Screen Burn

Episode 8

"I changed my mind," Jake asserted. "Well, your friends helped me to. I'm sorry about what I said, by the way."

"You don't have to apologize, you weren't entirely wrong. Besides, giving me an opportunity to go to this album release more than makes up for it."

"I will also try to get you a signed copy of the album."

"Now you're over-compensating."

"Hey, this isn't free. You have to hold up your end of the deal," Jake maintained, grinning.

"Is that still on? You do realize that Mihir has done a better job so far than I have, don't you?"

"Both of you can help. Anyway, we're all friends now, so it doesn't have to be just about getting me a date."

"Are you saying you like my company and want to spend time with me?" Mateo teased, raising both his eyebrows.

"When you put it that way, it does sound rather unappealing."

"Jakey wants to be friends with me!" Mateo declared, cackling.

"You're drunk."

"Not drunk enough to hallucinate this scenario."

"I swear I'll start calling you Matty if you don't shut up. You're giving me a headache."

"Nobody is allowed to call me Matty!"

"Gloria is," Jake noted. "And Mihir gets away with it sometimes."

"That's an exception."

"Why?"

"Reasons," Mateo said vaguely.

"Is one of them the fact that you have a huge crush on Mihir?"

"I-I do not!"

"Why are you blushing then?"

"Mateo Valdez does not blush. He merely turns red, like a traffic sign, to warn people to stop."

"I know you were trying to confuse me with that sentence, so let me tell you that your ploy did not work. It nearly did, but I'm like a dog with a bone when it comes to other people's secrets."

"You need to carefully examine that last sentence and wonder why you're like this," Mateo suggested.

"Some other time," Jake said. "But first let's talk about your feelings for Mihir."

"They're purely platonic."

"But you flirt all the time."

"I flirt with everyone. Or rather, everyone flirts with me."

"Not the way you two do. I saw Mihir staring into your eyes while holding your face, for God's sake!"

"We've agreed not to date, remember?" Mateo reminded him, as if that negated the existence of romantic feelings.

"Why? I don't recall getting a proper explanation for that."

Mateo didn't respond for some time, then pretended to snore.

"Are you actually trying to pretend you fell asleep? Real mature."

"You know, one day, you might get punched in the face for being so annoying."

"You don't scare me, Valdez ," Jake cooed, referring to Mihir's dramatic statement.

Mateo raised his hand, placed it on Jake's face and squeezed his cheeks until he couldn't open his mouth to utter a word. Jake rolled his eyes at him, then grabbed his hand to pull it off his face.