eventually, lunchtime had rolled around.

i had deeply overthought the mattia situation. the idea of sitting beside him or across from him at the small dining table didn't sit well with me at all.

the table was round and could fit four people around it. if i was to sit opposite from mattia, there was no way i was going to be able to escape his gaze but, on the other hand, if i was to sit beside him, i'd feel too close to him.

'y/n? hello?' the sound of natalia's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

'oh sorry, yeah what is it?'

'it's lunch, ive said it like five times already.' she laughed, 'mattia and gianluca are waiting downstairs.'

i let out a long sigh and pulled myself off the bed.

when we reached the table, four plates of warm, homemade pizza were already laid out for us. each accompanied by a small tiramisu.

mattia and gianluca sat by each other, glancing up at us with full mouthes.

i purposely let nat ahead of me, letting her have the choice of seat.

i saw her drag out the seat that was placed directly next to mattia, leaving me to sit across from him.

it's not that deep, y/n, just eat and go

i took my own advice and after thanking nat's mom, i began to eat.

the food was amazing, as usual.

the four of us spoke about our favorite netflix shows, arguing with each other over which one was the best.

me and nat argued for on my block, obviously, but mattia and gianluca argued stranger things.

we settled down and ate our tiramisu, when i realized mattia was staring at me.

i gazed back, matching and returning his energy.

i felt a smile slowly growing on my face and turned back to my dessert, embarrassed.

a few moments later we had all finished and the dishes were in the sink.

nat and i had decided that we were gonna go to the mall and maybe see a movie and mattia said that he'd come along too, making sure his mom would take gianluca home with her.

when we got to the mall, we decided to hit up claire's and look at the jewellery.

'nat, you should get a nose piercing no cap' mattia said.

the three of us exploded into laughter at the same time.

'wouldn't it suit her so well, y/n' mattia cackled.

my heart skipped a beat when i heard my name slip so effortlessly out of his mouth.

'it would, for real.' i laughed.

'y'all need to shut up bro, you know my mom would literally murder me.' natalia said, still recovering from the giggles.

we laughed and nodded in agreement.

'wait is that alejandro and kairi-' said natalia, squinting.

'oh shit it actually is.' said mattia.

i felt extremely awkward, i had no idea who these people were. i assumed they were mattias friends from school.

they all greeted each other and i just smiled awkwardly.

'y/n, this is alejandro and kairi, they go to mattias school' said natalia, 'alejandro and kairi, this is y/n'

we exchanged some smiles as mattia said 'so where are you guys going.' noticing that they were heading in the opposite direction.

'alejandro wanted to pick something up from the nike store.' said kairi as alejandro unscrewed the cap of the water bottle he was holding and began to sip.

'ite we'll see you around then' said mattia, starting to walk away.

i quietly sighed in relief, i was hoping they wouldn't tag along with us.

phew

'cool bro, catch y'all later' said alejandro when all of a sudden, he tripped, his open water bottle directly soaking me.