I personally think Rusty does think of Matty as a boyfriend but doesn’t know how to express it. Think about it. Rusty has been straight his whole life and then he meets Matty. Pull Matty out of the picture and Rusty is still straight, so him being with Matty has to be very confusing. Plus Rusty seems like the guy who doesn’t focus on labels as labels are just words. Words have no meaning without something supporting it. Rusty is more non verbal communication. He is telling Matty they will be together for FOREVER. That to me is no where putting Matty in friend zone. Plus we know Rusty doesn’t want Matty to get a boyfriend, not really. So that is more evidence that Rusty wants Matty. He kissed him in front of people. Rusty has always been someone who speaks with actions not words. ex) you can say to someone you love them while having your arms crossed, scowl in your eyes and facing the other way. Even though the word love was said, nothing about HOW IT was said makes the word love mean love. You can’t expect Rusty, one who has always been corky and free to straight up say I love you. He is someone that will SHOW you he loves you by making you their entire world. And let’s face it…..no one spends more time with Rusty but Matty. He wants Matty there all the time, tells him he didn’t sleep well because Matty wasn’t by him, is always worried by his friends when Matty comes over that they will do something to make Matty leave. And there are so many more examples. Rusty’s actions speak more for him than words ever will. One reason….look at his dad. Growing up with that man where words were used to knock down, of course Rusty won’t use words for what he feels, his actions will. And reading more about Rusty in this second book really drives home who Rusty is. Rusty loves Matty, he doesn’t need to say it. Rusty and Matty have two completely different ways to look at situations. You have Rusty who looks at how Matty reacts to him for his answers and Matty who listens to what Rusty says. Matty is hiding his feelings from Rusty, Rusty isn’t by the way he acts. I for one who has been given lip service for many many years,,,words don’t mean sh^t to me as listening to words spoken to me that were lies, I focus on the actions as the honest communication. Words are just simply words. But what you say through your actions in life give a more honest answer that words could never give. Rusty loves Matty. His actions say it all. He may very well not realize what he is feeling because again this is Rusty. Rusty isn’t hiding his true feelings, he is very much an open book. Matty is the one who isn’t being fully honest. And that is going to be a problem because their relationship is so unbalanced. You have one who is in love so they will mentally view the relationship in a certain way, while the other is going through the emotions in real time and expressing those to the other. Rusty hasn’t thought that far ahead. He just knows he wants Matty. So that imbalance is going to cause issues and I think it will be due to Matty.
My TED talks is done. Sorry. Laura knows how much I LOVE this story and so I couldn’t keep quiet. Lol