A/n: I totally forgot to add that Leo is 18 in this story. You're 16. Leo got held back two years so he's in the same grade as you. Also Leo isn't old enough to be in a bar but, for this, we'll say that 18 is legal lmao. Also, IM LITERALLY GONNA CRY. I WATCHED REVOLUTIONARY ROAD FOR THE FIRST TIME A FEW WEEKS AGO AND FELL IN LOVE WITH IT BUT I COULD ONLY WATCH IT FOR A DAY BC I RENTED IT AND MY MOM GOT IT FOR ME ON DVD IM SOBING. I LOVE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH.
"I don't have time for this." I got up from the bench. "Sweetie, I just want to talk to you." She grabbed my wrist. I pulled my arm away harshly. "When you decide to pull your head out of your ass and get us the fuck out of this town, than I'll come back. Until then, leave me the fuck alone." I held back my tears. It's already been a rough few days. Everything was getting better and, just like that, shit got bad again. "Your father found the money I hid." I turned to look at her face to face. I hadn't done that yet until now. Her lip was busted open and her eye was dark all around. I really had no words. There wasn't much I could do to help her. I was just a kid. "Look, I'm sorry mom. But, I cannot come home." I sighed. "I wasn't looking for you to ask you to come home. I was looking for you to tell you that I'm staying with your aunt carol in Florida." She had no intention on asking me to leave with her. She just wanted me to know she was leaving me behind. "Ok." I gave her a short response and walked in the other direction towards my new, better home. October 10th, 2020 I was meeting a friend inside of a bar down the road from my house. I hated that they wanted me to meet them there but I wasn't going to argue. I just wouldn't pay attention to where I was while I waited. Legally, I wasn't even allowed to be in a bar. But I knew the bar tender. He was a close friend of my fathers. You can imagine why. I walked in and took a seat at the bar, putting my head down. Even the smell of alcohol made me nauseous. "What can I get you sir?" I heard the bar tender from down the row of seats. A very familiar voice replied, "A beer, please." I lifted my head to see Leo hunched over the counter of the bar with a cigarette in his mouth. He looked like a mess. "Leo?" I knew it was him but I couldn't believe it was.
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He looked over at me and than back at the ash tray in-front of him. I moved to the seat next to him. "Listen, I'm sorry for ignoring you. There's just a lot that I'm not ready to explain to you yet." I just wanted my best friend back. He stayed quite, still not making eye contact. "Leo, please talk to me." I felt tears form in my eyes. "Just please fucking talk to me." A tear rolled down my cheek. "Why?" He barely replied. "Because I miss you. I just wanna talk this out. If I have to explain everything than so be it. Just please forgive me." He got up from his seat, "come on." I got up instantly and followed him out of the bar. I didn't even care about the friend I was meeting anymore. This was more important than anything to me. Without Leo, my life had been hell. He took me to this field. I'd never seen before in my life. "Why are you drinking?" I looked at Leo as we walked into the field and sat down across from each other. "Why does it matter?" He didn't look at me. "Because, Leo, I care about you more than anyone on this planet. I don't wanna see you like this." I put my hand on his cheek. This was the first time I'd ever made any kind of a move on him. I tried to keep my distance but I needed to feel his touch again. He finally looked at me, "what happened at my house last week? Why did you start ghosting me? What did I do?" He talked softly but I could hear the pain tracing through his voice. I sighed. I didn't want to talk about this but, I had to. It was time. "Growing up, my father was an alcoholic. He was abusive and did very, very bad shit to me. Shit I couldn't really control. He was the same to my mother. But she basically fucking abandoned me." I pulled my hand away from his face and looked down at my hands now fidgeting with my fingers. "The day you met me, the reason I was in that ally was because I'd run away from home. That night I went to Alyse and ended up telling her mom everything. So, they took me in." Tears streamed down my cheeks. I hated crying in front of people. He didn't say anything at first. He just took my hand into his and pulled my forehead against his with his other hand on the back of my neck. I looked into his eyes. He looked back. "I'm sorry." He spoke softly. I nodded and he hugged me. I hugged him back tight burying my face in his shoulder as I cried. His presence was all I needed at that time. I pulled back slowly wiping my tears on my sleeve. "So does this mean I have my best friend back?" I looked into his eyes again. They were the prettiest shade of blue. "Of course." He smiled. God how I missed that smile. Which caused me to smile back. We spent the rest of the night lying in the field. And even in the moments where we weren't saying a single word, we just enjoyed each other's presence. October 11th, 2020 When I got home the night before, I stayed up thinking about Leo. And everything that's happened in the past good many days. I kept asking myself if I should go for it. If I should just tell Leo how I feel. But a lot of me was scared he wouldn't feel the same and I'd lose his friendship. Which was the most valuable thing to me in the world. I never really thought I could care about someone this much. When the sun finally came up, I wasn't tired in the slightest. I was energetic for the simple fact that I'd get to live out another day knowing I have such a special person in my life. I went through my usual bus ride and got to first period seeing Leo already at his seat next to mine. I smiled at him as I put my book bag on the floor. "Good morning, love." He flashed a smile back. He was truly the most magnificent, beautiful human being on the face of this earth. "Good morning, Leo." I sat down and he put his arm around me pretending to stretch. I laughed at his stupidity. The teacher had a lot of grading to do so he left us do whatever we pleased as long as we weren't "acting like a bunch of animals". Those were his words exactly. Leo and I were talking about god knows what random shit when this girl, Mandy, approached us, sitting next to me. She stared for a minute. "Can I help you?" I had a smart ass tone to my voice. "When did you and the new kid become a thing?" She had a smug look on her face. "We're not." I gave the same smug look back and Leo took his arm off my shoulders. "So I guess you wouldn't mind if I took him off your hands than, huh?" She smirked. I wanted to wipe that ugly smile right off her fucking face. "Maybe not, but I would mind." Leo chimed in. I held back my laughter and Mandy rolled her eyes going back to her original seat. "God, I hate this school." I sighed. "So, what are we?" Leo caught me by surprise. How would I even respond to that? "Well, we're best friends, right?" I would have told him how I felt but I didn't have the words at the moment. "Right." Leo gave me a fake smile and pulled out his phone. For the rest of the class, we sat there silently. It was awkward to say the least.
