Leo's Gold

Fifteen | Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

Leo cleared his throat, his hand sore from all of the sketching and painting he had done in the last three hours. In those three hours, Sage had definitely began to rethink her actions, finding it very hard to keep still and not move a muscle when he was concentrating. But, what made up for it was to see Leo's facial expressions when he drew her. The way he would stick his tongue out on the side of his mouth, or the way he would squint his eyes to get a line perfect. She couldn't understand how he could draw her or anything else that he had done, but she was certainly in awe by the time he was done and had turned the canvas around for her to see.

To her amazement, there she laid on the canvas, perfectly sketched out and painted with watercolor. Every curve and every detail was drawn out to perfection; she couldn't see a flaw. "Wow, Leo. How did you do that?" Leo cleared his throat and ran a hand through his tousled hair that was beginning to hand down in his eyes.

"Well, it was a little difficult to focus because of well, you know. But, i-it was easy once I started. You're definitely the most beautiful girl I've ever drawn."

Sage playfully scoffed, "So you've drawn other girls?" Leo's eyes widened, his cheeks turning red.

"N-no I didn't mean it like that. I-I've only ever gotten inspiration from the internet." Sage smiled, and walked over to him where the canvas laid on the easel. "I'm joking, Leo." She looked at the painting of herself more carefully, touching where his fingertips had lingered. She sighed, looking at Leo, looking at all of his details, what makes him - Leo. His eyes were glistening green, and the way they looked into her's made her want to melt into his arms. His mouth was agape, wet from how much he licks them and bites on them. His jawline, how firm and carved it was. How beautiful Leo truly was, how unique. Are you starting to fall in love with him? Sage asked herself, a weird feeling forming in her stomach that started to surge through her whole body. Is he starting to fall in love with me?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Leo asked, trying his best not to look down further than her face. Sage shook her head and smiled, picking up her clothes to put them back on.

"I just realized how much I," she paused, stopping herself from saying anything she might regret. "Um, how hungry I am. I just realized how hungry I am. Can we go get a hamburger?"

Leo sighed after they both slid into the booth - their booth - at Pete's diner. He considered Pete's his second home, where he could always count on a strawberry milkshake and a delicious, mouth watering hamburger. He had always known the owner since he was a little boy when he and his family would come to the small diner every Friday evening after school. And after trying their strawberry milkshake, he knew he would always return any time he could.

Soon after sitting down, a waitress came along to their table to take their orders. "I'll take the classic cheeseburger with everything on it, and the chocolate milkshake." Sage said first, looking over at Leo. Leo cleared his throat, "I'll take the same thing with a strawberry milkshake."

The waitress frowned, "Our strawberry milkshake machine is out of order today, but we do have the vanilla, chocolate and a new one, the pumpkin pie." Leo looked up at the waitress waiting for her to say it's a joke. And for the longest time, they both stared at each other waiting on someone to say something.

"Leo, just get the vanilla? You like that right?" Leo looked over at Sage, and then back up at the waitress.

"It's a joke right? The strawberry is working right?" The waitress smiled and shook her head no. "Holy shit, no strawberry?" The waitress again shook her head no. Leo looked down at the menu and sighed, "you said pumpkin pie?"

"Yes sir." The waitress said, placing a hand on her hip. "Is that what you want?" Leo groaned and shrugged.

"I-I guess. No strawberry. Since when is that a thing?" The waitress nodded again and took their menus before leaving. Leo awkwardly fiddled with his fingers while he looked down at the table.

Sage laughed, "are you really depressed over that?" Leo nodded, "strawberry is an essential flavor, it's so under appreciated and that's ridiculous because it's literally the best thing that has happened since Guns and Roses."

Sage hummed, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't really care for it." Leo looked up at her and squinted in her direction. "Oh of course, you're a chocolate lover." He said in a mocking voice, rolling his eyes. Sage shook her head at him, before the waitress brought their food and milkshakes and sat them down. "Enjoy."

Leo looked down at the milkshake and snarled his nose. "Pumpkin pie milkshake. They have a fucking pumpkin pie milkshake but they don't have the strawberry machine working. See how they care about strawberry enthusiasts." Sage began drinking her milkshake and eating the cheeseburger while Leo continuously stared at his milkshake.

"Leo, drink the fucking milkshake. It's not going to kill you." He scoffed, grabbing his cheeseburger to take a big bite out of it. Leo slowly took the shake in his hand before taking the straw and bending it to his mouth. He closed his mouth around it, and slowly began to drink it. As the shake came out of the straw into his mouth, Leo couldn't help but drink more as the flavor bursted in his mouth deliciously. "I take it you like it?"

He awkwardly pushed the drink back a bit, and wiped at his mouth. "You don't say anything about this, okay?" Sage took another bite of her cheeseburger before agreeing. "Good, because that was actually really good."

After finishing two milkshakes each and their chess burgers, Leo held the door open for Sage as they entered the cold air of Chicago. "I can't believe you've abandoned the strawberry milkshake for pumpkin pie milkshake." Leo groaned, "I told you to never speak of that again."

Once they were completely out the door with their coats on, they slowly intertwined their hands together and smiled at each other. "I had fun tonight." They both said in unison, laughing afterwards.

And they both really did, and deep down inside they both knew that they were falling in love with each other hard.

chapter title creds to TPLIncorporated