"You didn't get any sleep did you?"
Mateo blinked rapidly, groaned out, "Wha? ...Sorry my eyes were sleeping." Out of habit, he wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his sleeve.
Elena laughed aloud, gripping her books close to her chest and shook her head before setting them down on the table to join Mateo. "You're making no sense." She teased. She sighed lightly and gave Mateo a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you with your project."
He waved his hand offhandedly at her apology. "Don't worry, you had your date, honestly that's way more important." He slapped his cheek with not much force to keep his eyes open, and he had to preserve them as such until his first period. "So, how was it?"
Elena expression changed quickly at Mateos question. She put a bashful hand upon her pink cheeks and shyly chuckled. "It was ...amazing! Naomi is so sweet and funny. Oh, dios mío , my heart is fluttering, can you hear it?"
"I actually don't hear it, but I'll take your word, Elena." He weakly smiled, his face aching and he constantly shut his straining eyes and reopened them, and he wished that by doing that he could refresh his eyes from being sleep deprived. She inhaled and rubbed his cheek from across the small table.
"Why don't you go home early?" She suggested gently, disliking the tiredness in his eyes and the dark bangs that was bringing attention to his fatigued face.
"I can't, my mom would flip." He rubbed his eyes. "I was planning to skip?"
Elena eyebrows furrowed, worried once again for now different reasons. "Where would you go? Theres camera all over the school, plus the hallway monitors are like freaking halcones !"
"I know. But, I was thinking the bathroom or something."
"Hm, could work." She hummed in deep thought. "Just pick the one on the second floor, you know, the one at the end? It's not that popular."
"I was planning too." He shrugged and checked his phone, trying to keep his mind active and alert by anything at this point. He wished he had time to make himself some coffee this morning, but he was in such a rush. "I'm only going to first period because of the project."
"Of course, you weren't gonna ditch that after how hard you worked on it last night, clearly." She noted, her fingers checking her phone as well.
"Aww! Naomi sent me a good morning text!" She cooed.
Then, the bell rang around the cafeteria and there heads lifted up from their devices and they grabbed their backpack and books.
"I'll see you later, chulo . Text me!" Elena waved him off, walking to the opposite side of the building from him.
He waved back, and headed to his first and hopefully his only class. He can do this. He can spend at least forty minutes without drifting off.
He did well on his project and presentation. He was up and half awake when he was up in front of the room and by the second he sat back down in his seat, he laid his hands against his head and occasionally closed his eyes, but not long enough that the teacher would notice.
He felt much more weak and tired than before.
After the class ended, he sighed in relief and texted Elena about his presentation and how he was heading to the bathroom on the second floor. When he was almost there, he could feel his heart soar in happiness. He could sit on the toilet and just get some shut eye. He actually didn't know for how long either. He refused to think about that right now, and only was desperate for sleep.
He stimulated his pace the closer he got and peered around to see if the hall monitors were staring his way, and he headed inside right at the moment the bell rang.
He let out a long sigh he didn't realize he was holding. He was surprised when he observed no one was in the bathroom. He placed his backpack down by his legs as he rubbed water from the sink onto his face. It wouldn't help, since he was about to have snooze time, but he wanted to sense a bit of relaxation. He was obviously tense for skipping, and he required this.
"Oh,"
Mateo whipped his head at the sound of someone else in the bathroom.
"Uh," Mateo examined the boy before him. He had a blue varsity jacket and his backpack slung lazily over one shoulder. His brown hair was slicked back perfectly and his stance was confident, he practically towered over Mateo. His heart thumped, he hoped this guy wouldn't be too rude about a regular student like Mateo, nerd even. "Hi."
"You skipping too?" He asked and leaned over the wall and peered Mateo from head to toe, and to be frank, Mateo was blushing at the sight of his dark eyes acknowledging his existence.
"Yeah." He answered. He rather not pick a conversation with a popular jock like the guy in front of him. He was uninterested. It almost itched him to basically leave the bathroom. But, the guy had definitely the right idea about this place.
The guy whistled lowly, chuckling softly. "You? I wouldn't never thought."
"I'm guessing you are too?" He commented, in a listless tone.
"Yup!" He smirked visibly at Mateo, watching him as he played with his phone. "You got a reason?"
Mateo was surprised beyond his mind how this jock can still be talking with him in this small bathroom. He rather keep to himself, yet he was continuing to converse. Mateo wanted to walk into the stall and forget the guy was even here. Now, he can't. He didn't want to skip together with this guy. They weren't friends, and he was acting like they were. It annoyed him.
Admittedly, it hardly felt as awkward as he thought.
"Sleep. I'm tired. You?" And, here he was, contributing to the conversation.
"I sometimes do this when I want to, really." He responded, checking his phone as well.
"Ever been caught?"
The guy gazed up at Mateo, and Mateo tried to makes his heart calm. It was strange to have such attention from someone completely out of your league, no matter how charismatic and handsome. He bit his lip.
"Nope, If you stick with me you won't get in trouble."
Mateo narrowed his at him skeptically. "Well, I'm sure before it was just you, that's much easier. And, thanks but I'll be fine."
"You're probably right." He laughed, his perfect teeth gleaming.
Leaning against the sink, he texted Elena, updating her with what was currently happening to him. He heard a shuffle and looked down to see Gabe dropping his backpack and rummaging inside. He exclaimed in glee as he found what he was looking for. He gripped it, smirking at Mateo.
Quizzically, Mateo watched him. The guy suddenly threw the item towards Mateo and he didn't have the best reflexes, however he caught it in time before it hit the floor.
"Whats this?" He asked, checking out the item. It was small and skinny, cylinder shaped with a small hole at the top.
"Its a vape pen."
"Vape? You mean those stupid water vapors?" He criticised, scrunching his nose at it and placed it back in the guys extended hand.
"Yeah, that." He confirmed and happily pushed it in his pink lips. Mateo watched him closely breath in, the end of the cylinder glowed blue and he was slightly mesmerized at the clustered smoke reeling out from his mouth and nose. He blew what was left from his first inhale at Mateo. He could smell a faint fruity scent, maybe pineapple. It wasn't overall unpleasant, but it was strong. He fanned it from his face and furrowed his eyes at the man.
"Wanna try?"
"No," He huffed out.
"Its pina colada flavored!" He sing songed under his breath as he inhaled more. He handed Mateo the vape. "It's not gonna bite. It just tastes good. It's like those times that you lick chapstick from your lips because, hey, it's not half bad."
Mateos lips thinned at this guys bizarre analogy, barely realizing how close Gabe was now. "I think I'm good."
The guy leaned in and tenderly gripped Mateos chin, tilting it up. Mateos heart rushed faster at the sensitivity of large, hot fingers on his skin. "Let me help you a bit. Trust me." That made Mateo nervous by saying trust him. "Open your mouth a little."
What the fuck? Mateo parted his lips hesitantly watching the guy inhale the smoke. He smoothly got close as if he going to kiss Mateo, he flinched but oddly enough kept his face firm. The guy took his sweet time exhaling the thick smoke inside his parted mouth. Stiffly, Mateo gutted a glanced through his bangs at the guy and he was staring back equally as hard. Shivers went down Mateos spine into his tingling toes.
Parting his fingers, Mateo shut his mouth swiftly and looked down at the ground, too embarrassed to look the guy in the eyes again and see his expression. Plus, he was hiding his blush.
"Um, that...wasn't bad." He confessed, his voice a bit too high that he tried to sanguinely cover with a mild cough from his throat. His tongue tasting the flavour of fruits.
Never had he thought that skipping class would lead to this. He was in front of an attractive jock who got much too close to his personal bubble and he was trying to smash the invasive thoughts of how slowly he was minding all of these events.
"See?" The guy beamed, and took another puff. They both watched comfortably how the smoke escaped his lips to the ceiling and how it separated around the bathroom, causing it to be thinly covered in it; having the smoke no where to go. The guy gazed gingerly at Mateo, watching how his eyes followed every aspect of smoke left. He licked his lips. "Wanna try again?"
Unexpectedly, there was voices from the other side of the door.
Mateo and the jock stilled and listened. It was much older voices and they jumped out of their skin. Worriedly, Mateo looked at the guy and he had the same fear in his eyes. They picked up their backpacks and lunged it on their backs. Quietly, the guy grabbed Mateos hands and shuffled rapidly to one of the stalls.
He locked the door, and gestured to Mateo to hop onto the toilet, so his legs wouldn't show at the bottom. He complied and kept his breathing to a minimum. The stall was similar to the bathroom, it was clustered and hardly any room for the two of them, but the guy was determined for them to fit together in the same space. He could smell faintly of the body spray the guy had, and the hint of hairspray.
The guy placed his finger to his lips and Mateo nodded, cold sweat hitting him hard.
They heard someone opened the door, squeaking loudly. Their hearts were beating hard, and Mateo was afraid to gulp, instead he bit on his tongue. They heard footsteps come close to the stalls, but it slowly drifted off and they heard the sound of the door opening again, and shut with a clunk.
They both waited a good five minutes before breaking from their squat stance and could finally stretch their feet down from the toilet top. Their backpacks pressed against the walls of the stalls, which pushed them closer, Mateo could feel the hotness of the guys breath.
"I think were good." He snickered. "That was a close one!"
Mateo smiled, genuinely glad, muttering a - "I know. Fuck."
Alternatively than exiting the stall right away, the guy lifted the vape pen up to his lips and inhaled longley. Mateo checked his phone and read it was almost the end of second period. A whole period had went by. And, he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since stepping foot into the bathroom. His whole plans were thrown out the window the second the guy joined him.
Although, he had a good time. Of course, he still felt exhausted and in need of some sleep, he even amazed himself of what a fun time this has been.
"Hey," He heard softly and turned his head back up to see the guys lips parted and hovering above Mateos lips once more and pushed the smoke into his mouth. Mateo allowed him to take his time transferring the white puff of smoke into his mouth. He was taken aback as his curious eyes scanned the guys face and fixed to his stare. They watched one another until there was no more smoke left.
Closing his lips shut, Mateo swallowed. He liked the pleasant heat he could felt radiating from the guy, the pina colada scent mixed with the body spray he smelled previously and he knew the fume would stay on his clothes and inside his nose for the rest of the day.
"Lettme see your phone?" He huskily asked Mateo. Mateo tried not to be low-key extremely turned on by the sound of his voice over a simple request.
Still trying to process everything, he handed his phone out to the guy. He grasped it and tapped on the screen with speed, and Mateo wasn't quite sure what was happening. He watched as his phone light illuminated the face of the guy. He watched his expression break out into a wonderous grin. It startled him as the guys eyes glanced back at him, handing him his phone.
"I'll see you around," He declared as, right on cue, the bell rang and he opened the stall door and walked out of the bathroom, the steady sounds of students passing the hallway could be heard.
Mateo was baffled, completely silent as his blush warmed on his cheeks. He confusingly looked at his phone and it was pulled up to his contacts info.
' Gabe ;)'
