MATEO || bxb

- 42 -

| Camden |

I was finally seeing Mar today, a few days before Mateo and I moved to uni. Mar would be there too but not for another week after us, and things had been so busy after results day, especially with Mateo's dad in town, so I hadn't had a chance to see her yet. We'd finally found a day we could both spare some time for each other, so we agreed to meet up at our favourite old cafe where we used to get waffles together every Thursday morning when college started later in the day for both of us.

"You excited?" Mateo asked just as I was getting ready to leave.

"Yeah," I replied with a smile as I thought about my friend. "It will be good to have someone else to talk to again. I mean I love you, but sometimes I just need a girl to rant to."

"I guess you can't rant about me to me either," he said raising an eyebrow. "Try not to slag me off too much to her. I would like her to like me."

I grinned. "I'll only say a few things. Like how I always wake up to something poking my back that I really don't want poking into me when I've just woken up."

"Well it's not like I can control it. Besides, you do a pretty good job of getting rid of it," he said wiggling his eyebrows and coming over for a kiss.

I just rolled my eyes and said my goodbyes and headed out. Mateo had offered to give me a lift but I kind of fancied the walk today. The cafe wasn't that far away, and walking meant more time for me to gather my thoughts. But soon enough I could see her through the windows of the cafe, and I actually found myself rushing inside to meet her.

"Mar," I said happily as I greeted her.

"Cam!" she replied just as I took a seat opposite her.

"Hey."

"Hi," she said grinning as much as I was. She looked radiant. "I ordered you a latte just the way I remember you liking them," she said gesturing to the mug in front of me that still looked nice and warm.

"Thanks," I replied. "It's great to see you. Sorry I've been so busy, or I would have met up with you sooner."

"Oh, no worries. I had a lot of packing I needed to do and family to see. It's been hectic," she said.

"Yeah, tell me about," I said taking my mug and having a sip of the latte. It wasn't that strong but that's exactly how I liked it, which of course, like she said, she remembered.

"So, I mean let's skip all of that. How are you? Like really how are you? You seem... well you seem a lot happier."

"I am. Yeah I am. I'm sure I'll tell you one day why I wasn't so happy for a while but umm... well I don't want to tell you here and I don't want to think about all that stuff yet. But right now, yeah, I'm happy. Really happy. You saw I'm dating Mateo now!"

"Okay, yes, tell me everything."

So, I told her all about this summer like we were just old friends catching up, which of course we were, but it felt like the distance which had once been between us was never there. It felt exactly like our friendship before, just telling each other everything and laughing wherever we could and making fun of each other one way or another.

"So... have you guys? I mean I'm assuming you guys have done it?" she asked wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

I smirked thinking about the one time that we had and the many other times where we got close enough. I still hadn't slept with Mateo again since then. I don't know, even though that time was amazing, I was still a little unsure again. I felt like I had to be fully confident in having sex to be able to do it and even though we'd managed to do it once, it didn't for some reason mean that I was happy to do it all the time. I guess recovery is a slow process and we all go about it in our own ways.