Writers Note: We have NOW passed 100,000 words for this series. AHHH! This is so incredible. Many of you don't know, but this is my first ever story to reach this and I am just so beyond happy to have reached this milestone.
...
Junior Year
Anthony looked at his phone and saw that Matías hadn't responded. He stood in their backyard just outside of their house getting a clear view of his window. Once he noticed all the lights turn off downstairs and then a light turn off just on the opposite side of the house, his phone went off.
Before he could look at it, Matías opened his window and gestured for him to enter.
He took a deep breath and started to climb the tree just on the side of the house. Once he was on their roof and near his window, he smelled the scent that Matías room was filled with. A smile shaped his lips and as soon as he entered, he pulled him close to him.
"If this is going to become a thing we need to be quiet," he warned. "My parents are heavy sleepers but they somehow have this thing where they just know that we're doing something we shouldn't when they are sleeping."
Anthony smiled and cupped his cheek, "It makes it even more exciting."
When they first kissed they had no idea their relationship would continue without them really having to talk about it. Even though they hadn't labeled themselves as boyfriend and well, boyfriend, Anthony was curious. He wanted to know and he wanted to talk to Matías about it, but he didn't want to ruin what they had.
He didn't know what the outcome of that talk would be like.
As they continued to kiss, Anthony felt his hands lower down to Matías waist. Eventually, he picked him up and set him down on his bed. "Didn't know you had that in you."
"That?" he asked referring to what he just had done. When he saw him nod, he licked his lips, "I can do more you know."
"Really? Like what?"
Anthony looked into his eyes and pecked his lips before sliding off his own shirt.
The look of his nicely defined body was a huge turn on for Matías. He had seen Anthony without it before, but knowing that they were now intimate made it more enjoyable.
"Not bad," Matías said. He didn't like to admit that Anthony could be sexual because he knew it would only make him more confident. He liked being that person and Matías liked seeing him act that way, but his stubbornness interfered.
"Not bad?" he asked. "What about this?"
Anthony grabbed Matías hand and placed it on his chest. He began to lead his hand down to his abs and then to a specific area on his waist - the belt.
"I guess I was wrong."
"You guess?" he questioned. He nodded but Anthony wasn't ready to back down yet, he began to unhinge his belt and slide it off. Once the belt was off, he returned his gaze back to him and raised a brow. "I can go on."
Seeing that Matías wasn't fully convinced yet, he placed his hands on the buttons of his jeans and unbuttoned them.
"You proved your point," he confessed. "You have it in you."
When he said this, Anthony saw the way Matías stiffened. He saw the way his eyes avoided his and he didn't seem all that interested anymore. He couldn't help but think he did something wrong.
"Are you okay?" he got off of him and sat down beside him. "I thought everything was - "
"It is," he interrupted. "I just...I don't want our first time to be like this. I mean we don't even know what we are to each other."
Anthony felt at loss for words because he didn't expect him to be feeling the same thing he was. He thought that ignoring the elephant in the room would eventually get rid of the problem, but he was wrong. "We don't," he agreed.
They didn't look at each other but rather at the floor. Anthony felt a little embarrassed now that his shirt was off.
"I want us to be ... something," he said.
"Something?"
He played with his fingers because a part of him still felt weirded out. He knew it was a process of getting used to it and that it would take time before he got comfortable.
"Here goes nothing," he muttered before turning to Matías. "Here's the deal, I like you. You're hot. I've been attracted to you for a really long time and I knew I cared for you. It wasn't until we kissed that I realized how I cared for you. I have become a better person because of you and there's only one thing to do and that is...will you be my boyfriend?"
Matías blinked as he processed the words Anthony was saying. He felt his heart warm up and a huge smile arise. When he realized that Anthony had asked him out, he jumped towards him and kissed him. This time, Matías was on top of him.
"Wait," he pulled from the kiss. "If we're going to date, I want complete honesty. Is there something you need to tell me? Anything you need to get off your shoulders before we ..."
"Nope," Anthony said. He didn't have anything secrets to tell him. "You?"
Matías searched for any lies or secrets that could potentially ruin their relationship. There wasn't any. "You already know all my secrets."
"Holy shit," Anthony smiled. He stared at the person in front of him and felt proud, "Matías Reyes, my first boyfriend."
"Sounds right," he smiled before leaning in to kiss him.
–
Winter Week had begun and the first thing on the students must wear list was red and white to represent candy canes. Anthony and Matías had agreed to keep their relationship a secret at school but outside of it and in private, they were so much more.
He felt the staring subside. After the incident with James, he had felt like an outcast. Everybody treated him like one. He lost many friends and a few don't even talk to him anymore.
James was still in a coma and he hadn't woken up yet. Although everyone at school now had a different point of view on him, it didn't stop him from feeling happy. He liked that Matías was capable of changing all of that.
Riley was standing in a different hall from Anthony. She was by her locker replacing some of the books in her backpack with the books in her locker. When she closed it, she noticed that Lucas was standing right beside her. His eyes on hers. "You look good."
She fixed her hair and smiled, "I know I do."
For the first time in their relationship, Lucas extended his hand for her to take. She looked at him and took it.
Riley felt happy now that he had done this. It meant that they were comfortable with each other enough to publicly display their relationship.
As Maya walked to her class, she noticed both Lucas and Riley holding hands. She felt a smile frame her lips but that smile quickly ended when she saw that Missy had hugged Josh.
A part of her felt like something had been physically ripped out of her chest. She stared at them for a few seconds and the smile on Josh's face was enough to make her tear up. He looked absolutely happy with Missy and it was foolish of her to think that they would be happy with themselves.
–
"Geb," Seth said as soon as he spotted him on the other side of the hallway. They were in between passing periods which meant that almost every single student was outside in the hallways. He made his way around and was successfully able to reach him. "Guess what."
"What is it?" he asked looking at him. There was something in his mood that made it seem like he had important news to tell him.
"I found out who it was," he confessed. "I know who helped Riley find the book."
"The book," he questioned but then it hit him. Seth was talking about the list they had of all the girls in the school. They would label them by their assets. "Who was it?" he asked. The words naturally rolled out his tongue.
"It was Anthony," Seth confessed. "He's the one."
Geb didn't believe it at first. He thought that Seth was just messing with him, but the look on his face said something else. It didn't make sense but then he started mentioning that Anthony had not been hanging out with them for the longest time and that he sometimes spoke with Lucas. He didn't even talk to them anymore.
"Are you sure? I mean there's a chance but - "
"I know it was him," he deadpanned. "He's the only one that didn't participate in it. Remember? We would tell him to, but he refused."
"Holy shit," Geb cursed under his breath. He had doubts before but now he was fully convinced. "What do we do? Beat him up?"
"I have a better idea," he reached into his backpack and pulled out the flash drive he was holding onto the day before, "Remember the video we took of Anthony beating up Ruben?"
"Ruben? Who the fuck is that?"
"Disabled Ruben? Learning disability? Anthony used to mock him all the time and it was funny? Remember?"
He clenched his jaw because that had to be one of the worst things they ever did, "What about it?"
"I have it. It's in here."
Geb narrowed his eyes towards the drive. If Seth shared the same idea they had, that meant they could someday use the video against him. He smirked, "You're fucking brilliant."
–
During lunch, Riley and Lucas decided to go to a nearby pizza place. She knew that they were still pretty new in their relationship, but it didn't feel like it. She felt like they had been in a relationship for months now and that they were comfortable with each other.
She watched as he took a bite of his pizza and looked into his phone, it brought a smile to her lips because she loved the way he ate. It was weird but not for her.
Lucas knew that he was being stared at by her. He didn't stop her because he thought that it was cute. "Why don't you take a picture?" he joked.
She playfully rolled her eyes and bit her pizza, "Don't get too flattered."
Lucas finished eating so he threw away his plate, as he sat back down on their table, he couldn't help but ask Riley about something that had been picking at him for a while now. "Has Geb tried speaking to you?"
Riley was not expecting to hear what he said. She tried to play it off like she didn't hear him, but she knew she couldn't. Her eyes met his and she could see a look on him that she hadn't see before.
"He's been texting me here and there, but I don't answer."
Lucas scoffed and clenched his jaw, "I don't want you talking to him."
"I know and trust me, I don't either. But I learned that he tends to give up so I just need to ignore him."
"You've been ignoring him for months now, he's even more obsessed with you."
Riley stood up from her chair and sauntered towards him, she knew how to ease his concerns so she took advantage of it. Grabbing his hand and kissing his cheek, she spoke, "If he tries to physically talk to me again I will tell you and you have every right to handle it in any way you can, is that a good deal?"
A smile broke out on his lips and he touched her hand, "I'll accept," he uttered before they walked out.
–
Maya didn't have anything to do for lunch so she decided to head to the art room. It was something she did and her teacher always left the room open during school hours just in case she wanted to visit. As she entered the school's hallway, she noticed that it was empty. Lunch had barely started which meant everybody was out of campus. She noticed that only one person was near their locker and that person was Josh.
She didn't know what to do. At some point she would need to walk past him, Now that they kissed, Maya had tried to picture the many ways they could talk. She decided to convince herself the kiss didn't happen but it was no use. It was all she thought about.
She wasn't too far from him when he brought something out of his locker. Placing it in his backpack seemed to annoy him because he took a deep sigh. Slamming his locker shut, he balled his fists and proceeded to hit the locker as hard as he could.
Maya stopped walking, but she didn't know what to do.
"Josh?" she found herself saying. She heard his sigh and when he turned around to look at her, he crouched down and took in a deep breath.
"I'm okay," he trained himself to say it often.
Maya knew he was lying so she sat down next to him. The smile she saw before was gone and something was hurting him.
"I just wanted to protect her," he said. Maya figured it was Missy who he was speaking about. "That's all I wanted."
"It's not what she wanted," the blonde confirmed. It was almost easy to place herself in Missy's shoes because Maya experienced the same thing she did. "When she and I first got the text we didn't realize we would become pawns in a game that would escalate the way it did. We didn't realize that this was serious until we found Lauren's body. Missy just doesn't want to live her life constantly having to look over her shoulder every time she's alone."
"That's what the police are for," he tried to argue.
"Josh, I'm gonna ask you a serious question," she told him and adjusted herself on the ground. "Who caught Kayla?"
"The detective," he answered and was surprised when she shook her head.
"Matías," came the answer he never expected. "He found out before everyone else did and that was because the police didn't get there in time to arrest her."
He leaned his head back and placed his hands on his face.
"You can't blame her for being scared or for wanting to find him," Maya hoped that this would help him realize that he doesn't have to be heartbroken. Sure, it would take time to heal, but it could also bring him to an understanding of why Missy wanted to know who the man was. "I'm sorry you guys broke up...but that doesn't mean you lost her."
Maya was going to say something else but she stopped when she realized Josh was crying. She had never seen him cry before. She hugged him and somehow felt broken that he was this hurt by the breakup. Their eyes met and she tried to wipe the tears trailing down his eyes, but something else caught both of their attention. It wasn't how torn apart they both were, it wasn't that they had finally talked in a long time. It was because the last time they were this close they were going to kiss each other. The memories they shared both came back to them and for just a moment, there was connection they both felt.
He stood up and extended his arm for her to take.
Their eyes met once again. He tried to form the right words to tell her he was grateful. "Just because we broke up doesn't mean I lost her, right?" he said and placed a hand on her cheek.
Maya gave him a nod and watched as he walked away. She never thought that she would be the one to help him get over a breakup.
–
"Did you get enough sleep?" Matías asked seeing that Anthony was dozing off. They made out for at least a few hours and talked for more. It wasn't until two in the morning that he decided to head home.
"What?" he asked. He didn't hear him because he was on the verge of completely dozing off. Hearing Matías laugh made him smile, "I'm just tired."
"Because you left late," Matías reminded. "I told you this was going to happen."
"I don't care," he looked around and saw that no one was in sight. "But I'm down to do it again in case you want to."
Anthony's hand wrapped around his waist and pecked his lips. He licked his lips and kissed him again, and again, and again. "You're the best thing that has happened to me."
Matías looked at him for a few seconds trying to process what he had just said. Especially since Anthony had whispered it into his ears in a seductive way that sent chills up and down his back.
Seeing Anthony's face made him all the happier and now that they were officially together, he felt like his life was heading somewhere good.
And that was because of him.
"And that's how you make me happy," he said and they kissed.
–
Missy went to the first place she thought she could find any clues that lead to Lauren's murder. She was deeply convinced that Bayard had not killed Lauren. There was no way he did, and the only way she could prove that was by looking into Lauren's and Bayard's past.
She walked into the library determined to find something or anything that could prove her right. If she showed, Lucas or Maya they would both help her and so would Riley. Together they made a perfect team.
She knew that Lauren's murder happened over two decades ago and that she could have been on a date. If she found any yearbooks or pictures of any of her life at school or friends, she would be able to know more.
Some of the teachers at school who knew about Lauren and were her friends or her actual teacher have refused to talk to Missy. They all say that she shouldn't be worried about it and that she should focus on her school work, but she wasn't going to listen.
As she searched for the yearbooks in the school's library, her phone went off and when she brought it into view, she saw that a message came from an unknown number.
The message was a video.
And the video was of her; walking into the library she was in.
She returned to the front of the library and looked in the direction the video was taken. There was no one.
"I knew it," she whispered. "I knew it! You're still here."
–
Writers Note: Thank you so, so, so much for reading and I hope you have an amazing day. Always feel free to let me know what you think because it is a thing I look forward too. What do you think Maya and Josh's relationship will be know that she has helped him many times? Do you ship Anthony and Matías? And who do you think sent Missy that video?
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