Caramel || Leonardo DiCaprio

Chapter 4: Late Night Art Gallery

Originally Published: October 23, 2022

NENA'S POV:

I made sure to get some poetry written before bed, unable to keep myself from smiling. I bit my lower lip as my sister entered the living room. I was on the chair after setting up the foldaway bed in the couch for her.

"Leo seems to really like you," Ellen noted, a hint of playful teasing in her voice.

"Maybe. I'm not sure if we'll ever run into each other again though."

"Are you writing about him?" She guessed as she pulled back the dark blue covers on her mattress.

"Yeah... I don't want to ever forget I met Leonardo DiCaprio, and all the things we did together."

"I bet you'll see him again. I think he was pretty determined to find you again today."

"Yeah, but New York is such a big city. We might have just been lucky last night and today. Besides, I only was able to get time off work because you're visiting. Normally I work every day in the week except for Sunday."

"Then that gives you the rest of the week to 'accidentally' run into him," she joked, causing me to smile at my notebook again.

"So, what do you want to do tomorrow," I inquired.

"We could go to a late night gallery. I'd like to just stay around your apartment during the day. I'm still kind of tired from traveling here."

"You rode on a plane," I pointed out.

"I know, but traveling in general stresses me out. All of the planning, packing, and everything."

"That's one thing we have in common," I nodded before tucking my book of poems away. "Staying here is fine. Do you want to order in for lunch? We could get a pizza."

"Okay, and breadsticks too."

"Of course." I felt a smile inching across my face, since I knew how much she loved bread. I had missed spending time with my sibling too much. It had been beyond lonely in this big city all alone.

LEO'S POV:

I woke up to my throat aching, since I had my mouth hanging wide open. I must have completely zonked out last night. I rubbed my eyes after sitting up, grateful my hangover symptoms had subsided. Finally my head didn't feel like someone was constantly whacking it with a mallet. I was surprised to find the guys surrounding the television set, them glued to whatever was on.

"Hey, how are you feeling," Ethan acknowledged me first.

"A lot better, thanks," I lowly chuckled. "I can't believe you guys are still here past noon."

"We decided on that late night art gallery tonight, so we don't have to leave until later."

"Great. Did you get anything for lunch?" I heaved open the refrigerator as Scott lazily answered me from the couch, his sock covered feet on the armrest.

"There's some cold pizza in there. We saved half a pizza for you."

"I can't eat all this. Actually maybe I can," I decided, since I was starving from not being able to eat much yesterday. I sat at the counter, heating up the food before savoring it. Tobey came from the bathroom, looking around before spotting me. "Hey," I greeted, my mouth partially full.

"Hey," he echoed, joining me on one of the black leather bar stools. "Did you just get up?"

"Yeah, I can't believe I slept for like twelve hours." I took another big bite as I looked at my best friend.