Looking For Leo

13: Frustrated

He never came back. He left me to rot waiting by the window sill. The first few nights I tried to convince myself that maybe he was just trying to be careful by not appearing too often. But it has been almost three weeks. The unsettling thought that once crept in my mind can actually be a possibility; Leonardo left because he finally got what he wanted. My body. 

I tried not to think about it. I could not believe myself when the idea first crept up because I had a strong feeling that he wouldn't do that.

But, my god, it's been weeks. Who knows? He's probably snogging with another chick he's saved across town as I speak.

-----

Leonardo felt soft hands wrap around his erection. When he looked up, he saw Angela's beautiful face. But he made her stop and pulled her in to whisper to her; he wanted her Angela to understand how much she meant to him and how much more he wanted from her other than sex. She blushed. When he reached in for a kiss, suddenly, the world changed and he felt as if he was thrown out of the picture. In a blink of an eye, he was standing on the rooftop across Angela's building. He glanced at her window and saw that another man had captured her in his arms and forced her to kiss him. Leonardo shouted in terror until he sat up and realized he had been dreaming.

Leonardo tried to catch his breath, eyes slanted. Sadness and frustration crept over him. Until he felt something beside his bed. He turned and saw Mikey staring at him with wide eyes.

"Wh-what the hell are you doing in my room?"

"Who's Angela?" Mikey asked.

Leonardo paused and felt a quick shiver across his body. He was sleep talking.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Leo tried to play dumb just to see if it worked, but Mikey had been standing there for 40 seconds hearing him mutter and mumble Angela's name.

"I heard you were groaning and calling for something. You rarely do that so I had to check...and you were screaming for Angela."

Mikey's expression suddenly changed as if he knew. Mikey might be the most lax and may appear as the dumbest brother from the group, but that did not discount him of the intelligence he possessed. As quick as lightning, it hit Mikey, and Leonardo knew this. There was no point of lying.

-----

Leonardo sneered by himself as he remembered the stupid fight he and Raphael just had earlier. He questioned his brother for spending too much time patrolling on his own countless times that Raphael finally blew up and so did Leo. The brothers were heated and ended up shoving each other. But fortunately, Master Splinter interrupted.

As Leonardo replayed the fight in his head, he remembered the hint he also got from Mikey. It was impossible that Raphael was seeing the girl he "scared off" one night, Mikey thought. But Leo and Mikey still entertained the idea since this was exactly what happened to Leonardo, too.

Leonardo knew that Raph disappeared in the night to patrol often and that frustrated him, but the thought that he might be seeing a human girl just might be a more frustrating reality.

It takes one to know one, Leo thought.

The signs were there. They were brothers after all. They had a connection and felt at least something was different.

-----

Leonardo followed Raphael. He tailed him carefully, kept enough distance between them just to see where Raphael was headed. He leapt from building to billboards and then the girl's building, in such professional stealth, and yet Leonardo lost track of Raphael. Leo felt that his brother knew he would follow him.

It left him with one move: go to the girl's apartment. Leonardo was in luck for he remembered the same alley and the direction where the girl hid when she saw them that night to get him there.

It made sense, Leonardo thought. Raphael said that he went to "scare her off" that night when they suspected that the girl saw them jump into the manhole. Raphael promised that he took care of everything. But ever since that night, Raphael left the sewers earlier than his usual time and disappeared more often. When Leonardo questioned him, he was defensive. Leonardo even caught Raphael watching a romcom with Mikey. It kinda reminded Leonardo of himself. So, yes, he had a strong feeling that Raphael possibly kept in touch with the girl. And there was only one way to find out.

Leonardo leapt to the girl's balcony and immediately hid himself against the wall. He listened carefully to the sound coming from her apartment. He heard nothing but water rushing. Leonardo slowly peeked and saw a beam of light from the hazy glass door as it was covered with a curtain. But he had the impression that the girl was in the bathroom. 

But Leo waited longer. In fact, he stood right in front of the balcony to get a closer look. He was frustrated and eager to find out that maybe his brother was indeed keeping in touch with the human girl. He was eager to catch him in the act. 

But Leonardo asked himself briefly, too: if he did catch Raphael with her, what would he do? What would he feel? Would he feel somehow accepted and finally return to Angela? or would he convince Raphael to cease this madness and drop her? What was the point of this mission, he asked himself once more. Then, he realized, that maybe it was definitely the former: he just wanted an excuse to return to Angela.

Leonardo immediately leapt up to the rooftop and left the building to head back home.