"I love you Veronica."

My eyes widen as I look at the boy in front of me. He said it. "I love you," those three words are what made my heart flip in my chest. I love him so much. Just hearing those words make me want to burst into tears.

"I- I love you too Mateo." I smile with tears in my eyes. Closing the gap between us once again, I kiss him with so much love. Some of the tears fall out and roll down my cheeks. I pull back and put both of my hands on his face. Letting out a small laugh while crying, I stare at his beautiful face.

"Why are you crying V," he says as he runs a hand through my hair. A huge grin plays on my lips. Some of my tears land on Mateo's shirt beneath me. "Because, I love you so much Mateo. God you don't know how long I've been wanting to say that." I peck his lips a bunch of times like he does with me. It's my time to show him affection.

He deserves every ounce of love in me.

His smile grows as I kiss all over his face. I love that smile. I love his personality. I love how he treats me. I love him.

"Okay V," he chuckles. "I love you too. A lot. I've been wanting to say it too. I just didn't know how you would react. I've been wanting to say it ever since I brought you to the field for the first time." I smile at him and run my hand through his hair. He closes his eyes and has a small smile on his lips. His deep tan skin is smooth as ever. The luscious lips I adore kissing are a little swollen from the kisses we have shared since we got here. He's beautiful.

And I'm glad he chose me and I chose him.

"I love you," his brown eyes open when I'm done saying my favorite three words. His small smile turns into a wide one where I'm able to see his pearly white teeth. Every time I see him smile or just look at him in general, butterflies flutter in my stomach.

He grabs my face with his large hands and brings me closer to his lips. His soft lips meet mine and I relax even more. We both move our lips slowly, wanting to enjoy the moment forever. He slowly rolls us over so now he's on top of me, his right hand holds him up so his weight isn't all on me and his left hand is on my waist. My body and mind are only focused on Mateo.

The hand that sits on my waist, slowly makes his way down to my thigh. He disconnects his lips from mine and starts kissing my jaw. The soft lips I love the most, move down to my neck and his hand softly runs up to my waist and back down to my thigh.

I run my hands through his hair and lightly tug at it. He releases a groan and I'm proud of the reaction he gave me. He sucks on the sweet spot on my neck and I gasp. I can feel him smile against my neck as he continues to suck on my sweet spot. His hand goes underneath my shirt and I feel the warmth of his hand on my bare stomach. It continues to move up but once he's by my bra, I open my eyes and grab his hand quickly.

Mateo detaches his lips from my neck and looks down at me. His eyes scan my face which I'm assuming I have a look of unsureness plastered on. "I'm sorry Veronica, I got ahead of myself." He shakes his head and begins to start moving off me. I quickly grab his perfect face and attach my lips on him. His shoulders that were tense before, relax and he kisses back.

We both pull away to catch our breath and I smile at him. "You're fine Mateo. I'm just not ready for that step." I know I want to do anything and everything with him. But I'm just not ready.

"That's okay beautiful. You know I'll wait for you forever." He leans down and places a quick peck on my lips.

"I love you," I say. Now that I'm able to say it without worrying. I will be saying this all the time.

"I love you Veronica."

~

We stayed at the field until the sun went down. It was spent saying "I love you" multiple times to each other and sharing lots of kisses. And I mean a lot. Maybe it's just me but, now that we have said "I love you," our kisses mean more to me. It's like we're on a whole new level.

"You know, I am very excited for you to see the present I got you," Mateo says as he drives me home. Now that he mentions it, I am very curious about what he got me.

"Well baby girl, what is it?" I say turning my body to look at him. He shakes his head with a smile and takes a quick glance at me before averting his eyes back to the road.

"It's a surprise Vero, obviously I'm not gonna tell you."

"Then why say ittttttttt," I exaggerate and throw my head back against the seat dramatically. "Okay fine then," I cross my arms across my chest. "I won't tell you what I got you."

"Mmm well if I remembered correctly, I didn't ask." Mateo replies as he turns into a gas station. I look at him with a curious look. "I have to put gas and we might as well get some snacks for the break." He tells me as he parks at a pump and turns off the truck. I nod my head and watch him roll down his window and step out of the truck.

He walks away from the door and I can hear him opening up the gas tank and putting the pump in. I look down at my phone to check if I have any new messages. The only new one I find is Mom letting me know to be back home before midnight. The only reason she's letting me is because she knows we're on Christmas break now.

"Okay," Mateo leans in through the rolled down window. "What snacks should we get?"

"Mmmmm fruit snacks, chips. Ooo get some limon chips. I've been craving those. Get some Almond Joy an-"

"Since when do you like Almond Joy?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "Uhh I don't but I know you like them so get enough to last you through the break." I say with a slight attitude.

"Mmm attitude Veronica, attitude." He points his finger at me with a smirk and I burst out laughing. I hear his deep voice starting to laugh with me and I look up at him.

His eyes are closed as his shoulders move up and down because of his laughter. The bright light from the gas station makes his dark hair pop out. His huge smile that I always enjoy watching is shown and it seems like he doesn't have a care in the world. I like it when I see him like this. It's like he forgets about all his other emotions for just a minute and remembers how it is to laugh.

"Okay go get the stuff that way we can leave once the gas is done." I tell him and he walks away laughing. I watch him through the window as he walks inside to get what we need. I let out a sigh once his figure disappeared inside.

I love him.

Moving my eyes from the door, I look in front of me. There's just a few other cars parked at the pumps around us. Four cars to be exact. We're pretty close to my house so that means I'm gonna have to leave Mateo soon.

I'm broken out of my thoughts as a car pulls up at the pump next to us. It's a dark grey car. It looks new and nice if I'm being honest. I can't really see who's in there because of the tinted windows but once the door opens and the person steps out. My eyes widen and I turn my head to the other side.

Out of all people that could have pulled up next to us...WHY REUBEN! I wait a couple seconds and turn my head slowly towards the door where Mateo entered. Reuben is making his way to it and I'm hoping Mateo is still looking for the snacks. But of course, Mateo is starting to walk out.

They both make eye contact with each other and Mateo just continues walking. Reuben turns to see where Mateo is walking to and sees me inside the truck. Oh no. He has a smirk on his face and he waves at me. I obviously don't wave back, I just avert my eyes and look at Mateo.

He looks at me and rolls his eyes. I gesture with my hand to hurry up so that way we can avoid talking to Reuben. He speeds and opens the driver side door and puts the snacks inside. He quickly takes out the gas pump, puts it back where it belongs and gets into the truck.

With all my attention on Mateo, I didn't see Reuben walking to the truck. He lightly knocks on the window on my side and I exhale loudly. I turn to look at him and see he's waiting for me to roll it down.

"Go away," I tell him without rolling the window down. The truck comes to life and Mateo is ready to leave, but since he's a gentleman he isn't going to drive off with Reuben this close to the truck.

"Just roll it down it'll be quick," Reuben replies and I reluctantly roll it down but not all the way.

"What."

"Well hello Veronica." He says with a smile on his face. Ew. His smile falls when he looks at Mateo. "Wassup Mateo," I don't know why he even bothers to say hi to him. Mateo isn't gonna reply.

"Okay what do you want, we have to go do things."

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. You weren't in school today." Jesus Christ does he not know how to take a hint? Put two and two together already.

"I'm perfectly fine as you can see...kay well bye." I start rolling up the window and look to the front. "Let's go." I tell Mateo and he puts the truck in drive. Through the corner of my eye I can see Reuben back away from the truck and make his way to the door. Finally.

Once we're out of the gas station, I start to laugh. God that was funny, he doesn't know when to stop and obviously he isn't going to the satisfaction he wants.

"What's funny?" Mateo asks while laughing a little.

"Reuben, he just doesn't know when to stop," trying to catch my breath, I tell Mateo. He starts laughing with me while he turns into my neighborhood.

"The nerve he has, I swear one day he isn't going to get away with the stuff he says."

"Yeah at some point you aren't going to be able to hold in how you feel," I run a hand through my hair and look out the window. We're pulling up to my house and I get sad. I don't want to go home yet.

Once we're parked I just look at my house. I do this whenever I don't want to get off, Mateo just sits with me until I'm ready to get off. After today, I realized that Mateo is my soulmate, my best friend, my everything. I don't know what I would be doing without him.

Turning to face Mateo, I see him staring at me with loving eyes. My cheeks heat up and a wide smile grows on his lips.

"I love you with all my heart Veronica." He grabs my hand and pulls me closer to him until our lips touch. We both pull away from the kiss and rest our foreheads against each other.

"I love you Mateo."