Page 9 of Christmas off Script
Ella smirked. ‘You look deranged.’
‘And very fexy.’
‘Er…’
‘Oh, come on. You’re my BFFF, you’ve got to take my side.’
‘Okay, you’re better-looking than Henry.’
Leo looked as happy as a little boy who’d accidentally guessed how many sweets were in a jar and was now attempting to eat them all.
‘Although… Connor is incredibly handsome. That black hair and blue eye combination?’
‘I’ve got blue eyes!’ he replied indignantly. ‘You’re being blond-hairist.’
‘Is that a thing?’
‘Course it is. Why do all romance heroes have to be “tall, dark and handsome”? Why can’t they be “tall, blonde and fexy”?’
Ella giggled.
‘And why are the dudes with blond hair always the best friend?’
She squeezed his hand. ‘Because they make the best,bestfriends.’
‘Humph. So, do you think Connor’s better-looking than me?’
Ella tilted her head and narrowed her eyes as she gazed at him critically. ‘Objectively, you’re both above average in the looks department, but you’ll always win because I’m biassed.’
Leo appeared sufficiently mollified.
‘Although,’ she continued, ‘Estelle, Willow and Summer are very beautiful.’
‘I’ll give you that. But if they were men, I’d still be fexier.’
‘If you say so.’
‘Oh, I do. All the time.’
Ella fell silent, thinking of Leo’s unconventional family. Leo’s father, Arthur, was the Duke of Somerset and had two wives, who were also in a relationship with each other as well as with him. His official wife, Vivienne, was a Black American model and movie star and the mother of twins, Estelle and Henry. When the twins were two, Vivienne had met and fallen in love with an Irish single mum, Dervla, who had Connor at the time. After Dervla had been introduced to Arthur, she had three more children with him: Leo, Willow, and Summer.
Leo’s parents were blissfully happy in their three-way relationship and loved every one of their children equally. The media may have portrayed them as morally corrupt and destroying traditional family values, but Ella received more attention and affection from them than she’d ever had from her own parents and stepmother.
‘Ella,’ Leo began hesitantly.
She gazed at his face, almost as familiar to her as her own, seeing uncertainty and worry in his expression.
‘You don’t have to tell me what’s happened, but I need to know if you’re safe,’ he continued. ‘And I want to help.’
Tears sprang again to prick her eyes. ‘You can’t,’ she whispered.
He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand as he held it. ‘I’d like to try,’ he said softly. ‘Seeing you this upset makes my heart hurt. It’s a physical pain and one I’ve never—haven’t had for a really long time.’
Ella knew what he was thinking about. Or rather,who. When they’d started sixth form, a new girl, Lila, had arrived. In that first week, she’d decided that she and Ella were going to be best friends and that Leo was going to be her boyfriend. But Lila’s feelings for Leo never ran as deep as Leo’s feelings for her. She kept breaking up with him, then changing her mind. This went on for four years until Lila left for the States to do an MBA and never came back.
Leo and Ella had only briefly talked about how Lila had affected him, but he hadn’t had a girlfriend since, and Ella suspected it was because he still hoped his first love would return to Foxbrooke. And him.
‘Oliver dumped me,’ she said in a rush.
