Page 56 of Red Queen
“Mateo! Welcome, son. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Tom, father of this beautiful woman.” I turn my head back, then shake hands with Rosa’s father.
“Likewise, sir. Mateo Acosta.” I greet him back, then Rosa’s mother steps forward.
“Guess I should introduce myself too, since this young lady won’t do it for us.” She looks at Rosa, but her gaze is set on the crowd in the living room, anxiety popping up in her eyes. Great. Now she feels it, too. “I’m Gabriela. Rosa’s mother. Welcome here.”
I greet her, introducing myself again, then after putting my backpack down, I immediately reach for Rosa’s hand. I won’t survive a minute in this crowd if I don't know she’s right next to me. They’re like hawks, watching our every move, and interrogating us like we’re murderers. I cannot wait for her to meet my sweet family.
We follow Rosa’s parents hand in hand, trying to keep each other grounded. We step into the living room, and as soon as we do, they surround us. We greet everyone one by one, andapproximately an hour and some very disgusting questions later, I plop onto the couch.
Rosa sits on the floor in front of me, since there are no other free spots left, but I lift her up, and sit her down on my lap. She grabs onto me, her nails slightly digging into my thighs, but a couple of seconds later, she relaxes in my arms.
“Wouldn’t want you to catch a cold,” I whisper, leaving a little kiss behind her ear on the sensitive spot. I smirk when her nails dig into me again, silently telling me to behave, and my smile falters when I realize everyone’s staring at us.
“Speak! Tell us everything!” Loving gazes stare at us from all angles, waiting for us to speak. I feel like an animal in the zoo. It’s scary.
“Well, uh… It’s nice to meet everyone. I’ve heard many good things about you. We had a nice ride on the way here.” I speak up, but no one replies; they seem unsatisfied with my answer. What else do they want to know? How many times have I had sex with their precious little girl?
“Look, we’re actually quite tired; we’ve had a long week. Teo broke his wrist last week, then I went to the hospital, and we’ve done a whole media day together… We’re new to this, still getting used to each other. Let’s just go easy today, alright? You’ll have plenty of time to get to know us.” Now, Rosa speaks up, and I could kiss her until she can’t breathe for this. She set up the boundaries, and I hope at least her family will listen, cause I know mine won’t. I hope our room will have a lock.
We spend the rest of the day talking to everyone, me introducing Rosa and she introducing me. Now that the whole country knows how we met, we can let out a sigh of relief. Rosa’s family is just as weird as mine, and it honestly makes me feel a little better. They all gushed about her, told me stories from her childhood, just the usual stuff.
“What’s wrong, hijo? Something’s bothering you, I can see.” I’m sitting on the patio with my mom, while the others are chatting near the pool.
“Nothing, Mamá. It was a long day. That’s it.” I smile, looking over at her, but I know she doesn’t believe me.
“Mateo.” I snort at her tone, knowing that I’ll have to tell her anyway. She won’t leave me alone until I do so.
“You won’t like it,” I say, but she shakes her head.
“You know you can tell me anything.” She squeezes my hand, and then I fall back on the chair.
“You know how I got into a scandal for selling information to a journalist?” She nods, so I continue. “My numbers went down. More and more people started dissing me, even sending me cruel private messages. So Enzo and the team came up with an idea on how to restore my image.”
“That’s great! And is it working?” she asks with hopeful eyes, my heart breaking at the sight. She’s gonna be so disappointed.
“What do you think about me and Rosa?” I ask, now sitting up in the chair, facing her.
“Oh, you’re adorable together. I’m so happy you found someone, hijo. She’s perfect for you. Why do you ask?” Her eyebrows furrow, and I give it a long thought whether I should tell her or not. But it’ll be only worse if I don’t tell her.
“She’s getting paid for it.” Her eyes widen, and for a moment she doesn’t speak.
“She what?”
“She’s getting paid for it. Enzo’s idea was for us to fake date. So that they’ll leave me alone with Mona. And yes, it is working. Almost everyone believes it, that it’s real, and we’re not pretending.” I hang my head down, not having the courage to look into her eyes. She was so excited to meet Rosa, and now I had shattered yet another dream of hers.
“But… I saw how she looked at you. And how you looked at her. That can’t be fake, hijo. Even if she’s getting paid for it, don’t tell me neither of you has even a small amount of feelings for each other,” she says, lifting my head up.
“It’s not that easy, Mamá. She’s with Atlas, and she didn’t even tell me. I felt betrayed. Not to mention we argue over any small thing.” I snort, then she pinches my arm. “Ow! What was that for?”
“Mateo Acosta! When did I raise you to be stupid? She works for another team, so what? You’d give up on the girl who likes you back just because she works for a rival team? Did you tell her that you’re driving for Moscardi? Did she recognize you?”
“No. You know I don’t tell people straight away who don’t know me. It’s…refreshing to meet an outsider.” I smile, but it falters soon enough when she pinches me again. “Mamá! You gotta stop that!”
“So you didn’t tell her who you are, but you’re mad at her because she didn’t tell you who she is? You’re setting double standards, Mateo.”
“Well, I… didn’t really think of it that way,” I say sheepishly, hanging my head down again.
“Of course not. You have to see the bigger picture, hijo. And that is, that she’s a great woman. So you better apologize to her and talk this through. You deserve to be happy, you know.” I shut my eyes tight, her words replaying in my head over and over again. I hate that she’s always right.
