Mateo Torrez
September 6th
2:32 am
"Mateo..."
"hmm..."
"Mateo!"
"Hmmm."
"MATEO TORREZ! WAKE UP!"
I wake up with an extreme jolt of anxiety.I desperately grip my chest.Oh God its my time,this is it I'm gonna die,I'm gonna die.The thoughts raced through my head before I realised it was Rufus shaking me awake.
"What! what? whats wrong? what happened?" I'm still half asleep,plus I don't have my glasses on so right now all I can see is a dark tan blob in the shape of Rufus.He picks up his phone,quickly shoving it in my face.
"Look look at this" he says with a crack in his voice.I rub my eyes,hoping it would make the screen a little clearer but it doesn't help.
"What?... Roof my glasses,I can't see"
"Oh shit,yeah,right,one sec" he looks around the room for a few seconds before gently placing them on my nose.Everything comes back into focus and Rufus shows me the phone once more.The first thing I notice is his new background.Its now the photo of us from a few hours ago.He's wearing my glasses and I'm wearing my dumb Luigi hat.I look horrible,I have dark circles under my eyes and I'm squinting slightly.But I love it.And Rufus looks pretty cute in my glasses.
"Did you really just wake me up to show me your home-screen?" I clear my throat "I mean its cute its just-"
"What? no no the time! look at the time!" I roll my eyes and shift my focus to the time.
September 6th
2:34 am
My heart drops...
"Its the next day" Rufus says with a beaming smile.I open my mouth to say something,anything but nothing comes out. "We're alive" he breathes quietly,so quietly I almost couldn't hear him.I sit up right
"I-I mean, are you sure the clocks right? wheres-wheres my phone?" I reach over to my bedside table for my phone,the light flashes in my face as the time reads...
2:34 am
Its the next day...
"Rufus..." I turn the phone to face him.A pit of anxiety drops into my stomach,I nervously lick my lips. "Do you think we're... you know" I let out a shaky breath.I don't want to say it,the dreaded D word, but the thought can't escape my mind.
He sits up,edging closer towards me.And without a moment of hesitation or even a second thought,he places a hand on my chest before kissing me.His lips were warm,silky against mine,as if he was made of air.I can feel my heart beating against my chest,I can feel him smiling through the kiss and I can feel him.He's warm and light and he's just...perfect.And he's alive.We are alive. We both pull away for air,panting slightly.We rest our foreheads against each others.We stand still in the moment,in a place of comfortable silence until Rufus breaks it.
"We're alive" he breathes,amazed.He chuckles slightly, and I do with him "Holy shit".Tears begin to well up in my eyes and it doesn't take long for my somewhat stable persona (If I ever really had one) to crumble beneath me.The last 24-hours of emotions back into my and lay heavy on my shoulders.I grab a fist full of his grey fleece,burying my face in his shoulder because holy fucking shit we're alive!.Rufus grabs a hold of me as if I'll somehow disappear and I do the same.
I'm never letting this boy go again.
Never.
By the time we part,I'm an embarrassed teary mess.I don't like crying in front of other people.Its even worse since I've left two damp patches on the shoulder of his fleece.I cover my face with my hand because I know I look horrible.Flustered with puffy tear-filled eyes,dark circles,hair still messy, god I don't even want to think about it.
"Oh shit,I'm sorry" I say with a quiver in my voice,wiping my cheeks.He reassures me that its fine, although it doesn't really make me feel any better."Oh my god what do we do now?" I ask,running a hand through my hair in disbelief.
"I-I dunno I've never escaped death before" He replies in the same tone as I did. I pull away from Rufus and stumble off of the bed,starting to nervously pace back and forth.
"Oh my god Lidia and-and my dad! the Pluto's they all think we're still dead".I stop at my bookshelf,focusing on the little narwhal plushie she got me for my fifteenth.Its a vivid memory.After she gave it to me we ended up in a massive debate on whether narwhals were real or not.
Images start to flash through my mind.Images of Lidia at home crying because she's lost her best friend and Penny lost her Godfather.Images of her screaming at me over everything I put her through. "How am I going to explain this to Lidia? ,what if she thinks I played some kind of sick joke? what if she hates me? what if she doesn't even want to see me?! What if-"
"Yo, Mateo calm down" Rufus stops me in my tracks,placing his hands on my shoulders "Don't do this to yourself.It's like three in morning.None of them are even awake.Lets just deal with that shit later".I take a deep breath.
"Yeah...yeah yeah yeah you're right" I push up my glasses and rub the bridge of my nose,trying to calm the shit-storms worth of anxiety pumping through my veins at the moment.He wraps his arms around me and I melt into him.It's comforting and sweet,that is until he proceeds to pick me up,throwing me onto the bed.
"Hey!" I burst out into laughter "What the hell how can you do that?",he lays down beside me.
"It ain't that hard you're tiny" I elbow him in the arm.Not in a mean why but just a playful way,but it doesn't stop him from pouting."You're such a bully" he says in a sarcastic tone.
I rest my head on his chest,quickly getting used to the feeling of his arms around me.In this moment,the world seems to stop spinning (cheesy as hell, I know,shut up).It transports us to this serene space where we realise...this is it.We could be here with each other for as long as we want.We won't have to panic and hold our breath and grasp onto each other because we're scared if we blink we'll disappear.We have time. We can be together.It's our second chance.However...there's still a part of me that can't believe this is happening.A thought slowly gnawing away at my peace.The peace a person who just narrowly escaped death should be feeling.
"Roof"
"Yeah" he replies softly.
"I- well, do you-do you think this is really happening?"
"Hm?" he says in confusion
"I mean,nobody's ever beat death-cast before.What if this is the afterlife or something and we just don't know it?" I fiddle with the sleeve of my shirt.
"I dunno,if we were, wouldn't we be sitting in a giant movie theatre right now?" we chuckle slightly, "Nah but,I ain't gonna lie,if this is the afterlife." he squeezes me a bit tighter "I don't think I mind,this is pretty sweet".I don't even have to look at him to know he's got a massive smile on his face.I can practically feel it. "But I know it isn't,I can feel your damn heartbeat. We've alive right now."
"But like...why us?.Why not, anybody else"
"I dunno.Death cast fucked-up?" he pauses for a moment "Maybe god just couldn't resist a good love story.It would be way too said if we both died in this end." he says "I like this version better" a smile grows on my face
"Since when were you such a romantic" I say in a joking tone
"Since about ten minutes ago.I think it suits me,don't ya think?" I snicker at the remark
"Yeah... it really does" I shuffle closer to him and he rests his hand in my hair,mindlessly playing with it.And before I know it,I fall asleep in his arms...
YOU ARE READING
What if they don't die at the end?
FanfictionFrom the moment Death-cast was brought into the world, it has never once been wrong.That is, until now. What if Mateo never got up to make tea? What if Rufus had an arm to hold him back? where would they be now? (This book made me cry so much, they...
