Chapter 19

"Hi mum," Matthew calls.

He closes the door behind us, and I'm stunned. From the outside, their house looked huge and intimidating, with lots of glass and white plaster and stone facing. But from the inside, it's nice and super cozy. There's bright colors and long, fluffy curtains, handmade quilts and more couches than in my whole house combined. Matthew guides me towards the smell of freshly baked pie, most probably coming from the kitchen, one hand resting on my waist the whole time. It's highly distracting.

"Hello, Mrs. Perez," I say and put on my best smile.

Matthew's mother looks up from where's she's leaning on the counter and scrolling through a laptop, a green apron messily tied around her waist. She's tall, her hair long and as dark as her son's, and her smile his warm and welcoming.

"Oh, you're home," she calls and smiles at us, "And – is this your girlfriend? June?"

I'm surprised. Matthew looks embarrassed.

"Um, yes," I stammer and offer my hand, "Nice to meet you."

It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact Matthew apparently told his family I'm his girlfriend. I don't know how far we'd take the whole fake relationship business but seems like Matthew went on with it thoroughly.

"Nice to meet you, too," Matthew's mother smiles and squeezes my hand, "I took a little break from work and made pie, do you want some?"

"Thanks, but I'm taking June upstairs," Matthew intervenes quickly and grabs two glasses and a bottle of water from the fridge.

His mother leans over to pat his cheek. "No problem, I'll bring you two slices."

I'd rather stay downstairs and chat with her while waiting for freshly baked pie. She doesn't make me feel as anxious as strangers usually do, plus I still have no clue what Matthew's actually planning to do in his room. He said something along the lines he just wants to "hang out with my girlfriend," on our way home, which sounds vague at best.

Matthew looks over his shoulder and smiles. "What are you doing, come on."

Uh, I'd rather not. Where is the fire exit? I cough awkwardly and shift my weight, until Matthew looks over his shoulder and gives this very warm, very Matthew smile.

"What are you waiting for?"

I shake my head and follow him, and it shows just how huge his house actually is. I feel like we're climbing the stairs forever.

Upstairs, there's a light hallway, and loud rock music coming out of an open door. Matthew pokes his head inside and furrows his brows at what looks like a perfect duplicate of himself, minus a few inches of height, plus long bangs, and gothic clothing.

"Can you turn this down?"

Matthew duplicate rolls his eyes but reaches for his phone and taps on it until the volume's significantly lower. "Who's that – girlfriend?"

"June," Matthew says and pushes me slightly forward by my shoulders, "My younger brother, Leonard. He's fifteen."

Leonard gives me a small wave and immediately focuses back down to the book in his lap – I can't see the title over the dark cover, though I'm impressed by the apparently over thousand pages. I'm also impressed by the fact that Leonard's room is in stark contrast to his appearance, with a fluffy cream carpet, pastel green curtains and white furniture.

I give Mini Matthew smile he doesn't notice.

"Well, that was introductions," Matthew says and pulls me back around, "My room is at the end of the hallway."

"Have fun," Leonard calls after us.

Matthew laughs. I feel something heavy drop in my stomach.

"Um, is Leonard from our school?" I ask as Matthew leads me into his room.

"What? No," Matthew shakes his head as he opens the door to what looks an exact replicate of his brother's room, "He's in St. Lorenz, for smart kids. He complained he only has to attend so my parents can see him suffer, but he's actually doing well. His grades are good. Way better than mine."

I smile and reach out to touch the soft green curtains. "Did your mum decide on the furniture?"

"That obvious?" Matthew laughs and places the drinks on a table, comfortably plopping down on the floor, "We moved here five years ago and she had this whole interior design trip going on. Even my brother doesn't dare to change a thing."

And that was it for small talk apparently. I can't think of anything more to say about the house, the furniture or Matthew's family, so I carefully sit down next to him on the carpet. It's really fluffy.

"So what now," I say in the silence, voice way more confident than I feel, "We're not going to – you know."

Matthew stares at me.

"What?"

"What? I don't know, you were being all wink-wink nudge-nudge, right?"

Matthew rolls his eyes, but doesn't reply to that. Instead, he leans back and pulls out his phone.

"I don't like where this is going," I say.

"Why though," Matthew grins and opens his camera app, "Come on, let's take a few pictures. We can put them on my Snapchat and Insta, or show them to the rest – should I take off my shirt? Logan will explode."

"Only if you want me to strangle you with it," I say, "If there's clothes taken off, I'm leaving."

"Kidding, just kidding," Matthew laughs and pulls me closer, and I sigh in defeat.

We take a few selfies, and there are clothes on the whole time. I opt for simple smiles, while Matthew does this crooked version of his grin. Then, he tugs on my hair and the next couple of pics are me shooting daggers in his direction and him laughing. Another two where I flick Matthew's forehead and then a couple of pics where our faces are incredibly close "to make Logan all furious". I hold my breath during those and the tip of my ears are suspiciously red.

Next thing I know, we sit on the floor and watch Cartoon Network on Matthew's TV. His mum brings slices of freshly baked apple pie, and Matthew explains just how chubby he was as a kid because of his mum's baking, until his growth spurt finally kicked in. I tell him how I once ate so many of my mum's pancakes I was sick for three days but it was totally worth it. Matthew compares pie to pancakes and goes back to praise Liling' milk chocolate pancakes from the cleaning event. I promise to bring him the strawberry chocolate ones from my mum.

Matthew also tells me all about their upcoming soccer match against their rival, which is right after Christmas break and I somehow find myself agreeing to come, if not at least half serious. We both complain about how annoying Logan and Vivian's constant making out is, and Matthew goes to admit the reason they elected Logan second VP was the fact he was the only one willing to do it. I'm not surprised.

What I'm actually surprised about is the fact that this, sitting with Matthew in front of his TV, talking about every and anything while some old reruns are playing over and over again, is pretty fun. So much fun I forget I'm awkward with other people. I forget I don't really know Matthew well. I forget I'm trying to fake a relationship in order to get back on my ex instead of simply hanging out.

"Mat," the door opens and Leonard gives us a narrowed-eyes look through his long bangs, "Mum says it's late, June's parents are surely worried, it's already dark and yada yada yada."

"Knock next time, will you?" Matthew says and goes to check his phone, "Tell mum I'll drive her home."

Leonard makes a face. "Please, what would you two be doing." He goes to quickly wave in my direction, before slamming the door shut behind him.

I'm flustered, to the point I make this incredibly awkward face and desperately think of something to say.

"You do remember I came with my own car?" I finally tell Matthew and grab my bag, "No need to drive me home."

"Right," Matthew laughs and rubs a hand over his neck, "I forgot – I just wanted to drive you I guess, as your boyfriend."

"Yeah, no need to," I say while following him down the stairs, "From what I heard, you're not that good of a driver anyway."

Matthew pulls a face. "Who said that?"

"Well, someone in the club may have told me," I start slowly, "About how you all went to the movies last spring and when you drove them home, you manage to crash into a fire hydrant or something?"

Matthew's mum looks up from where's she's working on her laptop and laughs. "He's worked hard over the summer to pay for the repair."

"Which means unless you've got a death wish or something, don't let him give you rides," Leonard comments with a full mouth from the kitchen counter, rummaging through a stack of cookie jars.

"This is exactly the reason I never bring anyone home," Matthew says and places a hand on the small of my back, "I'll take June to her car."

"Goodbye Mrs. Perez," I say and extend my hand, "The pie was delicious. See you, Leonard."

"Come by anytime you like, June," Matthew's mother goes to shake my hand and then touches my hair, "You're very pretty, you know? I didn't expect Matthew to have such a pretty girlfriend."

"Same," Leonard says.

I stammer a flustered thank you. Matthew groans loudly and makes a face.

"We're outside."

The autumn air is cold. I stand on the curb and wrap my arms around myself, but I'm still shivering.

"Well," I say and look at Matthew.

Matthew smiles. He leans against the door frame and stares down at me. I'm wearing my driving shoes, and I feel incredibly small. I don't like it, being small, but right now, it makes me feel a little breathless. The good kind of breathless. Not the I'm-about-to-faint-catch-me kind.

"I see you tomorrow," Matthew says and looks hesitant, as if he's not quite sure what to do and what to say. Which makes two of us. "Drive safe and – sleep well?"

"You too," I say.

I lean on my tip toes and Matthew slowly shifts his weight and Leonard passes behind his back.

I immediately jump back.

"Oh, please don't stop on my account."

Matthew groans and beckons him furiously. "Get lost, Leonard!"

I chuckle and then reach out to quickly cup Matthew's face. It's daring, and I feel daring for once.

"Today was fun. Thank you for inviting me."

"Anytime," Matthew says and shows his special smile, where he looks even more unbearably stunning.

I watch him until I'mdown the driveway and past his house and feel light and like I'm floating.