It all started with a game

Chapter 11.1

"Then what happened?"

I spun around, facing Mateo who was seated on the couch. "Marx Jacobson happened. You should have seen the way he was looking at her. It was obvious he just wanted her for sex and she was falling right into his trap."

Mateo's brow raised. "Wasn't that also your original plan?"

"That's beside the point, okay?" My hands began gesturing on their own the more worked up I got, a habit I surly picked up from Mateo over the years. "You should have seen this guy—"

"I have seen this guy, he's in one of my classes."

"Yeah, well, he looks like a troll and yet he had the audacity to stand there and flirt with her like she was even remotely in his league. He called her gorgeous. Gorgeous. That's my thing. That's our thing. I call her gorgeous and she calls me pretty boy."

"You are aware that pretty boy is supposed to be an insult, right?"

"I'm aware." I didn't particularly care. It was our thing.

There was a small moment of silence and then I couldn't believe it, Mateo started laughing. He started laughing at me. I glared at him, staring him up and down. This is not funny. "Dear goodness," he started, "you sound like me. Maybe we do spent too much time together."

I scowled, knowing he was referring to his many speeches about Maria. "I do not sound like you."

He rolled his eyes, grinning. "So you guys are continuing the game?"

I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth. "Yes..." I trailed off, debating how to word this.

Mateo's eyebrows creased together as all amusement was replaced by concern. "Dear goodness, man, what did you do?"

I rushed through the sentence, hoping if I spoke fast enough he would miss most of it. "I sorta told her that I wanted to be exclusive and she agreed."

It was like watching the scene in slow motion. Mateo's face slowly fell, as he registered what I'd said, his eyes slowly widening. And then in an instant, Mateo was up and out of his seat, pacing alongside me, the two of us looking like complete idiots as we spiraled into chaos. "What do you mean you two are exclusive? You can't be exclusive!"

We looked like a pair of panicking chipmunks from the cartoons as we ran circles around the room. "I know!" I yelled. "I don't know what happened. It's like I can't function around her! She makes my brain all hazy." I was supposed to end the game, that was the plan.

Mateo paused, with me quickly following his lead, before his lips curved up like the Cheshire Cat. "You know who makes my brain all hazy: Maria."

I shot him a dirty look. "That is completely different." That is not even remotely the same.

"How is that any different? You were the one giving me the 'plenty of fish in the sea' speech. You're such a hypocrite. You settled for one! You settled for one fish." The two of us stood at opposite ends of the coffee table, yelling at each other like children.

"I did not! I did not settle. I will call her right now and tell her it was a mistake and that we shouldn't do it," I threatened.

Mateo stuck his tongue out at me. "Perfect, then she can run off to Marx Jacobson. Or any of the other forty guys who have their eyes on her. The baseball team seems pretty curious about her."

I narrowed my eyes on him. Jerk.

The door to the basement came swinging open as Mamá García came storming down the flight of stairs. "Ey! What is the meaning of this?"