The Brightest Star

26. Leo

Leo's POV

My eyes met his as I stood there, not knowing what to say. I didn't expect him to come over because he told me Kiki wasn't letting him leave yet.

I tore my eyes away and looked past him to see Kiki's blacked-out car. "Kiki dropped you off? I didn't know you were coming by," I said, looking at the car, feeling like I should go say hi to her or something.

"Mmmm, not... exactly," he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck with his good arm. "She doesn't know I left or took her car," he chuckled.

"You stole her car!" I started and snapped my attention back to him. "She's going to kill you. I don't know her very well, but she's scary as hell."

"You have no idea."

We both laughed as I stood aside and let him in. He held his ribs and closed his eyes a few times while he talked about how nice it was to be out of the house and moved in different ways like he was trying to get his body comfortable while standing.

"You look like you're still pretty sore but much better than the last time I saw you. Why don't you sit down on the couch?" I asked, and we walked over to the couch after I locked all the locks on the door again.

"Yeah. Nothing is broken, thankfully, but it feels like it. Painkillers help a little, though," he said with a hiss while I helped him sit down slowly.

"I can't believe you drove here like this."

"It wasn't fun, but it beats walking. Okay, so, what have I missed in the past few days in school? Let's get some work done if you're not busy."

"Umm, no, I'm not busy at all. Let me go get everything," I told him with a smile as my mood changed to happiness.

I took out my books and notes as we started going threw everything from class. I organized a folder for all the work nicely as I explained as much as I could.

After an hour of working and reading, King rubbed his eyes and said he needed to use the bathroom, so I took this time to go upstairs to check on my mom, who was still sleeping with Winter next to her. She's been sleeping a lot more lately, but she was awake while I checked on her. I told her about King's surprise visit. She was happy to hear he came by at last and asked to meet him.

As happy as I could be, I walked downstairs before it hit me. I never did explain it to King before. In fact, I don't know if I've ever really explained it to anyone before. Everyone just kind of knew about it and didn't really ask after it all happened. I'm pretty sure King knew by now, but just in case, it would be better to inform him first.

Walking back into the living room, I saw King looking at a picture of all three of us. I guess it would be a good time to explain before taking him up.

"That's my mom," I told him as I walked closer, making him jump a little. "I'm sure you know about her by now from people at school."

"I uh, yeah, kinda. Sorry, someone told me a little bit, but we weren't talking bad or anything," King said a little defensively.

I laughed a little, knowing who it was almost immediately. "I'm guessing it was Jess then."

"What? No..., Wait. Why did you jump to her right away?"

"You're defending," I laughed. "And the only other person you seem to like at school is her, so it was an easy guess. It's okay. I'm not mad about it. It's not like it's a secret."

He looked at me for a moment and then looked back at the picture. "She's really..." He stopped like he was trying to find the right word.

"Beautiful, like a sun Goddess? Yeah, I know. Everyone reminds me how beautiful she is," I smile at him. It's true, though. No one lets me forget it. It's usually the first thing they say to me when she comes up in a conversation.

"You... look just like her," he said gently as he looked over at me with something in his eye that I couldn't read.

My lips parted slightly at his words, feeling my cheeks start to warm, and my heart skipped as our eyes locked together, but it made me a little embarrassed, so I quickly looked at the floor, biting my lip to hold back my smile.

People said I looked like her all the time, so why was I suddenly so flustered hearing it from him? "You, maybe, want to... um.. meet her?" I asked shyly.

"Oh. Well, I don't want to bother her...,"

"She would love to meet you. She doesn't get many visitors nowadays, and she knows you're here. It would be rude not to go and at least say hi," I smiled.

He smiled back as his face brightened up a little. "I guess that's true. Okay, but only if you're sure it's okay."

I nodded my head, and we started walking to the stairs.

He grabbed my arm and stopped me halfway up. "Wait, I don't want to scare her. Everyone kinda freaks out when they first see me," he whispered with worried eyes. "And I'm all bruised up. Maybe we shouldn't do this today."

It made me laugh. I didn't mean to because he was worried about it, and I could feel how nervous he was, but I couldn't help it. "It will be fine. I already told her about the accident, so I know she won't be surprised to see a few bruises. Plus, I've seen her punch out a man bigger than you because he smacked her ass once when I was little. So come on."

He laughed nervously at that. "You'll have to tell me that story someday." He told me as we started walking up again.

I stopped just before her door and looked at him. "She's been in bed for a few months, so don't freak out when you see all the wires and mechanics," I warned him before opening the door. "It's not that scary, but some people kinda freak out at first."

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I just love these two together.