Delicate

Chapter Six

"Fine. What is it?" Leo asked.

"I'll ask out Nessa, publicly, to be my date for the Halloween dance. If I do it then you'll have to come to the dance too, with a date," Quinn finished.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why should I care if you ask her out or not? That's none of my business," Leo answered.

"Are you not a gambling man?" Quinn asked.

"There's no gamble here. With your personality... I don't put it beneath you to serenade her in front of the whole school or whatever," Leo shrugged, making Quinn chuckle.

"Fine, if she says yes, then you'll have to keep up your end of the deal," Quinn changed the terms, "you're not betting on me, then, but on her reaction."

"Hm," Leo hummed, giving it a thought, "why do you want me to come to the dance so bad?"

"Just trying to spice up your boring life!" Quinn smiled.

"My life's not—" Leo paused, "you know what? Fine. Whatever gets you to shut up. If she says no then you have to leave me alone for the rest of the year."

"Really?" Quinn asked, wide eyed, and Leo simply nodded in response. "It's on!"

Quinn's grin got wider as they got up from their chair, and confidently walked over towards Nessa. Leo watched as Nessa got up too. Since they were out of hearing range, Leo didn't know what they were talking about.

But after about a minute or so, Nessa broke out in a big smile as she nodded her head. She then leant forward to kiss Quinn's cheek, before going back to her table with the rest of the cheerleaders. Quinn started making their way back to Leo and Milan, a smirk on their face.

"See you on the 31st, don't forget to a bring a date," Quinn said to Leo, who frowned. Leo didn't reply as he got up from the chair, and left the cafeteria.

"Quinn?" Milan finally spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"You've known Nessa since middle school," Milan stated.

"Yep."

"You both went on four dates this month," Milan continued.

"Yep."

"You told me she's been dropping hints about the dance since last week," Milan said.

"Yep.

"Quinn?"

"Yeah?"

"You're the devil."

"Yep."

~~~

"Mr. Sorkin is sick and on leave, so there's no meeting today," Milan told Leo as the boy entered the classroom.

"What are you doing here?" Leo asked, it was just the two of them there.

"Oh, uh," Milan paused. He scratched the back of his neck as he continued, "I wasn't sure whether you knew or not so I thought to come here and let you know. Didn't want you wondering why nobody was here."

"Oh, sweet," Leo muttered.

"Yeah..." Milan trailed off. The two were looking at each other's faces blankly, clearly not knowing how to continue the conversation.

"Want a ride home?" Leo asked.

"Sure," Milan answered.

Ever since their first tutoring session, Leo had been giving Milan a ride home. They were mostly silent fifteen drives, the two barely made any small talk, and just listened to the radio.

"Stuck again?" Leo asked as he Milan once again failed the pull the seatbelt.

The truth was that Milan had long figured out how to do it, but a part of him liked it when Leo got all up and close. Okay, not just a part, but the whole of Milan liked having Leo near him. So, he played innocent, and shrugged with a slight pout on his face as Leo helped him buckle in again.

"You don't really have to take Quinn's bet seriously," Milan spoke up, feeling guilty as he remembered how his best friend had tricked the boy, "they were just messing around. If you don't want to come to the dance then you don't have to."

"A bet is a bet," Leo replied.

"Okay then," Milan licked his lower lip, contemplating whether he should ask what was on his mind or not. He decided to fuck it, and continued, "so, who are you going to take as your date, then?"

"Haven't really thought about it," Leo answered truthfully.

"Nobody in school that you're interested in?" Milan asked, feeling both scared as well as hopeful.

"Not really," Leo muttered.

"How come?" Milan turned his head to look at the older boy now, who was looking ahead at the road.

"What do you mean?"

"There's no one you like?" Milan rose a brow, but Leo couldn't see.

"No," Leo answered.

"Come on," Milan said, "there's got to be someone. Everyone has at least one person they have the hots for!"

"Who do you have the hots for, then?" Leo glanced for a moment to look at the other boy, whose cheeks were now starting to turn pink.

"No one," Milan grumbled as he sat back straight, looking out the window instead of Leo now.

Leo glanced at Milan again, who seemed like he was sulking for reasons beyond Leo's comprehension. But Leo couldn't deny the fact that he loooked adorable as he did so.

"Do you have a date for the dance?" Leo asked this time.

"No," Milan answered.

"Why not?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're smart. And cute. How come there isn't a line of boys begging you to go with them?" Leo spoke truthfully.

"You think I'm cute?" Milan asked as he turned to face Leo again.

"Yeah," Leo said nonchalantly, "you're kind of like a puppy."

"A puppy?" Milan narrowed his eyes at Leo, making the other boy chuckle.

"Sweet. Soft. Even if you bite it probably won't hurt much," Leo explained, and Milan's face was fully flushed now.

"Are you... Are you a dog person, then?" Milan asked, hoping his actual question was clear for Leo.

"I like both dogs and cats, I think. I have a cat so I might be a little biased," Leo answered, making Milan sigh. Nope, he didn't get it.

"You have a cat?" Milan questioned, changing the topic.

"Yeah, his name is baseball," Leo said.

"Your cat's name is baseball?" Milan blinked.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Leo answered with a shrug.

***