Page 31 of Leo
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and let it out on a slow count of ten.
It still didn’t work to calm me down after three more tries but I was definitely lightheaded.Which might be why I thought it was a good idea to call Naomi instead of just going to bed.
“Leo,” she muttered, voice heavy with sleep, “I love you very much, but I am going to murder you as soon as I’m awake.”
“Fair,” I muttered.“But before that, I have to ask you something.”
Naomi listened, making thoughtful sounds as I word vomited the entire exchange with Ambrose to her.Finally, when I stopped rambling, she was quiet for almost too long.“Naomi?
“I need a sec,” she yawned.“Getting my murdering shoes on.”
“Wait till I’m at work.There’re coffins already open there and you can just tip me into one of them.”
“That’s how I know you love me, always saving me some steps.Listen… the thing to do here is…”
I waited.
And waited.
“Naomi!Are you asleep?”
“No, no,” she lied.“Shit.Maybe.Sorry, Leo.I have a meeting at eight tomorrow and Leslie was having some sort of theyfriend crisis thanks to some asshole kid named Taylor at school.“He’s apparently taken it upon himself to be a jerk to some of the girls in freshman year, based on what Leslie’s said.”
“Is Leslie okay?”I asked, thoughts turning to Bethany and what Ambrose had mentioned about her having some troubles with a bully at school.Leslie didn’t have nearly as many challenges as Bethany when it came to fitting in, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be hurt badly by this Taylor kid’s cruelty.
“She’s alright,” Naomi said.“Just upset.She knows this kid is full of crap but that doesn’t make it hurt less.Mike’s going to talk to the principal tomorrow but…” She sighed again.“It’s been a long night.”
“Sorry,” I muttered.“I just panicked about the wholelove youthing.Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Babe, I do love you—totally different from Ambrose, I bet—but the thing is…” She yawned again.“Shit.The thing is that I can’t tell you what he’s thinking.”
“I know,” I murmured.
“Want some advice?”
“Why do you think I called?”
“That was more of a rhetorical question because you know I was going to give it to you anyway.My advice is to talk to him.”
“Your advice sucks.”
“I love you, Leo, but this is something you’re going to have to handle on your own.Relationship stuff, I’m in.But the I love you part?That’s between the two of you.”
I grunted my acknowledgment.“Are you sure though?I mean, when Mike told you he loved you, what did you do?”
“You were there.”She laughed.“Remember?Tau Kappa Alpha Halloween party?He was dressed as a Caesar salad?”
The memory startled a laugh out of me.“Oh god, that toga with the bags of salad taped to it.And you were a unicorn princess?”
“I was whatever the hell we grabbed at the dollar store on the way to the party,” she said.“But when he told me he loved me, it… Well.It scared the hell out of me, really.We’d been dating a while but hearing those words?It made it real.”
“Ah.”
“Hey.I know what tone.Just because it doesn’t feel that way for you doesn’t mean you need to run fast and far, okay?Talk to him, goofus.I expect a full report tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”I squawked.“I was thinking maybe like… a week?Let him have some time to forget, if he even remembers saying it?”
She snorted softly.“Goodnight, Leo.Talk to him.”
