Chapter 42- Taunting Recoveries

[] A M E L I A []

After a while, Leo finally calmed down. He ended with a few sniffles, and then wiped away at his cheeks profusely. I had dropped my hand from his cheek at one point, and it was resting between us once again.

Once Leo was done calming himself down, he turned to me with a deep breath. His hand ended up beside mine on the bed, barely touching.

"Thank you Amelia. Thanks for being here and not running away."

I frowned at this.

"You don't have to thank me Leo. I would do anything to be there for you," I said, my hand grazing his.

At this, he shuffled closer to me, his hand grasping my own.

"Let me just appreciate you, Moonie."

I let his words sink in, and chose to stay silent. He only sighed and rubbed the pad of his thumb across my knuckles. I watched the movement, my heart beating faster with every stroke. After a few moments, he spoke again.

"Now you tell me Moonie," he suddenly said, breaking the silence.

"Why have you been hiding from me this past week?" he asked, a twinge of disappointment in his voice.

And now I felt as if I could die from guilt.

I stayed silent after his question, unsure of how to phrase my feelings. After a moment of silence, he let out a small breath and shifted himself lower so that his gaze was in level with mine.

He slowly pulled his hand away from mine, and lowered it onto my face. His fingertips grazed my lips, his eyes zeroing in on them too. I let in a shaky breath at his gesture, unable to look away from him.

"Was it because I kissed you?"

The bluntness of his question caused my cheeks to flame. Before I knew it, I was quickly shaking my head in disagreement.

When I realized how stupid that must've looked, I stopped immediately. Leo smirked at my answer, causing my blush to deepen.

"Alright, then what was it?" he asked softly.

I sighed and shuffled closer to him, my hair sprawling behind me. I looked him right in the eye as I spoke, wanting to let him know how sorry I was for that.

"I don't want to see you get hurt Leo," I honestly said.

Leo sighed and moved even closer to me.

Now, there was nothing left. If he moved any closer, I'd be a goner.

"Is it because of Jackson?"

I stayed silent at his question, and in response, he only sighed.

"Avoiding me won't solve anything Moonie. Besides, I'm supposed to be my princess's knight in shining armor," he said with a low chuckle.

I squeezed his hand, my eyes widening in worry.

"You don't know what he's capable of Leo," I whispered.

At last, Leo moved one last bit closer to me. However, he moved so that his head came above my own. This resulted in my face coming in contact with his chest, and before I could protest, Leo encircled his arms around me.

"I don't think he knows what I'm capable of Moonie. He's probably still black and blue from the beating on Thursday."

And that was something I couldn't argue with.

* * *

We lay there for the longest time. Leo didn't let go of me, and somewhere along the way, I held onto him too. My arms were encircled around his waist, and his were wrapped messily around me.

I stared at him for as long as I could. I watched as his eyes, that were wide and bright as they stared at me before, were now clamped shut. I had listened as his soft hums diminished into even breathing, and he even let out soft snores at one point. His hold on me had eventually loosened, but not enough to let me get away.

It could have been hours by the time he fell asleep. Or maybe it was minutes. I honestly couldn't tell. I was too busy staring at the boy in front of me to notice.

It was as I saw him sleeping beside me, letting me see the most vulnerable side of him, I finally had a revelation.

And that was, that I couldn't hold back any longer.

I couldn't put up the strong front anymore, because truth was, I had no strong front when it came to Leo. I only had a thin glass wall, and he wasted no time in breaking through it. And no, he didn't have a sword or a hammer to beat it down with.

Oh no.

Leo Kennedy didn't need any of that.

He broke down my walls using his bare fists. He clawed and punched the glass until it shattered bit by bit, all the while calling to me softly. And as he finished and came out victorious, he wasn't looking down to his bruised and bloody hands. He was only staring at me as he always did, his gaze silently asking if I was okay.

I tried to stay away from him. To try and pull away before he caught me. Before he caught the true Amelia hiding behind the glass, but I simply couldn't. I couldn't leave the boy who held me.

I liked him too much to do that.

Yes.

I liked Leo Kennedy.

The boy who was mean to me. The boy who yelled at me. The boy who apologized to me through a song. The boy who went through a past similar to mine. The boy who cried in front of me because he couldn't stop feeling guilty.

Leo Kennedy.

The boy who kissed me.

I felt this a long time ago. When it was, I wouldn't know. However, seeing him today after nearly a week, I suddenly felt as if I could breathe again.

That feeling of feeling so whole again, led me to admit my feelings to myself.

It was nerve-racking to do this. Years of isolating myself from the human population really got to me. But for some reason, I didn't want to hold back when it came to him.

I wanted to be there for him when he needed me. I wanted to hold him as he slept, scaring away the monsters that dared to wake him. I wanted to proudly tell the world of his courage. I wanted to make him smile, and in turn, smile with him.

I wanted to see him with his family, and some day, introduce him to mine. I wanted to go on dates with him like a normal girl. I wanted to hold his hand when I wanted to.

I wanted to be with Leo.

With both of our scars combined.

I slowly moved back and looked up to him. His mouth was slightly parted, slow breaths leaving them every now and then. He looked peaceful as he slept, his posture not holding the tension from earlier. I smiled a little as I saw him, and reached up to brush stray strands of hair away from his forehead.

He only let out a small breath in response.

I smiled at his reaction and slowly trailed my hand from his forehead to his cheek. Before I could make another move, my phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. I quickly scrambled to pull it out, careful as to not wake up Leo.

I slowly pulled myself out of his arms and untangled our legs before getting out of bed. Leo only made a sound of protest, but other than that, he was sound asleep. I stole one last look at his peaceful face, before finally hopping out of his bed. I quickly made my way outside, closing his bedroom door behind me as quietly as I could.

When I turned my attention to my screen, I saw Andre's name flashing on my phone. Instantly, I felt bad for not calling him myself and I hurriedly picked up the call.

"I'm so sorry Andre," I said right away.

"What? Why?" I heard him say worriedly. "You couldn't find him? Amelia, is everything okay?" he rambled on.

"No, no. I did find him. He was at home. I'm sorry I didn't call earlier," I said.

I heard him sigh on the other side.

"That's okay Amelia. As long as you found him. I had a feeling you already did so I was just calling to check up on you guys. How is Leo holding up?"

The concern in his voice made my heart melt.

"He's okay for now," I answered truthfully. "I actually had a favour to ask."

"Of course. What do you need?" he prompted.

"Are you able to bring us something to eat? There's not much I can do here-"

He didn't miss a beat with his response.

"Of course Amelia. What can I get you guys?"

After I told him to get anything Leo would like, I ended the call and waited for him to come over. As I was waiting for him, I called up Gemma to let her know what was going on. I felt bad for leaving her at the table with Andre and Jamal, without letting her know what was going on. After all, she was the only one who didn't know about Leo's past. However, when I called her, she didn't seem to mind, and instead, encouraged me to stay with Leo.

I didn't give her much details either, only telling her that Leo's father had suddenly passed away. She sent her condolences, and then I was back to waiting for the boys.

Nearly half an hour later, there was a knock at the door. I quickly got up from my spot on the couch to open the door. I quickly opened the door and immediately came face to face with Andre's worried gaze. Behind him stood Jamal, looking only slighter calmer than the boy in front of him.

"Hey Amelia," Andre greeted before shifting inside.

Jamal followed his lead and gave me a small nod in greeting. I closed the door and went after them into the kitchen. They were pulling out food from bags and placing them onto the dining table as I walked in.

When I saw the mountains of food on the table, my eyes nearly bulged out of my head.

"You guys!" I exclaimed.

Both Andre and Jamal stopped what they were doing and turned to me with a panicked look.

"What is it?" Andre asked worriedly.

I gestured towards the food.

"That is a lot of food," I said.

At this Andre and Jamal slumped in their positions and gave me a flat look.

"I thought you were going to say something worthwhile," Andre said mockingly.

Now, it was my turn to stare at him flatly, and he grinned at me.

"Don't worry little one, we had to make sure that your first date with Leo went alright," he said with a wink in my direction.

My mouth fell open at his words and I opened my mouth to say something. But as nothing came to mind, I closed my mouth again, my cheeks turning scarlet. Andre and Jamal laughed at my dispense.

"Actually, I think their first date may have been when he freaking sang at The Pub for her," Jamal said to Andre.

I gasped in surprise.

"No of course not!"

Both boys turned to me, humor evident in their eyes. I blushed again and wrung my fingers together as a distraction.

"Oh? Does that not cut it for our whittle Moonie?" Andre said as if he were talking to a baby.

He even reached over the table to pinch my cheeks. I only swatted him away, embarassment evident in my blush. However, I didn't mind their teasing as much as I thought I would.

"Hey now, don't tease her so bad that we get Mr. Overprotective on our case," Jamal said.

Andre instantly backed away from me, rolling his eyes playfully as I did so. After a moment of silence, both boys turned to each other and shared a sombre look. Then, they turned to me. I rubbed my arm nervously as I waited for them to speak.

"Is he... is he okay, Amelia?" Andre asked.

I thought about his words, and after a moment of hesitation, I shook my head in defeat.

They sighed simaultaneously, and then we were all staring off into space, each thinking of ways to help the boy sleeping in the room just a few feet away.

Andre turned to me again, a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"Has he called home yet?" he asked.

I shook my head once more.

"But don't worry, I'll make sure he does. I already messaged Clara a while back to let her know that he's with me," I said.

Before we could continue, the sound of a door opening caught our attention. We all snapped our heads to Leo's door and watched in silence as he emerged from the other side. His hair was perfectly disheveled, and he came out running a tired hand through it.

I nearly drooled at the sight, but I forced myself to stay calm.

"Hey man," Jamal said, walking over to Leo.

Andre followed his lead and the three of them started talking amongst themselves. In order to give the boys some space, I started sorting out the piles of food on the table.

After a few minutes, I heard a commotion behind me. To my surprise, Jamal and Andre were waving a goodbye to Leo.

"Wait, you guys are leaving?" I asked, surprised.

They nodded at me, the teasing demeanor from earlier diminished now.

"Gotta head home, little one," Andre said.

I frowned.

'Was it because of me?' I thought worriedly.

As much as I'd love to stay here, I didn't want to intrude on whatever the guys wanted to do. What if they needed some time to themselves? I was just about to tell them that they should stay here, but before I could speak, Jamal was already walking towards me.

He wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug, causing me to slump in defeat. His next words left me with a mountain of emotions, and I suddenly felt nervous again.

"It's okay Amelia. As long as you're here, we know he'll be okay," Jamal said.

He finally pulled away from me, reaching over to softly pat my head. Andre followed after Jamal, and before I knew it, the two were leaving just the way they came.

There was a daunting silence in the apartment for the next few moments. I thought of what the boys had said, and before I could help it, a burst of color went rushing to my cheeks. Worried that Leo might catch my reddening cheeks, I quickly got back to the food.

"You can sit down Leo, I'll just get the plates," I said, rushing over to the cabinets.

I heard shuffling behind me, and I assumed Leo sat down in the chair. I forced the blush away from my cheeks and finally grabbed everything needed for dinner. I headed back to the table and placed a plate in front of Leo. I joined him and sat across from him, the piles of food in front of us.

Leo was silent for a moment, only staring at the edge of the table. Then, surprising me, he let out a deep breath and leaned forward. He started opening the boxes of food and started looking for what he wanted to eat. I followed his moves and before I knew it, we were eating silently, neither of us saying a word.

After we were both finished, I stood up to start clearing up the table. As I reached for Leo's plate, his hand suddenly shot out, and caught my own. The sudden movement caused me to let out a startled breath. I looked down to him confused, only to see that he was staring up at me, his eyes turning an intense shade of brown.

Suddenly, he tugged at my arm, and I let out a strangled, "Leo!"

However, he continued tugging me until I came around the table to a stop right in front of him. I let out a small breath and stared down at him helplessly.

"Leo, what are you-"

"Amelia," he suddenly said, his eyes turning more serious than I've ever seen before.

"What is it Leo?" I asked softly.

Since I was standing and he was still sitting in his chair, I felt as if had to crane my neck at least two feet down to get a good look at him. It was strange to see him from this angle. I had to push down the urge of reaching forward and running my free hand through his hair. His hand was still holding mine, almost desperately this time.

"Can you promise me something Moonie?" he breathed out.

The hesitance in his voice made me nervous. However, I nodded for him to go on.

"No more running away, okay?"

My eyes widened at his words as I stared at him open-mouthed.

"Leo, why are you-"

"Just promise me Amelia. No matter what happens, you won't run away. If Jackson does something, then you tell me. If anything else happens, you come to me, Amelia. Just don't... don't avoid me."

He let out a sigh after speaking. My breath clogged in my throat as I looked down at him. I had the sudden urge to just pull him in then and there. To tell him that I won't ever leave his side and I'd always be here.

But I couldn't say that.

Not yet.

Not when the future was so unsure.

So instead, I settled for a bittersweet promise instead.

"You never ran away when I needed you. I'll be here when you need me," I finally said.