treacherous || Leonardo DiCaprio

Chapter 11: Distract Me

The breeze ruffled my hair as I laughed and talked with Leo the entire walk home after school. I paused though when I saw my dad walking up the walkway to our house.

"Dad," I exclaimed, dropping Leo's hand as I ran towards my father.

He instantly accepted my embrace, joy radiating off of me, since I hadn't seen him in months.

"I missed you. What are you doing home? I thought you couldn't get off until Christmas," I spoke, looking up at him after we pulled away.

"I was able to take some time off," he said, giving me a convincing smile but he had sounded a bit awkward on saying that. Before I had time to dwell on it, I realized his eyes were eyeing Leo warily.

"Dad, this is Leo. He's my best friend now boyfriend. We've known each other since the school year started," I explained, leading him over to the other important guy in my life.

"It's nice to meet you, Leo," my dad expressed formally, shaking his hand firmly.

"Good to meet you too, sir. Ava's a great girl. You really raised her well," Leo complimented, a faint blush attacking my cheeks.

"Thank you, Leo. Avery, is your mother home?" I wondered what was with the abrupt change in subject.

"I'm not sure, I just got here myself. If she's not here, she's probably at Aunt Christine's," I explained, my dad giving me a curt nod before going into the house. I gravitated to Leo's side, watching my father before he disappeared inside. "I feel like something's off... I mean, he wasn't supposed to be home this soon, and he seems kind of distracted..."

I felt Leo grasp my hand as he gave it a comforting squeeze. "I'm sure everything will be alright, Ava." I vaguely nodded my head before going indoors. I paused outside the living room though when I heard loud voices.

"You couldn't of waited until Avery wasn't home? Jonathan, I thought we were going to discuss this in a week not now." The angry tone of my mother drifted to my ears, my body going numb as I listened intently.

"Emma, you know that my meetings were rescheduled because of recent weather. I had to come home now," my father sternly replied.

"We have company, Jonathan," my mother pointed out, clearly not happy he was dropping in while we had people over.

"When are we going to talk about this, huh? In a few weeks? We have to file the papers sometime. I'm not going to wait a whole damn year for our divorce to go through!" I fell backwards from my father's brash voice, falling against Leo's chest. My heart had accelerated to a million miles a minute, my brain unable to process the new information. I couldn't even react as I went rigid, Leo gripping my shoulders to help steady me.

After more harsh words that I didn't hear through my grief, my mom suddenly popped into the main entryway, instantly catching sight of my broken expression.

"Avery...," she trailed off gently, my dad showing up not far behind, looking just as shocked at my presence. "Maybe you should go out with Leo for awhile, until we get this sorted out."

I didn't even react before Leo was carefully moving me towards the door, my legs somehow walking on their own as we climbed down the front porch's wide steps. I barely felt Leo rubbing my shoulder to soothe me as we made our way down the street. Eventually we made it to McDonald's, Leo ordering a Big Mac and fries for us to split, since neither one of us was that hungry. I sipped on my Coke feebly before eating a tiny fry at our table for two. I couldn't help but just stare down at my growing cold sandwich, Leo setting his down when he realized I was struggling to eat.

"I thought this might distract you. Sometimes I eat when I'm upset," he admitted, running his hand through his hair for a moment, it just falling perfectly parted in the middle after.