Chapter 14
Flopping down on his bed, Mateo stretched before picking up his phone, debating whether to send Jedidiah a message or not. Tomorrow, he was going back to work. It’d been two and a half weeks since he was injured, and although his wound was not fully healed, he could do the menial parts of his job.
Plus, he was getting bored at home, and to be honest- he wanted to see Jedidiah again, he missed the work environment at the hotel, even if he’d only been there for a week previously.
Carla opened the bedroom door, sitting down on the bed next to Mateo. [How are you feeling about going back to work?] She asked in Spanish, running her hand through his hair. Mateo sat up, patting her head and smiling.
[I’m…excited, I guess. I’m looking forward to it. How was your date, by the way?] he asked, knowing that Carla had just come back from her second date with the boy from the coffee shop. Carla grinned, sitting back against Mateo’s pillows and fiddling with her necklace.
[Oh you know, it was…it was great. Rodney is such a sweet guy, I really like him. I’m hoping he asks me to be his girlfriend soon, but I don’t know if he’d think that’s too soon? I mean we’ve only been dating for like, three weeks? Maybe he doesn’t want me to be his girlfriend,] Carla said dejectedly.
Mateo just gaped at her before snorting. [Carlita if he doesn’t want you to be his girlfriend then he must be blind and stupid because you’re beautiful and sweet and kind and funny and strong and awesome. Anyone would be lucky to have you, and I really mean that.]
Carla smiled softly, pulling Mateo to her for a hug. [Thanks, that- that means a lot. And the same goes for you, ok? You’re the best brother out there, you’re attractive and smart and polite. You’re like, a real catch, Matelito,] she said gently, hugging him tightly but being careful to not touch his wound and accidentally hurt him.
The two hugged for a while, just sitting there and chatting about random things, having a catch up. And then Mateo’s phone pinged with a notification. Checking his phone, Mateo sat up straighter when he saw the name pop up.
Carla instantly smirked, reading the message over her brother’s shoulder. Mateo just pushed her away, angling his body away from his sister so she couldn’t see his slight smile as he read the message again.
‘I’m looking forward to having you back in the office tomorrow.’
It was nothing extreme, it was just- it was just professional, right? That’s got to be it, Mateo thought, clearing his throat and replying quickly, a simple ‘me too’ and that was it.
[So, are you crushing on your new boss?] Carla asked, a smirk still plastered on her face. Mateo rolled his eyes, snorting.
[Yeah right, like I’m stupid enough to do that. I mean the probability that this guy is straight in the first place is extremely high, I think his best friend might actually be his girlfriend and if there’s a chance he does like guys, there’s a chance he would be a transphobe. So no, I’m not crushing on him. But I will admit that I enjoy his company, and if he wasn’t my boss, I’d want to be his friend.]
Carla huffed, running her hand through her hair. [Yeah ok, but why can’t you be friends with him? I highly doubt he’d fire you or some bullshit if you two had an argument. Do you have to be so professional with him? Because like, I’m preeeetty sure he wants to be friends with you at least,] she reasoned, poking Mateo in the ribs.
He batted her hand away, shaking his head. [I just don’t want to have to deal with that, I’d rather keep my distance as much as possible and then I can prolong-] Mateo bit his lip before sighing. [Then I can prolong having to tell him about me and then I don’t have to worry about that getting in the way of my job. I’d just rather not, ok?]
Carla nodded, hugging him again gently before pulling back and standing up. [Ok, I get that. But if you ever want to talk, you know my door is always open,] she said softly, slipping out of the door.
Mateo sighed, leaning back and rubbing his eyes. He had a lot on his mind at the moment; there was everything going on with Jedidiah’s family and this other family, plus there was everything going on with Jedidiah himself.
Mateo hadn’t been lying when he said he didn’t have a crush on Jedidiah; he really didn’t, plus he’d only met the guy a few times, and he didn’t catch feelings that fast. But he also acknowledged that if the situation was slightly different, he would probably end up having feelings for the man.
But Mateo couldn’t risk that right now, he needed to take things slowly, just one day at a time as he sorted out his life. He finally had a good job, working alongside nice people. He may now be earning less than when he was a bodyguard, but his salary was still more than what he’d been offered at other places, so he could still help his family.
He just needed to focus on that, and not get distracted by anything else. He could manage that much, right?
—————
Mateo was a little sad to find that Haley wasn’t on the front desk when on his first day back at work; he missed their quick morning chats, even if their friendship was only surface level and Mateo didn’t know any actually important or deep facts about Haley; he basically just knew her coffee preferences and things like that.
But still, she was friendly and he liked having a quick talk most mornings with her.
Mateo made it almost all the way to the lift before bumping in to James, who asked him to grab a folder from the staff room on the second floor, which not many people used. Apparently the folder contained a report of what had happened in Mateo’s role from the time he was absent, basically. It would be helpful in catching up on the lost time.
When he opened the door to the staff room however, he realised that it was decidedly not empty at all. As soon as Mateo opened the door and saw two people kissing, he instantly closed the door again, blinking a few times as he tried to process what he just saw.
And then the door opened again and Mateo continued blinking. “Haley?!” He gasped, astounded that the generally rather prim and proper woman would be making out with someone at work. And then she pulled him into the room, her expression set.
“You absolutely cannot tell anyone about what you just saw, ok?!” She asked- or told, technically, in a rather worried manner. Mateo just shrugged, patting her hand. “I won’t; you have my secret, I have yours. Who’s your- Lesedi?” He asked, astounded.
He’d originally absolutely pegged Lesedi as Jedidiah’s friend who was possibly also his on-and-off girlfriend, but here she was, sheepishly hiding her smile behind her hand. “Hey, Mateo! How are you by the way, I heard from Jed that you got stabbed?”
Haley whipped around to look at the woman, gaping. “Oh my god what why didn’t you tell me- holy shit Mateo are you ok?!” She asked, turning back to him and touching his shoulder gently. Mateo just shrugged again, touching beneath his right collarbone, where the wound was.
“Healing well. Hang on though, so are you two…” he began, gesturing between Lesedi and Haley. The former just gently took Haley’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “We’re girlfriends, yes. You’re not secretly a homophobe, are you?” She asked, her tone joking but her gaze serious.
Mateo snorted, crossing his arms. “I’m bi, so no. Haley how come you didn’t tell me? Although actually you did gush about your friend a lot, and I had a suspicion that you were crushing on this friend…let me guess, she was Lesedi?”
Haley blushed, leaning in to her girlfriend’s side and smiling gently. “Yeah, I uh, I’m not closeted, but like, I didn’t know if you knew Lesedi or not, because obviously you’re both close with Mr Hargrave, so…and I sort of accidentally um, outed Lesedi, that first day we met,” she said awkwardly.
Lesedi and Mateo exchanged a confused look, not entirely sure what Haley was talking about. And then something dawned on Mateo - the way Haley had reacted when she’d found out about his gender identity, and how she’d started off by saying ‘girl’ before switching to ‘friend’.
Mateo took a step forwards, it all beginning to come together in his mind. “Holy shit, Lesedi you’re trans?”
Comments (22)
See all