7 Years Later

Part 9 - High School

When I saw Matteo on Monday in class, I didn't want to let on how excited I was to see him.

We made eye contact when I walked into class, and he gave me a small smile.

I was almost nervous to talk to him when we had to partner up- but he immediately made me feel at ease.

"I'm glad to see you." he said to me quietly, "I keep thinking about Saturday night."

I felt myself blush, "Same. Can we do it again?"

Matteo and I made plans to see each other again on Friday night.

And it could not come quick enough.

He texted me saying he would want me to come over- but he thought his mom wouldn't be okay with it.

So, I asked my mom if Matteo could come over. She was going out Friday night.

I asked her Friday morning before school.

She was about to be on her way out to work, and she gave me a look.

"It's just to work on our writing assignments!" I said.

"Uh huh." she said, "He can come over. But you're not allowed to go into your bedroom."

"Thank you." I said, "We won't."

"And one condition- I want to meet him. I'm going out with Steven at 7 PM. Tell him to come over at 6:45."

"Okay." I said, "That's fair enough."

In class, I said to Matteo, "Can you come over at 6:45?"

"Sure." Matteo said, "Any reason for that specific time?"

"My mom wants to meet you."

"Oh." Matteo's eyes widened.

"She will be gone the whole night." I said, "But she wanted to meet you. If that's okay."

"It's fine." Matteo said, "I get it. I'll be at her home."

"I appreciate you understanding." I said to Matteo.

He gave me a small grin, "Of course."

As I drove Garrett and I home from school, I asked him, "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Going to Nick's house to hang with some of the guys. Why?"

"No reason." I said.

"What, are you having a guy over and you want privacy?" Garrett laughed.

"Yes. But not to the privacy part. I was just wondering." I said.

"Sure." Garrett said sarcastically, "And I'm not going to smoke weed when I go to Nick's."

When I got home, my mom asked me, "Is Matteo coming at 6:45?"

I nodded, "He is."

"Good." she said back, "I like him already."

I could tell Matteo was nervous when he arrived.

"Hey." I said to him when I answered the door, "I'm glad to see you."

"Same." he said, walking in, "You have a nice home."

"Thank you." my mother said, walking into the foyer. She had on a tight red dress, and she looked more like my sister than my mother, "It's nice to meet you, Matteo."

She walked over to Matteo, and he shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you as well, Ms.-"

"Call me Nicole." my mom said, "Thanks for coming early to meet me. I'm going out tonight, but I wanted to see who was coming into my house."

"Understandable." Matteo said.

"I might not be home tonight." my mom said to me, "Have fun, you two. Not too much fun, though!"

"Mom." I said, "You go. Have fun."

My mom grabbed her bag off the front table, and said, "Nice to meet you again, Matteo."

Then she was out.

Matteo looked at me.

"She seems really nice."

"She is." I said, "I am pretty lucky to have a mom like her."

Matteo looked around. "Are we...alone?"

"We are." I said, "My brother is out."

"Okay." Matteo said, his hands in his pockets.

I could tell he was still on edge.

I walked over to him, and reached into his pockets, taking his hands out.

I held onto them and said, "Hey. Relax. We're just hanging out."

He looked down and me and squeezed my hands, "You're right. Sorry, I'm just a bit nervous, honestly."

"Let's go sit down. We aren't allowed in my bedroom. But my mom didn't say anything about the basement."

Matteo slightly rolled his eyes, but he smiled.

I had him follow me down to the basement, which is partially my moms workout machines, and then a couch and TV.

I sat down on the couch, and Matteo sat down next to me, not too close- but not too far.

I didn't want to pressure him to move closer.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him, "We don't have much here, my mom goes food shopping on Saturdays, and my brother eats everything in sight. I can order a pizza. Or we can even go pickup something."

"I'm down for pizza." Matteo said.

I could tell he was still nervous.

"Let's go pick it up." I said, standing up, "I'll drive. Let me call Francesco's."

Matteo nodded, "Sounds good."

I ordered the pizza, and then a few minutes later, we got into my car.

"His name is Benson." I said.

Matteo looked at me, "Your car?"

"Yes." I nodded, "I really like SVU. I named him after Olivia Benson."

"I actually know who that is." Matteo said, "My sister likes that show."

"She has good taste." I said, pulling out of the driveway.

"You know they don't make Saturn Ion's anymore." Matteo said, "They stopped making them in 2007."

"Well, I'm driving this car to the ground." I said, and Matteo laughed.

I handed my phone to Matteo and said, "Put on some music. Whatever song you want."

"We listened to my music the last time." Matteo said, "Do you have a playlist I can put on?"

"Hmmm...yeah. Put on the one that says 'Cassidy's Jams'."

Matteo pressed shuffle, and the first song that came on was "Talking Body" by Tove Lo.

"I love this song." I said, and immediately started singing along as I drove.

Matteo looked at me, amused, as I sang and drove. I could tell he was relaxing.

The next song that came on was "No Role Modelz" by J Cole . Matteo immediately started mouthing the words to it.

"I like J Cole a lot." he said, "I don't listen to much rap, though."

When we pulled up to Francesco's and walked in, I immediately saw some guys from the football team at a table.

One of them, Matt Cannely, waved to me.

I waved back, and then was handed the pizza.

"That'll be $13.80." the cashier said.

"I've got it." Matteo said, handing the cashier a 20 dollar bill.

The cashier gave him money back, and he said, "Keep it."

"Oh, thank you." the cashier said, "That's very nice of you. Have a good night."

When we walked out, Matteo took the pizza from me, "I can carry this."

"Matteo, you were so generous with that tip." I said, "And thank you for paying."

We got in the car, and Matteo shrugged, "People in restaurants work hard. They deserve it."

"You're right about that." I said, putting my car in drive.

"My dad was a chef." Matteo said, "He worked in restaurants."

"What was your favorite food that he made?" I asked.

"Oh, his pasta. For sure. He would make it homemade. From everything to the noodles to the sauce." Matteo said, "He was half Italian, and he said it ran through his blood."

"That sounds amazing. I've only had pasta from a box."

"It was amazing." Matteo said- and for a moment, he was quiet.

Matteo was much more relaxed when we went down to the basement for a second time. He sat closer to me, and I put the pizza on the table in front of us.

"Who was the guy that waved at you?" he asked, "I think I recognize him."

"Matt Cannely." I said, "I used to be pretty good friends with him, and some of his other friends."

"Does he play sports? I think I've heard his name?"

"Football." I said, "I used to be friends with some of those athlete guys. Not as much anymore. I basically just hangout with my best friend Danisha now."

Matteo looked at me, "Danisha Harvey?"

"Yes."

"Did you tell her about...us?"

"Of course. She's my best friend."

"No wonder. I have like 4 classes with her. She's been trying to talk to me more. I thought it was a little odd. Now it makes sense."

I laughed, "That sounds like Danisha. Do you hangout with anyone a lot?"

"No." Matteo shook his head, "I don't really have friends."

"Oh. Are you...alright with that?" I asked.

Matteo laughed, "Yeah, it's nothing to feel bad about. I never cared. It's not like I don't have anyone. I guess I would consider my cousin, Vince, my best friend. He's a year older than me, he goes to Temple. We became close after my dad died."

"That's good that you have him." I said, "Do you talk to your sister a lot?"

"I talk to Sabrina pretty often. Her and Vince are trying to convince me to go to college in the city, but that's not happening."

"Where do you think you're going to go to college?" I asked.

"Probably a school not far from here called Arcadia University. I'm not planning on living at college. I don't care about the whole college experience thing. I want to get my degree and work while I do so, so I can buy a house after college." Matteo said, and he looked genuinely excited as he spoke.

"Wow." I said, "You're really...mature."

"Is that a bad thing?" Matteo asked me.

"No." I said, taking a bite of pizza, "Not at all. It's refreshing."

"I find you to be refreshing." Matteo said to me, "You're funny. You speak your mind. You're not afraid to show your emotions."

I smiled at Matteo and said, "Thank you. That...means a lot."

"What do you want to do for college?" Matteo asked me.

"Oh, I have no clue. I think I want to go to school to be an esthetician, but my mom is making me do a year at community college." I said, suddenly getting insecure.

"Smart." Matteo said, "Nothing wrong with that at all. I think it's better to do that if you don't know what you want to pursue."

"You don't think I'm stupid or anything?" I asked.

"No, Cassidy. What is with you thinking that I think you're stupid?" Matteo asked, looking at me.

"I've told you that I constantly feel dumb. And you're smart! You're in all AP classes. I have never been in anything but a basic class. I get C's mostly. Except in creative writing." I said.

"School is not a measure of intelligence." Matteo said, "I firmly believe that. And Cassidy...I don't find you dumb. At all."

Matteo was looking at me intensely. I could see his green eyes on me behind his glasses.

It was like we were magnetic. At the same time, we moved in, and Matteo put his hand on my waist as he kissed me, with passion.

"I've been wanting to do that from the moment I saw you tonight." he said to me.

"Same." I said, going back in for more.

Moments later, Matteo was sitting up, leaned against the couch, and I was straddling his lap.

I had my hands wrapped around his neck, and he held my hips.

I feel like he's done this before.

I pulled away and asked, breathless, "Matteo, are you...a virgin?"

Matteo looked at me, "Oh. Um, no. I'm not a virgin. But I haven't had s*x in over a year. And I've only done it a few times, with my old neighbor who is a year older than me. Are you?"

"No." I said, "I also haven't done it in a while. But I've had s*x with 3 people."

"Did you date any of them?" Matteo asked me, taking hold of my hand.

"One of them. When I was a sophomore I dated someone who was a junior at the time, Billy Richman. It wasn't a great relationship. The other one was at a party my junior year. The last time I did it was over the summer, down at the beach." I explained, "Is that...okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be okay?" Matteo looked at me.

"I don't want you to think I'm slutty or anything." I said.

Matteo chuckled, "I don't think that. I'm sorry, though. About your past relationship."'

"We'll talk about it later." I said back to him, "Right now, I'm more focused on you."

He then moved his head up slightly, and kissed me again, moving his hands on my back.

"It's getting a little bit hot in here." I said, and removed my shirt.

Matteo took in my body, his eyes roaming my chest and my stomach.

"Wow." he said, "I don't think I've told you how attractive I think you are, Cassidy."

I leaned in Matteo's ear and said, "I feel the same about you."

He then kissed me more, and moved his hands under my bra, feeling under.

"Fuck." he mumbled, as I could feel him getting hard.

I can tell it's a good size. Damn.

"I- sorry." he said, "If you can feel me...getting excited."

"If I had a d**k it'd be just as hard." I said.

That made Matteo laugh. "You're too funny." he said.

"I want you." I said to Matteo, "Badly. Especially because I can feel that your d**k is a...nice size."

Even in the dim light of the room, I could see Matteo blush.

"I'm sure it can make you feel really good." he said to me. He then looked down and said, "Cassidy. I want you so f*****g bad. But...I like you. And...I don't think we should have sex."

"That's fine." I said to Matteo, "I like you too. We can take our time with that."

Matteo smiled at me, "I'm glad you feel the same. I was nervous you'd think I was rejecting you. Because I'm certainly not."

"I know you're not." I said, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He held onto my hand again, and I felt my heart race.

I like him. A lot.