The One in the Background ✔

Chapter 29

I wake up to the bright light shining through the window.

"Ugh," I groan, as I feel a splitting headache emerge.

"Morning Mia," Leo says as he comes in with food, water, and a pill.

"Leo? Why are you here?" I ask, the headache keeping all my memories of last night stored away.

"After I dropped you off, I called Ryan and told him what happened. He wanted me to stay with you, because he was going to some other girl's house for the night."

"Oh, gross. Can you remind me what happened last night?"

"Well, you drank this guy's vodka, I'm guessing it was your first time, and you must be a lightweight" He says as he sits an the edge of my bed.

"Why would I do that?" I shout, and sit up fast. I regretted it instantly, as my head felt like it almost exploded. "Ow! I hate this."

"Careful Mia, you're just a little hungover. Here, I brought you stuff. An asprin to help kill that headache, some water, and I made you breakfast," he said as he put a plate on my lap. It was French toast, with syrup, and fresh fruit. He also put, bacon, eggs, and hash browns on the side.

"Holy crap, Leo! Are you a chef or something?" I exclaim and take the asprin.

"I have a few tricks up my sleeve," he smiles.

"Well gee, you'll have to teach me," I say as I begin to dig in. This is so good.

"But don't you bake?"

"Yeah, believe it or not I can't cook for my life. I can make it look pretty, but cooking itself is hard."

"Really? That's pretty interesting to me. You see I can't bake at all, cooking is easy."

"Nonsense," I say as I eat my bacon strips. Leo laughs as he heads to the door.

"Well, I'll leave you with you and your food. Shout if you need anything," Leo says with a smile.

"No, Leo. Don't go, please keep me company," I plead. I'm not sure why, but I enjoy Leo's presence. I could just sit in a room with him and smile.

"You really want me to?" Leo asks, looking very surprised.

"Yeah,"

"Okay," Leo smiles and retracted his steps from the door.

"You can sit right here," I say as I pat the spot next to me.

He sat on the bed where I patted, and looked down at my food.

"Did you eat yet?" I ask, I hope I'm not getting in between him and his food.

"Yeah, I ate before I brought your meal on up," Leo stated as he rested against my back wall.

"Oh good, wanna watch some Netflix?"

"Sure."

I carefully place my food on my bed, and walk over to my desk to grab my laptop. I brought it back over to the bed, and pulled up Netflix. I grabbed my food and sat back by Leo.

"I'm feeling comedy today, how about you?" I ask Leo.

"Agreed, today deserves a comedy."

I click on the comedy tab and scroll through the movie.

"Oh, that one, that's a great one," Leo commented, pointing to The Fundamentals of Caring.

"I've never seen it."

"You have to Mia. Trust me, it's hilarious," Leo urges with a huge grin.

"Alright. Fundamentals of Caring it is," I say as I click play. I sit back, and I continue eating my breakfast.

After about 10 minutes, I was done eating, and my headache was completely gone.

"Geez Leo, what did you do to me?" I exclaim. Usually, when I get headaches they stay the whole day. No matter how much medicine or sleep I get, it won't leave.

"What do you mean?" he asks as he pauses the movie.

"My headache is gone, and they never leave." I state in disbelief.

"I'm a magician, Mia. Magicians never reveal their secret," he says with a smile.

"You're annoying," I say rolling my eyes.

"But you know you love it," he adds. Once he says this, I feel something change within me. My stomach slightly churns, as my cheeks grow pink. I know this feeling.

I laugh, "you wish." He smiles, and plays the movie.

I couldn't pay attention though. I could only pay attention to the boy next to me. His presence, his laugh, his breath, his heat. I continue to stare at the figures on the screen, when I hear Leo laugh. I couldn't help but smile. I smile and look up at him. He caught me looking, and looked back at me. We held eye contact for a good 10 seconds, when I broke it. My cheeks were heating up, and I just stared at the screen again. I saw Leo go back to watching the screen a few seconds after I did.

Neither of us laughed the rest of the movie. I was to focused on Leo, and I'm not sure why Leo stopped laughing as well. I just really hope I didn't make things awkward between us, but knowing me, I did exactly that.