Chapter 29
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
Florian
The food tastes as delicious as last time, and now Mateo and I are experts at slurping oysters. We insist on sharing with my bemused parents and sister.
Papa’s nose wrinkles.
“I knew there was a reason we avoided this before,” he tells my mother.
Mama shakes her head. “I thought it was about the cost.”
Mateo stiffens, and I know he is thinking about the cost.
He is so silly. I would pay ten times the price for him to have a nice night.
And this is a nice night.
Even with my family there and even though they are asking all sorts of questions.
Mateo starts yawning during dinner, and he sneezes twice, even though I haven’t heard him sneeze a single time before now.
“You’re sleepy,” Annika says.
“Sorry,” Mateo says, since he is as apologetic as a polite German.
“You are sleepy.” I frown. “And you have a cold.”
Mateo left the apartment late at night.
Oh, no.
“Was the T running?” I ask.
“Oh, that’s not important,” he says lightly.
I frown. That means that it wasn’t running.
How did he get home?
“You didn’t try to walk?” I ask.
His eyebrows dart up. “What? No! I live in Somerville.”
Annika leans forward.
“As you know,” he says quickly, then gives a laugh that manages to sound desperate.
I nod, even though I actually have never been to Somerville. It sounds far away. None of the hockey players live in Somerville.
“Mateo didn’t spend the night?” Mama asks.
Mateo stiffens.
I stiffen.
Schei?e.
“I, uh, had an early morning,” Mateo says. “I didn’t want to wake Florian.”
Mama sends me a disapproving glance that I deserve. I have treated my fake boyfriend appallingly. I am so embarrassed.
Annika types something in her phone.
“You live near Porter Square, Mateo?” Annika asks
“Yes.”
“So, it took you two hours to get home with the night buses.”
“You can figure that out?” Mateo looks stunned.
Then he looks embarrassed.
“I mean… I don’t think it took me that long. It didn’t feel that long.”
“It probably felt longer,” Papa says. “You should at least have put your boyfriend in a taxicab, Florian. I am disappointed in you.”
“I am disappointed in myself too,” I admit, my shoulders sagging.
Mateo looks increasingly horrified.
“You are new to being a boyfriend,” Papa says.
“Mateo, you must make sure that you stay overnight tonight,” Mama says.
“Well—”
“He will,” I say.
“Okay,” Mateo agrees.
My family walks Mateo and me back to my apartment, like last night. We take the elevator up, then hang out in the living room.
My family has booked their flight back to Germany at the end of this week, and they want to spend as much of their remaining time as possible with Mateo and me.
Mateo
Florian’s family finally leaves, and Florian and I are alone in the apartment. Florian’s family probably expects us to be doing bedtime activities again.
I glance at Florian. Will he want me to stay the night? Will he want… that?
“I will order you an Uber.” Florian taps his phone. “I am sorry I did not think to do that last night.”
Right.
He doesn’t want me to stay. That’s… well, of course he doesn’t. He’s a man who just discovered that he announced he was in love with a random staff member at his workplace.
“I can take the bus,” I say. “It isn’t an issue.”
He narrows his eyes.
I rise. “I’ll, uh—”
“Wait. I need to order you a ride. What is your address?”
I sigh. “I can order one myself. You already paid for dinner.”
I don’t like paying for a rideshare. It’s silly when the bus is available. It feels overly luxurious and ridiculous. But I don’t like Florian paying for me. I share an apartment with my sister in a triple decker. I won’t become impoverished by paying $40. I just don’t want to do so.
I feel his eyes on me. And even though he did not go to Harvard like his parents, even though he is not studying bacteria under a microscope like his sister, his gaze has that same intensity. I shift my feet. I don’t like feeling like a particularly complex problem set.
“Mateo, you are a great help to me. I do not want you to be tired for your work tomorrow. What if your massages are less strong? The team has a game tomorrow night. Do I want the Blizzards to blame me? Please, Mateo. Give me your address.”
“Fine.” I recite my address, and Florian beams at me happily.
And then he sends me away in an Uber Black.