The room is silent for a moment as we both stand still, listening to hear what comes next. The keys stop eventually, and there’s a knock on the door. Lottie’s phone starts to ring, and she breathes a sigh of relief when she sees who’s calling. I’m guessing this means that it’s not Lucas.
“Hey Mia. Just a second,” she says as she walks out of the room towards the entrance. I follow her, and she opens the door to a face I recognise from when I briefly scrolled through Peyton Moore’s instagram account.
“Hey Peyton!” she exclaims with far too much energy, “I just came to collect a few things of Lucas’s that he left here. He says you won’t let him in, and I can’t imagine why?”
The girl walks into the house as if she’s the one who lives here. It’s obvious she’s been here many times before. She walks past me and gives me an unreadable look before continuing into the room.
“So what’s up with you and Lucas? Fighting again? Goodness I never would have introduced the two of you if I had the choice, but I suppose with how often you were around at my house back in college that it was inevitable you’d run into my brother at some point. I just knew there would be so much drama if you two ever dated and well now we’re here,” Mia sits down on the couch, as if she’s settling in to be here a while. So much for the plans Lottie and I had for the day.
“Lucas and I over Mia. I’ve told you this,” Lots says, “now can you get what you’ve come for and go.”
“No need to be so rude. I’m your guest.”
“I’ve already got a guest over Mia.”
Mia actually looks at me for the first time. “I can’t believe you dumped my brother for this random Spanish girl.”
I turn to Lottie, and the look of concern on her face tells me she’s thinking the same thing. How does Mia know that we’re together? Mia catches onto this, and a smug expression fills her face.
“So there’s truth behind the speculation, and I’m lucky enough to know this. Imagine the articles, ‘Inside source confirms relationship between Peyton Moore and Mapi Leon’.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Lots says, “does our friendship mean nothing to you.”
“By breaking up with Lucas, you hurt him more than you can ever imagine. It seems only right that you experience a bit of pain as well,” Mia explains as if this justifies what she’s planning on doing.
“He hurt me first,” I all Lottie says in reply, as she takes my hand and walks out of the house.
We pull out of the driveway, the door to Lottie’s house still open with Mia sitting inside, but we’ve got other concerns at the moment. I let Lottie drive, even though she’s in no state too, and I have no clue where we’re going. After giving her a moment to calm down, I ask her if she’s okay.
“The way I see it we have two choices,” she starts to explain, “either we go do cool touristy things and post about it to tell people that we’re together, or we go do cool touristy things and don’t care about who knows and if Mia tells a news outlet we’re together than oh well.”
“How do you feel about people finding out?” I ask.
“I would rather we were the ones to tell people, but with that I’d also want to decide when, and we don’t get to decide.”
“It’s stupid.”
“Really fucking stupid,” she agrees, before she pulls over to the side of the road. I can tell she’s trying seriously hard not to cry as she continues to speak.
“Even if we do spend the day doing fun things, either way I’m going to be worrying about this. I’d be worried about this if I was with a guy, but I’m new to this whole being with a girl thing, and the idea of people finding out, before I even really know how I identify is scary. And, there’s so many aspects as well. Of course I know some people in my life aren’t going to like that I’m with a girl, but that’s normal I think to have people who tell you that you shouldn’t be the person you are, but on a more global scale, where people look up to me as a footballer and a person. What if I say something wrong? I don’t want to be asked a question and then people to take what I say as the opinion of an entire community? Shit, I haven’t even told my parents that I’m with you. They’ll be fine with it, which is lucky, but they probably want to know before the rest of the world does, and yeah I’d like to tell the people in my life before the rest of the world knows.”
I let her lean into me as the tears finally come, and I feel water pool in my eyes as well. My social life is full of people who don’t blink at the fact someone’s gay, and I’ve forgotten that this isn’t a normal situation to be in for most people.
“Lottie, look at me, but what matters the most is that you feel safe, okay? I know you’ve been thrown into this situation without any warning, but no matter what you choose to do, you need to do the right thing for you,” I tell her.
“I want to be the one to tell people.”
She says this with as much confidence as she can muster. She’s trying to convince herself this is a good idea.
“Let’s do this then,” I reply before formulating a plan, “first let’s call our parents, then let’s get some food because I’m hungry, and after that we’ll explore the city.”
“And then we make the relationship official,” she adds on.
“Yeah. Wait, does that mean I can call you my girlfriend?” I ask, as I realise I’d never officially asked her this.
“Yes Mapi, as long as I can call you mine,” she smiles, and then leans over to kiss me.
“Oh, and can we not make the announcement a big deal though? Like just casually post a series of photos of us, and in one of them we just happen to be kissing or something?” she asks.
“Sounds like a plan,” I say, before pulling my phone out of my pocket, “now should we facetime my parents or yours first?”
“What time is it in Barcelona?”
“About 8pm.”
“I wouldn’t mind betting my parents are at your parents place at the moment,” Lottie says.
I call my mum, and sure enough her eyes light up upon seeing both Lottie and I’s faces.
“It’s Carlota and Maria,” she calls across to someone off screen, and then Lottie’s mum walks into frame.
“Carlota, are you in Spain again without telling us?” her mum questions.
“No, I’m in California,” I reply.
“Maria, what are you doing in California?” I hear my dad call out, and my mum turns the camera view to show Lottie and I’s fathers sitting down with a chess board between them.
“Just visiting Lottie,” I reply, as if this wasn’t an unusual thing.
“Anyway,” Lottie moves the conversation along, “we’ve got something we’d like to tell you.”
“You’re finally together?” my mum asks. Lottie and I look at each other with confused expressions.
“What do you mean finally?” I ask.
“Well the both of us were convinced there was something going on between the two of you when you were teenagers,” Lottie’s mum explains, “but one of you always had a boyfriend so we assumed we’d guessed wrong.”
“You thought that there was something between Mapi and I when we were teenagers!” Lottie exclaims, “why didn’t you tell me? I wasted all this time with Lucas, and you already thought that Mapi and I would end up together.”
I laugh at her, feeling her pain, having also wasted time on boys not knowing that I didn’t actually feel anything for them. I never understood the heartbreak Lottie would go through with the boyfriends - there were only two but both were a big deal - that she had when we were teenagers, so that should have been a clue. Everything should have been a clue looking back. I think Lottie actually likes boys as well though.
“Well everything appears to have worked out now,” Lottie’s mum says, as my mum tries to pass my dad the phone. He refuses to take it, as he appears to be occupied be the chess match, with Lottie’s dad.
“We’ll call you back later,” he says, “have fun in California.”
“Yes have fun, and thank you for telling us this Lottie,” her dad chimes in before my mum hangs up.
“That went well,” Lottie grins, “I almost feel ready for what we’re going to do next.”
“I’m proud of you.”
She starts the car, and pulls back onto the road. We’ve got the good part of a day ahead of us before we have to worry about what happens next, and I intended on enjoying the moments I have left with my girlfriend.
(Okay then, does1tmatt3r, rub it in. You can write really quickly, and it takes me a week to write one chapter 🥲. (Im joking) Leave a comment. I love ya<3)