Screen Burn

Episode 8

"Why do you have no pants on?" Jake asked, scowling at Mateo.

"Why are you wearing pants? They're like ... leg-prisons."

Jake frowned, realizing that his pants did feel rather restrictive.

"Are you trying to get me out of my pants? Both literally and figuratively."

"Please, if I wanted to seduce you, we'd be making out by now," Mateo drawled.

"Thank you for putting that lovely image in my mind."

"Any image that has me in it is quite lovely, isn't it?"

"There's not enough space in this closet for the two of us and your ego."

Mateo smirked, but didn't try to defend himself. Jake turned his back to him and hit the door with his fists, hoping that someone outside would hear and let them out. He gave up when he realized that no one could hear him over the loud, off-key rendition of the happy birthday song.

After a few moments, Mateo said, "God, I can't believe I'm in the closet again." 

Jake started to chuckle, caught off-guard by the joke. Both of them collapsed to the floor and laughed uncontrollably at the absurdity of the situation. The closet wasn't as big as Mihir had originally claimed and both of them ended up side-by-side, almost recreating a popular image from The Fault in Our Stars.

"Hey, Jake?" Mateo turned to look at the boy sprawled out beside him.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want something to rest your head on? The floor's too hard."

"Do you carry pillows around with you?"

Mateo responded by handing Jake a heavy fur coat that he'd pulled off a hanger.

"Thank you."

Jake folded the coat and placed it under his head. He couldn't think of anything else to do, so he hummed under his breath. The song was one that he'd heard Lexa play quite a few times.

"Do you listen to that band?" Mateo inquired, sound surprised.

"Not really. My sister does."

"That makes sense. She has great taste in music."

Jake made a noise that signified agreement before telling Mateo about her band's new album.

"She's sending me two passes for the event," he revealed.

"I assume you're going to take Astrid with you," Mateo guessed, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice but failing to do so.

"Actually," Jake spoke before he could think twice, swayed by emotion. "I was thinking about giving a pass to you."

The idea of inviting Mateo to the event hadn't been something he had been particularly keen on, but after a week of deliberation he had realized that he had crossed a line by judging Mateo for his past mistakes. Besides, upon hearing Mihir's statements, he had been forced to look at the situation from a new perspective.

If Mateo had friends who believed in him despite the whole sorry affair, he had to have done something right. There had to be something other than his good looks that drew people to him. Jake had only spent a day with him, and he had already seen so many different sides to him in the short amount of time. There was a lot more hiding beneath the surface that he had yet to explore.

"Are you serious?" Mateo sounded like he was scared to hope. "I thought you never wanted to talk to me again, on the grounds that I'm a terrible person who has no concept of healthy relationships."