"WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEKEND?" Mateo asks Tori over the phone as she opens the door to her apartment, groceries bags in her hands as she pushes the door open with her hip, balancing the phone between her shoulder.
Sometimes it sucks being an adult.
"Um, well I have the night shift at Skateland on Saturday then I'm off on Sunday. Demi already has let me meet the crew and stuff so nothing much, why?" She tells him, closing the door behind her and locking it. She moves to the kitchen and sets her bags down on the counter, letting out a small sigh of relief of having to carry so many bags by herself from downstairs to up here.
"Okay awesome, so tomorrow I'm thinking we can go to the boardwalk to roller skate and after that we can hit the beach, how about that?" Mateo tells her and Tori smiles widely as she holds the phone against her ear.
"Sounds good, but I'll probably fall on my butt while roller skating," She says, grinning as Mateo laughs.
"You'll be fine, you're actually getting the hang of it so soon enough you won't need me to hold you." Mateo says and she smiles to herself, throwing her car keys on the counter before sitting down on the chair.
"I hope so, so how's college doing?" She asks and they talk for a while, Tori puts away her groceries and walks into her room, deciding that she would get some sleep soon since she's been tired all day and almost fell asleep in one of her classes today. She tells Mateo goodnight and they hang up, throwing her phone her bed, she grabs some clean clothes and walking to her bathroom. After taking a nice long bath with candles and soothing music to relax, she leaves the bathroom and changed into some fresh clothes before crawling into her bed.
She falls asleep after a while.
. . .
"I have a present for you."
Tori raises an eyebrow at the grinning fool od her boyfriend as they walk to his car together, which was fixed a few days ago and now Tori doesn't have to drive him around anymore. She liked having him in the car with her, it was fun having him there with her, dramatically singing along to the songs on the radio to just annoy her or cracking jokes to make her laugh.
"Oh God, what is it now?" Tori asks, groaning playfully and he laughs as they stop by his car.
"You'll love it!" Mateo says, before popping open the trunk. He reaches inside and grabs a box that was wrapped in wrapping paper with a red bow on top. He gives it to Tori and she looks at it before at him. "Open it." He says excitedly and Tori smiles before ripping apart the wrapping paper. The ripped pieces of wrapping paper fall beside her Vans and she opens the box before smiling widely.
They were roller skates.
Pink roller skates with pink laces, they were vintage and it made Tori smile even more.
"Oh my gosh Mateo, thank you! I love them!" Tori squeals before kissing him on the lips to show her gratitude and he kisses her back, she feels him smile as they kiss. She leans back and they get inside his car, Mateo starts to drive after they strap themselves in.
"Wow, you even got my right size," Tori says, amused as she looks over at him and he winks at her.
"I know you, babe. How could I get the wrong size?" Mateo smiles at her and she grins.
"You're amazing." She tells him and leans over, kissing his cheek. His smile only widens. Tori reaches forward and turns on the radio, humming along to the songs that played on the radio as she looks to her window. It was a bright sunny day in California, not a cloud in the sky, warm weather, it was the perfect day to go out to the beach or roller skate at the boardwalk. Tori couldn't wait, she's excited that she's going to spend this day with one of her favorite people on Earth and that she's also getting the hang of roller skating. The practice at Skateland has been paying off and she hadn't fallen on her butt yet, but she's still struggling with keeping her balance, this helps when she's holding onto Mateo's hand or leaning against the wall.
She prefers holding Mateo's hand.
When they arrive at the boardwalk and found a parking lot after going around for maybe twenty minutes to find a parking space, they get out and put on their roller skates. They decided to come back after they go around the boardwalk roller skating then go to the rides before going to the beach. Mateo tells her that later when the sun is setting, that she could invite her friends to have a bonfire together and that Mateo will invite his friends. Sounds like it's really going to be an amazing day, so she agrees, texting some of her friends before following Mateo.
Mateo laughs as Tori trips slightly in her roller skates and grips onto his hand tightly, smiling as he holds her. "I tripped over a pebble! Stop laughing!" She says but it only makes him laugh louder. He stops and Tori stops along with him, wrapping her arms around his waist as he chuckles softly and kisses her forehead.
"Okay, how about you let go of my hand now and you come to me, alright?" He suggests and Tori raises an eyebrow at him but shakes her head.
"No, why? So I can fall on my face in front of everyone?" She giggles and Mateo smiles at her, moving back and letting go of her.
"You'll be fine, come on!" He says, and Tori scrunches up her face as Mateo slides down ten feet of the boardwalk before turning to her, he stands there with his arms outstretched. He motions her to come to him.
Sighing, she straightens herself before moving one leg then the other slowly, before picking up her speed. Her arms are outstretched beside her, trying to keep her balance and she keeps her eyes on Mateo. Breathing in, she feels her heart beat a little quicker in her chest and then feeling confident in herself, she moves forward with a steady pace. Laughing and smiling, she crashes into Mateo, unable to stop herself from slowing down, and wraps her arms around his waist.
"See! You did it!" Mateo says, grinning as he catches her and wraps his arms around her. Tori laughs into his chest before looking up at him, the smile so wide on her lips it could cut her face in half. "I knew you could, bellesa." He says before kissing her gently.
Tori smiles through the kiss, her hand finding the back of his neck and pushing him closer to her so that their bodies were pressing together, she kisses him back with as much as feelings and emotions she could put into this kiss. She wanted to tell Mateo what she's feeling for him.
Noticing this, Mateo tightens his hold around her and deepens the kiss. As they were kissing, Tori had realized something.
She is falling for him.
And she can't stop it.
Maybe it was a bit quick for how their relationship is growing but it doesn't necessarily have to be on a strict timeline. It was just the right pace for them, they were comfortable with how things were doing and enjoying each other's presence. Love is not just about the sticking to some stupid strict timeline, love is between two people who feel a rhythm between them, a connection. There are some relationships that are based on a good sex life or is based on intellect. Different people go at their own pace, a balance. Mateo and Tori both have found that balance in their relationship, content with how this connection is growing and this works perfectly for them both.
Things were looking up for the both of them, Mateo will be graduating in June, Tori will be graduating in the fall, already having a job that is ready for her. Maybe they'll do something this summer, Mateo had often bring up the subject of flying back to Spain to see his family, telling Tori that he'll love it that she could join him so he could introduce her to his family since Tori had already introduced Mateo to her own family. Tori was looking forward to a lot of things, to see how her relationship with Mateo will grow, spend more time with her nephew and moving on from her brother's death.
Of course, there will be ups and downs in their relationship, but it's worth it when they do this together.
Maybe cursing her with bad roller skating skills mean something that falling on her butt in the rink at Skateland meant something, for that Mateo would come over to check if she was okay, that the two of them would meet that way. But good people are always meant to find each other, somewhere and sometimes, they will always find each other.
This was how Tori met Mateo.
And she wouldn't change a thing.
THE END!
Aww my heart lol and that's all coming from a girl who never had a relationship in her life haha
But anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this short story of Tori, I don't know if I'll be doing another one but we will see if that changes soon :)
Also sorry for the long wait too, I was finishing another story of mine and after I finished it, I kind of got lost with this story, trying to figure out what to do, but then I settled with this because it was cute and sweet haha
I really loved writing this so I'm hoping you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did!
So that's a wrap, take care guys, I'm glad you stood around for the ending :D