[Chapter 27]
Explanations: Leo

"Here."

Leo took my purse and the takeout out of my hands and handed me the supposed 'comfy' clothing. I looked down at the folded clothes he gave me, unfolded them and held it in front of me so I could see what it fully looks like. It was a pair of basketball shorts and our school's football jersey.

I looked at Leo confusedly. "Wait, these aren't my clothes."

"Nope." He said as he placed my things in his car. "They're mine."

I looked at the clothes once again, then looked at him, then scrunched my face in mocked disgust. "They look like your workout clothes. Did you even wash them?" I sniffed them, and pretended to gag.

It actually just smells like him, which as much as I'd hate to admit, gave me a sense of comfort.

Leo rolled his eyes, despite the ghost of a smile on his lips, and crossed his arms. "Are you stupid? Of course I did." His eyebrows shot up for a second in realisation. "Oh right, I forgot." He rummaged in the backseat, to pull out a pair of sneakers that looked to be my size.

"These are Kathryn's shoes. She gave them to me since you guys were apparently the same feet size."

As he handed me the pair of shoes, I sent him a weird look. "If you were already picking these up from Kat's house, why didn't you just get clothes from her too? It probably would've been better if I wore her clothes instead."

Leo smirked. "Kathryn told me that you'd prefer my clothes better."

Kat, I'm going to kill you.

My cheeks heated up instantly, and the light illuminating from the restaurant exposed the redness of my face, causing laughter to erupt from Leo. "Hmph!" I turned my cheek in attempt to hide half of my embarrassed face and shoved the clothes into his chest. "Like hell I would!" I exclaimed and crossed my arms in a stubborn manner.

"Alright." He sang slyly. "But that would mean you're gonna have to be stuck in that tight dress and walk in those death traps you call heels until you get home."

Still arms crossed with my head facing the side, I glanced back at the comfortable looking Leo's clothes I had given back, then up at his stupid smug face of his. I puffed out my still rose-tinted cheeks and snatched his clothes away from him. "Fine. They kinda look comfortable anyway." I mumbled.

"I'll wait in the car." He chuckled and ruffled my hair playfully, which resulted in a glare from me, even though the saturation of red on my cheeks said otherwise.

I scoffed at him while slipping on Kathryn's sneakers, then turned to go back into the restaurant. After asking the hostess if I could use the bathroom, I headed in the same direction I went in when I went to find Joey. I went into one of the empty stalls in the lady's bathroom and changed out of my uncomfortable date clothes into Leo's comfy looking ones.

As I pull the large, baggy clothes over my head, I couldn't help but breathe in Leo's signature scent. I couldn't exactly pinpoint what it smelled like but it definitely made me feel like I was hugging him. I breathed out in relief when I was done changing and exited the stall so I could see my reflection in the bathroom mirror. I smiled to myself when I saw how big and baggy Leo's clothes were on me but at the same time, my 5'7 stature made it look like it suited me somehow. I hugged myself and sighed contently at how comfortable it felt to be in Leo's clothes.

It then occurred to me that Michelle has probably worn Leo's clothes more times that I could count when they were dating, probably even recently since they got back together. Right, he's with her. The thought made me frown instantly. I looked down at my body, now wishing I was wearing Kathryn's house clothes instead.

After folding my dress into a decent state, I took out the hairband that I always wear around my wrist, which is a girly necessity by the way, and pulled my fading purple hair up into a ponytail. I grimaced at the colour my hair was fading into, as well as noticing how my original dark roots were starting to appear a little more. I shrugged it off, remembering how it wasn't important at the moment.

I exited the bathroom and headed towards the restaurant entrance. I cringed when I saw what it seems to be Joey standing outside waiting for the valet to bring his car around. I quickly walked past him and took a deep breath to prepare myself in any case where he would call after me.

Please don't notice me. Please don't notice me. Please don't-

"Flo!"

I shut my eyes and cussed under my breath. So close.

I begrudgingly turned around to face his approaching figure. "Hey." I pulled up a forced smile.

"When I got back from the table and saw that you were gone, I assumed you'd already left." He laughed, and I was completely stunned at how shameless and casual he is about the entire situation. My first impression of him seemed like a totally different person from this jerk I'm talking to. "Anyway thanks for paying for the meal and about what happened-"

"Don't worry about it." I interrupted. I gave him one last blank look before walking away. It's disgusting how lightly he's taking the situation, making me no longer want to spend another second talking to him. And I'm pretty sure that if I do, I'll end up punching him and I don't really feel like bruising my hand over a guy like him.

"Wait!" Joey grabbed me by the elbow. I turned around to answer, only to be pulled in by him so that I was only inches away from him. He smiled in a charming way that would have previously made me think he was charismatic, but now it's just plain creepy. "Why don't I give you a ride home?"

I'm gonna kick this jerk in the damn balls if he doesn't-

"She already has a ride."

A slightly bigger hand had grabbed me by my other arm and I was pulled back with a much stronger force, which allowed me to escape from Joey's grip. My back was pushed up against a toned body as two strong arms wrapped securely around me, up to my neck. I angled my head to look up at Leo's furious face, to see him glaring daggers at Joey with narrowed eyes and a clenched jaw. I brought my hands up and gave his arms a comforting squeeze, which made his body relax a little.

"Archer." Joey smirked. "Here you are again, acting as if you're any better than me."

"What bullshit are you spouting?" Leo sneered.

Joey shook his head and chuckled. "You really are dense, aren't ya? Don't act all high and mighty when you're literally the same as me."

"Like hell I am." Leo spat. "I don't treat girls like objects, and I definitely don't feel the need to fuck every single thing that moves." The coldness of his tone and the sharpness of his words sending chills down my spine.

"How hypocritical." Joey shook his head in disapproval. "I mean here you are wrapping your arms around that hot thing like you own her and yet, your Facebook status says something else. It's really contradicting, don't you think? You should probably look into that." He shrugged.

Did he just call me a thing?

I took a step forward to take a swing at him, only to be restrained and held back by Leo's arms, causing me to only be able to scowl at him with all my murderous intent.

His arms tightened around me protectively. "Don't you dare disrespect her like that, you fucking retard. Stop trying to make it sound like I own her, because I don't, because she's not a fucking object, you piece of shit." Leo growled fiercely, practically seething as his grip around me instinctively tightened even further, making my heart flutter like a butterfly. "And what the hell are you even talking about?" He squinted his eyes at Joey in both suspicion and confusion.

Joey smirked once again, and his eyes shifted to me. "I'm sure your side-piece would know." He winked, making me glare at him even harder, so hard that the wrinkles between my eyebrows might be ingrained into my skin. "Later." He waved, then walked back to his car. Leo and I both watched as he drove away, his arms still wrapped around me.

I thought back to what Joey said.

Here you are wrapping your arms around that hot thing like you own her and yet, your Facebook status says something else.

I peeled Leo's arms off of me, realising how he's probably like what Joey says he's like. His words from two weeks ago came flashing back and images of him and Michelle together kept popping into my head. I looked down at his clothes I was wearing and glared at the ground. He's with her, yet he treats me as if we were together. He's no different from Joey.

"Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with that guy? He makes no sense." Leo scoffed.

"Really? I think he's making perfect sense." I said monotonously. I turned around and faced Leo, who was spotting a puzzled look.

"What?"

I crossed my eyes and rolled my eyes at how oblivious he was acting. "Are you seriously playing dumb right now or are you really that stupid?"

His eyebrows shot up in surprise by my sudden change of mood. "I am so confused right now." He muttered, running his fingers through his hair. "What are you talking about?"

I clenched my jaw in impatience and dropped my arms to my sides as I balled my hands into fists. "I'm talking about your fucking Facebook relationship status, you dumbass!" I exclaimed out in frustration.

Leo's face scrunched up in pure confusion. "Flo, I literally have no idea what the hell you're talking about because I haven't used Facebook in like five years."

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. "Really, now?" I shook my head and pushed past him as I walked towards his car. I opened the door to the passenger's seat to retrieve my clutch. I angrily took my phone out and went to Facebook. Once I went to Leo's Facebook page, I shoved my phone in his face, the light from my phone shone against his face. "See?"

Leo's eyebrows knitted together and his eyes widened in bewilderment. "What the fuck?" He mumbled, grabbing my phone from my hands. His face suddenly turned in realisation and hardened, as he clenched his jaw in irritation. "Michelle. I know she's been spreading rumours that we were back together but I didn't think she'd go as far as hacking into my account to change my status. How does word even get out that fast? I thought no one used Facebook anymore!" He threw his hands up in exasperation and rested them on top of his head, shutting his eyes in anger.

Oh.

So he's not with her.

"You mean, you didn't get back together with her?" I meekly asked with an eyebrow propped up, and attempted to mask the excited smile that was creeping onto my face by pursing my lips together.

Leo sighed. "No, of course not. I didn't even love her like that when we were dating." Hearing that gave me the relief that I needed, like a heavy weight just got lifted off my shoulders. I looked down, letting my face break out into a grin. He glanced at me, then smirked as he let his hands drop back down to his sides. "Well, don't you look happy now."

"S-Shut up. I'm still pissed at you over what you said to me." I crossed my arms and puffed out my reddened cheeks into an annoyed pout. I was conflicted — I was still mad at how he treated me, but I was practically overjoyed to find out he has no romantic feelings towards Michelle whatsoever.

Leo's smile faltered as his eyes softened with guilt. "I know." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll explain everything. Promise." He said softly, holding out his hand for me to take.

I looked at the sincere expression he wore, and I could tell he was being completely and genuinely honest. His hazel eyes held nothing but authenticity and they were staring into mine without any hidden meaning whatsoever, looking at me as if I was the only thing that mattered right now. I sighed, caving in as I took his hand in mine. "Okay. I'll listen." I mumbled.

He smiled. "Thank you."

A grumbling noise suddenly erupted out of nowhere, completely ruining the romantic atmosphere between us. We both switched our gaze to the source, which was coming from my stomach. Leo tried to stifle his snickering, but ended up spluttering out in laughter. I hit his arm as my face heated up in embarrassment for the tenth time tonight. "Shut up! It's 'cause I haven't eaten dinner yet!" I yelled over his loud fit of laughter as I continued to hit his arm.

He finally calmed down and wiped the tears away from his eyes, a wide, toothy grin still stretched across his cheeks, causing me to roll my eyes at him. "Alright, then how about we go get some food first? Unless you want to eat the food you took back as takeout." Leo suggested as we both walked back to his car together.

"Nah, let's just go to McDonald's. The takeout is for Olivia anyway." I crawled onto the passenger's seat while Leo moved my things to the back seat.

With that, Leo started the engine to his car and we went on a drive to the nearest McDonald's. We drove in comfortable silence, the background only consisting of the sound of Lofi-Pop music from the radio as well as the engines of the few other cars that were on the road with us. I peeked down at our joint hands, with Leo's other hand casually on the stirring wheel, then looked up at his face through my eyelashes.

Light from the passing street lights shone on his face occasionally, but even in the dark, I could see how defined his facial structures were and how at ease he looked. Even when his face was complete relaxed, his jaw still managed to look so sharp, just like his cheekbones. At this point, I'm subconsciously just full out staring at him, and I can't help but feel at peace.

Leo, how are you so pretty?

"What?"

I snapped out of my thoughts, slightly startled from the sudden sound of his voice. "What, 'what'?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at me, a small smile dancing on his lips. "You just whispered and asked me how I'm so pretty."

"I did not!" I scoffed, practically hissing at him from being completely and utterly embarrassed that I had said my thoughts out loud.

Leo laughed. "I'm pretty sure you did." He grinned proudly.

"Whatever." I huffed, then turned my crimson face away from him, placing my chin in the palm of my hand as I stared out the window. Leo quietly chuckled to himself, then I felt him gave my hand a gentle squeeze, making the butterflies gnaw at my stomach lining even more.

We finally arrived at McDonald's, but instead of parking the car and eating at the restaurant there itself like I expected, Leo went through the Drive-Through. "Aren't we eating here?" I questioned, in which I received a shake of the head.

"Nope. There's somewhere I wanna take you." He smiled, and I gave him a curious look.

When it was our turn to order, he pulled up to the speaker and recited our desired orders. After everything's done and prepared, we picked up our orders and we went for yet another short drive. Much to my dismay, Leo wanted me to wait until we arrive at our destination to start eating, making me even more curious about what he was planning. And after ten minutes of arguing, he finally convinced me through a compromise by letting me eat some fries first.

He started to switch to an empty lane, in which the road leads up a hill. Once we arrived at the top of the hill, Leo parked the car and switched off the engine. "Come on." He grinned excitedly as he grabbed our food with him. I got out of the car, and followed him as he walked towards the back of his car and hopped onto the extra empty space his pick-up truck had. It reminded me of the time he gave me a ride home when my bike ran out of gas.

Leo patted down at the space beside him, and I propped myself up to sit beside him. "Now, look." He whispered with a smile, pointing in front. I followed my gaze to where he was pointing and my lips parted in amazement.

The view from here was just absolutely stunning. You could see the entire city as well as the cars zooming by on the highway. The street lights along the lights from the buildings sparkled like diamonds under the night sky. You could see how beautifully complex the skyline was — there were office buildings as tall as skyscrapers, contrasted with smaller buildings like common shop lots and malls. You could hear the soft murmur of the city, yet it doesn't disrupt how peacefully quiet it was up here.

"Wow." I breathed out in astonishment. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah."

I turned to see that Leo was already looking at me, his relaxed eyes staring into mine as a sincere smile hung on his lips. I looked away and cleared my throat, trying to fight off the heat that was creeping up my neck. "I'm starving." I dug through the paper bag to find my burger, silently celebrating when I felt it was still hot.

I bit into the burger and shut my eyes in satisfaction as I groaned at how good it tasted, especially since I was already extremely hungry. "So, how'd you find this place?" I asked after finishing my bite.

He shrugged. "My parents used to come here when they were dating and it just became a family picnic spot." He replied before biting into his burger.

We continued to talk about random things as we ate our food and unlike the conversations I had with Joey, talking to Leo felt much more natural. Our conversations were filled with laughter and everything just connected so well, with every topic flowing to the next in ease. Once we finished our meals, we both fell silent because we knew this is where the fun, easygoing conversations stop, and the real talk begins.

"So," I began, twiddling my thumbs nervously as the light, breezy atmosphere around us became heavier. "About what happened two weeks ago-"

"I'm really sorry." Leo blurted out. I looked to him and he was looking down at his hands, eyes filled with regret and his eyebrows knitted together in thought. He sighed, then looked up to meet my eyes. "I was wrong for not hearing you out, and I was a complete idiot to think that Michelle did nothing to you. I can't believe how oblivious and gullible I was — all because it came from an old friend who I always thought I could trust." He shook his head and let out an empty laugh.

I stayed silent, letting him say whatever he needed to say, and because I wanted to hear all about him.

"Truth is, Michelle was the first friend I've ever had. We were already acquaintances because our moms were friends but we became friends in middle school. I got made fun of a lot because I had really bad vision and had to wear these huge, thick glasses. That's actually why I sit in the very front of the class. Because even though I wear contacts now, it helps better if I could see the whiteboard up close. Remember when we fought over the front seat on your first day? That really ticked me off, not gonna lie because I actually needed the seat, but it was pretty fun." He let out a laugh, a genuine this time, causing me to smile and remember too.

He leaned back with his arms behind to support him as he stretched out his legs, letting out another big sigh. "Anyway, she was the only one that would wanted to be my friend, so we became really close. Michelle has always been a fragile girl, she'd get sick often and was prone to injuries. Even when we were playing around, she would get hurt sometimes, and since we were so close, I naturally became protective over her — similar to how I treat Lucy, my little sister. Fast forward to freshman year, when we started dating. She confessed to me, and I felt like I owed her too much to reject her, so I accepted even when I had no romantic feelings for her whatsoever."

I know he's being serious right now, but I can't help but feel giddy whenever he reveals that he doesn't see Michelle in that way.

Leo continued. "If I remember correctly, we broke up at the end of freshman year itself because I told her I couldn't lead her on any longer. She was hurt, so she stopped talking to me for a while, and right before sophomore year began, she told me that she has cystic fibrosis and that she needed to move to another state to get intense treatment, on the night before she actually moved away. It's this genetic respiratory disease and even though it usually occurs later in life, she'd just so happen to get it at a young age. I mean, she already had a weak immune system in the first place so it wasn't that surprising, but it still was to me. She'd cough every now and then when we were together but I didn't think of it as anything serious, especially since I trusted her to tell me if anything happened. It hurt like a bitch knowing that she was going through something so serious, and I had no idea about it at all."

"We didn't keep in touch that much so I didn't know how her treatment was going in the other state, so I moved on with my life. I made new friends, even got into a lot of trouble because I wanted to fit in so badly, that I caused trouble with teachers just so I can be liked as the class clown. Everyone soon came to like me. I had a new persona, and even joined the football team, only to find out I had some talent in it. I wanted to become captain, but given my past troubles with the teachers, I had to make a deal with Principal Evans that I'd keep out of trouble if it meant I could be captain one day." He chuckled to himself.

Hearing that made me remember when the both of us got in trouble for the ruckus we caused in gym class. Ah, so that's what George meant by conditions.

     "I became different — more confident with myself. But when she came back, I don't know, everything about our past just came back to me and I got so worried for her, especially since her disease was incurable." He rubbed his face in frustration. "She's receiving regular treatments and I guess she's better now, but then she told me she had to work part-time to help out her family's financial situation, since the intensive treatments were so expensive. And I don't know, I guess I just got so worried that something bad would happen to her, that I got into this protective mode, and it'd completely clouded my judgement. But now that she'd told me the whole truth behind what went down between the two of you, I can't look at her the same way anymore. I'm really sorry for not hearing you out, Flo. I really am. I'm really, really sorry." He sighed in disappointment, rubbing his face in frustration.

So many things were rushing through my mind. I see the entire picture much clearer now and I empathise with what Leo was going through completely. I know exactly how it feels to think everything was going okay with someone you care about, only to find out it wasn't. I understand now, why he was so protective over Michelle and why he cared so much about her.

I was at a loss of words.

I felt bad for Michelle too. I understand now why she was depending so much on Leo, and if I had a friend who'd care so much for me in the past like Leo, I wouldn't wanna lose him too. To go through something so tough and return, expecting for things to go back the way the used to be, only to see that your closest friend wasn't within your reach anymore.

I looked at Leo, who wore the saddest and guiltiest expression on his face I've ever seen him show. He looked so vulnerable, and it made me feel so much comfortable to know I wasn't the only one feeling like I've been exposed. I scooched closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head on his shoulder, startling him for a second before he returned my embrace, leaning his head against mine.

"Thank you for opening up and telling me. I understand now, and I'm sorry you had to go through that." I told him in a soft voice, snuggling closer to him.

"You don't have to say sorry, I'm just glad I got to explain my side of the story." He gave the top of my head a light kiss.

After hearing all that, I was so relieved that I felt like I could fly. However, despite finally knowing the truth about everything that was going through his head, about what was really going on between him and Michelle, and his reasons behind his actions, there was still one certain thing that was bothering me.

"You said, Michelle told you about everything that went down between us right?" I asked, trying to keep calm even though I'm already starting to feel a little anxious.

I felt Leo's body tensed up, which confirmed my suspicions. "Um, yeah." He hesitated to reply.

"Even about how my mom's-" I asked, my heart now racing faster than the speed my bike goes.

Leo pulled away from me to look at me with sympathetic yet caring eyes. "Yeah, but nothing more than that, and you don't have to if you don't want to." He said in a serious and sincere tone as he grabbed both of my hands and held them in his, caressing them gently.

"It's okay." I smiled sadly. "You shared your story, now I want to share mine."

He furrowed his eyebrows in worry, and squeezed my hands securely. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

I'm ready.

—

Holy shit, this chapter is the probably the longest chapter I've ever written, like around 4600+ words. But I didn't feel like splitting it into two chapters, so I hope you enjoyed! :D

Gonna work on the next chapter soon! :)