ONE DAY [ MATHEW BARZAL ]

- six hours -

"We were but then I got a call to come home, if I had have known this is what was going to happen then I would have brought him with me." I tell taking a huge drink of the beer after I finished speaking. And I would have, I would have brought Mathew with me and introduced him to my parents, and I think he would have enjoyed that.

"Give him a call then, he should be here." Austin says nudging my shoulder, his eyes meeting mine with a raised eyebrow as if to say, 'get on it'. I bounce on the tips of my toes, contemplating if Austin knows something about what is going on between Mathew and I. I narrow my eyes at him before reaching into my pocket, I bring up Mathew's contact number before heading out onto the balcony.

"Hello." Mathew says after a few rings. Hearing his deep voice again makes my stomach tingle with butterflies, I bite back the smile that forms.

"Hey so, my parents decided to throw this going away party last minute with all my friends and that's why I had to come home. D-Do you want to come and join the party? It only seems fair that you are here too." I ask getting straight to the point. I can't waste anymore time not seeing him face to face, I need him close by because my body keeps crying out for his touch again.

"Yeah, obviously I'd love to come." Mathew laughs with a matter-of-fact tone. I let my teeth move off my lips, letting the smile grown wide on them.

"Great, awesome. I'll see you in a bit." I say grinning widely at the thought of seeing Mathew again. We say our goodbyes and hang up, a bounce on in my step as I re-enter the party. Austin gravitates towards me again, his eyes narrowing in on me as he nears me. I am standing close to the door, my ears listening out for any signs of Mathew getting close to the apartment. I feel giddy inside at the thought of seeing Mathew so soon again, I want to be able to kiss him and tell him he means so much to me but I guess, somewhere in me is telling me that in just two more hours I will be leaving him for God knows how long.

"Right, you're weirdly happy about this and it's making me uncomfortably. I feel like there's something else going on here." Austin tells as he comes in front of me. He leans against the wall, his eyes looking straight into mine to see if he can get a reaction out of me.

I only smile back at him. "Can't I just be happy that everyone I appreciate is going to be in the same room, saying goodbye to me?" I say giving a shrug to my shoulders.

"No, you should be upset, crying because you wont see me in forever." Austin chuckles half heartedly, clutching at his heart. I roll my eyes at him, chuckling at his words.

"Of course I'm going to miss you, I'm going to miss everyone I've met here." I tell him the truth, my eyes lowering to the ground when I think of saying goodbye to Mathew. I don't want to, I really don't but everything was set in stone before I met him.

"What's wrong?" Austin asks picking up on my sadness. He holds my arm as he brings us to a more secluded area in the room. I tilt my head to my childhood friend, a soft smile on my lips as I know I can trust him with what I am about to tell him. Austin and I have been fiends for ages, growing up together we saw and did everything together, so trusting him with the information of Mathew I know he will keep and not tell anyone.

"So you know how you introduced me to Mathew today?" Austin nods his head leaning closer to me so he can hear me over the music. I take a deep breath and tell him everything. "Well we have spent every hour together since we left that coffee shop, we had lunch together, walked in central park. He bought me books to read on the plane, I took him to an art museum to show him why I like it, we uh," I trail off and feel my cheeks heat up as I remember what Mathew and I shared together not so long ago.