8

BABY

"Don't you dare!" I say as the sun starts setting, he sitting next to the newfound deep part of water, his hands cupping a bunch of it as he looks at me evilly.

"I would dare!" Leo screams as he pours the clear water over my head, "Leo!" I scream and he smirks, but when I open my eyes he sees my expression.

"Fuck-" he starts to try running away but I grab onto his arm and pull him by the tire swing.

"You know I hate you right?" I say and he shrugs, "We both know you love me." He says and I roll my eyes.

"You don't know what love is." I say and he growls, "Like you would? I have a girlfriend sweetie as far as I know you've never even talked to a guy other than me and Haze."

"Shut up! You don't love your girlfriend though, she's a snob."

"Proof!?" He says, furrowed eyebrows, "She acts like she's better than me! And I get it my parents suck and I hang out with yours and I'm annoying to her because I talk to you but we both know I'm not a threat!" I say with a sad laugh. His body stiffens, his eyes staring into mine.

"I get that she's better than me, but when I came out in my dress to try on for your aunts wedding in June she looked at me like I couldn't be pretty no matter what. She hides it all with that nice smile and we are nice to her too because you got a girlfriend for once and they were proud of you-"

"Why weren't you proud?" He interrupts, catching me off guard and pinning me against the tree.

"Because I know you'll just breakup-" I start but he cuts me off again, "tell me the real reason."

"That was."

"Fuck no it wasn't, Baby. Tell me the truth and I'll break up with her."

"Leo-"

"Tell me the truth and I'll do what me and you both want and I'll break up with her."

But I can't.

"I can't, Leo."

"Yes you can."

"I can't.." I say, looking down at the ground but he pushes my chin up and breathes heavily.

"I'll do it for you then. You're right." He says after a long, heavy silence.

"About what?" I quiz and he bites his lip.

"I don't love Pearl. I lo-"

"No shit Sherlock." We hear a familiar voice say and we see Rose. "Rose!" I say, Leo letting go of me knowing I was about to rip him off as I run and hug her.

"God you're wet." She says and Leo turns to me and smirks, "So wet." He mouths and my face goes bright red. But his face is a little sad, even if he tries not to show it he is.

"Now can somebody explain to me why you guys are in your underwear in a field." She says and Leo growls, leaning on the tree again.

"How did you even know we were here?" He asks and she sighs, "You're acting like I don't follow you everywhere you go if I'm bored." She says and he furrows his eyebrows for her to explain more.

"I followed you here yesterday night." She says and he growls, "you left yesterday night?" I turn to him and ask, "Well yea you're not a very light sleeper are you-" he starts and I nod, but Rose cuts him off.

"He came here and started messing around with the water, I'm a nosy girl but he's also my brother so I know he was thinking about something, and probably sick of you laying on top of him because he couldn't breathe." She says and I hit her arm.

"What were you thinking about?" I ask and he shrugs, "I just needed a deep breath, I couldn't breathe baby." He says teasingly and I roll my eyes as we start walking down into the woods again. The dark taking over us as I can't see.

Leo rearranges his backpack on his shoulders which is full of our wet clothes and grabs my hand to direct me.

He leans in close and whispers in my ear, "I was thinking about you." With a small kiss to my neck which sends shivers all over me.

That was kinda hot though...

I turn to him and smirk, "I call being with Rose!" I say and he scrunches up his nose. "There's nobody else here you didn't have to call it." He explains as he runs his hand through his hair.

I roll my eyes, "The ghosts. The ghosts, Leo." I warn and he nods before chuckling, throwing his backpack in the back of the car and throwing me a jacket, "We both know you get cold all the time." He explains and I push my lips into a fine line.

"Yeah..." I say with an awkward chuckle.

"I swear you think everything is as cold as Antarctica." Rose says and I laugh.

"It's not my fault I love the sun."

"You love the beach house too much." Rose explains as we get into her car, which is full of air conditioning, and I'm in my wet underwear.

"Oh god-" I say, putting on the hoodie and recognizing it, this is Leo's favorite hoodie.

It's dark purple with dark green accents and a cartoon-like sunrise in the middle.

"Yea you're weak."

"Am not!" I say and she shakes her head. She puts her hand in my should I and laughs, "We both know you are." She says and I hmph.

:;

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck." I mumble as I get out of the car. Pearl. Pearl is here.

I see a new pearlescent convertible which seems to scream Pearl if anything could. Me and Rose look at the car and groan.

"Please no I legit just had this conversation with Leo-" I say as we open the door, "Hey!" Pearl screams, coming up and hugging me.

But she doesn't touch her hands to me, like I'm dirty or something. Bitch I'm wearing your boyfriends hoodie if you think it's dirty talk to him.

I see Leo leaning against a ceiling beam, staring at me and I push my lips into a fine line, shaking my head and looking at my feet.

"This is so boring! Babe you wanna go into your room?" Pearl asks very loudly and I raise my eyebrows at him. "Yea babe, you wanna go into your room?" I ask him sarcastically with a high voice as I stand up to go into his room and grab my suitcase.

He grabs my arm and gives me a look, "I didn't know she would be here." He whispers to me and I nod, "It's fine, I'm just gonna get my stuff out of your room."

"I'll help." He says and I shake my head as we walk in. He turns on the lights and shuts the door behind him, "Look, Baby-"

"Don't 'Baby' me, I get that you guys are together and it's fine that you didn't know she'd be here.. but I don't want to watch you hurt another girl. Sure I hate her and she's terribly mean to me  by just giving me a glare and being nice but I know what it's like when you've been nothing but kind to someone and they won't love you." I say and he is speechless.

His parents don't know how he treats girls at school, all they know is that this is his first girlfriend, but Rose knows everything.. and so do I.

He walks towards me, not caring anymore as he wraps his arms around all of me and holds me tighter than ever. His head rests on top of mine do to our height difference.

"I like how you tell me things..." he mumbles and I smile a little, but cover it up.

Now is not the time to smile. We are scolding, Roxanne.

"We've been getting things back to how they used to be too, and I like that. I'm not saying I'll stop being a dick to you that's kinda my thing, but you're mine got it? Also I've always wanted a girl friend who wouldn't fall in love with me." He says with a wink.

Well fuck you too asshole.

But the first part was sweet.

He fucking called me his, I'm actually dying.

I look up at him through my eyelashes and smile. "Yea, and I've always wanted a guy to talk to me. And if I hang out with you, your friends are pretty cute-" I start but he picks me up harshly, throwing me over his shoulder.

He throws me on his bed and I screech, which is soon followed by a giggle as his eyes travel all over my body before he jumps on top of me.

"If you say that again I'll go running back to Pearl."

"No you won't." I say confidently and he raises his eyebrows challenging me, making me question my confidence. "Watch me-"

"Okay okay okay, you're such a dick."

"I'm a dick who has dick friends too." He points out and I glaze over my eyes, looking up at the sky in a false dream, "oh, they probably are huge dicks." I say, sighing as I daydream and he growls.

"Screw you not bigger than mine." He says and I raise an eyebrow.

"Prove it." I mumble and he chuckles, "This conversation needs to stop." He says, standing up from in between my legs and smirking at me.

"I hate how you're mature." I say and he bites his lip, "I'm not mature I'm just not about to show you my dick." He says, raising an eyebrows and I lift my front half up, leaning back on my elbows.

"I was being sarcastic, you could've just said show me your tits." I say and he comes closer to me.

"Then do it." He says with a smirk and I furrow my eyebrows, "See how does it feel!?" He asks and I raise my eyebrows, changing my expression completely.

"Great!" I say and he chuckles, "Really? You weren't caught off guard?" He asks, slowly coming closer to me and leaning over me.

"Nope." I say, and he moves his head close to my skin along my neck, so just his breath tickles me as he makes his way down, his head stopping when it breathes cold air on my exposed stomach.

His jacket rode up so all he sees is my lower  stomach and underwear I wore to swim in.

"So.. you're not surprised by this." He asks, his hands grazing softly along the skin of my legs, slowly one coming up and grazing my inner thigh.

"Nope." I breath out and he breaths out harshly in a laugh-like manner before getting up and coughing.

"It'll happen again..." he mumbles to himself, quiet enough he expected me not to hear it.

What..

Did that mean what I thought? That he wanted to continue but he couldn't, and had to reassure himself he'd get another chance.

I swallow, taking off his jacket and getting under his blanket.

"Tell Pearl to sleep on the couch, just for tonight, I'm cold and I wanna sleep." I say and he nods.

"Hey?" He asks and I hum.

"I'll always pick you over any of my girlfriends, okay?" He asks and I open my eyes, smiling at him from the other side of the room.

"And I'll always pick you after I pick Rose first." I say, full seriousness I'm my voice.

"Fuck off." He says with a chuckle, and as he walks out I see the small smile creeping it's way on his lips.

:;

FLASHBACK

MAY 28, 1989

"I just still don't understand how I'm a bride's maid." I say as Rose ties up the back of the dress I'm trying on. I'm the last one to try on our dresses. They're all similar but still different in many ways so each brides maid is unique.

"Aunt Denna loves you!" She say as and I suck in, running my fingers over my now close to flat stomach.

"I don't know how, I've met her like twice." I say as she ties the lace in a final bow at the back.

"Everybody who meets you loves you, Rox." She says as she turns me toward the mirror. "Say that to everyone boy at our school."

"We're only Freshman, you'll find somebody who likes you enough to fight my brother soon." She says and I chuckle.

"Hopefully." I say before I brush my hair a little with my fingers and look at the dress. It was a summery yellow color, and Rose slowly put a flower in my hair brown hair.

I smiled, "god why cant I just date you?" I ask and she laughs, "because Jackson Hemts is too fucking cute." She says and I nod, "agreed."

The dress was a Victorian-style with a corset and off the shoulder sleeves. There were ruffles and lace but it wasn't big, it was loosely fit against my body.

"I'm scared to go out." I mumble and she furrows her eyebrows, "Why? If Jace says anything I'll-"

"No no no it's not him, it's Pearl. Why does she even have to be here!? They just started dating..." I mumble the last part and she shakes her head. "Cause Jace wants to show off." She says and I nod, "Dont we all know he loves doing that." I say as I rip the door open and step out.

I look around the room, there's Aunt Denna and her fiancé Claude, Pearl, Leo, Jemma, the other bridesmaids, and Lucio are the only people here. They sit on the benches and smile at me, except for Pearl, she looks at me with a look of hidden disgust.

But she's not trying very well to hide it.

Her eyebrows are slightly furrowed and her nose is slight scrunched. She rolls her eyes. She was looking at me like I could never get we she had, like I could never be beautiful.

"fuck." Leo mumbles but I don't pay attention, my face is just staring at the floor because of Pearl. Leo was leaning against the wall as his eyes travel all the way over me, leaving a stinging trail of heat wherever he looked.

He swallows harshly as Aunt Denna yells at him but he doesn't even give her a glance. "No cussing!" She scorns and he shakes his head, looking away from me as he puts his hands in his pockets, holding his hands far away from himself as to hide something....

I swallow. Fuck Pearl giving Leo a boner while I'm trying to.... but I'm not trying very hard anymore huh?

Maybe if I was just better....

"Sorry Denna but Fuck is kind of like my catch phrase." He says as he looks at her intently, trying to get it away.

I'm not gonna be brash here but your the one in my thoughts...

I kinda wish he wouldn't try to hide it.