Spirals || Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 44 ~ Books and Puzzles

I'm baaackkk...

Mattheo's hair was soft as I ran my fingers through it, tugging every now and again to see the way his face tensed and his breathing changed. 

His nose would scrunch slightly before his expression relaxed and he tilted further towards my hand. 

He held me close with both arms wrapped around my abdomen, trapping me in. His chest was against my stomach where the bare skin pressed even closer each time I breathed, and his head rested on my chest, using the soft flesh as a pillow. 

Every now and again he would turn his head, burying his face and humming to himself happily before turning back to look up at me with a small smile and bright eyes. I would huff a laugh at his childish behaviour, pulling on a curl to chastise him. He seemed to like that though. 

He seemed so young in that moment, happiness splayed over his face and eyes a warm chocolate brown. Gone was the sharp edges and darkness, replaced with soft looks and light.

"You know we're going to have to get up sometime right?" I whispered down to him. He groaned and buried his face once more, his cheek brushing against the fabric of my bra. 

I laughed, my stomach shaking against his chest where we both lay on our sides. His arms dragged me in closer so I was tight against him. Our legs were tangled below the messy blanket we had thrown over ourselves. I hadn't bothered to put on the rest of my clothes, not that Mattheo minded. 

I pressed a kiss to the top of his head, breathing in the scent of his shampoo before attempting to pull away. This just resulted in him locking his arms around me and rolling us both over so I was on my back and he lay on top of me, giving me well over half his weight. 

"Mattheo," I groaned. He just wriggled closer, keeping his face pressed to my chest. I could feel his smug grin against my skin as I tried to escape unsuccessfully. 

Finally I gave up, throwing an arm over his waist to lightly draw on the skin of this back while my other hand remained tangled in his hair. 

"You can't keep me here forever you know?" I mumbled. 

"I can try." His words came out muffled and his breath made goosebumps rise along my skin. My chest lifted with a small laugh. 

I tried lifting my head, looking around at the room which was no less clean than how it was last night. Pale morning light that managed to reached the dungeons below the Black Lake shined through the window but made nearly no difference to the light in Mattheo's room. 

The primary source of light in here were the lamps that sat along the walls. 

The table covered in astronomy notes and books was still across the room, the chairs exactly how we left them before we went to the Great Hall last night. It didn't surprise me that he was already passing astronomy now that I thought about it. He was intelligent, even if he tried to hide it.

"I meant to ask-" Mattheo grumbled at my talking but I ignored him, "-when's your birthday?" 

He sighed and raised his head to look at me. His chin dug into my sternum but I didn't say anything. I quickly took note of how his eyes drooped and his face was relaxed. 

"December 29th." 

I stopped, trying to remember the date. "Oh shit."

Mattheo's face was lazy and unbothered as I did the math. Today was January 2nd, meaning his birthday was nearly a week ago.

"Why didn't you tell me?" 

He let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Me and you weren't exactly talking at the time."