A/N: Sooo, this is a big chapter so I really hope you enjoy it! Please let me know what you think :) x And dedicated to the amazing makeawish for helping me sort the order out because without her, you would not have had this chapter! THANK YOU!
Leon and I have been practising my driving for the past few days now and we’ve been progressively spending more and more time together out of the car too. Right now, we’re making lunch at his place with Rex and Sonny. The boys have come back from work for their late afternoon lunch break and wanted to see me too, which is sweet. We made sandwiches and ate crisps for our light lunch as well as sharing a bowl of strawberries dipped in chocolate, which was a bit romantic of us to make together.
Once they’ve headed back to work, Leon and I can’t help but descend into some kissing on the sofa, which gets progressively more intense and intimate, before I pull back my head to look at him. He looks so handsome right now, his hair is a little wispy and his cheeks are widening into a smile.
He must have felt a shift between us these past few days. It was subtle, but we definitely have been talking a lot more, spending the majority of the day and night together and continuously texting throughout the day about nothing in particular. He must have felt that what was happening between us was descending into relationship territory, and that both petrifies me and surprisingly, excites me.
I still feel as if I should be single for a little longer and whilst Leon hasn’t pressed for us to go into a relationship, I’m just going to let that obvious question hang in the air without answering it unless pressed, but it seems like we might be heading that way.
He brushes my hair out of my eyes and I rest myself on his hips, my legs either side of him and give him a small smile. He certainly feels turned on after that make out. Careful not to arouse him anymore, I sit still and smirk at him.
‘Need to cool down?’ I tease, as his legs raise up so I can rest my back against them.
‘Mmm, don’t move though. It’s nice having you there,’ he gives me a wink and I roll my eyes at him. ‘Shall we go for a drive in a bit?’ He asks, running his hands up and down my legs.
I agree, brushing my fingertips along his chest and smiling. ‘I like the sound of that. Can I go home and change first though?’
I stayed over at Leon’s house last night seeing as no one was in my house last night; not even Ozzy was there, so I would have been completely alone, so Leon suggested I stayed over. While we may have shared a bed, the furthest we got to was spooning and sleeping, rather than the typical making out. .
‘Want to walk me back?’ I ask cheekily, standing up and stretching.
He pretends to not want to, but the grin he gives me tells me his answer. I snuggle beneath his arm as we slip our flossy shoes on and head back to my place. The sun has been out in full force this week, which has caused Leon and I to frequent a few of the parks and both make out and have little picnics. He made me drive to some parks a little further away, confident that I was much better at driving than I had believed. I tried parallel parking yesterday, which was a success but I’m not ready for a three point turn, so Leon has always been ready and waiting to take over the wheel when necessary. Since Ozzy hasn’t been here since my last driving lesson, Leon has taken over the reigns of teaching me.
As we walk along the streets back to my house, with the sun beating down on us, we walk hand in hand, singing a song Leon wrote a few days ago. It’s almost lullaby-esque, it’s so soft and mesmerising as the words fall from his mouth. I asked if it was about me, but he bluntly told me no, but he had written a better song he would show me eventually.
I pout when I get outside of my house and look up at him, wrapping my arms around his neck., wanting to prolong us being together for a little longer.
‘Are we spending too much time together?’ Leon questions me out of the blue and I unconsciously gulp back.
‘Why? Do you think we are?’ I ask quietly, taking my arms back.
He shrugs and then he sees my face. A mix of upset and wonder, I expect. ‘Oh no, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It’s good. Great even. It’s just, Rex and Sonny have been asking me about us spending time together and stuff-’
‘Do you want to call it...us off then?’
He gasps. And shakes his head frantically. ‘No, no, not at all. Look, I’m not explaining myself right. Shall we talk about it when I come back for your driving lesson? I just need to go to the shops and get dinner and then I’ll be back, in about half an hour or so, yeah?’
I nod, a little confused but he pouts at me. ‘Imogen, lets talk about it in a little while, yeah? We just need to talk about a few things. It’s nothing bad.’
He presses his finger underneath my chin and tilts it up just so before pressing his lips to mine and smiling against me, reassuring me that what he’s going to talk to me about in half an hour isn’t bad news, but potentially good news for us. I can’t help but give Leon a longer kiss, letting my tongue slip in cheekily, as his hand gently squeezes my bum. As I pull away, I give him a small wink and rub his back. I look to the sky before calling out, ‘Does that sky look like a storm brewing to you?’
He looks up at the sky and shrugs. ‘Don’t think so. We’ll see what it’s like when I get back.’
I nod and continue to watch him walk down the road, before I turn my key in my front door and push it open, where I’m confronted by Ozzy standing there. He looks ominous and brooding from where I’m standing, so much so I shrink back a little.
‘You fucking lied to me,’ he yells out immediately as I enter the house. Taken aback, I close the front door and stand away from the boys. Sam is standing there also, completely helpless, but stands in front of Ozzy and says, ‘Don’t, mate, it’s not worth it.’
‘What’s going on?’ I question worriedly, assuming that my lying has everything to do with Leon.
‘No, Sam! Piss off, I need to talk to her-’ He yells, shrugging Sam off of him and moving towards me.
‘You aren’t talking, Ozzy, you’re shouting. Calm down, yeah?’ Sam tries, but it’s no use.
‘Calm down? CALM DOWN? I’ve just seen that prick stick his tongue down her throat and her feel him up. How can you tell me to calm down? Did you know? Have you been lying to me too?’
Sam sighs and looks at me, angered that I’ve put him in this position. I feel guilty for him too. ‘I’m going in the other room so you can talk.’
‘You lied too? Are you all lying to me now?’ He exclaims and I send an apologetic look to Sam. I knew if Blake was here, she’d be here to my defence, but I’m alone right now and I’m feeling almost vulnerable with what is about to happen. I inwardly beg Sam not to leave, but he goes, so its just Ozzy and I standing in the hallway. He paces through to the kitchen and I reluctantly follow him, not prepared for the verbal battering I’m about to get.
‘Did you get with him before? Is that why we split up? Because you cheated on me?’ He reels off these questions without even a second thought to the severity of them.
Appalled, I shake my head in disbelief. ‘What? No! I’ve never cheated on you. Never, Ozzy. Look, I was going to tell you soon, but it’s never been the right time. We’re just-’
‘Just what? Friends with benefits? Fuck buddies?’ He spits out venomously.
I’m not pleased with the term, so I shrug my shoulders. ‘I’m not sleeping with him. Not at all, but what I am doing with him is none of your business anymore. You are my friend, Ozzy.’
‘And you treat your friends like shit,’ he tells seriously.
I gasp at that. ‘How dare you! I do not. I resent that.’
‘Debatable, but one thing is for sure you’ve treated me like crap. How could you, Immy? I was right all along. I knew you liked him, knew he liked you. I was a plain fool, wasn’t I? We were getting on so well during your driving lesson. So well, I thought we had made progress, I backed off and we were getting on, but you’ve basically been going behind my back and doing God knows what with that idiot.’
‘Ozzy, what I am doing is my business. It doesn’t matter that we were together,’ I try to reason, but he completely ignores me.
‘I literally cannot believe the girl I dedicated myself, my life, to is telling me all of this, Immy.’ He then points to his tattoo and stabs at it. ‘I didn’t get this on a whim. We were meant to be together forever and yet this is what you go and down. Do you hear what you are saying to me? I thought we were making progress, we were so happy, so natural in your car and yet there you are outside of our house making out with him, because that definitely wasn’t a first kiss.’ He takes a deep breath and almost pulls at his hair before shouting back, ‘So tell me now, what is so good about this ‘Leon’ that caused you to end up our relationship?’
I lean against the kitchen counter and pull at my top, before responding, ‘Nothing happened before. I’m telling you the truth. And I was going to tell you-’
‘Tell me what. Go on, Immy, this is your chance, what are you going to tell me?’ He looks challengingly at me and I sigh in defeat.
‘That I’m seeing Leon.’
‘Seeing?’
‘Seeing,’ I repeat, not wanting to say anymore.
‘You have no shame, Immy. No fucking shame.’
That ticks me off and I move closer towards him. ‘Shame? Why are you blaming me? Why can’t I see Leon? What, I should just not have fun because you aren’t happy? That’s not fair, Ozzy. That’s not fair at all. It’s been over a month now. You can’t expect anything to change between us now.’
‘Fair? Don’t start talking about fair, Imogen! What’s not fair is-’
There’s then a knock at the front door and I internally groan, knowing who it is. Ozzy seems to have the same idea and lunges for the door, but I scream, standing in front of him., yanking him back by the arm.
‘Don’t you dare, Oscar! This is over. Now. This talk, us, we are OVER!’ I shove him back from the door and open it to get out and shut it behind myself, my tears finally escaping. Leon looks at me in shock and pulls me straight into a hug, a worried expression appearing on his face.
‘What happened?’ He asks softly near my ear as he walks me away from my house and to my car. I definitely need to drive to let off some steam. I pull my car keys out of my pocket and we get in. I merely begin to drive along the roads in silence, before pulling over into a parking space at the edge of the road. Turning the engine off, I reach for Leon’s hand and mumble some words for the first time, ‘That was horrible. He took it so badly.’
‘What happened?’
‘He found out about you, about us.’
‘What are we then? An us now?’ He asks in a teasing voice and I blush, surprised I can even feel a small smile appear on my lips after what just happened between me and Ozzy.
‘I don’t know. Isn’t that what you wanted to talk about?’ I ask, taking my seatbelt off and turning in my seat to face him
He nods and gives my hand a squeeze, before saying, ‘Definitely. I’ve been thinking a lot recently and don’t worry if you’re not feeling the same way, but honey, I really am liking us together. I know you want to take things slow and just have fun, but I think I’d have more fun being with you, having you as my girlfriend. I know it’s a big step and we can take things slow, but I really would like us to be together, officially’
I knew this was coming. It’s not completely out of the blue, but it still gets my heart racing. I would be Leon’s girlfriend if I accepted. His girlfriend. I look into his earnest eyes and several questions cross my mind. Should I give a relationship with Leon a go? Should I just stick to what we are already doing? Another thought is that I know Ozzy won’t be pleased, but that almost fuels me even more to give a relationship with Leon a chance. I never felt this at ease when I was with Ozzy and Leon brings out the best in me, even since I met him, he’s had this calming and influential nature over me.
Pursing my lips, I glance back at him and bite my lip softly, before murmuring, ‘It’s a pretty big step, though isn’t it?’
‘If it’s too much too soon, I can wait.’
I shake my head. I’m tired of waiting for things to happen. I need to make them happen for myself. ‘No, I don’t want to wait, Leon. I want to try.’
‘Does that mean...?’ He trails off, moving closer to me, a smile forming on his face.
I grin and nod my head. ‘That means you’ve got yourself a girlfriend, Leon.’
Not a moment too soon, he leans across the car and touches his lips with mine, gently to begin with, before his hand moves to my hair to scrunch it up. Grinning, I tilt my head a little more, deepening the kiss, when a crackle of lightning and the sound of thunder rumbling through the sky causes me to jump away from kissing Leon.
‘Maybe God’s happy with your decision,’ he teases, giving me a wink.
I smile at that, before suggesting we get back. I do not want to be caught out in this storm. After putting my seatbelt back on and turning on the engine, I accept another brief kiss from Leon, before I carefully begin to drive down the road, when a torrential downpour comes out of nowhere. Nervously, I look across at Leon as we come to some traffic lights with the rain beating down hard, fast and frantically on the roof of my car and on the windscreen. Leon presses the windscreen wiper button, but it’s doing little to aid the lack of visibility we have.
‘Want me to drive?’ He asks, preparing to undo his seat belt, assuming he can see my fear.
I look up at the red traffic light, debating whether to let him, but it turns amber and I shake my head. The quicker we get back to Leon’s now, the happier I will be. ‘No, it’s okay. I’m just going to drive really slowly.’
As the light turns green, I carefully drive across the crossroads, when a shot of lightning shoots down in the road in front of us, spooking me completely, but I clasp at the steering wheel even tighter, focusing on driving forward, when I hear Leon shout hysterically from beside me ‘IMOGEN’ and that’s when an almighty sound breaks my eardrums and a huge force plummets into the side of my car, sending my car spinning and that’s all I remember before my eyes close on me...