Diaries

Chapter 16

I followed Leo out of the door and into the silent hallway. He rummaged through his pockets looking for his pack of cigarettes, rushing to the elevator as if he had no clue I was behind him at all.

"Leo?!" I went after him.

He stuck the cigarette behind his ear and waited for the doors to open, "WHAT?!" He snapped.

I was surprised at his tone, and nervous by his energy. He had never spoken to me in such a manner.

"Uh... what's the matter, Leo?" I asked.

"An older rich man keeps on flirting with my girlfriend what do you think?!" The elevator opened, he wasted no time getting in as I followed him.

"Leo—"

"And you know what else? My girlfriend likes it because she has daddy issues." He said.

My jaw dropped ever so slightly as I tried to contain myself.

"What are you talking about?! He's an older man, Leo. He's like my parent's age! He's not flirting with me, I'm a child to him. I just... I ..." I was lost for words.

Leo was right that I had daddy issues... Tom made me feel cared about in the same hour I'd only just met him. My own mother and father had never made me so important as he did at dinner, or cared how they presented me to the world as long as I would shut up. But this man back inside, seemed to adore me, with no personal judgement of my imperfections.

"I, I... I..." Leo mimicked.

Before I knew it, I became furious.

"Oh shut up, you would have gotten those twin's phone numbers if you were alone I saw you looking at them don't try to make me out to be the bad guy now—"

"If I was alone I wouldn't be here right now, I'd be back home with Mickey, Pedro, and Neutron playing ball and having a much nicer time than I am here watching you people play house."

"You people?" I crossed my arms.

The elevator opened, and suddenly we were no longer alone. We both fell silent, waiting to make it down to the first floor. The silence was sharp, and painful. Once again we were the center of attention, and all eyes were on us and how terrible we looked.

I stared at the floor numbers go down the next seventeen flights. It seemed as though we were up a hundred as my anxiety shot out of the roof. I looked down at my dirty Converse, tapping my feet uncontrollably. Finally, every person cleared the elevator, including Leo. I looked up for him in the croud, pushing through and following him outside.

He turned around, rummaging around in his pockets and pulling out a mini ziplock bag full of pills. The buildings respectfully blocked the wind as he took his cigarette between his lips to light it.

"Why do you always have so many of those?" I asked.

"Because I got a lot of problems and I just want to forget about them. Is that alright with you, princess?" He snapped.

"Leo what's your problem?!" I snapped back.

"Look, Jessica! You're free. Your mom is about to divorce and marry rich, you can leave Swifty and me and everything and everyone you know, and stay here. Start over. Get a fresh start." He puffed on the cig as he peeled the little zip lock bag open.

"So that's what this is? You're worried I'm going to leave you?"

"And that some old man thinks he can just come and take my girlfriend right in front of my face just because he's rich..." Leo popped his third pill for the day, "and handsome."