Four

I tap Annalia and give her a nod.

  "Alright since you're insisting so much you can pay". Annalia agrees but I can tell she isn't really happy.

He pays for the kebab and turns back to face us.

    "Wow I didn't really think I'd see you again".

    "Yeah me too, it's quite a surprise seeing you here. How many days? Uhm four right and you didn't even keep your promise". She rants.

I chuckle inwardly, I thought she said that she's over him. I wanted to walk away and give them some privacy but that's until a certain voice stops me in my tracks.

   "Hey man, where have you been?, We've been looking for you." 

I look over to the owner of the voice as he lightly slaps the back of the guy in front of us. My heart skips a beat as I meet a familiar pair of forest green eyes and dirty blond hair.

I look at Annalia and her widened eyes are filled with amusement.

"You". I shriek

"Hello to you too A-N-D-R-E-A". He says, mockingly dragging my name

"Seems like you two are already acquainted with one another". Annalia says clearly mocking me.

"Why don't you crawl back into the hell hole you came out from you fu..." A hand clasps over my mouth before I could let out the cuss.

 "No cussing remember".

I shrug Annalia's hand of my mouth and give the guy in front of me a monstrous glare.

FLASHBACK "Come on Andrea , a cup of coffee will jolt you up just fine". Annalia said as we walked into the cafe. "Just find somewhere nice for us to sit and I'll go get the coffee".

I found a seat for us that's pretty close to the window and sat down rubbing my forehead while checking my phone. "Uhm excuse me ma'am but this seat is already taken". Someone said tapping me.I am feeling so grumpy and tired this morning and the last thing I want is for someone to irritate me. "Leave me alone and go sit elsewhere it's not like the cafe is filled up". I said not looking up from my phone. "What? Didn't you hear me I said...” Uggh voice is really giving me a migraine. Why wouldn't he just go.I turned around in my seat to face him, he's pretty good looking but my grumpy attitude wouldn't let me take note of that and by his side is a girl with 'dirty' blonde hair just like him. "Listen mister quit making a mountain out of a molehill, act like the matured prick I believe you are and go sit somewhere else". I said sternly but softly. The girl beside him let out a soft gasp. "Come Adrian let's go sit elsewhere and leave her alone". She said tugging his arm lightly.I gave a small smirk, at least someone's agreeing with me. I looked back at the guy and I couldn't tell if he's angry or not but I just shrugged. "Fine I'll show you how much of a 'matured prick' I can be". He said with a small smile. "Yeah now shoo..." I said with a wave of my hand.If Annalia sees my attitude right now she'd be super mad but this is what happens when I stay up late watching numerous movies and still wake up early in the morning. Still that's not a good reason to be harsh with them. I turned back in my seat and laid my head on the coffee table. "What I did was really bad, I definitely apologize to them when next I see them". I said to myself feeling really guilty. 'Where's Annalia with the coffee anyway'. I thought. I picked up my phone so I'd go apologize to them and then I felt a cold liquid pour on me from my head and down to my lemon green top. It's coffee.  I  turned around to see who I'm going to kill this morning. It's him, the guy who I was being harsh to earlier and he's holding an empty cup of coffee which I'm pretty sure he didn't drink.  He's smiling? Now I am really pissed off. I was about to grab him by his shirt when someone from behind grabbed me.  "Please just calm down and let's go get you cleaned up, alright Rea". Someone whispered in my ear. It's Annalia.  "See miss I showed you how much of a matured prick that I could be". He said clearly mocking me.I tried freeing myself from Annalia's grasp but she didn't budge."Please Andrea let's just ignore this and go it's not worth a scene". She said clearly this time trying to drag me to a bathroom."Yeah listen to your friend Andrea". The guy said still smiling. I really wished I could slap it off his face. That's when something in me stirred, I looked around the cafe and saw that it was almost filled up. People were watching us. I bowed my head in shame, tears threatening to fall and let Annalia take me to the bathroom.

"What happened out there". Annalia asked when we were in the bathroom and then I told her everything.

FLASHBACK ENDS.

 

"You know what, why don't we leave the both of them to catch up and go sit somewhere, huh?". Annalia says and grabs his hand. 

He just nods and smirks at Adrian.

 "Try not to get killed". He says and follows Annalia.

  "Yeah right". Adrian scoffs

Annalia turns back and give me a look, that's when I remember what I wanted to do at the cafe before.

Adrian is about to walk away but I hold his shoulder, stopping him.

 "I'm sorry".

  

ANNALIA’S POV

I take his hand and lead him away from the scene that's unfolding. As we get closer to the bonfire I can see an empty log which we can sit on.

"Come on let's go sit over there". I say pointing at the log.

"Sure".

We get to the log and sit not speaking. The silence between us is choking. There's a soft song playing but it doesn't really do anything to help the matter at hand. I just sit there stealing glances at him while clapping my hands softly. I do this whenever I'm nervous.

"Hi, my name's is Matteo". He says stretching he's palm out for me to shake with a smile.

I smile back and shake him too going along with the plan.

I know what he's trying to do.

"Hi, Annalia here. It's a pleasure meeting you". I chuckle.

"Well that helped clear the awkwardness, didn't it?". 

 "Yeah, it did". I reply

I stand up, untie my cardigan from my waist and put it on. It's getting really chilly out here.

"So where have you been, I mean after that day I didn't see you again and you didn't call so...". 

"Yeah about that, I'm really sorry. Actually I had misplaced that piece of paper you gave to me and I had to go home the next day. It was an emergency".

"Oh, so how's home?".

"Pretty nice the weather there's beautiful and I got to eat nice home made Mexican food". He chuckles.

He has a nice laugh. 

I guess my suspicion was right then.

"Suspicion?".

My eyes widened. "Had I said that out loud".

 "Yeah, you did".

Ugh, I'm really embrassing my self out here.

I chuckle nervously and then explain.

 "Well, what I meant is that the first time I saw you I knew you were a Latino but I didn't know what country, so I was rooting for either Mexico, Argentina or Spain". I say marking them off with my finger.

Wait a minute, Spain isn't even a Latin American country. I mentally face palm my self. "I'm really making a fool out of myself here". I whisper softly.

 "Spain isn't a Latin American country, but then I do have Spaniard blood running through my veins so you are not making a fool out of yourself".

Why wouldn't the ground open up when you want it to.

 "People make mistakes about countries a lot Lia and if those mistakes are not made we wouldn't learn at all okay, so don't sweat it". He says looking at me. I feel his eyes on me but I cannot look up. My eyes are down, I feel that if I lift my face up he will see the tears threatening to fall.

I clutch my cardigan tighter. My chest hurts, did this place just get colder?.

 "Hey, Lia are you okay. You're shivering really bad".

I won't talk. If I do my voice wouldn't be steady and those tears will fall.

Fake it.

 "Yeah... I... am". I say slowly.

That choking silence is back. I could still feel his eyes on me but I still won't look up. If I do, no matter how hard I try I'll still see 'her' face staring at me in shame and disappointment for the 'mistake' I just made.

 "Let's take a walk around the field, how about that?". He asks as he stands and stretches out his hand.

I summon courage and look up to see his eyes still on me.

I do not dare blink.

I can tell he notices my watery eyes but he stays in his lane and doesn’t pry.

 "Come on my muscles are being strained". He says playfully and I let out a soft laugh, connect my palm with his as he pulls me up gently and  into his arms.

He wraps them around me giving me a comforting hug.

I feel a little stiff at first but as he rubs his palm on my back soothingly. I relax and then came the tears.

I try so hard to stop whimpering but it comes out anyway.

 "You know you really have a beautiful laugh". He says as he continues to rub my back.

 "Shut up". I say laughing and lightly slap his back.

He smells like carrots and I love carrots. I giggle. 

He unwraps his arms and I am released from that comforting embrace.

I step back a little and wipe my eyes. 

 "I just uhm got a little something in my eyes".

He gives me a genuine smile as he puts one hand into his jean trouser pocket and the other at the back of his head.

 "Yeah, a really little nasty something that was". 

  "Uh... How about that walk". I ask. I am really enjoying his company.

  "Sure let's..."

  "Hey, cousin where have you been". A soft voice says.

I turn my back and see a very pretty girl but she isn't looking at me she's staring at Matteo.

I awkwardly moved to the side in order to grant her access to talk to him properly.

 "I thought that silly Adrian came to look for you. Where's he?". She asks looking around as though Adrian will appear.

 "Yeah about that, he's with the girl. The one he poured coffee on".

She rolls her eyes. "Oh, I hope he isn't causing trouble again. Where are they though I really need to apologise to her on my silly brother's behalf". She crosses her arms.

  "I think he's doing great on his own". Mateo says with a smirk.

  "Oh my goodness Matteo where your manners, you didn't care to introduce me to this beautiful damsel". She gasps dramatically and puts a hand to her chest.

Mateo gives her a funny look, says something that's definitely not English and then turns to me.

I made a mental note to ask him about that later. 

If we do meet later.

 "Annalia, this is my little cousin sister  Mariquita and Mari meet An..."

 "Annalia". She says smiling and I stretch out my hand for a handshake but she doesn't take it, she goes in for a hug instead.

 "It's a pleasure meeting you". She says as she releases me.

I smile. "Same here". She looks pretty nice. She reminds me of someone.

  "Okay so now that the introduction's been completed, Mari why don't you dissappear and let me continue my conversation". Matteo says as he turns her around and lightly pushes her.

 "Huh, I'm not going anywhere I'll stay right here". She pouts and stomps her feet on the ground. I cannot help it but laugh softly.

  "So what did I miss". Someone says it's Adrian and he's walking towards us. I look behind him and I see Andrea she sees me and a silly smile erupts with her eyebrows wiggling but when her eyes averts to Mariquita her smile drops.