Sorry, Leon (Brawl Stars)

Part 6

Leon was crying with desperation and clinging onto his sister.

"Please," he begged. "Why can't you take me? Jessie will get mad if I don't show up on time."

Nita was annoyed. She tried to shake Leon off, but he was holding on too tightly. Seriously, what was with him lately? Nita could never understand why he fell so desperately for Jessie those months ago. That strange fanatical devotion was so unlike him.

"Ask Bo to take you," she said. "I'm not walking all the way to Retropolis."

As it turned out, Bo was going that way as well and agreed to drop Leon off at Bull's. The entire time, Leon talked nonstop about Jessie, how amazing she was, and how much he loved her. Bo listened silently and made no comments, his expression lacking emotion and judgment.

They arrived at the diner. Jessie was waiting at a booth inside reading a menu.

"You're ten minutes late," she said when she saw him.

He slid into the booth across from her. "I'm sorry, Jessie. I feel awful. It won't happen again."

Jessie seemed annoyed but didn't say anything else. She continued to examine the menu.

A waitress arrived.

"Hi, Jessie. Hi, Leon," Bibi said. "I'm surprised to see you here."

What she meant was that she was surprised that no guardian accompanied them. Nani usually followed Jessie everywhere. Now that she thought about it, though, she had seen the red-haired girl around a lot lately without Nani.

"Oh, hi Bibi," said Jessie. "I didn't know you worked here."

Bibi shrugged. "Yeah, Bull lets me pick up shifts when I need money. I live close by, and there's no way Bull would fire me, so it works out."

"Huh, interesting. Can I get a strawberry milkshake?"

"Sure. What would you like, Leon?"
"I'll just have the same."
"Okay, then," said Bibi. "Two strawberry milkshakes coming right up."

Bibi walked to the back of the diner.

"I love you so much, Jessie," Leon said. He took her hand and leaned in for a kiss.

"Um, maybe not now," said Jessie, pushing him away. "I'm still mad at you for being late."

They waited in silence for Bibi to return.
"There you are," she said, balancing two milkshakes on a round tray. She set them down at the table then tucked the tray under her arm and walked away.

Leon started to take a sip.
"Wait, hold on," said Jessie. "Could you get us some napkins?"

Leon nodded and got up. When he was out of sight, Jessie took the little bottle from her pocket and poured its contents into Leon's drink. It hadn't been two weeks yet, but Jessie wanted to give the dose early to avoid the inconvenient last few days.

"What are you doing?"

Jessie jumped, startled by the voice. It was Bibi. How long was she standing there?

She eyed the pink bottle in Jessie's hand.

"Oh," said Jessie. "It's... nothing." She slipped the bottle back into her pocket.

"You really don't think I know what Byron's love potions look like? I've seen Bull confiscate them so many times from gang members. They're strictly prohibited on our territory."

At that moment, Leon returned holding a stack of napkins. He sat down again and reached for his milkshake.

"Wait!" said Bibi. "Don't drink that!"

Leon paused and looked up at Bibi. He was probably looking at her, at least. His hood covered his expression. "Why not?"

What was Bibi supposed to say? Leon probably wouldn't believe her, and he loved sweets too much to avoid the risk.

"It's fine," said Jessie. "Don't listen to her. Just drink it– it would make me happy."

"Okay," said Leon. "If it makes you happy."

He drank the whole thing while Jessie and Bibi watched in delight and horror, respectively. Jessie sipped on her own milkshake as she watched. Bibi was frozen with shock. Judging from Leon's reaction to Jessie's commands, he was obviously already under the effect of the potion. Was Jessie used to doing this? How many times had she done this before? She felt concern for both Leon and Jessie. Jessie probably didn't even realize that what she was doing was wrong, but there was no way Bo and Nita would find it funny.

"How could you, Jessie?" she yelled when she snapped out of her daze. "Bo is going to be furious, and Nita will hate you forever. Just stop this right now."

Jessie seemed annoyed and angry. "But I'm not doing anything wrong!" she yelled back. "Come on, Leon. Let's get out of here."

They got up and left the diner, walking past two customers who had just entered: Amber and a blonde lady.

"Um, shouldn't we pay?" Leon asked. "And what did Bibi mean when she said Bo and my sister would be mad?"

"Don't worry about it," Jessie responded. "She's just jealous of what we have."

"Um, all right," said Leon.

Everything was fine.