Mind Over Matter || Mattheo Riddle

L E T T E R S

Riddle's hands are still cupping my face, and his eyes are still trained on mine.

The longer I stand there, not responding to him, the more worried he's going to get. But I don't want to reply with some half-assed answer, if there even is one, so he'll have to wait until I can form proper thoughts.

His words are still ringing in my ears, and I can still feel the way his hug felt from just a few moments ago.

Tell me what I can do, how can I make you feel more okay?

No matter how many times I turn the words over in my brain, I can't think of a single way he would be making fun of me, or teasing me.

I never want him to see me cry, but that may be out of my control by now.

"Thatcher, talk to me." I can't. "What can I do?" He says it again. He sounds sweet-sincere. He doesn't sound like himself. He doesn't sound like the son of Voldemort.

Just as I was going to respond to the boy in front of me, I hear his friends calling our names.

"Matt- Mattheo! Guys, he's over here!" Theodore yells, and I hear three sets of foot steps coming near us. Riddle looks behind me, just for a second, before looking at me again and telling me it'll be alright.

I take a step away from him, and I turn around to face the three boys. I try to smile as best I can. My eyes still sting, and my nose is completely blocked, meaning I can only breathe out of my mouth. I must have been crying, even though I didn't notice.

I feel as Riddle places one of his hands on the side of my waist again, and he snakes his other hand around my waist before pulling my body against the front of his. He doesn't say anything, and neither do I.

"Why are you crying?" Lorenzo asks. Suddenly my throat grows dry and I can't form a sentence.

"I was being an asshole," Riddle says for me. "I was just apologizing." If you ask me, the boys bought it. Hopefully they bought it.

I nod, hoping to sell the lie more. Draco shrugs and steps in front of the other two boys, looking at me and smiling. "Slytherin's going against Hufflepuff tonight, last Quidditch game before Christmas. We can count on you to cheer for us, right?" Riddle's arm tightens around me.

"I'll be there, but you can't expect me to cheer against my house." I tell him, and Riddle bends down slightly so he can talk directly into my ear.

"You know," he starts, and I almost have to strain to hear him. "My girlfriend would cheer for me."

I turn my head to talk into his ear, the same way he was doing to me. "And my boyfriend would have to impress me in order to get me cheering against my house."

I look back at the boys in front of me, and the three of them look as if they're sharing the same two brain cells. In other words; they're all thinking we said something not-so-innocent.

"What was that-" Lorenzo starts.

"What did you-" Theodore says at the same time.

"That was so weird-" Draco's in synch with the other boys.

Again.

So, yes. They are all sharing the same two brain cells, and they do it often. Interesting.

I can practically feel Riddle's smirk behind me as he lets go of my waist, taking my hand in his instead. He gently tugs on my hand as he starts walking past his friends, and I follow him. "Thatcher has some stuff she needs to grab from her dorm, I'm going to walk her there." He doesn't even say goodbye to his friends as we leave.