Slow Hearts

Ivy * Mateo

After hugging Jay I rushed to class just to still be late. Go figure. I walked in just to see my math teacher with her arms crossed asking why am I 10 minutes late. I make up a bullshit excuse of me having to use the bathroom and potentially having a bloody accident. She cringes in disgust as she tells me to sit down. I head to my seat when I realized my normal spot is taken so I look for the only empty spot which happens to be right next to Sarah and Fatima. I rolled my eyes internally as I made my way to the seat and plopped down avoiding eye contact with either. It wasn't hard since both of them are considered popular and don't really know I exist until now it seems. "Hey are you like new?" Fatima says to me while twirling her curls. "No she's not she's been here for like the whole year." Sarah says rolling her eyes at Fatima. "So are you like dating Mateo?" Sarah asks with a grin on her face. I couldnt help but notice how pretty she was, truly gorgeous. "No I'm not" I say while rolling my eyes at the thought of that. "Well it just seems like you're so close with him" Sarah says with an even bigger smile. Is the teacher not going to yell at her for talking this much? "We're just friends haha" I say while opening my math notebook and pulling out my trusty Ti-84 Plus CE which I adore so much. "Hm so he's single?" Sarah says with a hint of high pitch. "I guess so I'm not sure" I say with a sigh wondering when will this meaningless conversation end. I watched as Sarah and Fatima shifted away from me to exchange whispers and giggles. I couldn't hear if they were about me or not so I was left with a sinking feeling in my stomach the rest of the class period. "Ok class I'll see you on Wednesday!" I heard Mrs Avery say to us as the bell rings. I exit the old looking classroom to enter the huge hallways that look eerily like harry potter but a bit more modernized. I tug on my sweats realizing how badly I'm really dressed today. I couldn't help but for the first time feel a bit self conscious. Whatever though you live once am I right. I finish two more periods when boom it's finally lunch time. I couldn't help but feel a bit excited to see my one true friend Mateo. Despite me saying to Jay that we are friends I'm not sure how I feel about it especially after that hug he gave me.. Before I could even register any other thought I hear "IVYYYY!!" I look ahead and see Mateo happy as always. He rushes to me and says "heyyy" again this time I notice his friend is with him. "I'm Lucas, Its nice to meet you"I observe Lucas for a bit he has wild brown hair and dark brown eyes with. "Hi Lucas I'm Ivy it's nice to meet you too" I say with a half smile. For a few seconds there's silence until Mateo says "WELL what are we waiting for let's get food duh" He says while nudging Lucas. "I'm not really up for cafeteria food today don't we get enough of that slop" Lucas says with a sigh. "Then let's go out to somewhere" I hear a voice say. It's Jay. "But we aren't allowed off the premises during lunch?" I say eyeing him. "Who said they would know?" Jay says with a big smile. I watch as Lucas and Mateo also smile. "Wait but how are we going to go anywhere I don't have a car yet." Lucas says and Mateo agrees with "me neither". I don't either but I don't tell them that. We all look at Jay and he goes "of course I have my car, just don't ruin the seats and Ivy you're sitting up front with me." He says before I could react. "Nooo why her?? I like shotgun!" Lucas says sighing. I look at Mateo who is surprisingly very quiet. He isn't smiling either. Then it comes to me. I never said sorry. "Hey Mateo" I say as we are all heading to the parking lot. "Yes?" Mateo says with his eyes a bit lit up. "I'm sorry" I say with a smile. Mateo is startled. "What for?" he says with concern. "You know how you said I had to say sorry in order for us to be friends well I kinda forgot to say it" I said shyly. He smiles big and I watch as Lucas and Jay try to ignore our conversation. After that I noticed Mateo was happy again. He truly is a happy soul. "So how are we going to get food and come back without a single person noticing that we left?" I ask the guys as we head into the car. "Uh good point" Mateo says with a face palm. "I have an idea, we can just bribe someone at the school to cover for us while we are gone and to lie of where we are in case someone asks" Jay says with a wicked smile that still seems so dangerous. "Who would cover for us?" Lucas says with an even bigger frown. "Sarah would, I mean not for us but for Mateo" I blurt out. Silence. "I just mean that Sarah thinks Mateo is nice that's all" I say trying to clear what I'm trying to say. "Ohhh so Sarah has a thing for Mateoo???" Jay says laughing. I get red, I wasn't supposed to say that I don't know why I said it. I watch Mateo face which is blank, emotionless if you'd like to call it that. "Mateo you should ask Sarah to cover for us since she likes you so much" Lucas says with a hint of teasing in his voice. "I don't know that feels wrong" Mateo says with a frown. "Well don't you like her, I saw how you looked at her" Jay says with a mischievous tone. I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. I don't know what I was thinking, how could a pretty guy like that.. like me? I mean I never really tried on outfits and I mainly always come to school looking half alive it just makes sense that a fashionable guy like him would like a fashionable girl. Plus I just met him and we're only friends I shouldn't feel any sort of way but happy for him. I notice that Jay is now looking at me trying to understand what's going on in my head but I just look away. Whatever. "I don't know" Mateo finally says breaking the silence. "Come on please I could really go for a chic fila sandwich right now" Lucas pleads and starts to go on his actual knees which makes the rest of us laugh. "Ok ok! Just please get up man" Mateo says laughing his ass off. We all wait in the parking lot and around 5 minutes later he gives us the thumbs up letting us know that Sarah has agreed to cover for us. We all head into Jays car and take off to the local mall which has chic fila and other stores. However I wasn't really in the sandwich mood so I decided to go to a coffee shop in the mall and got myself a churro and an iced vanilla coffee. Yum. I turn around and Mateo is behind me holding two milkshakes with a frown. "I got you one" he says as he eyes my coffee. "Oh thank you so much but I already got a coffee.." I say as my voice trails off. Not wanting to disappoint my new friend I tell him "Give me it I'll drink both!" I say with a smile and he bursts into a grin so big and gives me a hug. I put both drinks high up  in the air so they don't get crushed. He hugs me a little bit longer than usual which I find weird but don't point out.

——————— Mateo ————————————

I know what I saw. Jay likes her. it's written all over him. He wants me and Ivy to drift apart so I had no other choice than to show him that I'm not leaving her. She's my friend and I don't give a fuck if he likes her or not, it's her decision who she likes or dislikes not his. In the car he tried to purposefully make Ivy think I like Sarah instead of her but in all honesty I'm not sure if I even like Ivy. She amuses me. I find her so adorable but is this a crush or a friend obsession? I can't tell but for now what I do know is I don't think Jay is the best for her. He's a manipulator. We head to the mall and I got chic fila with 2 milkshakes of course one for me and one for Ivy. I noticed that lately she hasn't been so depressed and ever since she cried on my chest I felt nothing but worry for her safety. I just want her to stay happy. I notice her at the coffee shop and instantly get a bit disappointed. I already bought her a milkshake. I watch as she turns around nearly spilling her drink seeing me behind her. My bad. She accepts my milkshake though despite already having a coffee in hand. I go for a hug and notices that Jay is right there. He's a few feet away from her so I turn the hug into a long one. I stare directly at Jay while hugging her. She must've thought something was up because not long after she finally pulled back "I want to eat my churro sorry" she says as she stuffs her face with it. I giggle at the sight of it. She's such a goblin.