I nod happily. “He is my boyfriend, and I love him very much.”
Axel’s jaw drops, and Mateo gasps.
I look to make sure Mateo is doing okay. His expression is strained, which is weird, but he squeezes my hand.
“That’s right,” Mateo says. “We are boyfriends, and, uh, in love. Deeply.”
“That’s pretty obvious, dudes,” Axel says. “Wow. You are both excellent at secrets.”
“Youdidn’t know?” I ask.
Mateo stiffens.
“No way, dude. In fact, whenever you were in the same room, you always used to leave the room suddenly. I thought it was rude.”
My eyes round. “That’s horrible.”
“No!” Mateo exclaims. “He was…”
I turn to him. Mateo’s throat moves. His smile is suddenly too wide.
“We didn’t want to announce it to everyone,” Mateo says. “We were keeping it secret!”
“That sounds like me,” I say.
“So you wake up and discover that you have a boyfriend and that you’re a great actor,” Axel says. “How awesome is that?”
“It is excellent,” I agree, nodding firmly.
Mateo takes my hand. “Let’s go, Florian?—”
“No wonder that you were so resistant when your sister gave you that book about manifestation,” Axel says.
Mateo stills. His hand is cold and stiff. I rub my thumb along his palm to calm him.
“That was acting,” he says.
“Detailed acting. It was a whole saga,” Axel says.
“I couldn’t have talked about it that much,” Mateo says.
“Oh, yeah. You did. You didn’t like that your sister wanted you to manifest a boyfriend. You said it was impossible. And that manifestation was silly. But now I know the truth!”
“You do?” Mateo asks. For some reason, his hand trembles. He must be cold. He’s been so focused on my health he’s forgotten to wear sweaters.
“Definitely,” Axel says. “You wanted to share that you already had an amazing boyfriend, but you couldn’t. Because of the whole secret thing.”
“Yes,” Mateo says happily.
I stare at him.
He’s definitely taking the reminder of my bad behavior well.
“I am so sorry I kept you a secret,” I say.
“Please don’t apologize.”
“I must. I promise to cherish you appropriately going forward.”
