The Melody of Pip Winter

29: Metamorphosis No.2

Pip found himself buttoning a blouse. He placed a knitted jumper over the shirt and pulled on a still in tact pair of trousers. He pulled up a pair of yellow socks and laced his shoes. He had made an effort in choosing his clothes and had even found a spray in the bathroom in which was now radiating off his skin. It was a favour after all.

Pip toppled down the stairs to find an extremely anxious Leo. His nails chewed,  his foot tapping and his smile faltering. The air around him vibrating from his tremoring soul. Despite the anxiety biting away at him like termites, Leo was still the most marvellous celestial body.

Pip stood before the boy.

"Lion, you are very brave, I am sure you can face your mother." Pip gave him a smile and ruffled his black locks.

Leo's lips slid into a loose smile. And Pip remembered how they tasted in their glorious moments of intoxication. They didn't say another word before waltzing out the door.

"Can I ask you something?" Pip watched the other boy.

Leo nodded, awaiting the question.

"Why didn't you ask Annie to come with you?" Pip scratched the back of his neck nervously.

A look of pain weaved through Leo's usually laid back features. Pip did not wish to upset him and now his insides collided like stone.

"I fear she would attempt an assassination." The boy answered.

This whole situation wreaked of questions but Pip wasn't going to ask unless he knew Leo was okay. He didn't know what in the world was going on with the other boy and that made him a little sick. Leo could be hurting and Pip could be doing all the wrong things.

"Should I of brought a weapon? Annie is usually right about who she hates, except Roald Dahl." Pip concluded.

Leo chuckled. It was soft and warming and utterly breathtaking. The sound could sew together a million ravaged wounds.

"Do I suspect a crush?" The boy raised a brow.

Pip looked to the ground unable to show his strangely humiliated face.

"Should I be jealous?" The boy poked.

And just like that colour took to Pip's frosty skin. His cheeks burned and stained red at the words. Pip didn't have to turn, he could already feel Leo's smile infecting the air. The boy tied and arm around his neck and Pip's insides exploded, not to be dramatic or anything.

"You never stood a chance against mister Dahl." Pip attempted to speak.

Leo tightened his hold and Pip just melted into his touch. He just wanted to be as close as possible.

"Double agent?" Leo murmured.

The words whispered against Pip's neck and caused a million explosions over his skin. Leo's familiar scent infiltrated his senses. Pip nodded. They walked and walked and eventually they approached a cosy house positioned by a park.

"Is this it?" Pip asked.

Leo plucked his phone from his pockets.

"I assume so." And he put his phone back

Leo's face paled and his composed and soft features darkened with fear. Pip pulled away from Leo's grasp and placed his hands on the other boys shoulders so they could face each other.

"Are you ready for this?" Pip questioned.

Leo gulped down all the tension in his face. He shook his head.

"No, but no time like the present, right?" Leo assured himself.

Pip studied him thoroughly. The way Leo chewed his bottom lip and the way his eyes focused heavily on anything in his sight and how his thick black brows furrowed when he focused. He then wrapped his arms around the boys waist and nuzzled into his neck.

Leo was the suns rays and the drizzle that came after just in time to create a sky full of colours. Leo was warmth and comfort and he was brave and he would overcome whatever it was they were embarking on that day.

"You can do this." Pip mumbled into his neck.

They pulled apart and walked into a world of mystery and undiagnosed despair.

The house smelt of mould but was clearly covered up by incense and sage. Wooden floor boards covered the ground and yellow walls trailed every step Pip took. The click of shoes made him reorganise his focus.

"Leo!" The Middle Aged women screeched.

Her hair was a faded blonde her eyes were a dull grey. She didn't look  that much like Leo, her face was wrinkled and blank Leo's was bright and beaming. Eventually the women approached and squeezed Pip's cheeks in which he immediately pulled away.

"That's Pip." Leo mumbled.

And with that the women reclaimed her hands and smiled in apology. Pip wondered how Leo's mother could mistake him for her own son.

"I can't believe it's really you." The women pushed past Pip and clung to Leo.

Leo does not move, his arms plastered to his sides and his face cemented into an awkward scrunch. Finally she pulls away.

"God I've missed you Leonardo." The women smiled.

Pip had to hold in a laugh at the sound of his fill name. Leo, or Leonardo obviously noticed and shot him an odd look. Pip just tried to silence his giggles with a hand.

"Dinner is just in the oven," she lead them to a room with a couch and offered them a seat.

They sat and before them was a coffee table with crisps in a bowl. The women sat in front of them in a soft chair.

"So who is this?" The woman winked seductively.

Pip felt his whole body tense before a hand softened on his knee.

"This is my, this is, this is Pip." Is all Leo said.

"I should introduce myself, I am Clarissa." She spoke languidly.

Pip felt awkward in his own skin at that moment. There was a strange women he had never met and it was Leo's mother who to him must also be strange. Pip looked to the boy who was still clearly trying to process this all in his head.

Pip remembered how nervous Leo was to ask him to dinner with his mother. He had said that he might not of even gone but Pip said something and he had changed his mind in a flash. Pip still wondered what she had done to scar him.

"Thank you again for coming, it means al-

"I have to get to some air." And the front door closed and Leo was gone.

Pip sat with an uncomfortable smile searing his lips. Clarissa was fidgeting clearly saddened by Leo's disappearance but understood nonetheless.

"You have a nice collection of incense." Pip choked.

Clarissa gave him a thanking look.

"Shouldn't you go after him?" The women asked.

Pip thought of why he hadn't followed the boy even though he desperately wanted to. He wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing by giving him space but if Pip were to see a monumental figure from his past he would need to catch his breath.

"I think he needs his space, this is really big for him." Pip explained his reasoning.

Clarissa scratched her head, burdened by an itchy wound of the past.

"I'm surprised he even came after everything," Thersea uttered.

Pip watched her with glazed eyes.

"How can you sit here with me?" She asked, deeply ashamed.

Pip knew nothing of what had happened, and maybe he was wrong to trust her but she was broken and it felt wrong to hurt someone who was already destroyed.

"In truth I don't know what happened, but Leo wants you back in his life," Pip started.

He adjusted his tense position and hoped to achieve some level of comfort and confidence.

"So forget what happened and be the person he deserves, because a boy like him deserves a mum." Pip placed a hand on her wrinkled one.

This was going to be a long night, but every moment he could steal a glance at Leo Miller was a worth every hardship.