𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏 𝑲𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅𝒚| ɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴇꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ 2

The Get Together

I sit between Leon's legs as he sets down his deck of cards on the table and takes a swig of beer. Claire smiles at me from across the room, whilst Jill narrows her eyes at the cards in her hands, out of all of us she's the most competitive one, and Chris never lets her forget it.

"This game is ridiculous, I've got six red cards. I blame you Chris, you didn't shuffle them right." Leon sighs from above me, I snort and pluck up the 'pick up 4' card, waving it near Leon's face as he opens his mouth in a silent "Oh."

I roll my eyes, grabbing a slice of pizza from the table as I continue to watch our friends play Uno. Only a few minutes later Jill shouts out, but covers her excitement of winning with a casual shrug. Claire purses her lips and begins to tidy the cards up as we all lean back and finally just talk. They all drink and chat as I just enjoy the observation, Leon's hands find my hair and he unconsciously begins to play with it, I lean back and practically close my eyes, it's pretty late in the evening anyway and I'm tired.

"You guys are such clichés, I remember when you couldn't stand each other." Chris chuckles as he takes a swig of his drink. I shrug as Leon leans down and wraps his arms around my shoulders.

"Eh, she's not that bad once you tame her, she was kind of feral before." Leon jokes, I whack his arm as everyone laughs, I still can't believe we have such a great family. Because that's what they all are; my family.

"Yeah but when are you going to get married, I'm desperate for an event." Claire asks with a warm smile. I wince at the touchy subject and feel Leon tense up from behind me. As if everyone senses it too, Jill waves it off and interrupts by changing the subject, but Leon's caught in his own mind.

"I'll be back." He mumbles, kissing my head before stepping around me and heading out the back. I sigh watching him go, but Chris nods and gives me an encouraging smile. I stand and follow Leon outside, seeing him sat by a pond I join his side, sitting beside him as he watches the fish.

"So..." I lead off, not knowing what to say, "still unsure?" Leon lets out a breath, he plucks some grass as he avoids my eyes, shaking his head. A piece of hair catches on his forehead, so I reach out and brush it away as I move closer. "It's okay to not know what you want, it's not easy to think of a future when you've been living every day as your last for the last few years." I softly say.

Leon's eyes meet mine in the moonlight, "It's not that I don't want to, shit I don't even have to think about how much I love you, but..." He runs a hand over his face, "people expect things when you're in a relationship, and I just can't seem to get it."

I nod, grateful he's being open with me. "We can take our time, it's our relationship, nobody else's." Leon gives me a pointed look as he wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling closer to him as I rest my head in the crook of his neck.

"You always know what to say, don't you?" He murmurs, leaning his head back to look at the sky. I shrug and press a gentle kiss to his neck, knowing it relaxes him most of the time. As predicted, his shoulders slump and he leans his head against mine.

"One day I would like to marry you though," I mumble, pressing a hand to his chest, "and I expect a nice proposal."

Leon chuckles as he looks down at me with eyes full of love, "Is that so? Well I promise when the day comes it'll be one to remember."

I grin, then lift my head to kiss him. Minutes later the gang comes out to join us, and Chris sets up a small fire as Claire grabs some marshmallows. Jill just watches us like we're mad, and plucks a few marshmallows from the bag anyway.