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Matteo has been gone for a long time.
I have been staring out the window at all the festival lights, and even that got boring. Then, I turned around and started staring at all the kids. Yes, I do realize that sounds creepy and somewhat pedophilic, but it was true. Not the pedophilic part, just the part of me staring at the kids.
There were a lot of family members here. There were all kinds of families—there were some that consisted of two loving parents and toddlers; others were old grandparents with bigger children; and there were even some single parents who tired us but who didn't fail to smile at their kids. I look away once I start to get bored and turn toward the bathrooms.
I get up from my spot and head to the back of the train, where I find the bathroom at the end. I knock on the door and say, "Matteo, are you in there?"
"Yeah." His low response comes from the other side after a second's silence, and I nod. "So, um, what are you doing in there?" I ask him, and a moment later the door opens, and Matteo ducks out of the door. I studied him for a moment, and he looked the same. I then look down at his chest and find that it is moving up and down in an irregular way.
"Are you okay?" I ask him, and he stares at me like he doesn't know what I'm saying. I lean up and press my hand against his chest, and he frowns as his chest moves up and down under my hand. "What's wrong?" I ask him, and he shakes his head. He places a hand on my wrist and moves my hand away.
"What happened?" I ask, and he brushes away from me. I study him for a while, and he comes back to me. He leans down, and I'm already clearing my head to listen to him. He takes my hand and says, "Want to go get some ice cream, bella?"
"Ice cream?" I ask in confusion. He hadn't answered my question. Matteo nods and says, "Ice cream will be the perfect treat after this."
"Matteo, I don't want ice cream," I say with a shake of my head. "I want to know what happened."
Matteo pretends to not hear my second question, and he shrugs. "I want ice cream; let's go." He doesn't let me argue with him, as he takes my hand and leads me toward the seats we were in. I follow after him with a frown, but I can't continue to be worried because Matteo pulls me into the spot next to him so close that I'm sitting over one of his legs.
He places his head on my shoulder again and murmurs, "Ready to see it all again?"
"Yeah," I answer with a big smile. He flashes me a big grin as well, and then the both of us watch the train go back to the place we came from. The lights are as marvelous now as they were then. I'm still in awe as Matteo leads me toward his car.
The car ride to whatever place he finds on his phone isn't too far, and once we arrive, I find that it was close to the cabin we were staying at. "What flavor would you like?" Matteo asks me as we both walk into the place. I don't answer him at first because I am busy looking around at how well the place was decorated. His fingers play with mine, and that surpasses my attention.
