The Efflorescence of Leo

two

THE SMELL OF LEATHER sat stagnant in the entirety of his white FIAT 500.

His seating, his jacket; it was addictive and by all means enslaving.

I noticed the overly secure grip that had his knuckles an ivory white, heavily juxtaposing the deep espresso that was his hair.

Leo looked at me, eyes hooded and tired. Never had I been good at reading people, comprehending subtle nor unsubtle emotions through ones eyes, yet nothing needed to be inferred when the heart break he was silently drowning himself in was rather a public suicide.

Nonetheless, he sighed and leaned his head against the headrest of his car before offering me a smile.

"Sorry, I forgot to ask where you live again?"

"Oh, yeah, no I just live down this street. It's Farrell Street, if you just take a left there you'll see it's just around the corner from that intersection that has the broken traffic lights." I explained to him, whilst he seemed to follow through without a problem.

"Oh, I live on Lester Court, it's like—"

"I know where it is; my dad lives there." I quickly followed up with explaining the situation as I noticed the slight look of confusion and uncertainty plastered upon Leo's face. "He doesn't live with us, my mother and I, anymore so,"

He nodded and was smooth in the sense he changed the subject of talk discreetly which I appreciated.

"You're an only child, lucky, I have a massive family. 3 brothers and 3 sisters."

My eyes noticeably widened "6 siblings, wow, older than you or younger than you?" I decided it was best not to revisit the topic of my parents separation for a while.

"Well, I'm the eldest. Isabella is younger than me by only two years, she's almost 17. There's a set of twins, Francesca and Joseph, who are 14. Then Alessia, who I think is 10, I'm not sure I forget sometimes. Luca is 7 and Mauro is the youngest, he's 4 and a half."

"Impressive. I would've forgotten all their names, let alone their ages." I snorted.

"I do, I probably got their ages wrong. I swear, they all look the same. Light brown hair, green or brown eyes. Francesca looks exactly like Isabella, even though Isabella is 7 years older than her. I fuck it up all the fucking time." He chuckled.

Even though he was facing the road ahead, when he smiled I saw his dimple and I came to the conclusion I love his laugh, and it wasn't the prettiest thing in the world either.

"Damn, based on the names and the way you said them I'm guessing you're Italian." I presumed.

"As Italian as you can get. My father owns a place that sells all authentic Italian delicacies, as he would call it. It's, well, it's practically just panatone and pomodoro, prosciutto and pancetta. All that kinda shit. Our house is stocked with it too."

The way he said the Italian words that I would've butchered if I even tried to pronounce made me so giddy inside, Oh My God.

Pan-na-to-neh
Po-mo-do-ro
Pro-shu-to
Pan-che-ta

"How about you." He asked. "Where are you from?"

"Well, my mother is half Salvadorian half caucasian and my father is mixed as well, half caucasian half African-American." I explained, even if we never really took time to speak about our ethnicity at home.

"Wow, see thats so fascinating. I fucking wish I wasn't just Italian." He stretched out the last two words, almost whining like a child.

"Why the fuck not? You probably have a cool ass last name."

"It's just De Rose. Nothing special."

"Leonardo De Rose. That sounds so fucking cool."

He looked at me and chuckled, I hadn't realized it but we were already stopped outside my house.

"Come on, what's your last name?"
He asked, traces of a smile still upon his face.

I groaned. "It's just, so boring. It's Brooks. Serenity Brooks. So bland compared to yours. Leonardo De Rose and then just Serenity Brooks."

"I like it.."  He turned his attention from his lap, in which his palms were sat fiddling with each other and he then faced me for a second. "It suits you."

Suddenly bashful and awkwardly at a loss for words, I figured it was fine for our encounter to come to an end. "I've gotta go, Mama will be expecting me home right about now." I said.

"Nice to meet you Serenity, even if it ended not so well, the whole thing about what actually happened between Jason and Marielle." He looked at me sincerely and calmly, though his ongoing tight grip on the leather steering wheel said otherwise.

"It's okay, Leonardo. I'm glad we know now."

I was stood outside the passenger side of the car. My jacket still in one hand, and the other was holding the door open.

His attention now was constantly diverting and not on one spot for more than a couple seconds. It was obvious the harsh realization was setting in.

"I'm sorry, Leo. The situation you're in is much worse than mine. At least I had no relationship to Marielle before this. Now two of yours are tainted I suppose." I said, sincerely, but I couldn't help but feel I was just rubbing salt into his open wound.

"How could she do this to me? How could Jason do this to me?" Leo's voice was barely audible. Strained and distressed. His gaze primarily focused on the hand break where his fingers were now tapping to an inconsistent and silent beat.

"You deserve better Leo. No one deserves what you've gone through, what you're going through."

Despite the fact him and I had only met a matter of hours ago, between us was an unspoken connection and understanding. The two of us in the same boat, though his going through a rougher patch then mine.

His friend and his girlfriend. Fuck.

He looked up at me, my hand still holding the upper corner of the car door, my back beginning to hurt from crouching down to look at him.

He let out a sigh that said more than any words could.

Utter exhaustion.

He mustered a weak smile. "Goodnight Serenity, I hope all goes well with you."

"You as well, Leo. Hopefully if we ever meet again it will be on better circumstances."

"I hope so too." He moved the gears into drive and I shut the car door.

He wound the window down and sighed once more. "Do you think we will see each other again maybe, I think it would be nice to talk to you."

"Maybe. Only time will tell."

And with that, he put his foot on the acceleration and waved me goodbye.

Was it really goodbye though?

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i just reread this sheeeet and changed it sm. i don't want leo to be too cocky yet. i like a soft sweet boi 😝😝🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼Ok grr bye.