"And where exactly are you headed to? Surely not to pick a fight with whoever hit your brother... right?"
I felt my face heat up from the accurate accusation and shook my head slowly.
"N-No-"
"Your first words to me are lies?" He clicked his tongue...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Oh, come on! Turn it back!" I pouted as Matteo turned the radio station that I had admittedly been obnoxiously singing to for the past fifteen minutes or so. He rolled his eyes but I didn't miss the slight tug of the corners of his lips before he masked it with a scowl. He turned the radio back and I sat criss-cross in the passenger seat of the car, singing my heart out to the new song that had just come on.
Thank God I wasn't blessed with a terrible singing voice as much as I sing at inconvenient times.
"Give me a word, give me a sign. Show me where to look, tell me... what will I find? What will I find?" I sang and I watched him bite the inside of his cheek to not smile, he's going to crack one way or another, I just know it so I continued to sing the beautiful song by Collective Soul.
"Lay me on the ground, fly me in the sky. Show me to where to look, tell me... what will I find? What will I find?" I sang as the melody trailed off into the hard guitar and hard drums where Matteo and I simultaneously began banging our head to the song and came up to sing the 'yeah' together. I squealed in victory and he chuckled as I drummed against my knees and continued singing the chorus, "Woaaah!"
"Heaven let your light shine down!" Matteo sang loudly and my God does he have a beautiful voice! I laughed in happiness as I continued my part, "Woaaah!" He looked at me for a second and grinned, the dimples in his cheeks were something I had never noticed before now. Probably because he doesn't smile very much. He sang his part shortly after, "Heaven let your light shine down!"
Before I could sing my next part, he stopped smiling as he pulled into the driveway of a smaller log cabin surrounded by trees, "We're here."
He shut the car off and I climbed out of the car, taking in my dark surroundings seeing as it was four in the morning. He hurried over to my side of the car and grabbed my hand, showing me where to step, "There's a small pothole right there, but it's big enough to hurt your foot if you aren't careful." I nodded and thanked him silently as we walked to the back of the car and grabbed our bags. I grabbed Milo from the backseat and the three of us walked over to the door. He found the right key and soon we were inside where he lit the fireplace that already had old wood placed into it.
"It's a little cold in here so we can warm up in here unless you're tired," he mumbled as he grabbed a bag of dog food from a cupboard in the open kitchen and placed it into the bowl he had bought at the grocery store we passed a couple of hours ago. I filled up the other bowl with water and placed it next to us but I think Milo is too tired to eat right now.
He was currently sprawled out on his back next to the warm fire, snoring slightly. I giggled quietly as he handed me Savannah's blanket and I sat next to him on the couch, "It's nice here. Quiet..."
He nodded and looked down at his hands, "It's my favorite place in the world. No paparazzi, no magazines, no business deals, no upstanding businessman facade to uphold. Just secluded and just you." I nodded as I sat criss-cross on the couch, the blanket covering my legs and my hair covering my shoulders. I was dressed in another one of Stefan's black shirts and my blue sweatpants. I kicked my shoes off so that they wouldn't be on the couch.
Matteo was in black sweatpants and a similar black shirt to my own. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and sent a group text message to everyone: Stefan, Willow, Benny, Gino, and Matteo was in it as well. I texted, "We're here. Love you guys, goodnight."
I recently found out that we were outside of a small town in Tennessee where Matteo grew up. I never learned the name of the town but I do remember coming to Tennessee once as a little girl with my family. Stefan, Savannah, dad, and I all came down here to camp one time and we made a bunch of friends at a campsite that year. It was one of my favorite trips we ever took as a family.
I blew out a soft breath, relieved we finally made it after two days of driving and stopping to nap. It was absolutely exhausting along with adjusting to flying through multiple time zones from the trip from the Philippines with Stefan. Matteo clicked his tongue, "There's only one bedroom, you can have it with Milo and I'll sleep out here-"
"Don't be silly, Matteo. It's your house."
He cocked an eyebrow at me a shrugged his shoulders, "So? I generate more body heat than you do so I don't need a full bed to keep me warm at night. You do. Milo will help keep you warm."
I nodded and looked down at my puppy who was sleeping soundly by the fire, "I think Milo will accompany you tonight instead. I highly doubt there's any moving him tonight." Matteo snorted as he looked at Milo and nodded. I stood up, holding my blanket, "Goodnight, Matteo." He nodded his head at me as he grabbed the blanket on the back of the couch. He draped it over him and lied down on the couch in a comfortable sleeping position.
