Chapter 24

I wake up way too early for my liking. It's Saturday morning, practically the crack of dawn, and my phone is ringing. There are only two people who regularly call me, and while my mum would be nonsense, I hope for Kaia's life she's not calling to suggest we start extra early.

"What?"

There's a laugh on the other line.

"Is this the way you answer your phone?"

I yawn, check the display and put the phone back on my ear.

"Matthew, do you know the time?"

"I thought you guys go and check the caterings today?" Matthew says and sounds confused.

"Not at seven a.m.," I groan and roll around, so my phone is squeezed between the mattress and my face, "Why are you calling?"

Matthew's quiet for a good couple of seconds, and I almost fall back asleep to the sound of his breathing.

"Well, I'm free today," Matthew says then, "Leonard ditched me – we wanted to go and play baseball, but no, his TV show marathon is way more important."

"I can relate," I yawn right in the speaker.

Matthew laughs and it sounds like he's pacing around in his room. "So I thought, why not spend the time with my girlfriend?"

"Matthew, you do remember you just said I'll be at the catering firms today, right?" I say, "And I need to sleep now, not see your face."

Matthew laughs again. "Who says you won't in your sleep – no I'm sorry, don't hang up."

"This close," I threaten with a smile.

"So, I was actually thinking maybe I'll join you guys on your catering check? It'll be fun, don't you think?"

I furrow my brows. "What? Is this about free food?"

"Maybe?" Matthew says and I can practically hear him grinning, "So, what do you say?"

I yawn and rub my eyes. "Why not. I'm driving – I'll pick you up at eleven. Don't be late. And don't wear that red and blue plaid shirt"

"Huh, why?"

"Because I don't like it."

"But I like it."

"Well yeah, and I don't. So who's more important, your girlfriend or a stupid shirt?"

Matthew sighs dramatically. "Harsh."

I chuckle. "See you later."

When I reach his house, Matthew is wearing the red and blue plaid shirt. I furrow my brows and stop the car right in front of the curb.

"Oh, boyfriend's looking good," Kaia says.

I grimace and get out of the car, walking up to where Matthew's waiting at his doorstep.

"Are you serious?"

"What?"

Matthew grins and takes my hand, pulling me behind him inside his house. Leonard waves his hand from where he's lying on the couch, apparently in the midst of a marathon on cartoon network. I wouldn't mind joining.

"June's here, mum," Matthew calls towards the first floor, "We'll get going then."

There's rustling, and his mother appears at the top of the stairs.

"Have fun, you two," she says, "June, make sure Matthew doesn't overeat himself. I'm making lasagna."

"Oh my god, mum," Matthew says, "June is not my babysitter."

"Sure feels like it sometimes," I tug on his shirt.

Leonard lifts his hand to wave in our general direction, which I take as a cue to leave, and soon enough we're back inside the car.

"Hi Matthew," Kaia turns around and beams at him, "So nice you decided to join us. I totally get it, spending a day away from your girlfriend must be hard."

I furrow my brows and give her an are-you-serious look she ignores.

"Oh totally," Matthew laughs and starts folding his legs in the backseat.

Kaia's phone throws loud instructions at me and requires my full focus, so Kaia and Matthew decide to look at pictures on Matthew's phone in the meantime. More specifically, the ones we took together.

"– and look, this one is funny too, June was one second before sneezing."

"Oh my god June!" Kaia squeals, "You look so cute in this!"

"Delete it." I say.

"No way," Matthew continues scrolling through his gallery, "Oh, look here!"

"Woah," Kaia sounds impressed, "This looks really romantic. Like straight out of a photo shoot."

I'm glad I can't see the pictures, since I'm sure they would annoy me to no ends, but Kaia's constant giggling really doesn't help. Apparently, Matthew and I took the funniest, cutest, most adorable and romantic pictures to date.

We finally, finally reach the first catering firm after what feels like ages and my patience is already more than tested.

"Oh, we're here," Kaia casually hands me my phone and quickly jumps out of the car, "Wow, this looks cute!"

I check my phone and am greeted by Matthew and my faces as my new wallpaper. Fantastic.

The first catering firm looks cute, with a pink, bubbly store that could also work as a frozen yogurt shop, but instead they end up serving us dry sandwiches, potato salad with extreme amounts of mayonnaise, English muffins and sausage rolls.

"This is really nice," Kaia tells the owner afterwards, "But we're not looking for picnic food, sorry."

The second catering firm offers spareribs, corn cobs and mashed potatoes.

"Anything but mashed potatoes," Kaia and Matthew say in unison.

I actually like the corn cobs and store a few of them in a Tupperware box I brought along.

The third one is a Chinese takeaway.

"Why is this even on the list?"

The fourth one, finally, seems pretty decent. We eat ourselves through trays of nicely arranged fruits, vegetables and cheese and another set of very classy looking meatballs, mini egg rolls and quesadillas. I add a few of the quesadillas to the corn cobs in my box.

"Indeed, very nice," Kaia declares and takes a few pictures with her phone, "I mean, appearance matters most anyway, everyone knows that. And this looks definitely better than the picnic or barbeque food."

Kaia signs a few papers I'm not sure she actually has the permission to, and Matthew declares he couldn't have handled another catering firm anyway.

"What, you're full?" I ask and give his arm a light nudge, "We were supposed to test the food, not shovel it into our mouth like we're starving."

"But the quesadillas were so good," Matthew sighs and lazily slings an arm around my waist, "I can't wait to eat more of them at prom."

"You can just go to any Mexican restaurant and get some, you know?"

I try to ignore his arm, which is not entirely possible, but works when Kaia finally comes back and shows us a bright thumbs up.

"Everything's settled!" she declares happily, "I'll give Johnny the bills to pay for."

"Oh, he'll be so glad," Matthew says and holds backseat door open for Kaia.

"Thank you!" Kaia squeals and claps her hands.

Matthew grins and slips in the front seat next to me.

"Smooth," I comment and start the car, "I'll stop by your place first, Kai. Remember, you have tennis practice at three, and it's important for your next tournament, so don't be late."

"Sure sure," Kaia says while rapidly texting someone, "Don't forget to pick me up on Monday."

"I pick you up every day, why should I forget?"

"Well, what do I know?" Kaia taps her chin, "There's a lot love's doing to people."

She jumps out of the car giggling like a maniac and quickly runs towards her house. I roll my eyes, and look at Matthew who's smirking like an idiot.

"What?"

"Nothing," he casually stretches his arms to wrap one around my shoulders, "I was just thinking – why don't we go and hang out at my place now?"

I tilt my head. "You planned this, didn't you?"

Matthew only shrugs, but he's laughing quietly.