The Other Side Of The Lens

42. Always

I quickly slip on my shoes, put some perfume on, and grab my things. Making sure I look fine one last time, I grab all the stuff I need and walk out of the room. The TV is playing and I can smell coffee. Mom, Dad, and Christopher are sitting on the couch watching the news.

"Good morning," I say and they all turn.

"Good morning mi amor," Mom stands up from her spot and walks up to me. She hugs me and kisses my cheek lightly. She's been more happy, I mean she's always been happy. But now that Dad has been spending more time at home, everything feels great. Christopher is slowly opening up more, sometimes he walks into my room and watches TV with me. I don't push him to talk about how he feels, so whenever he's quiet, I stay quiet too.

"Are you going to be out all day?" She asks.

"Most likely, but I'll be back before curfew."

She nods her head and walks back to the living room. I walk up to Dad and kiss his cheek. "You're going with Mateo?"

"Yes." I respond back to him and let out a nervous chuckle.

"Be careful and tell Mateo to come to the house soon, since you never invite him." I rolled my eyes at his comment and hit his shoulder lightly.

"Okay Dad. Well I have to go, I was gonna stop at the store real quick." I start heading towards the front door. But before I open it, I wave back at them. "Bye Mom, bye Dad, bye Christopher." They all say bye back and I walk out the door.

Speed walking to my car, I hop in and turn it on. Thankfully, my phone is already connected to blue tooth so I just open Spotify and play a random playlist. Finally it's time to get the day started. It takes about five minutes till I pull into the store. I park the car, get off, lock it, and begin to speed walk.

Okay maybe it's cliché but I want to get Mateo flowers. I still bought him a gift but I want to get him some flowers too. In movies or even in real life, you always see the guy buy the girl flowers. Personally I think guy's deserve flowers too. I know my man does.

All the flowers are at the front of the store so I look through the selection and immediately grab the sunflowers. It just reminds me of him. I walk towards a cash register and pay for the flowers. With the flower bouquet in my hand, I set it on the passenger side and turned on the car once again. Okay now to see Mateo.

The ten minute drive to his house my nerves are starting to kick in. What if he doesn't like my plan? Is the only question that is floating around my mind. I take a deep breath in, and let it out. It'll all be okay. It has to be. I turn into his neighborhood and drive all the way down the street. I park in front of the house on the corner and put it in park. Time to start the plan.

I send Mateo a message telling him I'm here and quickly get out of the car. Walking towards the passenger side of the car, I open the door and grab the sunflowers. The front door opens and I hold out the flowers. Mateo closes the door behind him and begins walking towards me with one of his arms behind his back.

"Happy Valentine's day!" I say happily and he smiles. "I got these for you."

He stops in front of me and bites his bottom lip. "I guess we think alike," he moves his arm to the front and I see him holding a pink and white chrysanthemum bouquet. He hands them to me and I hand him his flowers.

"Thank you," I lean up and peck his lips. He wraps his free arm around my waist and pulls me to him.

"No problem. Thank you for the flowers." He smiles down at me and I blush. "Our first Valentine's day together."

"Mhm and I have a plan that we are going to follow. So come on." I'm about to walk around the car but Mateo holds me against him still. He leans down and kisses my lips again and I don't pull back. His warm lips always manage to make me relax.