Leon, Leon (BoyxNB romance)

Chapter 9

“Honestly, what’s up with you tonight? You have the weirdest mood about you. Not to mention the fact you’re glued to your phone.”

I had the sofa claimed, with my feet up and my face towards the TV, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I had a half opened bag of Doritos on my lap, and an old blanket and two puppies lying over my legs. Realistically, I should be in heaven right now. But a certain someone hadn’t messaged me back and Milly’s out of her room.

And she was never out of her room.

“What’s up, Mills? Smelt the Doritos?”
“Hey lil Cal Cal, how are you doing?”
“Uh, excuse me. You’re forgetting some important people.” She looked around, confused, for a while, then smiled and laughed as she ran over to my feet and sat on the floor.
“I’m so sorry, how could I forget you, my favourite little furry friends? Who are my best boys and girls, huh? Who are they? They’re you! Yes they are, look at how cute and small and fluffy you are.”

Both of the puppies started bouncing back and forth on my legs, before Cocoa – with tongue out, and little brown tail wiggling – jumped off the couch and ran over to Milly, while Caramel stayed nestled in the blanket.
“Ohhh, picking sides, are we, my little comrades. Fine, I see how it is. At least now I know who the superior one is.”
“Ok,” she said, hardly able to stop her chuckling enough to get the words out, “That’s canine racism, for one.”
“It’s a bloody good act of war is what it is!” I tried to keep my old-timey grandfather voice going, grabbing on to an invisible cane and jutting my lip out for extra effect, but there was no way I could keep it up as I looked at her laughing face, dimples as deep as moon craters and a ball of fuzz in her hands. “We’re so stupid, Jesus fucking Christ.”
“Yeah, but it’s good fun, right?”
“The best.”
She smiled, but didn’t say anything for a while as she looked down, stroking Cocoa behind his ears. “But seriously though, how are you, Cally ? Tell me all the news. We don’t talk enough, and I feel obligated to meet my ‘Good Big Sister’ quota.”
“I’m... not bad. I think a lot of things have been up and down.”
“Are those boys still giving you shit?”
“No, not really. I mean yeah but... not like they used to. There’s no pushing around or taking my stuff or any crap like that anymore, thankfully.”
“Ok, well that’s an improvement,” She said, budging my legs as she sat on the sofa. Even though it was hard, to begin with – I had no idea how she’d react, if she’d just tell me to fight back and stop being a pussy like Mam had done when I had the same kind of situation in Primary school – but now it was open as a topic of conversation, it felt good to get it all out. “But you know it isn’t cool that they’re doing that. I don’t care if they’re lads and it’s all banter, if it gets you down they should stop it.”
“But you don’t get it, Mills. Girls aren’t like that, they’re quieter and they don’t have so many things to worry about in conversation all the time-“
“Firstly, shut up. No offence. But you have no idea what being a fifteen year old girl was like. Constant stress about ‘Picking sides’ when things got catty, and if you even spoke to one of their exes they’d fucking exile you. But secondly, even if girls were these perfect idealistic things that just sing and make daisy chains with each other all day, I doubt having a penis and/or being arbitrarily stuck into one side of a stupid societal binary gives you a right to be an asshole. You’re a perfectly good guy, and there are other people like that out there not matter what they have in their pants or like to wear or whatever shit.”
“Just not anywhere close to me.”
She sighed. “It’ll get better, Cal. I know it’s useless information now, but it will. I promise.”
“Yeah. I... I know.” I gave a meek smile, and she showed her dimples back at me. They always looked cute, even as a kid – everyone said so. It sucked I had only inherited half of our parents dimplage. On my left side, too, my worst out of the two. There was a reason I used to have an MCR fringe, back in ye olde days.

“Anyway,” she said, trying to get enthusiasm back into the conversation. “What about that new kid, huh? You said he was fun, right?”
“Technically I think I said he’s weird,” I said. She rolled her eyes. “But... yes, he is fun, too. And his name’s Leon, by the way.”
“Ooh, fancy. He speaks French, yeah?”
“Mhm, from Belgium. I’ve being trying to help him with his English, actually. Even though it’s nearly perfect, he still wants to improve more. So he’s going to help me with my French stuff, in return.”
“Oh, that’s so cool. It’s like you’re exchange buddies or something! Except I guess you don’t get to go to Belgium. Boo.”
“I think I have enough on my plate without a travel across the channel right about now,” I said. “And also, if you ever meet him, don’t call him my exchange buddy. Or you will no longer be my sister.”
“Awww, ok, if you say so. Dim Study Buddy?”
“Dim Study Buddy o gwbl.”
“God, we could be on Spec.” She laughed. “But seriously, I’m glad you have someone actually decent. I still don’t get why you don’t just go back to Alex and Susie and all those guys – I know you say you’re on good terms but I can tell things aren’t nearly the same – but that’s your decision, to do whatever you want there. For now, I’m glad you’re making a new friend. And an international one too! You’re so cultured.”
“Thanks, Milly. It’s just all that shit happened with Cass and I can’t be arsed to sort it all out. It’s not like they are trying, either. Besides, I won’t even be here next year. There’s no point, now.”
“Well, as long as you’re cool with it. So what’s Leon like? Is he one of the lads, or not so much?”
“I... guess so? Not sure if he’s joined any teams or anything, but I think they’re mates. He did say, like, he preferred me, though, but I think he just meant the way I talk. Because I don’t use as much slang or speak as quickly as other people.”
She looked at me, her eyebrow raised. “Uh-huh. And you’re talking every day?”
“Uh, yeah, starting to,” I chuckled nervously, rubbing my hands together. “But it’s only because we have English so often, you know, and like we have to revise a lot for stuff. Because he hasn’t been here for the first couple of weeks at school, especially.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get you. Talking outside of school?”
“Um, yeah, he asked for my phone number on Friday. He hasn’t messaged me yet, though, and he probably just wants it if he has questions about work, or something. It’s not a big deal, or anything.”

She sat there quietly, for a while, with Cocoa now on his back and receiving tummy rubs, and it was probably the most tense I had felt in a while. She was usually super calm, my sister, but when she was quiet, she made sure to make a meaning out of it. It reminds me of the really enthusiastic music teacher I had in Year 7, who always used to say things vaguely poetic and deep. ‘When silence is used well, both in and out of music,’ she would say, ‘It can be the strongest tool you have, much more than any amount of noise. It is the inclusion, the decision, to add nothing, not the absence of something.’

“Why do you make so many excuses, Cal?”
“I don’t know, Milly.”
“You’re trying to find a reason for why he’s doing all this?”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t think he could just like you. You don’t think anyone can just like you.”
“I... no, I don’t.”
“Did he really say he preferred you to the other boys?”
“That he preferred talking to me, yeah.”
“And did he also say that he only wanted to talk you for revision, and school stuff?”
“No. Well yes, but also no.”
“No? Then what did he say?”
“That he got bored in his house, so he wanted someone to talk to.”
“Huh, I see.”
“Yeah.”

“Maybe he could be the one to prove you wrong, Cal.”
“Yeah. Maybe he could be.”
“Do you want that?”
“Yeah, Mills. I really do.”