Playing Cupid

Chapter 4: A Shocking Surprise

Realization appeared on her face and tried to help him: "Right, you shouldn't let them wait for too long then. I'll see you later." 

"Sure, we should talk after I get back," he warned her, they needed to come up with a good plan now that that they talked to the two clueless lovebirds.

"Okay, no problem, we'll talk when we get back home then," Luna shrugged and Nina was confused, she had a feeling there was more to this conversation than they showed. She didn't want to pry, if they had problems, Luna would go to her when she's ready.

Matteo kissed her goodbye with a quick but passionate kiss. He turned around afterwards and Matteo had to hide the gasp that left his lips when he saw his best friend walking in. Gastón looked around the cafeteria and Matteo really hoped he wouldn't see the two girls he was standing next to. It would be too soon now. He just got back and Matteo just knew Gastón wasn't ready to see Nina again.

But it was too late, his best friend saw Nina and shock appeared on his face. He was frozen like a statue and he had no idea what to do. Luna noticed what her fiancé was looking at and before Nina could turn her head to see what grabbed their attention, she asked her: "So what do you think we should do for the wedding first?" 

The distraction worked and with one last kiss on the nose, Matteo left the two girls talking and he walked over to Gastón, still standing still at the entrance of the cafeteria. He turned him around and with an arm around his shoulders, they walked out of the Jam & Roller. They had things to talk about and this wasn't the right place to do that.

***

When Luna and Matteo got back home, they settled into the couch before making dinner. They had priorities that had to be dealt with now. 

"That was so close," Luna broke the silence.

"Yeah, I was a little scared this would happen," he answered her.

"He looked like he saw a ghost," she said thoughtfully, "Did he say anything to you about seeing her again?" 

"I tried asking him but he just changed the subject, I think he needs some time to process," he frowned, he was worried about what Gastón was feeling right now.

"It must have been hard to see her but I think it was something he needed, to figure out what he's going to do about her," they already talked about the conversation Matteo had with Gastón earlier today on the way home.

"I think you're right. He might need a little push to try to tell her how he truly feels." 

"She might need one too," she paused, "She told me everything about the entire Eric-Gastón situation. They're both too scared to admit anything." 

"There has to be some way to convince them that they should have an honest talk. Avoiding each other is only going to cause them pain," he was in deep thought, seeming to remember something.

Luna knew he was thinking about them. How they did the same thing 5 years ago before they got back together for good. She smiled sadly but didn't comment on his thoughts.

"But how do we do that?" she looked up at him frowning.

"I think seeing each other again is the first step but maybe not when the other knows about it. Seeing her again shook him but I think it was necessary. She might need to do this as well," he thought out loud.

"I'm not so sure about this," she answered, "She's still hurting over everything that transpired."

"We have to prepare her some way. They're going to see a lot of each other now that they're going to be part of the wedding. We need to take this step by step. It might not seem like a good thing at the moment but I think it will all be worth it in the end. They deserve to be happy and if they're honest with themselves. They'll see that they make each other happy." 

"That's true," she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Let's just get this over with." 

Matteo raised his hand and carressed her cheek with the top of his fingers. He said: "I can't wait until this is all over. I can't wait to be married to you and I can't wait to see my friends happy again," he smiled when she leaned into his touch, "We make quite the good team, chica delivery." 

She opened her eyes and smiled at him: "We really do. I'm excited to see what's to come." 

They leaned into each other and their lips touched carefully at first, but the kiss turned deeper and more passionate soon after. Everything that still needed to be done was forgotten at the moment and all they could focus on was each other. Dinner had to wait for now, they wanted to forgot about the world and be together and nothing would get in the way of that.

***

The day after, they started up the plan they came up with last night. It was risky but something they had to do. Matteo and Gastón were going to meet up in the same park they had yesterday. They still needed to talk about Gastón seeing Nina but they also had to make up for lost time.

Talking and seeing each other over the phone just wasn't the same. Gastón had friends at Oxford but they couldn't compare to his best friend. They've been through a lot together and they know everything about each other. He missed having his best friend around, as did Matteo.

They were just walking around in the park, still catching up to everything that they didn't want to say over the phone. It felt nice to be able to do this again. Matteo seemed a little more tense than usual though. Gastón didn't know what was going on but he just enjoyed talking to him like this again that he didn't think about his behaviour that much.

But unknown to him, two girls were walking close to them. Both Nina and Gastón were oblivious to what was going on. Without her noticing, Luna lead Nina close to the spot that Matteo said he and Gastón would be. Her best friend was talking to her about a book she was reading, she really liked it and couldn't stop talking about it. Luna was only half listening but she noted in the back of her head to ask Nina to borrow the book once she's done with it because it does sound interesting.

Luna was nervous about what's going to happen but she wasn't going to back out now. She needed to do this. Soon, the guys were in eyesight. This was the moment, it was now or never.

"Hey, Nina, is that...?" Luna paused and pointed ahead of her. She was pointing at Gastón and Matteo.

It took Nina a moment to realize what Luna was referring to, she was too distracted by her rant about the book she was reading to process what was going on quickly.

But as soon as she realized what Luna meant, she froze and she was in a state of shock. She couldn't believe her own eyes. Gastón was there standing with Matteo and joking about something. They were too far away to hear what they were talking about. It had been a while since she last saw him but there was no mistaking him, she couldn't forget what he looked like. He did look a little older than the last time she saw him but she still could recognize him easily.

Luna stopped and gauged Nina's reaction. She couldn't see anything but shock on her face. She didn't know what she was thinking and she was desperate to know but she didn't say anything, she didn't want to ruin this moment. 

After moments of silence, she couldn't take it anymore and asked softly: "Nina?"

The sound of her voice brought Nina out of her trance and she turned around and ran away. It was too overwhelming for Nina. Luna just let her go, she needed time to process. She felt guilty for doing this to her but she knew this was the best way to prepare her for what's about to come.