MATEO || bxb

- 33 -

| Mateo |

I was nervous about bringing Cam home. He'd been to my house before of course but not for many years now. I knew I should have told my mum about him, but I truly just hate talking to her. I don't think I've said more than a handful of words to her in the last couple weeks. Not that she cares of course. It's not like she puts in any effort or tries with me either and until she at least apologises to me, about how she's treated me in the past, I'm not going to put in any effort myself.

Sometimes I think maybe I should be the bigger man, but then she's the parent. I shouldn't have to be the bigger man for all the pain she caused me as a teenager. That's all on her.

But Cam was a priority to me and if he wanted to come over and he want me to tell my mum about him, then I would. Of course I would. I've already made a few mistakes in this relationship, and I don't want to keep doing stupid things to upset him. Besides, this is just one night that I have to get through right. Tomorrow we'll probably be back at his place. And most of my time at home anyway will be spent with my sisters and Cam so it's not like I have to be around my mum that much.

Lilliana called to tell me they were home now. Marc had taken the girls on a big day out, shopping, rock-climbing, and then swimming. She and Rosie both seemed happy when they told me over the phone. I was glad they were getting some attention from their dad. He did do this every few weeks. He'd be obsessed with my mum, for God knows what reason, but then on some random day of the week remember he has two beautiful daughters that he needs to spend time with as well.

I waited another hour or so before actually heading home. I didn't want the whole family hanging around downstairs as we walked in. They'd probably settled down by now though so I felt like we could finally leave.

"Right, let's go then," I said to Cam who'd been building another house on Sims. He quickly saved what he was working on and then grabbed his bag which had been sat around waiting to be used for hours now. I waited for him to come to me and grabbed his hand as I walked him out of the house.

I didn't live too far from the Morris house, so it was only a short car ride before we were at mine. I sighed as I turned the engine off and waited a moment before getting out and opening the door for Cam.

"What a gentleman," Cam said rolling his eyes.

"Always," I said with a wink.

"Everything will be okay. I'm with you, yeah?" Cam said trying to give me some encouragement. He'd obviously been seeing how I was feeling for the last few hours. Knowing he was with me did actually make me feel a lot better about everything.

"Yeah. Let's go then," I said taking his hand again to walk him to my door. We were big hand holders. I think both of our love language just had a lot of physical touch involved.

I got my key out and unlocked the door to find Rosie right there in the hallway.

"Mateo! You're home!" she said happily as she bounded over and gave me a quick hug around my midsection.

"Hey Rosie. Yeah, I'll be here for the night," I told her.

"Yay! I'll tell Lily!"

"Oh Rosie, before you go. This is Cam okay. My boyfriend," I told her introducing her to Cam. "And this is Rosie," I said to Cam introducing her to him.

"Hi Rosie. Your hair is so pretty. I like the Gems," Cam said complimenting the little fake hair diamonds that I only just noticed.

"O...oh. Th...thank you! My...my sister put them in f...for me," she replied. Now Rosie wasn't the most talkative in the family, it took me a while to get her to open up to me a bit more, but she was never one to stutter as she was now. And she was also slowly going very very red. Was she blushing? Was she blushing at my boyfriend? Of all the people my 12-year-old step-sister could form a crush on, it had to be my boyfriend? "LILY!" Rosie shouted as she ran up the stairs probably to tell her that I was home and I'm guessing to hide from Cam.