Valentine's Day special (again)

Chapter four

February 14 2023
Rufus
11:55am

I was on the bus heading to the bookstore Mateo loves going to. Thanks to Joel working there I can get 30% off using his employee discount to get the books Matoe wanted, then surprising him by taking him to the meet and greet with Mateo’s favorite author, some guy named Orion Pagan.

I’m liked 80% percent sure that wasn’t his real name but if it was his parents are cool as fuck

Mateo had a new favorite author each week but he was obsessed with Orion Pagan, read all his books, followed him on instagram, and loves watching interviews with him in it.

If he wasn’t like 40 and lived in Arizona I would probably be intimated

This Orion guy seemed cool tho; An New York native, married his first boyfriend after only dating for 3 months, has three kids but never posts them, and was a smartass according to the clips from TikTok Mateo sends me.

I hopped off the bus and walked inside the bookstore. I noticed Kendrick bakery across the street. I know Kendrick wasn’t working today but I know how much Mateo loves those cupcakes.

I should stop by after I pick up the book

I walked inside and walked to Mateo’s favorite side the Fantasy, I immediately found the new hardback cover of Mateo’s favorite child book called “Each heartbeat”

I actually knew this book, I wasn’t much of a reader as a kid or as an adult but “Each heartbeat” is also the name  of an cartoon on Cartoon Network with the same premise

I ate that shit up, never missed an episode, and even faked sick just so I could watch the hour long special

It was kinda like if The Grim Adventure of Billy and Mandy and Flapjack had a baby

It was about a boy named Troy who is cured with a demon following him and making his life miserable until he meets his best friend Victor who helps him get rid of the demon and enjoy his life.

Now I just needed to buy his new book and I could bounce, I looked to the new release and passed by a boy reading a book in a thick chair

I looked to see an entire shelves full of the book but they had sticky notes on them with people names, I reached to grab one but stopped when I heard a voice behind me

“You can’t take those, those are per-order” The boy behind me told me

“Oh, where can I find the new ones?” I asked him

“It’s off the shelves sold out” He told me nonchalant flipping through his book

“Sold out? Are you sure?” I asked him shocked

“Yeah like 60 more should be here in about an hour” He said looking at his phone

“An hour…okay I can do that” I said and rubbed his forehead

“Wait, how do you know that? Aren’t you like 12?” I asked him

“I’m 14 and my dad bring them he left me because after that we have to do some other stuff” He told him

“Kay” I sighed

I didn’t have time to argue and just walked away and sat near the window looking at the clock that seemed like it wouldn’t move.