-Leda's POV-

My head spun a little, the four walls merging into one and then becoming themselves again. He crouched on the floor in front of me and held a baby wipe under my nose, I sat on the couch, my body swaying slightly, our eyes kept flickering to one another's and then darting off into any other direction. He folded the baby wipe over so it looked clean again and began to dab at my lip slowly, I winced slightly and he decreased the pressure he was applying.

"There, I think you're going to survive." He smiled, making light of the situation, I internally thanked him for that, I needed somebody to joke about my misfortune or I was going to burst into tears. He put the wipe down and tucked some wayward strands of hair behind my ear.

"How did you find me?" I asked in a voice so small I didn't recognise it as my own. He looked down at my fidgeting hands, his lips twisting to the side a little. He rose to his feet and put some distance between us.

"I tracked your cellphone." He sounded a little ashamed. I totally forgot I even had a cellphone, I had thrown mine away the day I left home and bought a new one only days ago, I totally forgot I'd even given him my number or anything.

"Oh." I replied "Okay." I said simply, my brain was too strained and exhausted to form a real reply.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" He asked it was weird seeing him like this, of course I didn't know him, not really, but when I'd met him only the day before yesterday he was Mr. Dark and Dangerous, all smirks and fiery eyes. And now? Now he was all concerned and out of place in his worry.

"No, I'm okay." I shook my head, hoping it'd shake the thoughts from my brain. I stood up, pulling my skirt down a little, feeling vulnerable and exposed, all of a sudden my shirt felt too low cut and I felt like too much of my skin was on public display. "I should probably go, thanks for...everything." I said awkwardly, I couldn't look into his captivating green eyes, I rubbed my eye a little, smearing the tear around my eye before it could fall, hoping that'd disguise my anguish.

"You don't have to leave yet. Do you want a shower or some new clothes or something?" He asked, his voice was husky and something unrecognisable to me was hidden beneath his tone. I sighed.

"This is all too weird, I don't know." I blurted honestly. He sighed and approached me cautiously, like I was fragile and unstable. He looked me dead in the eyes, I couldn't read his expression.

"Stay," he commanded softly "Shower, get some rest, I'll drop you off anywhere you want in the morning." He suggested, I sighed hard. "You're obviously torn up you're not in the right state of mind to head straight back out tonight." I considered his words, pondering them a second, I couldn't stay here a second time, I'd stolen from him, which he hadn't even brought up yet, and I knew he knew I had done it, nobody's wallet goes eleven hundred dollars down and doesn't notice.

"I'm fine, I'm used to it..." I rolled my eyes, hoping the tears would be sucked back into my tear duct. He raised an eyebrow at me and shook his head.

"You're staying." His voice was authoritative but it didn't feel like he was completely taking away my free will, it was soft but stern. I sighed and nodded.

---

I exited from the shower after an hour of scrubbing the memories from my tainted skin. My chest felt heavy, my heart on the floor; I wrapped the dark blood red towel he'd specifically left out for me around my body and rubbed my hand across the mirror above the vanity unit, removing the steam and condensation. I gasped as I saw my reflection, I'd gotten thinner, and my cheekbones more prominent than before, my eyes had purple thumbprints underneath them from lack of sleep and my blue eyes were dull and lifeless. I put my hands on either side of the basin and lowered my head, exhaling raggedly. I had to be strong; I had to get a grip!

I walked out of the en-suite bathroom into his bedroom, I should have blushed as I looked at his king sized bed, the covers tightly tucked in at all corners so it looked presentable (whereas only two nights ago they were ruffled and clear evidence of our sin) I didn't blush though, I felt too numb and blank to blush or feel embarrassed. On the ottoman at the end of the bed lay some boxers, sweatpants and a shirt, the kind gesture did make me smile.

I ditched the sweatpants, pulled on the boxers and the shirt and headed back out into the living room.

-Mike's POV-

I laughed loudly, my hand on my stomach.

"She went crazy, it's was hysterical" Lily explained, sitting on the floor laughing an equal amount. She was enlightening me to her childhood antics.

"Tell me another!" I demanded between laughs.

"Okay, okay, lemme think, um..." She thought for a second, her brows furrowing. She pressed her finger to her lips as she thought, a couple of seconds ticked by and then her face lit up.

"Ah! I know!" She chuckled a little and then took a breath, ready to tell the story.

"When I was around nine or ten, me and my friends went to this haunted house on Halloween, I think I was dressed as a skeleton, I don’t know, anyway that’s not important. We were walking around in the haunted house, none of us really expecting it to be scary, you know how it is when you’re a kid, you try to act tough,” she giggled and I listened intently.

“This girl called Kassy, total bitch, ew I hated her, still do actually- anywho, yeah she tagged along with us because she had no friends and all my friends felt sorry for her. We were walking through the hall, there were lots of red lights flickering and the sound of thunder and lightning coming from a sound system and then all of a sudden,” she raised her hands and held them up like they were claws. “The girl who lived in the house’s dad jumps out from another room and scares us half to death, Kassy pees herself, my other friend passes out and I began to cry!” her eye filled with tears from her laughter.
I’d began to enjoy Lily’s company, she’d stopped being so stuck up and malicious, and I soon found out that if you actually spend time with her she’ll quite nice and funny. This was a good distraction, sharing stories, laughing; it made me feel a little less lost at times.

“Okay, tell me something about your Halloween.” She turned the attention to me, wiping away the remains of her happy tears, I wracked my brain for a memory of some sort to share with her, some sort of memory from my childhood, but I came up empty handed. I scratched my head, my face contorted in a frown.

“Um, yeah, I don’t have any Halloween memories.” I replied, her smile faltered and turned into a slight frown, she tucked some hair behind her ear.

“None?” she asked

“None.” I shrugged

“What about when you were a kid?” she asked, adjusting her position on the floor from sitting to kneeling.

“We didn’t really celebrate Halloween.” I said honestly.

“Why not?” she asked, genuinely concerned, I sighed heavily, lowering my head. I didn’t hear her move but I felt her put her hand on my shoulder, I glanced up momentarily and she smiled weakly, sitting in front of me on the bed and not taking her hand off of me.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I didn’t reply “Mike?” her voice was soft and I looked at her, really looked at her, for what I think was the first time. Before I could talk myself out of it or decide whether it was a good idea or a bad idea, I threw myself forward and crushed my lips to hers, tasting her lip-gloss, feeling its sticky exterior on my lips. I smirked through the kiss, my mind wandering off to the irony of a girl that barely wears any clothing but applies lip-gloss. She threw her arms around my neck, pushing herself into the kiss, I grabbed her waist, maybe a little too tightly, but she didn’t complain. She pushed me backwards and I let her, she brought her legs up and to either side of my body so she was straddling me, I skimmed my fingers down her back, feeling electricity. For once feeling fucking alive.

We pulled away, our lips swollen and our breathing ragged, but both of us smiling, she stared at me for a few minutes and I stared back, the question: What now? Written boldly on both of our faces, she brought her teeth down onto her bottom lip but her eyes never moved.

Was it wrong to want her?

-Vic's POV-

"Mike, I don't know how to tell you this but, um, Leda and I, we're in love." I spoke clearly and then chuckled a little at the end part, shaking my head. "No no, that's pathetic." I mumbled to my reflection. My hair looked like an old overused mop and my eyes screamed sleep deprivation, but I had to get this right. I took a deep breath and tried again.

"Me and Leda like each other?" It came out more like a question and I groaned at the fail. I rubbed my face with my hands and mumbled a string of words, trying to think of the correct way to word it. I took my hands away from my face and looked at my reflection that looked like a much older, weaker, exhausted version of the real me.

"Mike, me and Leda have been going behind your back. We- I never meant to hurt you, it wasn't planned, I could never intentionally set out to hurt you but I fell for her," a smile stretched on my face as I thought about her "pretty hard actually...and um, I know I'm probably the worst brother in the world right now and you don't know how sorry I am..." I trailed off. My reflection frowned and twisted its face into something that resembled an in-between of disappointment and disgust, which meant I did too.

"Urgh I give up" I groaned and threw myself into the comfort of my bed, curling up and closing my eyes. How could I tell my brother I'd fallen for his girl? How do you tell anybody that you like their girlfriend?

How to fuck up everything between not only you and your brother but your brother and his girlfriend and yourself and his girlfriend - a book written by me, Vic Fuentes.

-Leda’s POV-

“Wine?” he asked, as I settled onto the couch, the leather was cold against my skin, I shook my head and my hands fidgeted in my lap. “Water?” he asked and I nodded, that sounded much better. For some reason I felt out of place, it felt completely different to the other night, he exited the room and I heard the tap run for a few seconds and then he came back in with one glass of white wine and another glass of water with ice and lemon.

“Thank you” I smiled weakly, taking the glass from him. He sat down on the opposite couch and got comfortable.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, my eyes glazed over, my vision somewhere in the corner but what I was seeing was the contents of my mind. I shook my head.

“Why haven’t you brought up the money yet?” I asked, genuinely curious, he smirked and his eyes flashed with something I couldn’t comprehend.

“What money?” he canted his head to the side and replied, I sat up straight and put my glass on the table between us after taking a long sip.

“You know damn right what money.” I gave him a look, he chuckled slightly and rose to his feet, coming over to me and plopping down next to me. His green eyes held me captive, my breath halted for a second before I snapped out of it and sighed, waiting for him to answer.

“What did you want me to say? It seems wrong to scold someone for stealing from me when I don’t even know their name.” His fingers brushed mine briefly and my eyes snapped to our hands, I bit my lip and looked up.

“Smooth,” I smirked. “Leda.” I informed him he raised his eyebrows as if he expected my name to be something else.

“And you, mysterious stranger, what is your name?” I batted my eyelashes at him, it was weird how he changed my mood so suddenly, I felt playful and maybe even slightly happy.

“Oh, so now I am unworthy of my nickname Mr. Dark and Dangerous, huh?” he smirked “Can’t say I’m not hurt,” he joked, and then he was serious again. “Taylor.”

“Taylor” I repeated, I wasn’t expecting that but it slightly suited him, it tasted sweet on my tongue and I smiled.

“Well, Taylor, I’m awfully tired so I’m going to hit the sheets.” I slowly peeled myself from the couch, he watched me like a jungle cat watches its prey, as I reached the door that led to the bottom of the stairs I turned back around. “Thank you, for everything. I owe you a lot.” I spoke honestly and he cocked an eyebrow at me, I laughed loudly.

“Must you ruin the moment?” I canted my head to the side, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

“Yes, I really must.” He replied playfully, I shook my head and winked, turning round and heading up the stairs.

-Vic’s POV-

There was a knock on my bedroom door, I sat up and waited for them to enter. They didn’t. I climbed out of bed and headed over to the door, as I was about to open it they knocked again. Once I pulled the door open, I wish I hadn’t, it was Leda’s mom, I stifled a groan.

“Vic.” She said sternly, I gulped.

“Yeah?”

“Mike isn’t going to tell himself.” She spoke bluntly and I cleared my throat before I spoke, making sure I sounded confident and calm.

“Uh, yeah, I was just about to tell him, do you know where he is?” Well that was a fail.

“Do I have google maps written on my forehead? No I don’t.” She snapped, I very much wanted to correct her and tell her that google maps located places and not individuals but there was a time and a place and I knew not to push my luck.

“I-I’ll just go look in his room.” I replied, putting my hands behind my back so she couldn’t see them shake. I wasn’t afraid of her, at all, but the thought of telling Mike was getting me really worked up, I didn’t know what to say or how to put it.

“Hurry up.” She retorted, I think it was mainly so she got to have the last word, I didn’t care though, I walked politely around her frame and headed in the direction of Mike’s room, my palms unbelievably sweaty and my heart trying to pound its way through my ribcage. I didn’t bother to knock before I got there; I just wanted to get it over with. I swung the door open slowly and my jaw immediately fell open. Lily was laid on top of Mike, they were both fully clothed (well Lily was as fully clothed as she always was) but they were making out. I wondered silently if this was some kind of ridiculous nightmare and I was going to wake up any minute and Leda would still be here and Mike wouldn’t be making out with her ex-best friend and her mom wouldn’t know about us.

They hadn’t even noticed my entrance, I looked over my shoulder to where my bedroom was and saw that Leda’s mom wasn’t standing there anymore, she wasn’t. I wondered if Mike really needed to know, I mean, it looked like he was coping and moving on just fine, why ruin his happiness? I quickly rushed back to my bedroom before they noticed me and grabbed the duffel bag Mike had stuffed full of my belongings before we escaped our home. No, our house. It was not a home, it never would be. I crammed as much of my clothes as I could in there and threw in my cellphone and my lyric book. I zipped up the bag and grabbed my jacket off of the bed post, throwing my arms into the sleeves and quickly pulling it on properly and zipping it up. I balled up some money and stuffed them into several pairs of my socks. It was the only place I could hide my money back home where my dad couldn’t find it and therefore steal it, I guess it had become a habit to hide it there, even now. I quickly checked to see if Leda’s mom had returned, when I knew she hadn’t I hurriedly made up the bed, to be polite and closed my bedroom door as I exited it.

I couldn’t stay here, I obviously wasn’t wanted anyway.

I had to find Leda.

And that’s exactly what I was going to do.

Notes

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.


Thoughts?:)

If you're interested, I've just started a new story called Yeah Boy and Doll Face, you could check it out? *awkward shrug* hehe

thank y'all <3