"It's fine Arabelle. I actually do want to." He whispered in my ear. His hot breath on my ear making me shiver. Jesus, you're killing me. Jessica snapped pictures while everyone else stayed shocked as if they'd never seen two hands clasped together before.
Eventually the topic cooled down and normal conversation played out again. I zoned out, as I began to shake my leg, anxiety slowly rising. I looked at our hands, both fitting perfectly together. From under the table, our hands rested on his thigh. He began to stroke my hand with his thumb, tightening his grip on me. As if saying 'I'm not letting go'.
I got more curious. I unclasped our hands, then intertwining our fingers from our old resting spot. He hid his smirk, glancing at me from time to time. Crap, this feeling is just- unbearable. I don't want to ever let go.
2 hours passed by quickly. Soon enough we had to part our separate ways, going back to drills. Yet our love quarrels weren't finished.
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