Tadhana

zib and teo: taxi (english)

૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა ♡

"Hey, wait!" the girl rushed to the taxi. She was rushing because she was running scary late to class. It was 7:45 already and her terror prof shuts the classroom door at exactly 8 in the morning. She was cursing at herself.

"I was fir—" the boy turned to face her and tell her off but was surprised to see who it was, "Zib?"

Her eyes grew wide seeing him. Who wouldn't when their long-time crush was the one they ran into while rushing to class? "Matteo? What are you doing here? Don't you have a car?"

"It's being repaired at the shop," he clarified.

"If you aren't riding, I'm going to leave," threatened the driver of the taxi.

Zib pulled Matteo into the taxi quickly. "Let's just go together. You're going to school anyway too, right?"

The boy nodded.

Zib told the driver where they were headed and where to drop them off. She remembered that she was classmates with Matteo in Ma'am Georgie's class that she was going to. It was a good thing that they only had one drop-off destination so the driver wouldn't get confused.

If Zib wasn't in a hurry, she could've, and probably would've, just waited for a tricycle or a jeep, but her sleep had gone deep after staying up last night, so she decided to just take a taxi, even if it was more expensive.

"Have you ever been late to Ma'am's class before?" Matteo asked Zib.

She shook her head. "And I don't want to be late to her class, period."

"I got you," the boy smiled. "I'll talk to the guard to let us use the elevator. Our class is still on the fifth floor, you might get tired if we try to run."

Zib let out a sigh of relief at her friend's words. He always had really been nice to her. "Thank you, Teo."

"So... why are you late? You're usually already there in the classroom whenever I come in," Matteo was curious.

"Ah," Zib laughed. "It's because I stayed up late last night. Our one group mate in our lab class, no help, and she was the one with the long part. I just finished it for her because the paper's due later. So yeah, didn't wake up from my alarm, good thing I didn't wake up at noon already. I just shut my eyes for a bit, it ended up being two hours."

"Hey, you better tell your prof that she didn't contribute anything," Matteo warned her.

She shook her head. "No need, Chelsea told our group chat anyway that they're having some family problems so she can't focus on our work right now."

"Chesca Garcia?" Zib nodded at Matteo's question. "Drew Garcia's sister?"

"You know her?"

"Because of Drew," he nodded. "But Zibby, don't be hard headed. You have to tell your prof or else Chesca might take advantage of you and your kindness again."

"Matteo..." Zib's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't want a fight. I'll just be firmer next time, I'll say no."

"Don't let it get to a next time," Matteo told her. "I'll even come with you to talk to your professor. I don't like seeing you get used by others when I know I can do something about it."

Oh Matteo, he knows, probably unconsciously, exactly how to make Zib's stomach fill up with butterflies. That's part of the reason why she started liking Matteo in the first place anyway, because of the way he chooses his words when he talks to her.

Sometimes, she rues the day she became friends with Matteo's cousin because if that didn't happen, then she wouldn't be having such a fat crush right now. They didn't have the same major to begin with, so they would likely not cross paths if not for Matteo's cousin. It was just a coincidence that they ended up classmates in English.