"let me tell you something, darling. you've unlocked a side of me, even I fear. but since you want to keep me up all night, challenging me, he's gonna show up at some point." Mateo whispers, huskily into my ear, gripping my neck.
"what are you talki...
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"Why does she look like that?"
"it's a machine to help her breathe," I tell Zayvion
"Is she asleep?" he asks.
"yeah," I answer softly.
it's the next day. Zayvion's been dismissed from the hospital. I'm not sure what they did with Maria's body. I know my family's trying to find her family. King's still in his coma, but they still don't think he'll last long.
I haven't left the hospital once. my parents come and go. Nyla's family comes and goes. her Aunt Elise had to go back to Atlanta, she was needed at her job. Anna goes back tomorrow for school and so does Kanan.
Nyla lost too much blood. and it caused her to fall into a coma.
she still looks so pale and she looks a lot skinnier than before. if she saw herself right now she would that it's not her and probably degrade herself. but I still think she looks beautiful, no matter who skinny or thick she is.
"you're still here?" I hear Nyla's grandfather, Kingston, ask.
"Yeah. I'm not going anywhere." I answer. he sits beside Zay and me on the couch.
"you know... I thought that I would be dead by the time Nyla found someone," he says after a few minutes of silence.
"really?" I ask.
"Yeah. Nyla has always has her nose in a book, or her hand busy drawing. she was never the kind to interact with boys other than her friends. she's a homebody, never left our house in Brooklyn, let alone her room." he tells.
"she never wants to leave her room." I chuckle.
"whenever her grandmother or aunts brought up boys she'd always say 'unless it's one of my book boyfriends, I don't want him-" he chuckles "-she'd always say wouldn't date a guy unless he was like a boy from her books. and it had to be a man," he tells.
he puts a hand on my shoulder.
"Mateo. you are that man. and you've proved it. . . just don't break her heart." he requests.
"I won't. she's the only one who can break hearts in this relationship. she can break my heart, even if it means she'll be happy and I won't." I tell him.
"come on. go home, just for a few hours. get some sleep. you deserve it." he says.
I look over at Nyla. her eyes shut and chest going up and down evenly.
"ok."
_______________
"...and then it exploded." Zay splashes the water to mimic an explosion.
"that's quite the story, man." I chuckle, washing his hair.
