I pull up to the entrance and climb out to help him with his crutches. Look at me, little Holly Helper.
Once he's settled in the passenger seat, I resume my spot behind the wheel. Mateo groans and digs into the center console, pulling out a bottle of ibuprofen. He swallows a few, dry like a sociopath, and puts them back.
"What's this?" he asks, reaching into the backseat. "Did you draw this?"
"Don't touch my shit," I say, grabbing my sketchbook from him and tossing it back onto the backseat.
"My bad," he says, holding his hands up in surrender. "It fell out."
"Whatever."
"Who pissed in your Cheerios?"
"What's next on the agenda?" I ask, putting on my sunglasses.
He's quiet, but I can feel him watching me.
"Dude, there's a car pulling up behind us," I say. "Where are we going now?"
"Right, sorry. Back to the house. We can go over the day-to-day shit and social media stuff."
Groaning, I put the car into drive.
"I don't do the whole social media thing," I say.
"Yeah, I noticed."
"Did you look me up?"
Mateo shifts in his seat. "I was curious."
"Well, curiosity killed the cat, and I've got fucking claws."
"That doesn't make sense," he says.
"What doesn't make sense?" I ask.
"Isn't the cat the one with the claws?"
I roll my eyes, and when I glance at him, he's smiling with that crooked canine on full display.
Why does it have to be crooked?
Why does my life hate me?
He can't have a symmetrical face? It has to be this one? The kind my fingers itch to draw.
I'd love to wipe that smile off it. It's his fault I didn't get laid on my birthday. Why'd he have to text me? I was having a great time, okay a decent time, with a guy that didn't seem half bad before Mateo texted me about Coop and then, that stupid canine and those stupid fucking butterflies started and ruined everything.
I can't remember the last time I had sex, and I think it's making me delirious.
Caffeine, I need caffeine.
There's a gas station on the corner, so I stop and run in for a Red Bull, okay two, and a bottle of water for Mateo.
"You know caffeine isn't a food group, right?" he asks before taking a sip of his water.
"I'm a single mom in nursing school. Yes, it is."
