how to mend a broken heart

four

will sighed as he tugged on his lock, it still wouldn't budge.

"need some help?" came a familiar voice

will glanced up to see Matteo leaning against the locker next to his. will felt his breath catch in his throat as he met the other boys unwavering gaze

"y-yes please" he stammered

"what's your code?" Matteo asked, gently placing his hand on wills arm to move him out of the way.

will froze at the other boys touch, he could basically hear his heart racing

the last boy, well other than Jonathan, to touch him (not in a sexual way you nasties) was Mike.

yet, will felt different when Matteo placed his hand on his arm.

with Mike it was obvious it was just in a bestfriends way, but with this new guy, it could mean anything.

"byers? you okay? I asked for your code" Matteo said softly, placing his hand on wills cheek.

Matteo's hand on his cheek quickly shook will from his thoughts. he realized he had been staring at Matteo the whole time and his cheeks turned bright red. he quickly moved away from the other boy and quickly said "uh my code is 20 16 25"

Matteo laughed softly and undid wills lock. "here you go kid" he said, placing the lock in wills warm hand.

he let his thumb dance over wills fingertips before pulling back his hand and stepping a tiny bit closer.

"so byers-" he began but was quickly interrupted by his friends.

"come on Matteo were going out for lunch today" James called, grabbing Matteo's sleeve and pulling him over to him.

Matteo resisted for a second, his eyes locking with wills. he genuinely seemed like he wanted to stay, at least for a second. but after a minute he stopped resisting, mouthing a quick I'm sorry to will.

will frowned, realizing he'd have to eat lunch alone again

he let Matteo's empty promises of eating lunch with him replay over and over again in his head and he felt himself grow increasingly frustrated

will should've known it was too good to be true

he quickly gathered his art supplies and started off towards the library. having suddenly lost his appetite for lunch.

will was about to step into the library when someone stopped him.

will turned around quickly to see who it was, only to come face to face with piper

"hey Byers!" she said cheerfully

"hey?"

"Matteo stopped me on his way out and said that he didn't want you to eat alone. so basically he sent me here to eat with you!"

will tilted his head in confusion but let piper lead him outside, over to a table where another girl was seated.

"I'm Cassandra" she said leaning over the table to ruffle wills hair. "so you are cute"

"I- I'm will" he said slowly, processing the new information, first was that he was eating lunch with Matteo's friend and sister. second that she had called him cute.

"I know!" she smirked, sharing a look with piper.

will sighed, having absolutely no idea what was going on.

"what did you mean I'm cute?" will asked, having finally worked up the courage to speak.

piper laughed and Cassandra smiled at him softly

"let's just say that Matteo talked about you quite a bit yesterday" Cassandra said slowly, obviously choosing her words carefully

"he said you were cute!" piper added

Cassandra elbowed piper in the ribs and whispered something that will couldn't pick up

all will was focused on was what was replaying in his head. like a broken record

Matteo talked about you

he said you were cute

hope spread through will like a forest fire, fast and dangerous, like hope can be.

sure Matteo could mean in a brother or friend way but will wasn't thinking about that

he just let the hope consume him and a small, shy smile spread across his face

he  said you're cute

no one, not even Mike had said that about him before

and for once, since el arrived

will didn't care that Mike had a girlfriend

will didn't care that Mike loved el

all he cared about was Matteo, with his gorgeous smile and unshakable confidence

Mike was nothing but the past.