Chapter 24: Love is love

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"Just call me a freak!"

Leo woke up that morning with a strange feeling around him. As he laid on his side, he looked down at two hands laced around his middle. The hold he was in was nice and it soon dawned in him that he was being spooned...by his tutor. Leo wriggles slightly in the hold, it being quite restricting. "Hey...Cameron, can you loosen your grip a little?" Leo waits for a response of some kind, but gets nothing. "Cameron... PT?.." still no reply. The tutor was completely inactive. The nice cuddle which graced him the previous night, now gone, Cameron once again, gone. 

Leo now realises he is a little stuck as the usual pliable arms of the tutor seem to have gone rigid. He just about manages to reach round to his phone still in his pocket and sends an s.o.s to Enzo.

I'm stuck...help!

Leo now waits for what feels like forever, before his door slowly opens and a messy haired Enzo pokes his head around it, taking in the visual. "What the hell Leo? I was only half messing around last night but it's true." He now enters the room fully and closes the door behind him. 

"Just get me out of this situation before mum and dad see." He huffs, squirming again in the caged hold.

Enzo approaches the pair on the bed and manages to loosen one of the arms just a fraction, allowing Leo to wriggle down the bed and free himself.

Leo and Enzo now stare at a mannequin like PT laying on its side on Leo's bed, arms now wrapped around thin air. "Jojo told me yesterday that he will fix him, it will just take a few days."

"Him?" Enzo questions, looking at Leo, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't expect you to understand Enzo, but I see Cameron as a real person. He makes me feel..." Leo tails off, clearing his throat. "Anyways, what time is Jojo coming over today?"

It's now Enzo's turn to get a little flustered. "Ummm...he's not gone home. He's still here." 

"Oh ok." Leo says it was no big deal, Jojo would stay over sometimes, but the flush present on Enzo's face was very noticeable. 

Leo can feel the awkwardness radiating from Enzo as they make eye contact. "Let's just not speak of this again." Leo says just above a whisper. 

"Agreed." Enzo replies.

***

Harley leans back in one of the diner's uncomfortable plastic chairs, arms stretching over his head as he tries to stifle a yawn. "Not keeping you up, am I?" Leo says sarcastically, sipping on a milkshake, during his break. 

"Hope." Is all Harley says, flashing a cheeky grin as his limbs return back to their normal position. Leo does not want to know anymore as he rolls his eyes in response. "I swear she's gonna kill me before the prom on Friday.'' He adds, taking a bite from his hamburger. "You're still going with Anna I guess?" He adds through a mouthful. 

"Yup." Leo sighs. "I'm a wasp."

"What?" Harley looks at Leo confused.

"Nevermind." Leo replies. 

He then remembers what else is happening on Friday and his mood lifts a little. "Oh, I got this." He proceeds to pull the flyer given to him by his boss from his apron pocket. He unfolds it and pushes it across the table to Harley who picks it up.

"Auditions?" Harley questions. 

"Yeah.' Leo smiles. I'm gonna go. It might be my big chance to launch a career in acting."

"Aren't you forgetting that you're supposed to be destined for medical school?" Harley points out.

"Well...obviously I've not told them." Leo says, pulling a duh face at his friend. 

"Leo, I don't know about your dad, but your mum will flip her lid if she finds out. Plus it's the day of the prom." 

"Relax, I've got it all worked out, there's time before the prom to go, you can be my cover. Just say that we have to go work on a project at the library if need be."

"You have a tutor for that now. Did you forget?" Harley points out. 

"I'll just tell them he charging if they ask, anyways...he's temporarily out of action." Leo sighs. 

"You call it a 'he' now?" Harley points out, the second time it's been noticed today. 

Leo again feels like he wants to curl in on himself. Hide from his true feelings. Leo closes his eyes, fighting the urge to clam up. He looks at Harley in the eyes and opens his mouth to speak...

"I have feelings for my tutor. I know it's wrong, it's weird, but I can't help the way I feel and I don't know what to do about it."

Harley just looks at his friend, his partially full mouth of food just sitting still in his mouth as Harley processes what he is hearing. "What?...how?...what?" 

"Just call me a freak!" Leo says, pulling his straw from his drink and throwing it on the table.

"Hey...I'm not calling you anything. It's just a shock, I mean damn Leo. You gotta tell me everything!" 

"I don't really know where to start, I guess he looks, sorry, it looks so real that I just had this curiosity, you know this interest but at first, I just couldn't really put my finger on it....It wasn't until we kissed..."

At this point, Harley sprays the contents of his mouth, soda covering the table. "You kissed?"

Leo suddenly feels embarrassed to carry on, grabbing a nearby napkin and wiping his arms which had been attacked by the fizzy drink. He now desperately wants to change the subject. "So will you cover for me for the audition or not?"

"Uh...y...yeah. yeah I will." Harley replies, now just staring at Leo in wonder. "Does Yan know?" He suddenly asks. 

Leo nods. "Yeah and he was surprisingly chill about it." He adds. 

Harley chuckles. "You know Yan, love is love."

"Yeah." Leo says with a smile. "Love is love." 

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