My Brother's Best Friend (prequel to Neighbor)

Chapter four.

LEO'S POV

I let out a deep sigh as I roll out of bed. I looked at the clock. 1:43am. Why do I always wake up at the most random times?

I decided to head downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I tried to be as quiet as possible as I walked down the steps.

I jumped as I saw a figure sitting at the island. I let out a breath as I realized it was just Lauren. Her phone was in front of her face and she had a glass of water on the counter in front of her.

"Hi," I whispered, causing her to jump. "Sorry. What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep," she replied. "You?"

"Just needed water," I said as I sat down. "You enjoying this trip so far?"

She shrugged. "I mean, I guess so. Kinda sucks that I couldn't bring any friends and my brother got to bring two friends. It's kind of lonely without any friends."

"Well, you have me," I smiled.

Lauren blushed and looked down at the counter. She looked so cute, even if it was dark right now.

"I just wish my parents listened to me. Don't get me wrong, I love them. They have done so much for my family, but they just never listen to me. It's like I'm...invisible sometimes. They only see Erin (AN: Lauren's younger sister, if you remember from Neighbor) and Matt."

My heart hurt for her. She was just a young girl who wanted to have people see her. If only she knew that I have always seen her and heard her. I always have.

"I'm sorry about this. I wish there was something I could do."

"It's okay," she smiled. "I should get back upstairs. It's kind of late. Good night, Leo."

Don't leave now. Let's talk some more. Please. "Good night, Lauren."

She turned to head up the stairs. I listened to the thud of her feet as she walked up the steps. I wish I could talk to her more. I wanted to know more about her. She was so quiet and introverted.

I looked at the clock. I needed to get some sleep too.

LAUREN'S POV

"Alright kids, let's go! We can't stay in this house for forever!"

My mother thought it would be a good idea if we all went on a ride to some festival that was happening in the next town. I really didn't want to go, but maybe it would be good if I could sneak away from the family for a little bit.

I climbed into the car—all the way in the back, of course—and buckled up. I was stuck next to my sister, but at least she wasn't as bad as my brother and his friends.

Speaking of my brother's friends, at least it was nice to talk to Leo last night. He's always been the nicest of my brothers friends.

I put my headphones in and turned on John Mayer's album Room for Squares. This was going to be a long ride, even if the town was a short distance away.

Before I knew it, we were at this festival. It looked fun. There was a Ferris wheel an booths all over the place. People were everywhere, so maybe it would be easy to get away from my family.

"Alright kids, we'll meet here at 9:45. I want you all here, no excuses. Now-"

Before my mom could finish her sentence, we all ran off in different directions. I needed to get away as fast as I could. I saw my brother and his friends go towards the arcade, and my sister stayed with my parents.

I decided to walk around and see what kind of artsy things there were. There were people spray painting art, face paint, balloon animals, and so much more. This was really cool.

"Hey, Lauren!"

I looked over to see Leland making his way towards me. I smiled as he came closer.

"Hi," I smiled. "Nice seeing you here."

"Nice to see you as well. Who are you here with?"

"My family. They're all over the place."

"Well, would you like to walk around with me? I'm supposed to be meeting some friends in about twenty minutes or so," he asked. I nodded. It would be nice to spend the night with him.

We started walking around, talking about things like what our favorite movie was or what tv shows we liked to watch. I learned that Leland loved Friends and his favorite movie was Captain America. He's really cute.

"Here, let's play this game," Leland said as he dragged me towards the booths. "It's basically mandatory for the guy to win the girl a stuffed animal. And I am going to do just that."

I let out a small laugh. Typical boys these days. Always trying to win over the girl.

Leland picked up the balls and threw them st the pyramid of bottles. To my surprise, he knocked all of them down on the first try. Impressive. He looked over at me with a smirk, like he knew I would react like that.

"Which animal would you like, sir?" The worker asked. Leland looked over to me.

"Whatcha want, Lauren?"

I looked at the animals on the wall. There were so many to choose from.

"What about the pig?"

"A pig for the lady, please," Leland said to the worker. He grabbed the large stuffed pig from the shelf and gave it Leland, who then gave it to me. I blushed, thanking him as we turned away.

As soon as I looked up, I made eye contact with someone. That someone happened to be Leo.

And he didn't look too happy to see me with Leland.