— • —
Mateo only waited fifteen minutes outside of the park before deciding to leave, seeing the silhouette of the two young adults not moving from their spots. His excuse to not go in had been nothing but a lie, and he was sure Tom knew that as well, yet didn't question it. He was hoping to go to Tom's house and ask for a recap of his night, but much to his dismay, Tom wasn't home when he showed up, and he wasn't answering his phone. Defeated, he decided to try to catch Orion on her lunch break, and once again was left disappointed as her coworkers informed him that Orion didn't show up for work.
Now he stood in Orion's living room, arms crossed over his chest as a smile threatened to spread across his lips. The tv was still on, the intro of whatever movie they were watching playing on a loop as it waited for the two to select an option. Only they weren't going to, Orion breathing softly as she was curled into Tom's side, said boy's head thrown back with quiet snores escaping his parted lips.
They still wore the clothes from the previous night, leading him to assume this little sleepover wasn't planned. Mateo could barely contain the excitement bubbling up in his stomach, already knowing that the night must have gone well for the two if they somehow made their way back to Orion's house. It's been weeks of spending time with Tom, then spending time with Orion, trying to somehow convince one that the other isn't such a bad person. He knew Tom was beginning to believe him, but Orion seemed hopeless at this point.
She was so opinionated and stubborn, it was one of the few flaws she obtained, but she'd never admit it to anybody. So hearing Mateo speak kindly of the man she already regarded as the bane of her existence, she wanted to roll her eyes until they fell out of her head. He tried relentlessly to try to sway her opinion like he did for Tom, but of course it never worked. Yet here she was, cuddling with the very boy she hated no more than 16 hours earlier.
He almost didn't want to wake them up, but it was 2pm and he was eager to hear the details of their night on the hill. Shutting off the tv, Mateo cleared his throat before letting out a shrill scream. He bit back a smile when Orion jumped awake, her hand flying up to smack Tom in the chest out of pure shock. Tom awoke immediately after, letting out a groan at the impact of her hand.
Orion turned to the source of the scream, her eyes wide. "Why did you scream?"
Mateo grinned at his friend, gesturing between the two. "You guys were cuddling." Orion's eyes narrowed at her friend as he brought his clasped hands to his cheek, tilting his head. "Are we all besties now?"
Orion rolled her eyes, scooting away from Tom as she stretched. "That wasn't intentional, don't get your hopes up."
Mateo wasn't even looking at Orion at this point, already knowing the girl was going to deliver a negative response. He was focused on Tom, he was running a hand through his disheveled hair as she spoke. Mateo rose an eyebrow at the boy, making him shrug. "Don't look at me, she's the boss around here."
Orion grinned. "Thank you. At least somebody respects my title." She glared at Mateo. "You know, I was your angel at one point too."
"Keyword was. I don't have to treat you like you still are now." Plopping himself on the couch opposite them, he was grinning once more. "So how'd your night go? I left after you guys got comfortable on the hill, so fill me in."
Orion glanced to Tom at this, just for him to look back at her. After the unintentional emotional experience in the back of Ross' sector office, Orion sent them back to her house. Within twenty minutes, they were comfortably settled on the couch with two separate bowls of popcorn and the tv lit up with too many movie options. Tom, ironically enough, thanked the heavens that every movie ever made was available just at the touch of a button, allowing him to play his all time favorites for Orion.
Halfway through their second movie–one Orion found weird seeing as a girl traveled to a random place through a tornado, whatever that was–she remembered the first day she met Tom. The movie was quickly paused, and she demanded that they change the movie to something he was in. Of all things for her to say, he didn't expect it to be that. Him being an actor in his past life was never brought up again after the first day in his house, and he couldn't help but appreciate that she remembered that small detail about him, despite not liking him at the time.
He insisted that while he wasn't a bad actor, there were others who were far more experienced and would be better to watch during their movie marathon, but she wasn't going to allow it. The rest of their time together was spent watching movies where he appeared, up until they fell asleep on the couch, Orion somehow getting herself comfortable in the boy's arms.
Mateo eyed the two suspiciously as neither of them tried to answer his question. "What? Did you kiss or something?"
"No!" Orion immediately denied, eyes wide in horror. Tom snickered, remembering the way she squirmed in discomfort at the sight of his bare torso, yet here she was acting as if the thought of dating him disgusted her. "We just talked for a while, then visited Ross."
Mateo rolled his eyes. "Is he still a mess?" He didn't given Orion or Tom the chance to respond before speaking again. "You know, if he wasn't the literal human embodiment of trash, I might actually date him again. He was a hell of a kisser, you know? And his tongue–"
"Okay," Orion interrupted, a look of disgust settling on her face. "I don't need to hear the end of that sentence, it already traumatized me enough that you two dated." She turned to Tom, shaking her head slightly. "It was messy, Ross didn't even know he was gay until he dated Mateo."
Mateo shrugged, making Tom's gaze shift to him. "I'm telling you, everybody is gay around here. Too many good people to go around, you can't just stick to one gender." He grinned at Tom. "Be sure to tell me when you realize you're gay too, that way you can check off both Garcia twins." Orion let out a scoff at this, glaring at her best friend. "What? Too soon?"
"Way too soon," Tom muttered, not daring to look at Orion in fear that her icy glare would be settled on him. "And what do you mean everybody's gay around here?"
"The gay to straight ratio is like 2:1. There's twice as many gay people here than straight," Mateo gestured to the room with his hand, "like right now, there's two gays, and one straight. It's kinda funny in a way. On Earth, they'd tell me being gay is a sin, and I'd say 'well baby, I'm the biggest sinner out there!' but little did they know heaven is filled with us!"
Tom turned to Orion, nudging her slightly with a raised eyebrow. "You're....?"
"Pansexual, but gay is an umbrella term so," She shrugged.
"And Kelsey's bi," Mateo added, his smile widening, "so really, you're the only nongay in this little friend group we have."
"Stop being annoying," Orion mumbled, standing up from the couch abruptly. "I probably have a pile of paperwork waiting for me in the office, so I'm gonna go. Lock the door when you guys leave."
Mateo cleared his throat loudly, making the two turn to him. "Is there a chance you'd... forgive Kels?"
Any sign of emotion faded from Orion's face, and her blank stare before exiting her house was enough to answer Mateo's question. He let out a sigh as the door shut behind her, falling back against the couch. "Looks like this is an us problem," Tom acknowledged, Mateo nodding in agreement.
"She has such a warm heart filled with pure love, and my sister just... takes advantage of that. It was only a matter of time before Orion grew tired of it."
Tom couldn't help but frown, remembering how he got to view that side of Orion the previous night. Her and Kelsey have been friends for years, and to think that Kelsey abused that side Orion couldn't help but have, it pained him in a sense. If he didn't regret the things he did with the girl before, then he certainly did now, because as pretty as she was on the outside, that meant nothing if her heart was ugly.
"She took me to see my family yesterday," Tom voiced, Mateo perking up at this. "That's why we went to see Ross, to look through his seeing ball thingy. Not gonna lie, I did almost burst into tears in that room, but I can't even put into words how happy I was that she did that for me."
Mateo's lips curled into a smirk. "She likes you."
Tom's face fell. "Sorry, what?"
"Don't look so traumatized, you should be very grateful. Everyone's in love with that girl around here, guys, girls, others." He got up from the couch, leaving the room. "And besides, I didn't mean romantically, I meant in a friendly sense. If she did something like that for you, then you mean something to her. Congrats."
Even though he heard the front door open and close, meaning Mateo left, Tom stayed sitting on that couch, staring straight ahead of him. Him and Orion were....friends?