The walls of Lucy’s apartment were closing in on her. She needed to get out. She hadn’t been back to the park for over a week, not since she had met Mateo. Whenever she thought about him, she still felt her heart rate and breathing speed up. You don’t even know him! She scolded herself.
The draw to him, however, had been unmistakeable and it both excited and frightened her. “With things looking like they are going downhill with M.K., maybe I should allow myself to get to know Mateo.” Her brows furrowed and she bit her lip as her thoughts swirled. She felt so torn. She had a small history with M.K., since they had been writing for a couple of months. Which makes it feel like we have a commitment of some sort. She mused. “But now he’s pulling back and then there’s the chemistry I felt with Mateo.” She huffed out a breath. “A man that I will more than likely never see again.” She shook her head.
The claustrophobia became too much and she headed out the door, walking in determined strides towards the park nearby, clutching a bag of bread crumbs and refusing to think about whether or not she would see a certain dark, handsome man sitting on her bench.
When she arrived at the park, she breathed a small sigh of relief mixed with disappointment. Mateo was nowhere in sight. Lucy shoved away the negative emotion, telling herself it was for the best.
Sitting down at the same bench as before, she leaned her head back and let the sun’s rays kiss her cheeks. A smile pulled at her lips as she felt her whole body warm and her tension begin to melt in the cheery sunshine.
“Fancy meeting you here,” a deep voice spoke from her left.
Jerking upright, she nearly lost her sunglasses. Her mouth flapped a couple of times, but she was too shocked to speak. Lucy mentally face palmed herself at her actions.
Mateo chuckled and sat down on the other end of the bench. “Yep, it’s me. It would seem we have the same taste in parks.”
“And benches,” she quipped.
His eyebrows shot up and a smile lit his face. “She talks! And in english, no less!”
Lucy felt the electricity between them start to buzz as she returned his smile. “Shocking isn’t it?”
“I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure you were truly human after our last encounter.” He teased.
Lucy tilted her head, her grin turning playful. “And just what did you think I was? A robot?”
“Nah,” he waved the idea away. “You’re definitely alive, just maybe, not ... human. A human looking alien, like, Superman.”
Lucy raised her eyebrows. “I’m not sure whether I should be insulted or flattered. On one hand you think I’m an alien, but on the other hand, I’m being compared to an alien that is extremely good looking, so ... ” She used to hands to create scales on either side of her and tipped them back and forth.
Mateo laughed. “It was meant as a compliment.” His eyes twinkled, letting her know he also enjoyed their banter.
Lucy felt her cheeks flush and ducked her head away from his penetrating stare. “So,” she cleared her throat. “What brings you back to the park today?”
Mateo sighed as he turned towards the lake in front of them, leaning back into the bench he folded his arms. “Needed to clear my head. Sometimes life makes things complicated, huh?” He glanced over at her with an eyebrow raised.
“True that.” She nodded and pursed her lips. “Want to talk it out? I can be a pretty good listener.” Plus, talking about your troubles will keep me from wanting to jump into your lap and steal a kiss. She tossed some bread crumbs to a flock of geese waiting at the water’s edge while she waited for him to reply.
He gave a little smile. “Sure ... why not?” He said. “I’ve ... well ... see I met this girl.”
Lucy’s heart sank. Well, talking is going to be a better deterrent than I thought.
“I first got to know her through some emails, but now that I’ve met her in person, I’m not sure what to think.”
Lucy threw another handful of crumbs, feeling that he wasn’t done, but he seemed to be struggling with what to say next.
“She’s not terrible, she’s just not quite what I imagined her to be.”
When he paused again, Lucy spoke up. “Do you feel that she lied to you in the emails?”
Mateo twisted his mouth. “Not exactly. I feel like I may have misinterpreted them. But we’ve only gone out once, so one part of me feels like I haven’t spent enough time with her to get to know her. The other part is upset that the chemistry I feel in the emails obviously isn’t there when we talk in person. I mean, I had kinda fallen for her in the emails, or at least the version of her I had imagined in my mind and I don’t really want to walk away from the possibility that we could be good together. But when we met, I expected, I don’t know ...” He trailed off, his eyes searching the landscape as if it held the answers he was seeking.
“More.” Lucy’s voice was raspy and she cleared her throat again.
“Yeah.” His answer was soft as he turned to look at her. His brown eyes pulled her in, the buzzing from earlier becoming stronger than ever. He scooted a little closer to her. “I want there to be a pull, a draw.”
“Electricity.” Her voice had also gone soft and she found herself leaning towards him.
“Exactly.” He shifted even closer and now they were only a few inches away.
“Something strong, something mysterious.” Her eyes dropped to his lips and stayed there.
“Something you can’t fight and don’t want to.” He said before dipping his head the last couple of inches until their lips brushed.
Their contact sent a jolt through Lucy and she gasped at the pleasure of it. Mateo took the opportunity to lean in further and strengthen the kiss. His lips were soft and strong, a combination that only made Lucy lose her good sense even more.
He tilted his head and wrapped a hand around the back of her head, a groan rumbling from his throat as he continued to kiss her. Everywhere they touched became a hotbed of fireworks and Lucy struggled to breathe.
This! This! She thought. This is everything I’ve been looking for. What I thought I would have with M.K. M.K.! Her thoughts screeched to a halt and she stiffened.
Recognizing that her response had changed, Mateo separated their lips. He kept his hand in her hair and they shared the same air as they both struggled to slow down their breathing.
“What is it?” He finally panted.
“I—”
Letting go of her, Mateo scooted away and hung his head. “I’m so sorry.” He mumbled. “Here I’ve been talking to you about another woman and then basically attacked you. We don’t even know each other, not to mention, you probably have someone in your life ...” His voice trailed off, his tone dripping with shame.
Lucy tentatively reached out and put her hand on his forearm. “Please don’t be sorry. I participated just as wholeheartedly as you. No, I don’t think we should kiss, I mean, yeah, you obviously have someone in your life and I kinda have someone, maybe ... sorta .... ” She cut herself off as she started to ramble. “Although we hardly know each other, I don’t regret the kiss. I can’t.” She stated honestly.
His head shot up and he looked at her, narrowing his eyes and scrutinizing as if to see into her heart. “Alright,” he finally whispered. Then he rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and scooted even further away from her. “Actually, I probably better go, I was going to see if ... well ...” He stammered uncomfortably.
“You’re meeting her?” Lucy couldn’t help the monster of jealousy that tried to rear its head, it took everything in her to stamp it back into a cage in the back of her mind.
“Sort of. She doesn’t know I’m coming. I just ... feel like I need to give her more time to see if we suit.”
Lucy nodded. “She works around here then?”
“Yeah. At a school, down a little ways.”
Lucy scrunched her brows. As far as I know the only school close by is Middleton Prep. Could he really be going out with someone I work with? How unfair is that? What if they get married? Will I have to see him—? Once again she had to stop her train of thoughts, refusing to entertain the direction they were headed.
“Well, I suppose I’ll see you around?” Mateo stood and inched away as if he couldn’t stand to be there any more.
“Sure,” Lucy replied, trying to keep the sadness from her voice. It just never seems to work out for me. Her heart constricted as he left, knowing she would probably never see him again. Because any woman who would turn him down is a complete idiot.