M—

Mattheo stopped for half a second. All the words he'd imagined vanished. There was no clever remark. No sarcastic greeting. No explanation for why he'd just run like a madman because he thought you were leaving. There was only you. He launched himself towards you, arms wrapping tightly around your body as though letting go wasn't an option, pulling you against him with enough force to nearly knock the breath from both of you. Then he kissed you. Not carefully. Not hesitantly. He kissed you like he'd spent his entire life waiting to figure out what the hell he'd been missing, and now that he finally had, there was no time left to waste. Like there was no tomorrow. Like you were the only person in the world worth running for.