i stood completely still, in shock. once again being unwillingly submerged in his big hazel pools.

'can we come in?' said mattia, obviously trying to suppress his laughter.

i snapped out of it and shuffled to the side, holding the door open for mattia, gianluca and their mom to walk in.

how the fuck did i not know mattia was nat's cousin. and how the fuck did he know i was gonna be here.

mattia began making his way to natalia's room and when he noticed the lost expression on my face he sighed, 'are you coming or not?' he said in the same teasing tone from earlier.

my cheeks flushed and became hot, i tried to ignore it and just followed him upstairs.

'yo nat pass me the controller' said mattia as he walked into the room.

'mattia? what're you doing here, you haven't come over in ages.' said nat, tossing her controller into his cupped palms. 'y/n, this is another one of my cousin, mattia.'

'oh, me and y/n have already met.' smirked mattia.

fuck, this is awkward

i smiled at him sarcastically.

'oh damn, when did you mee-'

'mattia, your mom said she needs your help with something downstairs. nat, imma be in the bathroom for a sec.' i said.

nat nodded as mattia let out a groan, passing her controller back.

before mattia reached the stairs, i shut nat's door behind me and tugged him aggressively into the bathroom with me.

'how did you know i'm friends with nat and how did you know i was gonna be here today?' i said firmly.

he chuckled and squeezed my shoulder, making my stomach flutter slightly.

'easy, tiger.' he smiled, raking his hand through his perfect hair. 'she posts about you all the time on snap, recognizing your face at the riot was easy, and when i saw which neighborhood you were heading into after our.. conversation in that alleyway, i figured you were on your way to see nat.' he said.

i sighed.

'i already told nat all about how we met, i just left out your name. if she finds out that it was you, and i met you at a protest, she's gonna be so mad at you.' i said.

'aw lookatchu getting concerned for me, your cute, but my family and friends all know that i campaign. they're not happy about it, but i've forced them to accept it.' he said, shrugging his broad shoulders.

'oh' i sighed, scrambling for ideas of how to keep the conversation going.

i admit, i enjoyed being in his presence, he had an energy around him. one that i'd never felt or experienced around anyone else. i don't know, but it was like it kept pulling me closer and closer to him.

as if he had read my mind, he slowly backed me into the wall. i gasped, suddenly becoming ultra aware of my breathing due to the fact that we were so close that we were exchanging oxygen between us.

'well i guess this conversation is over then, isn't it.' he whispered.

however, his actions weren't matching up with his words. he stood statue still, maintaining strong eye contact with me.

i began to feel extremely hot and i was beginning to feel tingles when suddenly natalia burst through the unlocked door.

'y/n do you need a tampo- what the fuck-'

the tension between mattia and i shattered, both of us frantically trying to escape the situation.

after rushing past natalia, mattia practically leapt down the entire flight of stairs and i retreated back into nat's room, trying to lay casually on her bed.

she followed after me 'um chile, anyways so..' picking up her controller.

i laughed as my gratitude and relief soared after realizing that she wasn't going to ask questions.

as i slowly regained my normal breathing rates, i lay on the bed thinking about how i wasn't going to be able to escape mattia today, and worse, how i didn't even mind.