Today I made a chocolate mousse. It took three failed attempts, but eventually I got it right. A couple of days ago, Nina said something about eating the best chocolate mousse at her grandparents' place. I do not presume to be as good as her grandparent's maid, but I thought I could at least make up for all the frustrations I had caused lately.

Much to my dismay, she didn't look as thrilled as I had hoped. With the slow lifting of quarantine rules, her friend Matteo came to visit, and that meant she was more worried about him than me. I would be lying if I said it didn't annoy me.

"So, you guys are friends?" I ask, standing in the middle of the living room with the mousse in my hands.

They are both sitting on the couch, eyes glazed on the TV. Nina turned to me slowly, almost as if looking away from the movie brought her physical pain.

"Friends? God no. I hate him."

"What a lie," the guy replies. He is behind Nina, but I can see clearly his brown curls and slightly crooked nose. "You worship me."

"See?" she asks me. "Isn't he so easy to hate?"

Matteo chuckled and pushed her playfully. He then turned to me. "We grew up together. Our parents were the bestest of friends and so are we."

"I hate him," she repeated. "He used to behead my dolls."

"So did you."

"Yes, but they were mine to behead. Not yours!"

"How bitter, Nina. That's all in the past. Let go of your little grunges and accept you love me."

She rolls her eyes and turns back to me. "What did you bring?"

"Chocolate mousse," I say, showing it to her.

"Oh great goddess, you've made us dessert?" Matteo stared at me with his big brown eyes and a devious grin. "Nina, feed it to me as an apology for saying you hate me."

"Go fuck yourself."

"I told you, I'm working on it. He's just not replying to my texts right now."

I frown at the comment. "Is the whole family gay?"

My eyes widen at my own words, surprised I actually asked that out loud. They stare at me and then at each other, exchanging questioning looks. It would almost look funny if I wasn't afraid they would dislike my comment.

"Is it?" he asks.

"No... Rosie isn't. Is your sister?"

"Not unless she's hiding something from me. What about that prick your aunt Rita spawned?"

She shrugged. "I don't think so. But I try to keep low contact with that attempt of a human being."

He nodded gravely. "As we all should." Then he turned to me. "Are you single, ugh... what's your name?"

"Jade. Why?" I reply, and Nina rolls her eyes at me, but I ignore it.

"Do you like Italian food?"

Nina slapped him in the back of his head so hard even I flinched. "Don't hit on her."

"Oh, come on, I haven't seen a woman aside from Sophie and mum in ages. And this," he added, waving his phone, "isn't working as well as I'd hoped."

"I don't care. Don't hit on her."

"Do you guys want mousse?" I ask, trying to move on from the bodily aggressions.

"Yes, please, oh beautiful goddess." Another slap.

Nina got up and went to get us bowls and spoons, leaving me alone with her friend/cousin/person. He sat by me with a smile on his face. He was handsome in a rugged way.

"You're a New Yorker?" he asked.

"I am now," I tell him, sitting down at the table with the mousse. "You?"

"A citizen of the world." I frowned, and he chuckled. "Currently in New York, resident in several countries over the years, born in Perú, conceived god knows where."

"Thailand," Nina screamed from the kitchen.

"No, that was Sophie," he told her and looked back at me. "What kind of food do you like?"

"I'm not picky." I shrug. "So, you travel a lot?"

"Used to. I'm trying to slow down. Find someone to settle down with, you know?"

"Ew, Matteo," Nina complains, walking in the room. "I already told you not to flirt with her. And your flirting is awful. And you're lying."

"Fine, I give up. I'm not trying to settle down. But I'll give you the best night of your life and make you think about me for the rest of your life." He winked. Nina flicked his forehead.

"As if."

"I think I'll pass on the offer," I say. "So, who wants mousse?"

Everyone, apparently, so I grab the spoon Nina brought and try to give everyone a bit of the dessert. To my dismay, my hair falls in my eyes. I shake my head to get them away, but they come back just as fast. I shouldn't have listened to AJ about the bobby pins.

Slender fingers pull the strands of my hair away and tuck them behind my ears. I blush violently, but focus on the task ahead. Nina is still behind me, watching me, which makes it all harder.

"So," I break the awkward silence. "How's lockdown been for you, Matteo?"

He makes a pained face. "I'm locked in a house with my parents and sister. It's awful. I'm going to end up in an asylum."

I frown. "Surely it's not that bad. At least you have people to be with you. Being all alone is way worse."

I sit down and so does Nina, all three of in each side of the table. Nina is directly opposite to Matteo but still far away from me. I peer at her, but don't mention it.

"Not when your parents want to murder each other."

"His parents are an on and off couple," Nina explains. "Maybe that's why his idea of love is so dysfunctional."

She smirks and him and he stares at him in annoyance. "Seriously? Low blow. As if your family is so perfect."

"Of course it is."

He raises a challenging brow. "I heard your mum threw a lamp at your dad."

"Impossible. That sounds like something your parents would do, not mine."

"I heard your mum only married your dad for the money."

"Yes, she likes to brag about that, even though he was skint. I heard you and Sophie don't have the same father."

"Stop right there." He points at her. "You've crossed a line. Take a step back."

"Sorry. You're right."

He shrugs. "To dysfunctional families, right?" I nod and he looks at me. "Dysfunctional?"

I nod again. "High standards, narrow minded, homophobic, lots of yelling... The question is, what are they good at?"

"Homophobic?" Nina asks.

"They're afraid of you, Nina. You should show up on Halloween for trick or treat." Matteo grinned.

"They're afraid of you too," she rolled her eyes.

"I hope you two are joking."

Matteo laughs and leans back in his chair. He's not what I expected, but at the same time, he is. The more he talks, the more it makes sense that he and Nina get along, even if she refuses to acknowledge he is a friend.

"For how long are you staying?" I ask him, thinking it'll be a long stay.

"Well, it's getting late," he trails, looking at Nina with puppy eyes. "I've never been a fan of night driving..."

She stares at him coldly. "You can sleep on the couch."

He smiles. "You're the best. Have I ever told you that? 'Cause you are. The bestest."

"I am."

"She is," I agree, and they both turn to me. "It's... It's pretty nice of her to let you stay. Right?"

"Yeah, I deserve compensation," she adds. "Matteo, go downstairs and buy us dinner as a thank you."

He scowls at first. "You know what? I'm going to do it. But only because I know Jade needs a break from all of this. Women just can't get enough."

"I've had enough," Nina replies.

"You don't count."

He storms out, leaving her laughing to herself. I'm relieved he is finally out of the way. It's not that I dislike him, but I didn't come to visit him. So, I follow Nina into the kitchen.

"Your family seems nice," I say, with a hint of sarcasm lacing my voice.

She chuckles, getting dishes from the cupboard. "Yeah, you're one to talk."

I ignore her. "He talks a lot."

"Yeah. He likes his own voice. Is it annoying you? I can kick him out."

I shake my head. "No, it's okay. It's nice to have a change once in a while."

"Oh. You were getting sick of me?" She pokes me and I flinch.

"No. How could I?"

Nina smiles, but looks away immediately, resuming her task. She looks sad, somehow.

"So, you have a traveller cousin or whatever he is, and the whole family is not gay but it's somewhere close," I sum up the day.

"Childhood friend. Or family if friend. Something along those lines," she corrects. "And would you stop saying that? It's just the two of us."

I lean against the wall and look at her. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Tell your parents you like girls."

She stops and looks at me skeptically. "Why?"

I shrug. "Curiosity. Maybe I want to know you better."

"Knowing how I came out is knowing me better?" she asks. "'Cause you've asked me before how I knew I liked girls. You're stuck on the same topic."

"The topic is you," I shrug again. "But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

She leans against the counter with a frown. "It wasn't that long ago, you know? I was really nervous, always looking for the right time to speak up. Rosie found out first, and she almost blew it all up." She looks lost in thought. Her eyes are on me, but I don't think her mind is. "They were watching a movie when I finally got the guts. I basically said 'Mum, dad, I'm gay. Please don't hate me'. Dad made a big deal out of it, saying they could never hate me. Mum nodded and started complaining about closed doors when I had friends over a few days later. So it was fine."

"That would never work with my family."

She raises a brow. "And you need it to?"

I turn crimson red immediately. "No. Of course not. I was just comparing."

She shakes her head. "Don't compare. It's best you don't."

I nod, looking at the floor. "What kind of girls do you like?"

She smirks. "What's up with these questions?"

"I'm just wondering."

Before she can answer, her phone buzzes and she picks it up. She exchanges a few words with someone I assume is Matteo, and then goes to the door.

"He's locked out," she explains.

After that, we dine together and watch a movie. I leave her apartment and go to bed thinking about what my questions sounded like.

So, some idiot writer who is editing this decided this would be better as a slow burn so now I'm rewriting huge chunks of the book. Perfect timing, right? It's not like it's exam season or anything *cries*

I almost feel bad for breaking the chapter x9 kiss tradition but it was a stupid one anyway and I had already broken it in Boundless when I added that party chapter (you guys haven't read Boundless? You should. I hear there's a cool party scene). No shameless promo here.

Thank you for reading ;)