You're only a fool if you give up

Aladdin

They've been talking about it for weeks. Even though Matteo wasn't so keen on doing this, it felt like world's greatest idea to them. Carlos has been bragging about his relationship with Kiki, how great it is to have that special someone in your life. Abdi, still doing nothing about his big ass crush on Sam, also thought it would be perfect for Matteo to finally get some female attention. Don't get it wrong, he's had plenty of attention - he would let girls flirt with him, especially during nights out with his friends, always being careful not to flirt back, keeping his "cool guy" attitude. He would let them kiss him every once in a while (if he was drunk enough), trying not to think about how every touch made his chest clench. There was that one party, over a month ago, where he ended up shaking, struggling to breathe after a tiny brunette was forcing herself on him in the corner of someone's living room. Hooking up at parties was how most boys lived their life, but Matteo felt humiliated. He was overwhelmed, the party was much more than he could handle and after running away, he hadn't gone out of his room for three days.

And Matteo loved these fools. They were getting on his nerves, always talking about girls and sex, but they were his friends. Jonas, however... He was hoping Jonas would stand up for him, understand that Matteo doesn't need girlfriends to be a decent guy (not that he was, in any way, a decent human being) and just let him live his lonely life. So when Jonas came up to their table on Tuesday with a smirk on his face, Matteo felt his heart sink.

"Good news! I got you a date tomorrow. Her name is Sara, she's taking Maths with me. She's blonde, she's sweet and she doesn't think you're a loser."

Matteo feels betrayed. He knows the girl, he has seen here a few times in the hallway, always with another blonde by her side, constantly chatting and giggling. She seems nice and she probably is, but that's not the problem. Matteo just doesn't feel like dating anyone. He hadn't had any interest in love since... well, since his crush on Jonas. He would never admit that, but his feelings for his best friend made him question his sexuality and he decided it'd be better to just back off. Better to back off than to admit he might not be what people expect him to be.

"Luigi! Sara is hot, he got you a good one" he hears one of his friends say, but he doesn't want to hear it. He thinks maybe if he pretended he never heard it, it wouldn't be true.

Much to his dismay, it is still true. Boys keep talking about how amazing this Sara girl is and Matteo can not go through all the reasons why being single is good to him again. His brain is screaming, because as pretty and friendly as she sounds, he still finds no attraction to girls recently. His mouth doesn't say anything, because he's a stupid bastard and he can never stand up for himself. He can't say no.

So that's how it is. He's got a date tomorrow.

***

The boys all crash at Matteo's after school on Wednesday to help him get dressed and to make sure he makes it to his date in the first place. Carlos tries to talk him into wearing a shirt - something he hasn't worn since, like, 5th grade, but he insists on staying in his way-too-big t-shirt with a pattern that looks a bit like dirty stains (and maybe there are stains too, Matteo isn't sure). Abdi slaps his hand when he reaches for one of his oversized grandpa sweaters and Jonas finds a grey hoodie he's only had on three times before, so he's positive it doesn't smell that bad. They fight a little and Abdi runs after him with a hairbrush, bu he lets it go and then they just play Zelda until it's time to leave.

They are supposed to meet on Alexanderplatz and when he gets there, he still has seven minutes left. He purposely missed the bus, but the boys said he has to be early to make a good impression and made him catch another one only two minutes later. Standing there, he thinks of excuses to leave.