Collision Of Asteroids

It Isn't Personal

Mateo POV:

"Mateo, take out the garbage for me?" My mum grins as she begins to wash the dishes, greasy from the meal.

"No problem, Mum." I go over to the garbage can, and take the bag out. I step out the front door, a cool breeze hitting my face as my wavy hair blows out of my eyes. I put the bag on the curb, and take a deep breath as the cool autumn atmosphere makes my heart thump happily along.

I grab the mail, and take it inside, dropping the pile of junk mail and coupons off for my mum to see.

"Let me know if anything interesting happens." I roll my eyes, walking away, and Mum rolls hers back, getting the joke that nothing interesting ever happens around here.

"Roger that." She nods. "Get your homework done, but don't push yourself too hard."

"Don't worry Mum, I never do." I laugh. "Love you." I call as I shut the door of my room quietly.

I flip open the pages of my text book, and force the words into my head, although I know they'll find a way out of it somehow. School information always does seem to pass through my head with ease. I'm okay with it; after school, I'll probably end up working full time at Nine Pins. Maybe I'll take over the place when Mum gets old and gray. 

No chasing dreams for me; I'm fine with the backup plan. That's really the dream, to be honest.

A good fifteen minutes of peaceful kind of educating my brain passes, but it's suddenly interrupted by a call.

"Mateo!" Mum calls. "Get over here."

I sigh, and heave myself up from learning torture, walking down to the dining room table where I sit down to face my Mum with my phone in her hands.

"Why do you still have this lock screen?" Mum complains. "That girl is nothing but a pair of pretty eyes. The two of you don't even get along like you used to anymore. You've grown apart." 

I resist temptation to roll my eyes. My lock screen is a photo of my girlfriend, Skye, and I when we went to the beach on a particularly beautiful morning. Skye's smile is radiant, and my eyes are locked on hers. A pretty sunrise is in the background, and were down by the water together.

And we have grown apart; I'll admit that. But Skye's a nice person, and I hate being the dumper, so... just waiting till she makes me the dumpee. I can take it; it's not that personal.

"Did you call me away from my learning to lecture me about my girlfriend being in my lock screen? Because I'll have you know, it was a beautiful sunrise-"

"No, no, you got an invitation." Mum waves away my confusion.

"Huh?" I ask. I never get invited to anything.

"Ah- a back to school pool party this Saturday." She nods at my phone, where there's an e-mail from Dallas and Carmen from school.

"Oh." I understand now. "Nah, they invite everyone and stuff. It's not personal."

"That seems to be your motto." Mum rolls her eyes. "Your birthday is on the sixth. I want you to go to that party. Invite that girl-"

"My girlfriend." 

"Yes, her, to come with you, or another friend, I don't know. I just want you to quit being such a hermit." It looks like the word tasted bad coming out of her mouth.

"A hermit?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Yes! For crying out loud, go be rebellious and do some stupid teenage boy things!" She points at my Dad in the living room. "Anthony, you tell him."

"Nope, I did some pretty stupid things as a teenager." Dad laughs. "I won't encourage it, but good luck, darling!" He comes over to kiss Mum on the cheek as he passes by to load the dishwasher. Ever the encourage husband, Dad is.

"Whatever. You're no help." Mum sighs at him as if to say, 'Who married that guy, anyway?', and places her small hand on top of mine. "I just want you to have fun. These are your golden years! I wish I could go back to mine! Just trust me on this one and go to that party. If you don't have fun, I'll never talk to you about a party again." She says.

I sigh. As soon as she initiated the conversation, I knew that I was going. Nothing stops my mother, especially not her son.

"Fine. Just this once." I nod.

"Yes!" Mum grins triumphantly. "See, Anthony? I told you."

I roll my eyes, but my insides are actually happy about the great life that I have. Healthy parents, I get along with my sister (she's at college, but still. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.), I have a girlfriend whom I don't fight with (yet), I have a stable future.

The one thing I don't have and I'm fine without?

Real friends.

🤎🤎🤎

A week later now, it's the evening of the party, and I'm in my room getting dressed after a long day of work at Nine Pins. You wouldn't think that working at a bowling alley gets you very tired, but it's all the commotion and noise that really gets to you.

I pull on a black t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and trudge out of my room to a party that I don't even want to attend. Skye agreed to come with me, and this week we talked about our relationship issues. We both want to try to make it work, and she was happy that I was doing something social for once. She thinks it was for her, but oh well. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. I'm glad that we're trying though; I really do like her.

"See you soon!" Mum calls. "If this becomes a regular thing, then I'll set a curfew, but just for tonight, stay out as late as you want!" She calls.

"Thanks, Mum." I kiss her cheek, and head out the door.

"Happy birthday, Teo!" Skye is on my front porch, wearing the most flattering light blue dress that hugs her in all the right places. Her wavy blonde hair is worn down loosely, and she has a series of golden accessories to compliment her color coordination. She holds out a small black box in front of her.

"I thought I was coming to pick you up!" I smile, happy that she's here nevertheless.

"You were, but I wanted to surprise you with my gift." She smiles at the ground, blushing, because she usually wouldn't put in this much effort for anyone.

That makes it all the more special.

I accept her gift, and carefully undo the ribbon, and open the lid to reveal a tiny golden triangle-

"Where did you get this?" I breath.

It's the iconic golden guitar pick of the lead singer in my favourite band, the Meteor Flames. They're an older band, so I listen to most of their old rock music. There's no replicas of it because of the fancy imprinted design of asteroids.

"I got it off an auction they were having. They're not very popular, so..." Skye fiddles with a ring on her finger. "I hope you like-"

I engulf her in a bone crushing hug, smiling so hard that my cheeks hurt.

"Thank you, Skye." I release her, and she's smiling as hard as I am. "This is the best birthday gift I've ever received."