The Cunningham's and the Montgomery's have since long been feuding with one another. Dating decades back, the two families separate advertising companies in New York City have been competing to win over the most clients and become the most acclaimed...
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MATTEO had therapy on Tuesdays and Fridays every week since returning to Syracuse after the break. He had been reluctant to go back to therapy, but after talking through it with me, Will, and even Nic, he decided that it was probably for the best. Cognitive-behavioral therapy was set to help him cope through his relapse to hopefully assure that he wouldn't fall back into the trap of drugs and alcohol and, consequently, disaster.
I picked him up from his therapist's office in downtown Syracuse this Friday once he was finished, which was 5:30 pm. He was waiting for me on the curb and I pulled up in his car rather than on my motorcycle. Matteo hopped in the passenger seat.
"Feels wrong to not drive Frank myself," Matteo said, patting the car's dash. "Onward, Chariot!"
I pulled back onto the road and started the short drive back to campus and back to the Lambda Xi house.
"How was The Gym?" I asked him.
Matteo didn't like to refer to it as "therapy." He preferred to call therapy The Gym because, in his own words, "The gym is a place that you can go to blow off steam and it's pretty therapeutic. But like, you don't really like the idea of going to the gym and it takes a lot of effort to force yourself to go. That's what therapy is, Mr. Prez. Therapy is The Gym. You just don't get buff in the arms, you get buff in your brain."
Matteo shrugged and looked out the window. He also didn't like to talk about The Gym very much, which I was okay with. If he was going to The Gym to talk to a legit professional, he didn't need to rehash it all to me afterward. Unless he wanted to, of course. We'd been back in Syracuse and back at school for almost 2 weeks now, meaning Matteo had officially gone to The Gym 6 times. He was doing a lot better, is pretty much what our conversations were limited to when he actually felt like discussing The Gym.
"We're sticking with twice a week. I mean, I guess it would be a little too soon to go down to once anyway, but I was kinda hoping," Matteo told me. "Anyway, Will says it's good for me and I'll listen to him."
Will was the other thing. Talking with Ava, she told me all about how Will and Matteo ended up getting together. Not together together like Ava and me, but together enough to cozy up with each other and text every day and call nearly every night. It wasn't just about statistics or John Proctor anymore. It was about the fact that Matteo got caught up in wanting a sexual distraction and ended up with something much more meaningful. He clung to Will Cunningham like he was his second source of oxygen.
"It is good for you. I'm glad you're doing better, Matteo," I said, reaching over to clasp his shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze. He smiled over at me.
When we got back to the house, I knew that Chad and Butler were off at the gym (the actual gym). I didn't know, however, that Maverick had gotten home. He had been staying mostly at the Alpha Chi apartments with Ava and Skylar, giving Matteo some space considering all that had happened. I knew Matteo wasn't really mad at Maverick and Maverick, as was obvious, wasn't mad at Matteo for any reason. It was just awkward between the two of them. The last time they'd spoken had ended off on really bad terms and I knew it freaked both of them out the prospect of having their first conversation following everything.
