Mateo

Epilouge :)

10 Years Later. . .

"Mateo! C'mon before you're late," I yelled down the hall while fixing him a plate.

Mateo drug his slippers down the hall slowly—his eyes halfway closing with every step.

I missed him being that energetic little boy he once was. Since he was sixteen now, he rarely hung out with me and started calling me 'mom' instead of 'mommy'. It hurt my little heart, but I'll get over it I guess.

I sat his plate in front of him. "Why're you so sleepy?" I sat down—along with my plate—across from him. "You stayed  up all night talking to that girl whose name you won't tell me?"

"We only stayed up 'til about one." He sipped his orange juice.

"In the morning?!" My eyebrows rose. "That's too late, Mayo, and you know that. You have a major test today. Do you not-"

"Annnd this is why I never tell you shit."

I gasped. He's never spoken to me like that before. "Don't cuss at the table." I cut a corner off of my pancake. "Or around me, for that matter."

I knew people talking about their kids going into some type of 'teenage stage', but damn, I never knew it was going to be this fucking rough.

He had a girl who he was talking to and I haven't even met her, he won't tell me her name, and he tells me absolutely nothing about the dates they went on.

I felt like my precious baby was slipping away from me and I didn't like that. Not one bit.

Mateo's phone went off and when he picked it up he smiled before replying. I'm guessing it's that girl.

"Are you gonna go to prom with her?" It was coming up and I needed to know if we had to go shopping for a tuxedo soon.

"That's the plan." He sat his phone back down. "I'm thinking of doing a prom-posal, but I'm not sure if she's into that type of stuff."

"So. . . what I'm hearing is, you need my help?"

"Mom, don't make this weird," he huffed.

"Alright, alright." I held up my hands defensively.

So, I helped Mateo find out if this mystery girl would love prom-posals or not. I enjoyed having a normal conversation with him. It kind of clicked in my mind that I haven't sat down and talked to him one-on-one in quite a while.

During this time, I learned that the mystery girl did not like expensive things even though her parents were rich, she always like to give back to the community, and she loved animals.

So far, I liked her.

After our talk, I had to help Mateo quickly come up with a poster he was going to use to ask her to prom. We both knew he was going to be late to school at this point so I might as well get some mother-son bonding time.

•

"What'd she say?"

Was it a little weird that I anxiously waited by the door for my son to get home so he'd tell me about the prom-posal?

Nah.

"See for yourself." He handed his phone to me and clicked 'play' on the video.

I watched as Mateo confidently walked over to the girl whose face was unfortunately covered by her hands while she gasped. Mateo said exactly what we practiced and the girl nodded her head—her straight, brown hair bobbing up and down as she did so.

I handed him back his phone. "Oh, that's great, Mayo!" I clapped my hands.

"Yeah, I know." He got a water bottle out of the refrigerator. "She told me her parents want to meet me and you; they'll be coming over for dinner tonight."

"What time did y'all set up?" I began getting out of my chair to get some ingredients out.

"Around five." He got his binder out of his backpack.

"So. . . two hours?" I started the stove while I poured some vegetable oil into a pot.

"Yup." He smiled.

"Okay."

I cooked hastily because I also wanted to make sure the house was crystal clean. We moved out of Booker's house about two years ago, and he helped me get this place; the Hawthornes still thought Mateo was dead, and my brain has completely healed.

I covered all the dishes with aluminum foil; then I began cleaning; starting with Mateo's room.

Wink, wink.

After I was done, I got myself ready. I put on a royal blue romper and golden wedge heels, golden stud earrings, and a small gold necklace with my first name initial on it. I sprayed myself with perfume before making my way into the spotless living room.

After about ten minutes, Mateo came running down the hall as the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," He said to me before opening it. "Hey." They hugged. "You look beautiful," Mateo complimented.

"Thanks, you look handsome as well," the girl replied.

Before they turned to catch me staring at them, I got up and acted like I was setting the table that I already set ahead of time.

"You must be Miss Brown." The girl smiled, revealing her dark blue braces. "I've heard so much about you." The girl had long brown hair, green eyes, and a green shoulderless dress that suited her skin very well.

"Really? Mateo's told me nothing about you." I laughed. "So, what's your name?"

Mateo spoke first, "I don't think that's necessar-"

"It's Sofia. . . Sofia Hawthorne."

Holy guacamole.

-

A/N

It's me again!

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- P0pppy