The Janitor's Closet || Leondre Devries

Chapter 15

I walked through the hall with my head down. I sat in my second-to-last class and watched the teacher babble on about the new semester.

The bell rang and I weaved through kids towards the Janitors Closet.

I opened the door and turned on the lights. Leo was sleeping in his corner. I smiled at the sight and sat in my corner.

He woke up when I turned my phone on.

"Hey," he said yawning. "You're back."

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I turned my phone back off and looked up at him.

I didn't know what to say.

"I don't know," I responded plainly.

He looked down at his shoes like he does all the time.

"Are you okay?" I questioned. I didn't ask that enough. He's been acting more nervous than usual recently, and it can't be because of my dad.

He hesitated before saying "yes." He sounded extremely unsure.

"What's up with you lately?" I asked. I didn't want to be the one people felt bad for anymore. I didn't like this kind of attention.

He stayed silent. I didn't even have a clue of what could possibly be his problem.

After a few minutes of silence he finally spoke.

"My mom called me."

"Really? That's good isn't it?" I replied.

"Not necessarily. She only called because she needs money," he said. He opened his mouth to keep talking but then stopped.

"Go ahead, you can trust me," I reassured.

"Well, she's been calling me multiple times a day for the past couple weeks because she's in major debt, and she's gonna go to jail if she doesn't get the money to pay it off," he explained.

"Oh no, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because... I didn't want to stress you out even more," he said, finally looking straight into my eyes.

"Well... thank you... but... what are you gonna do?" I asked, concerned.

I saw his lip began twitching like he was near crying.

"I don't know," he said. He buried his head into his knees. I didn't know what to say to make him feel better. I stood up and walked over to his corner of the closet.

I wrapped my arms around him. I couldn't tell if he was crying or not. He probably didn't want me to see it. I rested my head on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Leo. It'll be okay," I tried reassuring him.

He looked up at me with tear-stained cheeks. His eyes were wet and his nose was red. It hurt me to see him this way. Somehow he managed a slight smile.

"Thank you for always being here for me," he said.

I looked deep into his eyes that were full of pain and my heart began to beat quicker. My lips felt warm but I ignored it.

"Always," I said, leaning my head back on his shoulder. Time went by slow as we waited for the bell to ring.

Our arms remained around each other until the bell sounded out in the hallway. We waited a moment before getting up.

I looked up into his eyes again. I wiped away the remaining tears under his eyes and embraced him in a hug.

"It's gonna be alright," I said before letting go.

We weaved through freshmen and out the door.