"As a thank you for standing up for us, I hereby relieve you of your side of the bet," Quinn said, "you don't have to come to the Halloween dance if you don't want to."
"A bet is a bet," Leo replied, resting his cheek on his palm as he spoke.
"So, that means you'll still come?" Quinn grinned happily.
"Sure," Leo shrugged lightly, "but no promises on bringing a date."
"Aw," Quinn pouted, "do you want me to set you up with someone? Because Milan here could tell you what an awesome matchmaker I am. Infact, I already have someone in mind for you—"
"Nope, your matchmaking skills are not needed here," Milan interrupted Quinn before they could spill the beans.
"Interesting," Leo muttered.
Quinn opened their mouth to speak, but before they could the classroom door opened and Mr. Sorkin walked in. Their last two Mathlete meeting were cancelled since their teacher was sick, but now he was finally back.
"Afternoon, everyone," Mr. Sorkin greeted, "Quinn. I see you're here again."
"Don't mind me, I'll blend in with the wall, you won't even know I'm here," Quinn smiled as they got up from the chair they were sitting on to go and sit at the back of the classroom.
"I highly doubt that, but okay," Mr. Sorkin mumbled before clearing his throat and addressing the four team members, "there's a math tournament at Brownhill High in a month, and we'll be participating. So, no goofing around in meetings anymore. I want you all to focus."
"Yes, sir!" Jai exclaimed, making the teacher sigh.
"Okay, so I got these worksheets from last year's—"
The meeting went on for an hour. Once it ended, everyone left to go back home. Whenever Quinn crashed the meetings, Milan went home in the bus with them, instead of going in Leo's car. Leo was the first one out of the door, rushing as soon as the clock struck four.
Milan was packing his stuff, ready to leave when he noticed that Leo had left his worksheet that they were supposed to finish at home and give to Mr. Sorkin in class tomorrow. Milan grabbed the paper, keeping it in his back as he rushed out with Quinn to find the older boy.
Leo's car wasn't in the parking lot, which meant that he had already left. The two friends waited for bus, talking about gossip from here and there till the topic somehow ended up being about Leo.
"He left his worksheet in class," Milan stated.
"You can always just go over to his place and give it to him," Quinn casually replied as the two grabbed empty seats on the bus.
"Are you crazy? I'm not doing that," Milan said.
"Why not? It's not really that big of a deal," Quinn retorted, "he'll probably thank you for it. Maybe he'll invite you in. Take you to his room. Oh my god, what if he—"
"Can you not?" Milan all but whined, "knowing Leo, he'll probably snatch it from my hand and then shut the door on my face."
"Yeah, that's more likely to happen," Quinn sighed, "but I can still dream!"
"Eh, I think I'll just let it be," Milan said. Quinn didn't push further, and the topic of conversation changed.
Once Milan was in his room, he sat on his study desk and took out his homework, getting to it immediately. Hours passed as he studied, only taking a break in between to watch random cat videos on YouTube to clear his mind. The empty worksheet that sat on the edge of desk still plagued his mind, but he just ignored it.
Soon enough, his parents were home from work and he was on the dinner table having supper with them.
"Did you get your grade for the biology quiz?" Milan's dad asked.
"Yeah, I got an A," Milan answered as he took a bit of his pork.
"Good, good," his dad said with a nod.
"Ben called today, he said he's living in—"
"And what about you math team, are there any competitions coming up?" Milan's dad interrupted his wife.
Milan sighed as he looked at his mom, who was frowning at her husband. Ben was Milan's older brother, who his dad had somewhat disowned. Not officially, but even taking his name in front of him was not tolerated.
Milan's brother, Ben, was in the simplest of words a troublemaker. Their parents had set really high expectations of them since childhood, and where Milan was the ideal son, Ben rebelled and often ended up causing chaos. He was kicked out at eighteen, without ever graduating from school. Milan's father forbid him from talking to his brother, but he had kept in touch with him in secret.
"Yeah, next month," Milan said.
"Is the team prepared?"
"Yes," Milan knew to keep his answers short and precise.
"Good. This will reflect well on your college applications," Milan's father paused to take a sip of water, "I was talking to George, his son is studying in—"
Milan tuned out the conversation after that. Replying only with the occasional yes or no. As soon as he was done eating, he excused himself, saying that he still had homework left, even though he didn't. Once back in his room, Milan sat down on his chair as he stared tiredly at the wall.
His eyes once again fell on the worksheet, and before he could overthink again, he grabbed the paper and exited his room. He sneaked down the stairs, he could hear his parents talking in the kitchen, so he tip-toed carefully to front door. He opened it, being as quiet as possible, and rushed out.
He jogged till he was a few houses away, before slowing down. As he walked with his mind on the mission, he realised he didn't even know for certain which house Leo even lived in.
"Fuck..." Milan muttered, wondering how the hell would he find his address. But the last thing Milan wanted to do was go back home, so he kept on walking.
His best guess was the house at the end of the street. He knew the old couple that lived there, and he knew that they had moved out a few months ago. So there was a good chance that Leo lived there. Once he reached the house, he sighed in relief when he saw a familiar sedan parked in the driveway.
He stood near the fence, giving himself a quick peptalk, before walking over to the porch and knocking on the door. Milan's right foot was tapping on the ground anxiously as he waited for the door to be opened. He heard some scuffle behind the door, someone finally answered.
Milan stared at the man in front of him, he had a feeling he had seen him before, but he just couldn't pin point where. He was a few inches taller than Milan, with blond hair and a stubble. He was very, very handsome, and Milan didn't do well in the company of hot men. The stranger was holding a cat in his arms, as he stared at the boy with a polite smile on his face.
"Uh," Milan was suddenly at a loss for words as he blinked, standing at the door awkwardly, the worksheet probably wet from how much Milan was sweating.
"How can I help you?" The man asked.
"I'm here for, uh, Leo?" Milan finally spoke up, and the man nodded, the smile still on his face as he moved to the side to let the boy in.
"He's upstairs in his room," the man said as he led Milan to the living room, "you can wait here, I'll just go and get him."
Milan nodded, not trusting his mouth to say anything sensical. The handsome man gave him another smile, before leaving the room. Once he was out of sight, Milan let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.
As he went to sit on one of the couches, his eyes fell on a photoframe on the wall. He immediately recognised who was in it.
It was Mr. Nahar, his history teacher. Milan's eyes widened in realisation as he remembered where he had seen the blond man before, he was Mr. Nahar's husband! Milan's brain started working overtime as he tried to think of reasons why Leo would be living with him, and what could their relation possibly be. Nothing he thought of made sense, and before he could think of explanation he did, he was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Milan turned to face Leo, who was standing at the entrance of the living room, and he didn't look happy.
"What the fu— what are you doing here?" Leo asked.
"I... Uh," Milan stuttered, his brain felt as if it was all fogged up, "you left your worksheet in the class."
"My worksheet?" Leo raised a questioning brow. Milan nodded his head, before walking towards the older boy and handing him the piece of paper that was heavily creased by now. "You can here to give me this?"
"Yeah?" Milan blinked at Leo.
"How did you know which house was mine?" Leo asked.
"Your car was in the driveway," Milan muttered.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Okay."
"I... I'll leave now," Milan said as he started walking.
Before he could walk out, Leo stepped in front of him, effectively blocking his way. Milan looked up at the boy in confusion. Leo looked at the photoframes on the wall, knowing very well that Milan must've figured out who he lived with. Leo looked back down at the boy, who was starting to turn red.
"Want to come up to my room?"
***
I need to stop ending chapters on cliffhangers. it's a problem I swear