Milan tried to keep up with Leo, who was walking a few steps ahead. Milan wasn't short by any means, he was around 5'10", but Leo was taller than him by at least four inches.
Milan was shocked when Leo asked him whether he was coming with him. He had nodded rapidly, and said a hurried goodbye to Delilha and Jai before following the other boy. And now he was wondering why he did that. The silence was making him feel more and more awkward, so he finally decided to break it.
"So, uh, I'll take the bus home," Milan spoke up as they walked into the parking lot.
"The next bus won't be here for another half hour," Leo pointed out, "I'll drop you home."
"You don't have to," Milan immediately replied. Though a part of him really, really wanted Leo to.
"We live on the same street, you literally live on my way home," Leo said.
"Fair enough," Milan tried to be casual about it.
"Or we can go somewhere else first and finish our session?" Leo asked.
"Where?"
"Public library? Doubt we'll run into anyone there," Leo suggested.
"Cool," Milan replied.
Milan followed Leo to his car, a black Chevy. He didn't really know a lot about cars, but he felt that the sedan somehow suited Leo's personality. The two boys got into the front, but when Milan tried to wear the seatbelt, it wouldn't budge.
Leo noticed Milan's struggle, and leaned forward to help out the boy. Milan's breath hitched as he noticed the closeness between them. Leo was looking right into Milan's eyes as he grabbed the buckle, before pulling it with force.
"It gets stuck sometimes," Leo whispered, his voice deep, "you just have to know the right way to pull it out."
"Uh," Milan couldn't speak. He stared at Leo with slightly widened eyes as the older boy buckled him in. The corner of Leo's lips rose in a smirk, as he finally leant back into his own seat.
Once the two were settled, Leo started the car. Milan's heart was still beating fast from the little incident, and he cursed himself internally for getting so worked about something so small. Leo was just helping him out, it didn't mean anything. Nothing at all.
The radio played in the background as the two drove in silence. Leo wasn't much a talker, and Milan was too stunned to speak. He was consciously trying to stay quiet in Leo's presence too, since he didn't trust his mouth. He had the tendency to blurt out random stuff when anxious. And he really wanted to avoid saying anything stupid in front of the older boy.
After they reached the library, they found an empty table in the corner yet again. Both of them prayed that they don't run into anyone they knew, for their own separate reasons.
Time flew by as Milan helped Leo out with the assignment. The session was going well, and Milan was mentally applauding himself for not saying anything idiotic, well, until he did.
"You have really pretty eyelashes," Milan complimented.
Leo was sitting next to him, really close. And Milan just couldn't help but notice every single detail of the boy's face. He noticed how cute Leo looked whenever he furrowed his brows when he didn't understand something, or how intimidating he seemed when he stared at Milan with his constant poker face.
Milan also couldn't help but notice how pretty Leo's brown eyes were, and his incredibly long eyelashes.
"Thanks?" Leo replied, but it came off as a question. He was a little taken aback by how out of the blue the comment was.
"You're welcome," Milan muttered, his cheeks turned pink immediately as he realised what he had said. The last thing he wanted to do was freak Leo out.
Leo couldn't help but smile at how flushed Milan looked, and how he refused to meet his eyes. He just stared at the book in front of them with the utmost level of focus. Leo noticed that Milan's leg had started shaking, and before he knew what he was doing, he kept his hand on the boy's knee.
Milan froze. He stared at Leo's hand on his knee, and Leo stared at the boy's face. Leo immediately pulled back his hand, and kept it on his lap. The two pretended like nothing had happened, as Milan paused for a moment before he started talking about the Cold War once again.
"We should head back, we've been here for a couple of hours now," Leo spoke up.
"Yeah, time really flew by," Milan nodded as he gathered his things.
The two boys left the library, after a fifteen minute drive, Leo stopped the car in front of Milan's house. He was watching the boy as he removed his seatbelt and grabbed his bag from the backseat. Milan unlocked the door, but then he turned to face Leo. He parted his lips to say something, but closed them almost immediately.
"See you tomorrow," Leo said instead. Milan nodded, giving Leo a shy smile before opening the passenger door and getting out.
Milan stood by the side of the road as he watched Leo drive by, he waved awkwardly, even though Leo probably wasn't even looking. Milan sighed as he walked up the porch and unlocked the front door, he knew his parents would still be at work.
Once in his room, he slid his phone out of his pocket to drop his best friend a message.
To : Quinn | From : Milan
code orange. come over.
To : Milan | From : Quinn
On my way, fruitcup
Quinn reached Milan's place around thirty minutes later, Milan was pacing around the room as they sat on the bed, watching the boy with a curious expression.
"Okay so, we were at the school library, and we were just getting started when Delilah and Jai showed up and asked if they could join. I wanted to say no and tell them to politely fuck off but I obviously didn't want to seem rude so I—"
"You really need to learn how to say no," Quinn pointed out.
"—anyway, so a minute later Leo gets up and announces that he's going home. And I couldn't help but feel disappointed, you know? At first he didn't even want me to tutor him, and then he suddenly did, so I might've been a little excited, and now he was leaving because of Delilah and Jai—"
"Breath for a second, my boy," Quinn said, getting up from the bed and keeping their hand on Milan's shoulder to help the boy breathe.
"Yes. Okay. Then when he's making his movie's main character like exit, he turns back to me and asks me if I'm coming or not. And I swear to god my balls burst at that moment—"
"And then you obviously followed him like a puppy. Continue," Quinn remarked with a nod as they back down on the bed, pulling Milan next to them.
"I was gonna catch the bus to go home but he asks me if I wanna go to the public library to continue the session, so I agree. Then we get in his car, and oh my god, the fucking seatbelt was stuck!" Milan exclaimed.
"I like where this is going..."
"So, then he leant forward to help me out. He was so close, Quinn, he was so goddamn close. I could feel his breath on my face and it smelt like strawberry? And then he had that smirk on his face that's just so fucking sexy," Milan groaned as he thought about what happened earlier that day.
"Don't stop now! Keep talking!" Quinn was now staring intently at the boy.
"Then we went to the library and we studied. I randomly blurted out and told him I liked his eyelashes? Who the fuck even says that?" Milan sighed.
"You, apparently," Quinn answered with a shrug.
"Then he drove me back home since he lives on the same street. I still don't know which house is his. I'm guessing the one at the end of the lane, Mrs. Rodriguez used to live there but she moved away a few months ago and I'm pretty sure I saw moving trucks a while back. Maybe I'll ask my mom," Milan hummed as he thought about it.
"Nothing happened on the ride back home?" Quinn asked.
"No... Wait, oh! You know how my leg sometimes goes full vibration mode when I'm anxious?" Milan questioned, and Quinn nodded in response, "it happened in the library and he kept his hand on it for a second. And holy shit. He kept his hand on my knee, Quinn! My fucking knee!"
"How scandalous, I hope he wore protection!" Quinn gasped dramatically, making Milan roll his eyes.
"Shut up," Milan grumbled, "I really shouldn't be getting so excited over nothing, right?"
"Well, it's not nothing..."
"I just don't want a repeat of last time" Milan sighed.
"You've gotta move on, though," Quinn said.
"Yeah," Milan pursed his lips as he thought about the older boy, "I think I might have a little crush on Leo."
"Yep."
"I'm fucked, aren't I?"
"Yep."
***
I miss school crushes,,, they were so pure tbh and the amount of excitement when they as much as breathed in ur direction!!!!