SHUT UP. ( K. COSENTINO )

042.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* IMESSAGES *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

WHEN MATTIA FINALLY SHOWED UP, Delaney was knee deep in the water with a bag of chips in hand. He scoffed at the sight and stomped over to her, standing at the edge of the water until she turned around and finally saw him waiting there.

"Daddy Mattia!" She drunkenly exclaimed, stumbling out of the water towards him. He dropped the bag of food and gestured towards the chips as Delaney bit her lip and grinned.

"I saw Troy and Vinnie and they gave me chips," she told him proudly, pulling one out of the bag as she held it out for him to take. Mattia sighed and knocked it out of her hand, "I told you not to talk to anyone. Did I not?"

Delaney only shrugged and walked back over to her shoes, snatching up a bottle that he hadn't seen when he'd walked past them. He watched in horror as she unscrewed the cap and took a large swig, her face screwing up at the taste.

In a flash, he was next to her and snatching it from her hands as he stared down at the label. "Where the fuck did you get tequila from?" He snapped, waiting for her to answer as she rolled and shrugged.

She grabbed her shoes and the bottle once again and began stumbling back towards the hotel, giggling to herself when she heard Mattia stomping behind her in the sand.

The boy behind her groaned as she picked up the pace, his heart stopping briefly when she almost fell, but the anger and worry came right back when she glanced behind her and took off in a sprint towards the hotel pool. He took a deep breath and dropped the food as he had earlier, huffing for breathe as he tried to catch up with her.

He knew that there was no reason he couldn't catch up with a girl who could barely walk, especially when he had played varsity soccer for the past two years.

So involved in his internal battle, he hadn't noticed she had stopped in her tracks until he slammed into her back, instinctually grabbing her as she flew forward.

Delaney didn't even bother to grab her phone as it went flying, clinging to the bottle as Mattia cling to her. She cocked her head to side as he glared down at her, the tequila from her breathe hitting him in the face as he wondered if he should let go or throw her over his shoulder and drag her back to her room.

"You should kiss me. I liked kissing you — isn't that weird? I kissed you, Ryland, Alejandro and Kairi in one weekend. And then I got cheated on twice, well, once because me and Kairi—"

"Delaney?" Mattia cut her off and unintentionally tightening his hold as she moved, still staring down at her as she tried to remember what she was rambling about.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not gonna kiss you."

Delaney pulled away from him and groaned, unscrewing the cap to the tequila bottle instead. It was only an inch from her mouth when Mattia grabbed it and flung it into the trash, not bothering to argue when she let her mouth fall open.

"You're drunk already, Lane. You don't need more," he snapped, watching as she crossed her arms and glared at him from her spot a few feet away. He could already sense the waterfall of insults that were gonna pour from her mouth and waited patiently for it to happen.

"First you don't want to kiss me—"

"You're drunk. I'm not gonna kiss you when you're drunk," Mattia cut her off yet again. He watched as her thoughts whirled in her head and braved himself the already long night to never end.

"So you would kiss me if I was sober?" She asked, her voice soft and childlike but he knew that she was baiting him. And he knew that she understood just how good she was at it.

"No—"

"Fine," Delaney shrugged and walked over to the edge of the pool, unbuttoning her shorts as he grabbed her arm in shock.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Delaney didn't pay him any attention, pulling the shorts down her legs before she turned around to look at him. "You won't kiss me and I'm bored," she grinned at the end of her statement and Mattia jumped out of the way of the splash when she dove into the water.

She resurfaced a few moments later, grinning as he glared at her like he had been all night. Knowing his had no choice but to play along, Mattia stripped himself and took a deep breathe, jumping in after her.

Delaney shrieked as he picked her up, tossing her in the air with the first laugh he'd had himself all night. He would never admit it, but after you got the past all the annoying whining, drunk Delaney wasn't too bad.

They swam around for what felt like forever until Delaney pulled herself out of the water and sat on the edge of the pool, leaning back on her hands as she kicked water at Mattia.

He gently parted her legs, standing in between them as he stared at her. "Are you okay?" He finally asked, sighing when she nodded and hiccuped. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to talk about this with her but he also knew that she needed to talk about what had happened.

"Delaney, you know you can be upset. I know how much Kairi meant to you—"

Delaney made a move to stand up but Mattia grabbed her leg and kept her in place, moving his free hand to rest on the pavement besides her.

"As I was saying, I know how much he meant to you, okay? You can't just ignore the fact that you're hurting because it's just going to eat you up inside. Nobody deserves to feel like that and I'm here to make sure it never happens again."

She didn't say a word in response, only stared up at him as her bottom lip began to tremble. He sighed and jumped out of the pool before gently helping her to her feet.

By then, tears had already began to fall and he wrapped an arm around her back, pulling her against him. He wasn't bothered by the fact that they were both drenched and he was freezing cold, just held her as she cried against him.

She paused her crying for a second and looked up at him, waiting for him to say something else. Thing was, he didn't have anything else left to say. So he just stood there, staring down at her as she faked a smile and wiped at her eyes.

"Thank you."

He saw her move the tiniest bit towards him and his defensive nature shut down as he leaned down and kissed her. She grabbed his arm to keep him from pulling away, not that he was going to, and tried to stop herself from crying unsuccessfully.

When he noticed, he sighed and grabbed their clothes from the ground, handing them out for her to take.

"Cmon. You're with me tonight."

i have no words