Princes & I

Chapter 13: Guard Dog & I

"Ezekiel."

I call out, hand resting against the wood of the door. A tired look on my face, I peek through the narrow slit of the opening, eyes resting on the young boy who's busily scribbling I'm a notebook.

The familiar scene plays out before me, one I'd experienced only a week ago.

"Ezekiel." I call out again, noticing that my first call for his attention hadn't hadn't been noted in the slightest.

The boy's head tilts upwards, eyes widening in surprise. His pencil slips out of his hand and rolls off the edge of the textbook.

"Y... Leigh, you look... different."

"It was my friend's idea." I shake my head. "I went to a party held by a classmate and I'm never going to one again. Axel successfully dropped me off just now, and he's taking your drunken excuse of a brother—Elliot—to his room."

We both chuckle, but something worrying catches my eyes like a dandelion in a grass field. Pushing the door harder, I march toward the Ezekiel authoritatively, arms swinging at my sides. He backs away, shuffling on his behind before his back hits the bed.

"What's are those?" I point to his eye level.

"W-What are what?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

Groaning, his shoulders slump in defeat. Looking into my eyes with pleading eyes, I shoot him a look that states I'm not going to let it go any time soon.

I scroll my attention up and down his face, my finger is outstretched at the boy's above-obvious eye bags that seem to be stamped in his face. They could even be mistaken for bruises or a black eye.

"I have a big maths test coming up, I needa study and get the best mark in the class."

"I'm sure you'll be able to get the top mark," I pull a revision sheet from in between the plasticised paper of a trigonometry text. "Without spending your nights buried in these books. You're too young to live on such little sleep."

"Too young this, too young that..." The brunette crosses his arms grouchily, furrowing his brow. "I'm too young for anything."

A smile creeps onto my lips as we go back and forth about his sleep problems. Never have I ever met someone so like me that I'm annoyed at myself for being like this. He grows more antsy with ever counterattack I bring up, or however I disprove his position, banging his heels against the ground.

"Ezekiel," I relent, resting my hand on his knee to stop him from kicking. "You know I'm right, and I know that you know this is unhealthy. Why do you insist on pushing yourself to the limits?"

Silent in the next minutes that past, something clicks in my head. Tilting my chin downwards, I gently pat his knee when I see water form in his eyes.

"Is it... Something to do with Axel?"

He makes a slight noise, and I have to move my hand so he can draw his legs to his chest, a dark cloud forming over his head. Sniffing, he avoids my eyes by resting his forehead on his knees. 

"How did you know that?" Comes his muffled response.

"Because," I sigh. "After you fought with Axel... You rushed straight to your room and buried yourself in homework. You were still scribbling away when I came home from work."