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Luna wasn't prying on his things or anything of the sort, she promises, but his cellphone buzzed and since it was so close to the edge of the table it fell, it's not like she could just leave it on the floor, it is expensive. The point is that she didn't mean to look at Matteo's phone home screen and now she knows that she probably shouldn't have because her own smiling face is looking back at her from it.
She recognizes the picture, remembers clear as day the moment it was taken. They were walking to the Jam&Roller from school the first day that actually felt like spring, she remembers how happy she was that things were already blooming, she remembers how she had dragged Matteo towards the trees full of flowers and urged him to take photos because his cell phone camera is better than hers, how between all the pictures she made him take he had shot the camera at her, called her name and snapped a picture of her smiling surrounded by purple flowers. She had like the pic in that moment, asked him to send it to her, it had actually ended up on her instagram, but they were well into summer now and she saw no reason for him to keep it.
She feels his footsteps and quickly locks the phone and pretends she was just picking it up from the floor.
"Hey." She tells him handing him his phone when he sits down in front of her with two smoothies. "Someone texted you."
Matteo doesn't even blink at the fact that she has his phone, he shows no reaction to the fact that she might have seen the picture on it he just takes it and checks the text.
"It's just my mom, she wants me to go with her to a fancy brunch this saturday and wants me to go home early so she can tell me what to wear."
"Brunch?" The word comes out as a defense mechanism she supposes, or at least that's what Nina would say, because she knows she is not ready to know why Matteo has her picture as his home screen, even if she kinda wants to.
"Yep, brunch." He says annoyed.
"Well, I'm sure it won't be that bad." Luna reassures him at the same time she lectures herself for being such a coward.
"Yeah, right." Matteo huffs.
"Well if it is we can always go skating afterwards." The way he smiles at her, so happy and open, actually hurts her a little.
"Oh, please." He say leaning back on his seat. "Because it is gonna be that awful."
Luna smiles at him, keeping her mouth closed so the question that's burning her throat doesn't escape, it's not the time yet.
The problem with avoiding the situation when it actually happened is that she has no idea as to how the hell she is supposed to bring it up now. It's not like she can just walk to Matteo and say "Hey, remember last monday when I picked your cell phone up from the floor? Yeah? Well, why do you have my pic as you home screen?" that would be incredibly weird and slightly creepy and now she has to wait for the opportunity to present itself and that seems pretty hard, she could probably make some sort of plan to make it happen but that's not her style...and she can't actually think of anything.
She could probably let it go, but not only she finds out with surprise that she doesn't want to, it also turns out that she can't, period. This new piece of information sits on the back of her mind constantly, right next to something that's fighting to come out to the light, something that feels obvious, like something that everyone else knows but she is missing wildly and it's just there waiting for her to notice it, but she can not, for the life of herself, find out what it is. She has the puzzle and she can see that she is missing some pieces but even if she should know where they are she can't find them. It's frustrating, really.
And now she walks around with the question on the tip of her tongue at all times, great.
Every time she goes out with Matteo she does so hoping that she will have a chance to casually take his phone and question him about the picture and gets all excited about what his hypothetical answer might be.
It was hard for her, realizing how in love with Matteo she was, especially after the Simón thing and it's still hard admitting it, letting herself enjoy every minute with him and letting herself feel what she actually feels, because she is still afraid of everything that having feelings for the great Matteo Balsano entitles, afraid of how many people she might hurt by just following her heart, afraid that just as Ámbar has said a multitude of times there's no way on earth that Matteo Balsano could feel anything for little Luna Valente. But that picture is trying to tell her something, something she can't quite understand and she desperately needs to. She desperately wants to.
In the end, like most things on her life, it happens by accident, it's not like she is not thinking about it, it's all she can think about, but rather that it has become such a permanent fixture in her mind that she barely registers it anymore, it just sits there, on the back of her mind, unless she is laying in her bed in the middle of the night, then it takes its place as the only thing she is capable of thinking about.
Matteo and her are in the Jam&Roller, and like most of the time when she is around him she is laughing, little giggles are escaping her mouth as she tries to regain control of her breathing.
"Don't laugh." Matteo says but the corners of his mouth are fighting a smile of their own. "It wasn't funny."
"Yeah, right." Luna disagrees. "Because you being bossed around by a five year old in a tiara that says that you will be her husband one day is everything but hilarious."
"It was super weird."Matteo complains. "And I couldn't just tell her to get lost, she was five, delivery girl, five."
"You're such a softie." She teases him leaning closer to him, because for some reason they were sitting next to each other when there is a perfectly empty chair at the other side of the table.
"I'd say something against it but I did let her put her other tiara on me."
Luna feels a smirk take over her mouth.
"Please tell me there are pictures." She asks teasingly but his expression changes immediately. "Oh my god, there are."
Matteo cheeks turn a soft pink and she can say that's the closest thing to a blushing Matteo she has ever seen, it's actually kind of adorable.
"There are not." He says.
"Don't lie to me, Matteito." She points at him with her index finger.
"I don't know what you are talking about." He says pretending to be nonchalant, hiding his embarrassment behind his snob facade but she notices that he hides his phone behind his back.
"Are they in your phone?"
"I told you, there are no pictures." Matteo shakes his head and she almost believes him but she knows him too well.
"Hiding them only makes it worse." She warns him and then dives for his phone.
Matteo, being as fast and agile as he is catches her rather quickly but Luna is on a mission and she is going to get that phone. She struggles to free her hand from Matteo's but when she finally does she is fast enough to snatch his cell phone, in a fit of giggles she unlocks the screen and she finds the familiar picture of her still in it, her giggles die pretty quickly.
" Is that...?" She clears her throat nervously. "Is that my picture as your home screen?"
She can see all the emotions going through Mateo's eyes, the confusion, the panic, the acceptance and in the end she is not able to recognize anything because all of his wall are up and there's no way to get pass them, his eyes reflect nothing. A lump forms on her throat.
"Yes, it is." He answers and says nothing else. Luna can see that if she wants this to go somewhere she'll have to lead it there herself, it doesn't matter how much she doesn't want to.
"It's a nice a pic." She comments not knowing what else to say. Matteo just nods. Luna takes a deep breath.
"Why do you have my pic as your home screen?"
"You say it yourself it's a nice picture."
Luna sees how he takes his phone back and puts it on his pocket, ready to bolt. It looks like he has been taking classes from her, but she doesn't let him, as unfair as it might be she holds his wrist stopping his escape.
"There are tons of nice pictures in the world." She whispers.
"I am particularly fond of that one." Matteo doesn't turn around, doesn't turn to look at her and in the back of her mind she wonders if her touch burns him as much his skin does in hers.
"Why?"
"It has you in it." The surprise makes Luna let go of him and he is quick to run to the door but she wastes no time following him.
"Because it has me in it?" She echoes behind him.
"Yes." He answers turning around to look at her with a sigh.
They stay there for a few seconds in utter a complete silence and she could bet he can listen to her heart with how fast it's beating in anticipation of what she is about to say.
"I'm particularly fond of things that have you in them too, in fact in I'm particularly fond of you, period." Matteo's eyes widen in surprise. "We could even say that I love everything that has you in it, that I love you."
Matteo doesn't do or say anything he just stands there barely even blinking and showing no reaction to her confession. She feels like she is about to throw up, she really does.
But then he takes one step forward and then another, and then his lips come crashing into hers frantic, desperate.
Luna is embarrassed to admit that she lets out a little whimper when his tongue comes barging in her mouth, especially when she feels his smug smirk, so she decides to retaliate pushing her whole body against his and taking her hands to the his neck, and it's only so she can wipe that smirk of his mouth, not because she can't actually feel her legs anymore.
He actually welcomes her with joy putting both his hands on her waist and pulling her even closer.
She lets her hand wander into Matteo's hair, her nail against his scalp and the little moan that comes out of his lips gets her wondering why on earth she took so long to do this.
"So that was a yes?" He asks, voice breathy, when they finally pull away.
"So that was a question?" She asks back, struggling to get her breathing in control.
Matteo shoots her an amused look and honestly she can figure out what he is trying to ask, not when her mind is so fuzzy and there are so many butterflies on her stomach.
"Yes." She says anyway because there's nothing she could actually deny Matteo, not when she knows she would never ask for something that she is not willing to give, for something that could harm her.
"Good." He whispers and kisses her again but softer and sweeter this time.