My Heavenly Friend

Chapter 17 - The boy

I was waiting for Leo. He wasn't late but I was technically early. I mean I was still in my room but I was ready to go once he got here. I was sitting on my bed, legs stretched out as I leaned against the wall, mirror James who sat in the same position on his bed. We were making funny faces at each other earning lots of laughter from me, like seriously James was so good at this. Just as James crossed his eyes looking down at his and making a weird smile there was a knock at the door. We both instantly turned serious while having a little stare down before the two of us made a dash for the door at the same time. Just as I was about to place my hand on the door nob James whipped it open, blocking me from seeing outside the room and probably from the person on the other side from seeing inside.
"James." Whined, asking him to move without actually saying it. With a sigh he stepped aside revealing Leo dressed in jeans and I nice shirt. "Hey Leo." I greeted.
"Hey Ashton, care to introduce the doorman?" He said. Calling James a doorman should have been an insult but I could tell by his playful tone he didn't mean anything by it.
"This is James." I simply answer before James buts in.
"Ya and I need to have a word with you," James began to say giving Leo a pointed look and pulling my back against his chest, his arms wrapped around my shoulders. "This here is Ashton, which you obviously know, and I cherish her as if she were my little sister. So if you hurt her or make her sad in anyway whatsoever I will have no problem hunting you down and skinning you. Alright?" James' tone was a warning one until he ended with that one word that sounded so friendly compared to before.
"Alright." Was all Leo responded with stiffly before James let me go, shutting the door behind me.
"Oh my god James." I mumbled in humiliation to myself. Leo chuckled and said,
"Hey, it's fine. I get why he'd want to protect someone as great as you." He said bringing a light blush to my cheeks. Deciding to change the topic I ask,
"So where are we going tonight?" As we headed towards the stairs.
"Well my plan was dinner and a movie. Original I know but this way we can talk and then enjoy each other's company." He explained before the air got silent and tense when Max came to the landing Leo and I were standing on, ready to take our first steps down. No one of us said anything, we all just stood there and it was fricken awkward and so tense it made me want to hide under a million blankets forever.
"Reed." Was spoken into the quiet as Max continued to avoid eye contact with me and continued to take I his next step.
"Gilbert." I acknowledged stiffly before he kept going up. I knew where he was going, and even though I didn't have proof I feel like he goes up there a lot more than anyone, maybe even he, knows. "So shall we get going?" I ask once Max is out of sight.
"Uh, ya sure." Leo holding out his arm now with a goofy grin on his face. I hooked my arm through his and followed him out of the building and into his car. Which was a slick, silver Audi by the way. He opened my door for me, shutting it once I was in then rounded to his his side and driving off. A few minutes of small talk later Leo was parking outside of a restaurant that looked fairly nice from the outside. Walking in I noticed that it was even nicer inside. It was so nice, still pretty casual but it made me feel weird in my black jeans, combat boots, and long sleeve blouse. Once were were seated and had ordered our drinks, water for me and lemonade for Leo, we began to talk more about one another, you know getting to know each other.
"So, Leo where are you from?" I asked curious to know if he was from around here. I didn't think his accent was British but he still had one.
"Australia actually. My family moved to London four years ago and I decided to stay in country for university so I wasn't to far away from them." He explained. "What about you?" I instantly tensed and replied as best as I could.
"Uh, just some small town in the United States that no one has probably ever heard off."
"What about you're family. That's pretty far away, do you miss them?" Leo asked the question like it was the most harmless thing in the world, and it would be if he weren't asking me that question, it would be if asked anyone else.
"Oh ya, of course. But it's good to get away to." Well at least the second part wasn't a lie. But I didn't feel bad about the lie, I was just glad that he bought it.
"Ya, I get what you mean." We didn't get a chance to talk much more before our waiter came back with the drinks and took our meal orders. But the second they were gone we went back to getting to know each other. I learned that Leo loved to tell stories, he didn't tell me that but I just knew by the way every question I asked had a lengthy story to answer. I didn't mind, it meant less of a chance of my past and dark secrets being brought, which I was perfectly okay with.
"So what's Australia like?" I asked as I munched done on the last of my fries.
"Beautiful. We used to live by the ocean so every day I'd get to run on the beach and watch the sun rise over the water. It made it look so amazing, just the way the sun bounced off the water." He explained, the love for the place written on his face.
"So, you'd go back any chance you got?" I asked wiping my fingers on the clothe that was my napkin before taking a sip from my water.
"Of course, it rained way to much in London and I miss the constant sunshine." He told me truthfully.
"That's understandable." I nodded in agreement. I mean if I were used to that, living by the beach and always having the sun beating down on me, I would definitely be against the rain. To bad I wasn't brought up in that weather and actually liked the rain. After Leo won our argument and paid the bill, not even letting me help, we got up and left. Since the movie theater was only two blocks away we decided to walk since the weather was fairly nice for the start of November. We spent ten minutes pondering over what we should watch before deciding on a movie called The Boy. It was a thriller/horror movie and it sounded interesting. I normally didn't watch scary movies on a regular basis but this one seemed pretty good and I wanted to know what would happen. So we both a bag of popcorn to share along with two drinks and a bag of m&ms, even thought they didn't have my favorite kind, and made our way into the theater as trailers for other movies played. There were a few that looked like they would be good but wasn't that the goal of a trailer, to make a movie look so good that you're must had to see it even if it really wasn't that good. The lights dimmed and chatter silenced as the movie began. Automatically it had that creepy, eerie feeling in the room and as the movie progressed I found that I would sometimes jump, even if it didn't happen a lot. The plot itself was so weird but intriguing nonetheless. When it ended and Leo and I left the theater and soon the building we talked about the movie, drinks still in hand.
"It was actually so good." I told him earning a nod in agreement.
"That kid was so creepy. I swear, they make so many movies with dolls because they are naturally already creepy." He said shivering at the thought of those glass dolls causing me to giggle at his fright for the toys. "Hey, I'm being serious here." He defended with a serious look before cracking into a grin. We continued our mindless chatter as we got back to his car and soon back to campus. Exiting from his car, he locked his fingers with mine, surprising me at first. We talked less and less until the moment we stood outside of my dorm room. I stood with my back to the door and with Leo standing in front of me.
"I had fun tonight." I told him. Although I really did have fun tonight I felt like I had to tell him that, like they do in books and movies. Like I've said before I've never even gone out with anyone so I didn't know he this was sop posed to happen or feel.
"So then you wouldn't mind continuing this." By this I knew he meant us and us doing more stuff like this. I nodded with a smile silently to let him know that's did want this to keep going. At least that's what I thought. "Alright, well good night then." His voice was gentle.
"Night." I returned in the same tone. It was silent and then next thing I know he's quickly leaning forward, placing a soft kiss on my cheek bone, causing me to flinch. Not because I didn't welcome the action it was just quick movements, especially when directed in my direction, cause me to flinch out of habit. But Leo didn't seem to notice, and if he did, he ignored it.
"Night." Leo says repeating me as he pulls away and walks back down the hall, towards the stairs. I stand there a little longer pondering things over. I didn't raise my hand up to touch the spot he kissed like I thought I would. You know, like when I girl is smitten and the boy she likes does something like that, I thought I would but I didn't.
After a moments of hesitation I begin to walk in the direction of the stairs before continue up. I was sure that there was no way Max would still be up there, and not only had I been meaning to go back up there since my heart to heart moment two months ago with Max, but I just needed some time to think. About everything. Emerging up onto the roof I noticed a cool breeze that rose goosebumps on me, but it wasn't so bad that I'd turn back and head inside right away. I kept walking until the tall edge and leaned against it, crossing my arms on top of the wall that stopped at the perfect spot for me. I took in a few gulps of the fresh, cold air and let it fill my lungs, and for the first time tonight I felt like I could breath properly. Not only had I been nervous tonight, but we'd been stuck inside warm rooms all night and I spent a lot of time laughing. As I took time to go over everything that happened I couldn't help but think that Leo was amazing, I mean I don't have anything to compare him to but he was an amazing gentlemen and was complementing me often, which I can't say I minded. Letting my eyes flutter shut I let my head fall back so that if my eyes were open, I'd be able to see the night sky. With my eyes still shut, I looked forward and sighed as shivers continued to run up my body when suddenly something warm was pulled over my shoulders. My fingers instantly went to the fabric the same time my eyes shot open.
"Hey," Max said softly from beside me, with what look like a bit of guilt on his face. I didn't say anything. Not because I was still ignoring him, even though I kind of was supposed to be, but because I hadn't even noticed him and there's no way he just got here because I would have heard the door. I pulled the soft sweater he'd given me, tighter around my shoulders welcoming the warmth.
"Hi." I replied with little to no emotion in my voice.
"How was the date?" He asked. I wasn't sure why he was asking, whether it was because he was curious, didn't actually want to know, or was maybe even concerned. There were so many other reasons he could be asking but those were the first to enter my mind.
"Good," I answered honestly, "Leo was really nice and funny."
"That's good." His voice was almost as void of emotion as mind was, except for the hint of resentment he kept very well buried. I was glad he wasn't being so open about it, I mean I couldn't stop him from not liking my relationship with (for whatever reason he had) but I still didn't want him bringing it up all the time. We'd never stop fighting if he did. "So you guys are together now?" Even though he was asking his tone hinted that he already knew. I only hummed in response. Huh, I guess we were together now. Even though I told Leo I wanted to keep seeing him I guess I never really thought about what that meant.
"But that's not going to stop us from being friends is it?" I couldn't help but ask this. I mean we hadn't been friends for very long and even then we didn't hang out much, but I liked being one of the few people who got to see another side of Max, a side that had emotion. And I liked talking to him, I liked his company and its been weird ignoring him for a week.
"Not unless you keep ignoring me." His words should have been harsh, and I wouldn't have blamed him if they had been. But they weren't, the way he said it was almost like he was asking me to stop ignoring him.
"I suppose I could stop that." I said, a playful tone beginning to appear in my voice.
"Good." Then after a pause he added, "you'd start to miss me to much." I rolled at his cocky attitude but silently admitted that I might just learn to miss his presence if we did stop being friends. I playfully shoved him lightly before we lapsed back into peaceful silence. We stared out at the city lights glowing along with the campus lights. With a disappointed sigh I pushed off the wall.
"I should head to bed. But I'll se ya later?" I spoke as I slowly took steps backwards, towards the door that lead back inside.
"Ya of course." He assured, flipping around so that his back leaned against the wall.
"Mkay. Good night Gilbert." I say as I swing my hands behind my back, resting them on the cool, metal door nob.
"Sweet dreams Reed." He replied kindly with one of his rare, small smiles that I loved to see. I returned the smile before reentering the building and turning away from Max. Coming into my dorm James was asleep and looking as peaceful as ever. Noticing Max's sweater still wrapped around my I pull it off and set it down on my bed before grabbing a tank top and pj pants to quickly change into. After finishing doing everything I needed to do in the bathroom I crawled into bed, pulling my arms through the incredibly warm sweater, not thinking twice before falling asleep in it.