Oxygen || Leonardo DiCarpio

Chapter 19: "We've Always Been Good"

Originally Published: May 23, 2022

"Hi," I quietly greeted when I saw Leo for the first time since Romeo + Juliet. We were on the set for Don's Plum, things still getting set up in the diner.

"Hi," he echoed just as softly, giving me those innocent blue eyes.

"I'm glad we're doing this movie together. I'm not sure how good I'll be at the improvising stuff though."

"Me too, and you're going to be great, Everly. Just pretend it's us hanging out."

"But if we were flirting together," I added.

"Yeah, I missed you. I hope you still can be friends with me."

"I hope you can still be friends with me too. I was worried you might avoid me on the set."

"I would never do that, Everly. I really meant what I said about you always having my heart, even if it's not in a romantic way." He faked a smile for a brief moment as the awkwardness kept settling between us.

"So, I get to sit by you at the table, right?"

"Yeah, but I have to warn you my character's a jerk in this. So, don't take anything rude I do personally."

"Leo, I understand that you're an actor, and you're only playing a character when the camera's rolling."

"Okay." He licked his lips before looking over at Tobey who was talking with their group of friends in the film.

Pretty soon it was time for us to begin our scenes in the restaurant. First we had done a few outside of it, when we're planning on meeting up together. I didn't feel as comfortable with everyone as Leo and Tobey, since we had never met before, and they were already friends.

I felt my cheeks becoming flushed as the conversations grew a bit personal, touching on topics I tended to not talk about. I managed to roll with it, but I was grateful this movie would be in black and white, so people wouldn't see the red in my face.

We continued with the casual yet random topics, it taking all of my willpower to remain calm when Leo wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I then felt his fingers creeping down and his hand had disappeared in my shirt. I wore a faint smile as he cupped my breast, him talking with the others as though nothing was happening. But then he turned his head in my direction to gauge my reaction, and when I saw his bright blue eyes, a smile spread across my lips. It felt a little weird for him to be touching me in that way, but I didn't want to mess up the scene.

"Were you okay with what I did earlier," Leo checked, once we had our small break.

"I know I said I wanted us to be closer, but I didn't really feel comfortable with that. I mean, I'm not upset with you, but it was kind of embarrassing. I'm worried they might actually put it in the movie for everyone to see."

"I'm sorry about that. I'll talk with the director about it, alright? And Everly... I really am sorry that I didn't treat you better as a girlfriend. You were right. I was holding back on affection. It's just you've always felt like my girlfriend in a way. I guess it was hard to think of our relationship as being different."

"It's okay. I mean, we're together now, and even though this movie is really awkward, I'm still having a good time."

"Yeah?" He bit his lower lip as I felt my stomach flip.

"Yeah," I confirmed, mirroring his actions before we were gradually leaning in. We were abruptly interrupted though by the director informing us it was time to get back to work.

I was impressed by the smoke rings Leo did with his cigarette, looking totally awestruck as I gazed over at him. My character wasn't supposed to be this entranced with him, but I couldn't hide my real feelings. My heart was pounding when we ended up in a room together with a long booth that wrapped around the walls and a juke box. Leo went over to insert a few coins to select a song, me eventually joining him at the booth. I kept my hands in my lap as we just lounged there, not uttering a single word right away.

"My daddy's gone and my mom is a junkie," I gradually confessed, messing with my shirt as I looked down at it. Leo was chewing on his thumb nail as he partly looked over at me. He then dropped his hand though, biting his lower lip instead. "She sleeps with random guys for money."

"That's messed up," he simply said. "That's really messed up." He sat up a bit more before draping his arm around my shoulders again.

"He never came back."

"Sorry about that." His fingers were lightly drumming against my opposite arm as he looked over at me.

"You're not. You know you're not." I glanced over at him for a second before looking straight ahead again.

"You're cute. You're really cute." His voice was heaven to my ears, and it took all of my strength not to melt. I had to force myself to resist him as I turned my head, his hand reaching to take my chin. I pressed my lips together until he pushed the side of my jaw towards him, gradually surrendering to his kisses. I felt sparks I never had before between us as things got a bit more heated. He added tongue, and I couldn't help but touch the back of his neck as he did the same with mine. He kept gripping my hair and carefully moving it a bit, causing shivers to ripple through my body. Now I was more of the one in charge as I cupped his face in my hands, forgetting about the cameras capturing us. We were supposed to go further from a loose outline of a script, but Leo didn't go through with it, sweetly touching my side once we parted with a kind smile. I realized that meant we had to improvise the next part.

"Relax, there's nobody here," he gently whispered.

"I just don't feel that way about you, okay? The kiss was nice, but I'm not into you like that," I told him.

"Alright," he simply reacted, biting his lower lip before the scene was cut. I think the director was a little confused on what to do with how we changed the plot a bit, but I knew it would get figured out. Everything about this movie was pretty much made up right on the spot.

"Everly, are we going to pretend there's nothing between us, or are we going to agree to start going out again," Leo wondered as we took our break.

"You want that?" Tears coated my eyes as I felt joy well up inside of me.

"Of course I do. I just wanted to wait until things settled down, so that I could do things right this time."

"I would love to be your girlfriend again, Leo." I wrapped my arms around his neck as he hugged me back, me feeling whole and safe in his embrace.

"I can't wait to be in our apartment with you again. I was staying with my mom until I knew we were good."

"We've always been good," I beamed, my heart soaring into bliss.

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please remember to comment, vote, and follow. Thank you so much! <3