Lost Then Found - Lutteo

Not like home

Within two days, everyone knew Matteo was back.

It kinda surprised him. News traveled so fast, there wasn't a person unaware of his new job before he even started his first shift. Though, somehow, it explained why Luna was nowhere around. It wasn't like seeing all of his other friends again didn't feel nice. It did, especially after a year mostly spent with his parents.

Still, while he slowly caught op on what he had missed and worked nearly every day, he found himself craving to see Luna. Most of his shifts started in the late morning, which his dad was more fond of than Matteo himself. They both knew early shifts meant no "little girl", as his dad continued to call her. After two weeks, he finally got to work in the afternoon. Tamara smiled to herself when she saw her newest employee walking in, all enthusiastic and hopeful. Matteo's eyes didn't leave the entrance for longer than a minute. In the middle of the shift, he knew school would be over and any minute Luna would walk in and change into her skates.

However, that day, he learned that avoiding him seemed more important to her than skating. No matter how long Matteo stared at the entrance, she didn't appear.

The shift ended, the smile on Matteo's face long gone. It stayed away when he discovered Luna in one of the arm chairs, lost in the books spread out in front of her. His eyes settled on her, and he didn't know what to do, torn between leaving and walking up to her. Just as he decided to take this chance, someone got in his way, greeted Luna before Matteo even took a single step forward. The guitarist. Of course.

It took the memory of Gastón's words to allow him to breathe somewhat calmly again. If Simón dated Ámbar, he had moved on from Luna. Hopefully.

"Hey, Simón!", he heard Luna yell out in surprise. Her lips carried one of the smiles she used to give Matteo too, one that was bright as day and heavenly beautiful. Carefully, Matteo stepped towards the bar, close enough to be able to follow the conversation without raising anyone's suspicions. His fingers found a menu to fidget with. But his eyes stared directly through the words. He knew them by heart anyway.

"Why aren't you on the rink?", Simón asked about then. Good question. Are you avoiding me, Luna? She didn't reply immediately. "I... I just wanted to wait for a bit." He watched her staring at the books again, and figured she in fact did stay away from him on purpose. "You know, start with my homework", Luna added, not sounding convincing at all. Beanie boy laughed. "Well, do you want to skate now? I think the rink is pretty empty right now." "Sure", she replied cheerfully, "But Ámbar doesn't mind, right?"

The question was so Luna, Matteo felt thrown back in time. Back to when she thought of everyone else's happiness first too and thus, denied her feelings. Back to when he never had been afraid to talk to her. But now he was, and Simón and Ámbar were an actual thing and somehow happy. (He guessed.) There was no one to blame for this disaster that was life without his chica delivery than himself.

As soon as the realization hit him, he left the Jam&Roller. There just wasn't a reason to stay any longer.

He didn't need to see how happy Luna managed to be on her own and he didn't care at all about what the guitarist had to say.

Matteo's days turned into a routine. Getting up, thinking about Luna. Going to work and spending some time in the park. Skating. Thinking about Luna. Going home or meeting with Gastón. Trying to forget Luna. Wasting the afternoon until his parents came home, learning that forgetting Luna was impossible. Pretending everything was fine. Thinking about Luna. Going to bed and failing to fall asleep for at least one hour. Thinking about Luna.