Graduation approached quickly and before Natalie knew it, all of her work had been submitted and her locker had been cleared out.
"I can't believe we'll be officially graduated on Monday," Natalie said, her fingers intertwined with Leon's.
It had quickly become routine—walking Natalie home after school. Every now and then, they'd stop by Sierra Grammar and hang around the nurse's office, but more often than not, Leon had a fight scheduled and he'd walk her home before heading for the Golden Ring.
"I know," Leon said. "It's weird, isn't it?"
Natalie nodded. Weird was one way of putting it. She still felt like a scared twelve-year-old somewhere deep inside. How was she supposed to graduate? Become an adult all of a sudden?
"Leon," Natalie started carefully, "can we go to Sierra Grammar today? One last time?"
Leon smiled at her. "I was thinking the same thing."
His pace picked up speed as they turned left and took their usual back streets towards the school. There was something bittersweet about the walk. Knowing it was probably going to be their last time. Knowing that they'd never be Natalie and Leon again—not in the way they were now.
She watched him as they walked, trying to memorise the details—the way his school shirt fell over his shoulders, the way his pant leg brushed his ankles, the way he gripped her fingers, pulling her along.
She loved the way his dark hair turned a chestnut brown in the afternoon sun. The way his skin glowed tan. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair, over his skin.
They made it through the school gates and, instead of heading towards the building where the nurse's office was, he turned towards the main building.
"Where are you going?" Natalie asked, frowning.
He glanced over his shoulder, sending her a sly grin. "I think I owe you a tour."
He led her up a deserted staircase and Natalie was hit with the realisation of just how fancy Sierra Grammar really was. She thought Helena's was a fancy school, but this was a whole other level.
The whole school was made of ancient brick and stone. Towering statues were scattered throughout the campus, between archaic trees and grass fields. Just how many grass fields did one school need?
"That's my homeroom," Leon said as they passed one of the classrooms. "And this is my locker."
Natalie giggled. He was like an eager kid during show-and-tell, but she was just as eager. She rested a hand against the locker door, imagining Leon here every morning, getting his books for the day.
She pulled the door open, instantly laughing when she saw a photo of the two of them stuck to the inside of the locker.
"That's embarrassing," Leon said, though his expression seemed more like a smirk than embarrassment. "How did that get in there?"
"You are such a dork."
"I am," he replied, taking her hand. "Next stop."
He led her up another winding staircase. The stone walls were dotted with portraits that were probably bigger than she was. Here and there, the wall would part in an arch, revealing a statue tucked in an alcove.
Natalie's fingertips grazed one.
"Is this where you sneak around with girls during class?" she teased.
"Who am I supposed to sneak around with when you don't go here?" Leon asked.
Her eyes lingered on the statue for a moment longer. She imagined another life where she would have twisted her body behind it, hidden from prying eyes, Leon's body against hers.
When she turned back to Leon, he was smirking at her like he'd read her thoughts.
He lifted a brow at her, stepping backwards into the alcove. His fingers, still tight around her own, tugged her in after him.
She giggled, moving closer until she could feel the heat off his body and his breath on her face.
"What do you think you're doing?" Natalie asked.
"Sneaking around with a girl," he replied. "Obviously."
He paused, frowning at her for a moment before releasing her hand and pulling off her tie.
"What are you—" He tugged the tie over her head, fixing it around her neck.
"There," he said. "It's like we're classmates now."
Natalie pulled on the tie, loving the way it looked on her—the way it smelled, just like Leon. She slid her hands up his chest, locking them around the back of his neck.
"And what class did we just sneak out of?"
"Come on, Natalie. You'd never sneak out of a class," he replied, chuckling lowly. He lowered his head, resting his forehead against hers. "This is lunch time, of course."
"I don't know. I never thought I'd sneak out of my bedroom window, but I did. I think you'd be able to convince me to do anything," she said.
Leon's lips twitched. He moved even closer, eyes dipping to her lips, nose nudging at her own. "Really?"
She nodded. Just barely. A miniscule movement of her head. She felt his lips brush against hers and her eyes unconsciously fluttered shut, her lips parting for his.
And then he was kissing her.
Natalie thought she would never get enough of him kissing her. No, his lips were quickly becoming another form of oxygen for her. She wanted more of it. More of him.
And now, the way he pressed her against the wall of the alcove, hidden in the shadows of his school grounds—her heart pounded. Heat pooled in her stomach. His hands slid down the sides of her body until his fingers gripped the bottom of her skirt.
In one swift movement, she was hoisted up, her legs wrapping around his waist as he pinned her back against the wall. Her fingers found their way into his hair, tugging on the strands near the nape of his neck.
"Leon," she sighed into his mouth. He pulled back, just a centimetre, eyes searching hers frantically.
"Fucking hell," he muttered. "Sometimes, I think I was made for you."
"Made for me?" she echoed, giggling.
"Do you know how much I think about you?" His voice was breathy. Every whispered word sent shivers through Natalie's entire body. "It's like, I try so hard to think about something else—anything else—but you're always there, in the back of my mind. And I want to take care of you when you're sick or hurt, and make you smile, and... It's like this—this obsession. I think I would do anything for you."
"Why?" Natalie asked, her voice matching his whisper. She felt stunned at his confession. "Why me?"
"Why not you?" he murmured. His lips brushed hers, his eyes turning dark. Intoxicated. "Why anyone but you?"
"I think I'm obsessed with you too," Natalie said.
She ran her hand up from his neck and over his jawline, memorising the angles, memorising the barely-there scruff of stubble. She continued up, over his cheekbone, feeling the healed scars along the way, before cupping her hand against his cheek.
"I think I'm beyond obsessed," she added.
He released a short breath that hit her mouth, mingling with her own breath, before his lips were on hers again. Messily. Quickly. Teeth against her bottom lip. Mouth against the corner of hers, then down, onto her jaw, onto her neck.
She was quickly discovering how much she liked Leon's mouth against her body.
And his chest—she straddled him so closely that his abdomen pressed between her legs, against her inner thighs, and her pulse quickened at the feeling. She knew her skirt was riding up. Probably her shirt too. She didn't care. She wanted to feel Leon's skin against hers. She wanted to feel him everywhere.
Leon pulled away suddenly.
His chest heaved with each heavy breath, and she knew she was panting too. She rested a hand on his chest, trying to find the words to ask—why?
His lips twitched with a smile and his eyes roamed over her, trailing from her own half-lidded eyes, to her lips, and down further. He took her tie—his tie—between his two fingers and tugged on it lightly.
"As much as I love seeing you like this," he began lowly, "we still have a tour to finish."
Natalie's face flamed. "Right. I forgot we were..."
"At school?"
"Right. That."
He laughed, his hands sliding down her thighs as he let her back down. He looked at her once, his lips twitching again. He reached up, fixing her hair before taking her hand.
"Let's go."
As much as Natalie didn't want to leave the alcove, she let Leon lead the way.
She tried to remind herself that this was a school, and not even her own school! She'd probably get in trouble if someone found her here with Leon. But a big part of herself didn't care. She wanted to keep kissing him—she wanted to lock him up and keep him for herself.
He led her further down the hallway, past classrooms that looked straight out of Hogwarts. She thought they passed a lab at one point that probably rivalled the best university laboratories in the state.
"This," Leon began, opening one of the classroom doors, "is my English class."
Natalie stepped inside as he shut the door behind them. Like the other parts of the school, it was fancy. A small bookshelf sat at the back of the classroom with a built-in sofa for reading. The desks looked antique, like they cost more than her yearly school tuition.
"I knew my teacher would leave it unlocked," Leon said, circling the front desk. "He's a bit of an airhead."
"Where do you sit?" Natalie asked. He pointed at a desk in the second row. She lifted a brow. "I would've taken you as more of a back row kind of guy."
"Oh, really?"
His desk, while looking as antique and fancy as the others, was still the typical teenager's desk, covered in scratches and drawings. In the bottom corner of the desk, was an 'N' with a love heart.
She traced her finger over the carving, her pulse quickening as she imagined it might be for her. That it might have been scribbled in by Leon, with her on his mind.
A thought occurred to Natalie. "Can you sit there?"
"What? Where?"
"In your usual desk. Sit there. Just for a minute."
He narrowed his eyes at her in questioning but moved to take his seat regardless. He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Now what?"
"Just stay there," she said. "Face the front."
He begrudgingly obeyed, turning to face the whiteboard at the front of the classroom.
She moved to take a seat in the row behind him. From here, she could see the back of Leon's head. She straightened her tie and imagined for a moment.
She imagined what it would have been like to go to school with Leon. To sit in this classroom with him. Would she have fallen for him on the first day? Probably. She could imagine herself, sitting here, eyes glued to the back of his head, hoping he might turn around and ask for a pencil or something.
Her grades probably would've slipped. There was no way she'd be able to pay attention to the teacher with him sitting right there.
She imagined being paired with him for a school project or something. Maybe they would work on their homework together. Maybe they'd happen to sit next to each other, on coincidence.
In another life, that could have been them.
Leon turned then, eyes sparkling as he reached out a hand.
"Excuse me," he said, voice lilting in mockery. "Do you have a pencil I could borrow?"
She rolled her eyes, laughing and playing along. "Oh my God, my school crush noticed me!"
"You're telling me," he replied. "I never would've passed English if we were in the same class together. With you right there, behind me? I wouldn't have absorbed any information."
Natalie smiled at him. Of course, he had been thinking the same thing as her. Sometimes it seemed like Leon knew her mind better than she did.
"Do you think we would have been friends?" she asked. His hand still rested on her desk, and she traced a line over his calloused knuckles.
"Oh, absolutely not," Leon said. She frowned at him, and he continued, "I would've been way too nervous to talk to you."
She laughed, imagining a universe where Leon would be too nervous to talk to her. But, she supposed, he had been nervous, hadn't he? Nervous to knock on her door. Nervous to ask for her name.
Her finger trailed over the back of his hand until it was covered with her own.
"What would have happened, do you think?" she asked. "If we were classmates."
"I think," he started slowly, as if processing the question, "we would have found our way to each other. I'm sure we would have."
Leon's eyes drifted to her hand over his and he flipped it, intertwining their fingers together, palm to palm.
"I think," Natalie said, rocking forward in her seat to lean closer towards him, "that I would've been in the nurse's office, and you would've knocked on the door. And I would have seen you, with your bruised cheek and bleeding lip. I'd panic, but in the end, I'd let you in."
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He lifted their joined hands, pressing the back of her hand against his cheek.
"Why did you let me in that day?" he asked. His eyes had narrowed slightly, like he was remembering it himself. "I was a stranger. We'd never met before. Why did you let me in? Why did you take care of me?"
"I couldn't just let you leave. Not like that," she said. She thought for a moment, picturing him that day, his face appearing through the cracked-open door. "Maybe I secretly liked the bruises."
"Whatever it was, I'm glad you let me in," he said. He turned his head, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of her hand.
"I'd always let you in," Natalie replied. "Inthis universe. In every universe. I will always let you in."
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thank you all so much for reading Bruised!
This has been such a challenging story to write but here we are! I started this story as a short story I wrote for a Valentine's Day competition in 2020. I didn't even win but I just loved Natalie and Leon so much I couldn't get them out of my head. So 3 years later, here is their full story!
I really want to thank you guys for putting up with the slow and inconsistent updates, and supporting me all along the way! Seeing your comments on every chapter was my main motivator, you have no idea how much it meant to me!
I'd really like to thank some of the readers whose comments meant the world to me along the way: @fluttermannerisms @_SpillTheTia @saturnsdaisywrites @DarkMode06 @kaz_eyeballgouger @ourenebaebae @nataliezz1 @jana200510 @flowers_034 @nkembaby17 @aelin_feyre24 and I'm sure I missed so many more! Thank you so much for reading and commenting!
I hope to see you all in another one of my stories!
- Livia x