Chapter 31 part 2

Samuel

Meeting Lexi shouldn't be making Samuel anxious—especially considering they had technically already met—but he was still left with sweaty palms and a turning stomach as they stood before her door.

"I can go in first, if you'd like. She doesn't even have to know you're here until after I explain" Matias offered.

Samuel wasted no time shaking his head. Waiting in the car would make him explode from anticipation.

Matias gave him a look of concern, but only nodded.

No more words were exchanged as Matias raised his fist and knocked on her door firmly.

Samuel positioned himself just slightly behind Matias. Enough to make Lexi realize there was no threat—just in case— but not enough to make it seem like he was hiding behind Matias.

After thirty seconds shuffling was heard from inside and the door was thrown open.

"Matias!"

Her voice was high and filled with nerves. Before Samuel even knew what happened she was clung onto Matias with her eyes shut tight and her arms shaking. She didn't even notice Samuel was there.

Her face was pale, much paler than Samuel remembered, and she was dressed in slightly stained clothes. Her hair was a bit of a mess as her bun was starting to fall out.

He stepped to the side, a few feet away from the two.

Samuel couldn't help but feel bad. She really did think Matias could be dead. And she really was worried out of her mind.

Samuels mind flashed back to when he was in the same position, but he didn't allow himself to dwell on it.

After a minute she slowly pulled herself back, a few tears straying from her eyes.

"You scared the shit out of me you ass!" She lectured, though she was clearly not angry.

"I know, I'm sorry" Matias laughed quietly while still managing to sound sincere.

Lexi flinched when she finally saw Samuel. She looked at him like he was an intruder, and if it were anyone else he might've been offended.

"Aren't you.." she mumbled under her breath.

"The guy from the coffee shop" Matias finished her sentence, also turning to look at Samuel. "He's with me. It's.. a long story"

"Okay.." she responded questioningly, still giving Samuel a curious look. "Come in" she invited, though she seemed to struggle to pull her eyes off of Samuel.

Samuel and Matias exchanged a glance, Samuel feeling awkward and Matias being clearly anxious.

Lexi led them to her couch and gestured for the two to sit across from her. Samuel worried he sat too close to Matias, only an inch or two between them, but brushed it off as quickly as he could.

He took notice of the small messes through the house. There were junk food wrappers everywhere and laundry all over the floor.

Samuel couldn't help but feel bad. Surely she had been too worried to do anything with her house. Hell, Samuel had been relieved of plenty of stress and still struggled to keep his house halfway clean.

"So..?" Lexi mumbled, glancing back and forth between Matias and Samuel.

"Right" Matias said slowly, taking a slow and deep breath.

Samuel shifted awkwardly but tried not to seem uncomfortable.

"You remember what I told you about the hero saving my life, and how we're both working against the new villain?" Matias asked.

Lexi's eyes got wide as she glanced over at Samuel, taking a moment to realize he already knew about this all. When she calmed she nodded eagerly, ushering Matias to continue.

Matias turned to face Samuel, catching him off guard.

"I also kind of forgot to tell you this", Matias chuckled quietly, his voice filled to the brim with awkwardness, "but she's the reason I ever even found y-.. the hero.. in that alley"

Samuel mentally slapped himself for never asking about that. With everything going on, he never even wondered how Matias had found him.

"I came here and she told me she saw Meera go into an alley near there. Then I just kind of walked until I heard voices"

Matias turned back to Lexi, getting back to the main story.

"Well, me and the hero were both a bit injured in that alley where I found him. We're both fine now, but we stayed in the hospital for a bit" he explained quickly, clearly eager to get to the end.

Samuel noticed Matias's hands rubbing back and forth on his pants and him shifting his weight, but kept quiet.

"And now we have a court to go to in three weeks, but that's a whole other story" Matias sighed, overwhelmed by all the information to pass along.

Lexi held up a dismissive hand. "So where does he come in? Was he hurt in the explosion? Captured by Meera?" She spoke as if Samuel wasn't there.

Matias opened his mouth, the closed it. "Uh.." he stuttered.

Samuels eyes flashed between Matias and Lexi, unable to settle in one place.

"Well.. he's.." Matias tried, and failed, once more.

"Just spit it out" Lexi lectured, not quite rude, but growing anxious.

"He's the hero" Matias sputtered, his voice raising uncomfortably.

The room fell silent as Samuel unintentionally trapped himself in a gaze between himself and Lexi. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was agape.

"So you.. you're the one who.." Lexi tried, though her voice kept faltering.

She eventually dropped her head between her hands, grabbing onto small pieces of hair and tugging slightly.

Samuel finally pulled his eyes off the girl and over to Matias. To his surprise, Matias was already looking back at him.

Neither said a word, but neither looked away either. They shared a moment of understanding. A moment of peace.

"So you're the one who saved him?" Lexi finally spoke up in a steady voice.

Samuel nodded, not trusting his voice.

"But you're also the one who fought him for years" she continued.

Samuel nodded again, slowly and more careful.

"He was just trying to protect people, Lexi. Did you not think I was wrong as the villain, just like he did?" Matias defended.

To that Lexi gave no response.

"I am truly sorry for that" Samuel spoke up for the first time his arriving. "Me and Matias have had that talk, and I think we are on the same page with it"

He couldn't help but say 'I think'. He knew there was always a chance Matias hadn't fully forgiven him, and he didn't want to assume. He couldn't even blame him if he was still upset about it.

Lexi nodded. Her face seemed to soften and she appeared to understand.

Matias opened his mouth slightly to speak, but closed it soon after. Both Samuel and Lexi took notice, both now waiting for him to speak.

Matias's eyes landed on Samuels, an unsure look consuming them.

"There's something else, but" Matias started and stopped once more, noticing Lexi's curiosity.

"But?" She questioned in a hurry.

"But.. it's a bit of different news" Matias slowly said.

He gave Samuel a look, as if he was supposed to know what he was talking about.

He almost asked, before it clicked. "Oh!" he accidentally spoke.

Now the two men were looking back at Lexi, each wondering how necessary it was to tell her, and if it would even matter.

"Do you want to.." Matias asked, nudging Samuel as their gazed landed back on one another.

"It's up to you" Samuel mumbled back, doing his best not to look back at Lexi's curious eyes.

"Can you two stop talking like I'm not here? It can't be a very big deal after everything else!" Lexi fussed.

Samuel let a small laugh escape his lips.

The other two both looked over with their own looks of curiosity, making Samuels heart pick up its pace and a pinch of panic to set back in.

"Sorry, I just.. it's kind of the smallest thing" he laughed awkwardly. "I mean, compared to us almost dying and having to go to court and all that"

It got quiet, but Samuel hardly noticed as he looked at Lexi's face. Her expression was confused, upset, curious, and so much more all at once. It made him wonder what she must be thinking.

"You can tell her yourself if you'd like" Matias tried to hide his desperation.

It was very clear that he didn't want to tell her the news. Which honestly made it hard for Samuel not to laugh again.

He cleared his throat. "It really not that big of a deal.. I don't think" he paused, "but me and Matias are.. together"

An excruciatingly awkward silence passed over the room. Lexi had wide eyes and a lightly raised eyebrow and Matias averted his gaze from hers.

Samuel had to really focus in order to not laugh at Matias's embarrassment. He clearly wasn't very open about his relationships—or lack thereof— with her.

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School is whooping my ass so hard right now so I apologize if this seems rushed (cause it was lmao)