Envious // Leo Howard

•15•

"Aww," I heard someone coo. Probably Liv since she's the only female, other than me in the room.

"Shh. Don't wake them up," I heard a mature male shush. Dylan.

"One more?" I heard Mateo plead. One more what?

"Fine. But that's it. After that, no more pictures," Dylan gave in.

"What're you guys-" I cut myself off, realizing the position I was in. Leo's head was laying on my stomach, his arms holding onto my waist. My hand had found its way to Leo's hair, resting there. "Don't- I- it's not- ugh," I stuttered, feeling my cheeks heat up at our position.

"We all fell asleep here, so no one went home last night like we were supposed to. Boy can my mom scold, I'm tellin' ya," Dylan shuddered.

"My mom and aunt probably don't care. The more I'm away from them, the better," I shrugged, starting to braid Leo's hair.

"I still don't understand why you can touch his hair but his hairstylist can't," Liv laughed. "Maybe you should be his hairstylist."

"Honey no. I've been way to focused on other things to just end up playing with hair," I trailed off. "You know, on second thought, that might not be half bad."

"We should probably wake Leo up. We've gotta get to set in 45 minutes. Jim said his meeting was running late, so we don't need to be there at 8:30," Mateo told us.

"What time is it right now?" I asked.

"9:45 or so," Liv shrugged. "Like Mateo said, we don't have to be on set for another 45 minutes, but you still need to get ready, so, chop chop!"

"Leo. Leo," I sang, trying to gently wake him up. He grumbled incoherent words making me sigh. "What'd you say?"

"I don't wanna wake up," he repeated louder.

"I know, but we have to be on set in 45 minutes," I told him.

"Fine," he groaned, rolling off of me. "Has anyone told you that you make a great pillow?"

"No, but I'm glad to be of your use?" I said. Well, more like asked. He chuckled tiredly, walking upstairs. I looked at my phone, which happened to be on the coffee table beside me, seeing 187 missed calls from my mom, 326 messages from Aunt Cherry, and 45 FaceTimes from Nicole. I decided to call back my mom, just so she knows I'm ok. Not like she'd care.

"Sasha Victoria Clearwater! You better come home right now!" my mother's angry voice immediately rang.

"But, mom! I have work in 45 minutes!" I exclaimed.

"Then you better get here fast!" my mother replied before hanging up. I rushed upstairs, barely able to wave goodbye to my friends, before boarding, as fast as I could, home.

"I'm home!" I huffed. To my surprise, I was able to board here in a record breaking 2 minutes. Well, record breaking for me.

"There you are! Where were you last night?" my mother demanded.

"I didn't think you'd care," I shrugged.

"Don't poke around the bush Sasha! Where were you last night?" my mother repeated.

"I slept over at a friend's," I replied.

"What friend? You haven't had any friends until- was that friend a member of the Kickin' It cast?" my mother asked.

"Yeah. It was Liv," I hesitantly nodded.

"You know Nicole wants to become friends with the cast! Were you not shining bright enough for you? Nicole has been through so much to get where she is today and you just got lucky! And now you're acting like a spoiled brat!" my mother berated.

"Nicole hasn't been through nearly as much as me!" I screamed. "She always gets what she wants and I'm always put down! When she doesn't get something she wants, she wails and goes to you! Ever since we crossed that street, you've never even considered me! I'm not spoiled! I barely get food in this damned household! See you after work."

I boarded to the studio, extremely frustrated with my mother. She never considered me after the incident, and, quite frankly, I'm ok with that. Eventually I'll have enough money to move out and support myself. Then I won't need to depend on a family who only keeps me because they're obligated to.

I walked into the studio with the biggest fake smile ever. "Sasha! You left Bubba at my house earlier because you were in such a rush. What happened to you this morning?" Liv asked worriedly, handing me Bubba.

"My mom called. She's not too happy I've become friends with you guys," I answered, scratching Bubba's ear.

"Ok," she uneasily nodded. "Just know that if you ever need a place to go, come to my house. My family loves you, so it shouldn't be a problem. I just want you to be happy."

"Aww, thanks Liv," I hugged her. "So, those pictures from this morning. You think you could send them to me?"

"You'd have to ask Mateo. He has them on his phone," she replied.

"Got it," I replied.

"Hello," I heard Leo say as he swung an arm around my shoulder. "I didn't get a proper chance to say good morning since you ran out, but, good morning!"

"Why are you so happy?" Liv asked suspiciously.

"No reason," Leo denied, walking away from us just as two water balloons splattered onto me and Liv.

"Mateo!" me and Liv shrieked, chasing after the raven haired boy.

"Get back here you little skunk!" I screamed as I tackled him to the dojo floor. "Ha! I win."

"How d'you-" I cut him off by hitting him in the face with a water balloon. "So that's how you win," he murmured, spitting out the water.

"Oh Leo!" I sang.

"Yes?" he asked uneasily. I walked up to him, my arms spread for a hug. "Oh no. No no no no no. Sasha no- agh." I gave him a big wet hug, ruffling his hair before walking to my dressing room to change into dry clothes.