The Adventures of A Fat Girl

8. Feelings

"Yesterday was so much fun Nina, especially the movies and the video games and kicking the guys asses", I exclaim as Leo rolls his eyes and bumps his shoulder with mine. 

"I didn't loose as many times as Jason did though", Leo teases Jason who groans loudly. 

"You just got lucky Hazel. Next time, I will take my revenge and beat your sorry ass", he says while puffing out his chest. Mark shoves him by the shoulder as we all laugh out loud. 

"How did you learn to play this good though?", John asks me who looks a little astonished. 

"I live with Ace and my dad who are crazy for video games and hence I picked up some of the things on the way. We even have a night on the weekends where we play video games for hours at a stretch", I tell them and all the boys looked impressed while the girls look at me wide eyed. 

"We would love to come and learn from them so we can win against these assholes", Nina exclaims and Mark laughs. 

"Sure thing Nina. Anytime". 

"But seriously girl, I am impressed", Linn muses and I laugh while Leo wraps his hand around me, unintentionally. 

I turn to look at him and he just smiles at me. 

Nina, Linn, Priya and Harriet look at me with narrowed  and calculating eyes while the boys are busy making fun of the girls for loosing yesterday.   

I blush and look down at my feet while Linn clears her throat. 

"Guys, we girls need to go to the washroom, you guys can wait for us near the lockers", with that Nina pulls me away from Leo and we go to the washroom where I know I will be interrogated, again. 

"What is going on between you and Leo? And don't you dare say nothing", Priya looks at me with narrowed eyes while others follow suit. 

"Yesterday at Nina's house we just had a heart to heart, nothing else", I don't know why I blush when I say this but the girls including Harriet start squealing. 

"You like Leo", Harriet states and they all start gushing about how cute we will look together. Me being the most uncomfortable person in these situations, I start blushing and let out an awkward laugh, stopping them from screaming any louder. 

"Guys its nothing like that. I don't know if he feels the same and moreover I am not sure what I really feel about him, so lets just give it a rest", I say and thankfully they nod and drp the topic but make me promise them to tell even the smallest thing that may happen between us in the near future. 

"Lets go, I am sure the guys are impatiently waiting for us", Nina remarks and we all scramble out of the washroom. 

"Why the hell do you girls take so much time?", Mark wines like a five year old while we laugh.

"Let's go to class, shall we?", Leo leads all of us to the homeroom all the while holding my hand securely in his. The girls give me knowing looks while boys being boys were oblivious to this. 

I am not sure if Leo is behaving like a caring person because he likes me or because of the conversation we had yesterday at Nina's place. I hope it is not because he feels sorry for me because that will be last thing I would ever want.  

After the boring lectures we finally sit in the cafeteria, eating an amazing cheese pizza and talking about anything and everything. As Mark was about to say something, we hear a chair scrape beside us. We turn our heads to see Stacy and her minions. Stacy tries to squeeze between Leo and I while her two minions sit between Jason and Harriet. 

Leo lets out an irritated sigh and turns to face the devil incarnated. 

"What do you want now? Am I not even allowed to eat in peace with my friends now?", his voice rises a few tones at the end. 

"Baby, we are just sitting with you guys to have lunch and a good time. What's wrong with you these days? You have changed since she came here", Stacy says while pointing at me. The whole cafeteria is silent and looking at us with gawking eyes. 

"Don't you dare bring Hazel in between. Have you ever thought that maybe its nothing to do with her but its you?! Maybe I am so done with you following me around as if we are tied by a freaking rope or something?", Leo lashes out on her. His frustration finally shows itself. 

"How can you get tired of me?! Everyone wants me but I want only you baby, you know that", she exclaims and tries to hold his hand but he removes it before she could even reach for it. 

"Is that so? Then go to the people who really want you because I don't. You are starting to irritate me and this is me blowing up on you because apparently your pea sized brain is unable to take the damn hints", Leo screams and then is about to leave the cafeteria when Stacy decides to speak. 

"Fine. We are done Leo. I don't want anything to do with you from now on but I won't promise the same about Hazel here", she says in a threatening tone and a sinister smile can be seen on her face. 

"Don't you f*****g dare Stacy. I swear to God if you hurt Hazel or for the matter of fact any of my friends, I will personally see to it that your life becomes a living hell and you know that I never back down from a promise", he says while looking in her in the eye but it does nothing to her. She looks him in the eye one more time, gives me a hateful glare and struts out of the room while everyone looks in between me, Leo and Stacy's trail. 

"The show's f*****g over people, get on with your lives", John shouts and everyone turns their attention towards their food though their ears were still on us. No one speaks for a few long seconds and finally Mark clears his throat. The tension is so thick that you can cut it with a damn knife. 

"That was something I wanted to see since a while now", he says and we finally smile at his antics. 

"Yeah I swear. That b***h deserved everything Leo said. If it was me I would have punched her square in the face before she could even speak half of that s**t", Linn says and we all agree except Leo who is looking at the wall, lost in his own thoughts. I touch the back of his hand and his head snaps towards me. He looks at my face for a few minutes and storms out of the cafeteria. My hand lands on the table. I sit on the chair, a little confused and dazed as to why he stormed out like that. I wanted to go after him but I decided against it to give him some space and sort out his thoughts.

We all leave after the bell rings and go to our respective classes. Right now I have English lit with Harriet and Leo. As we both enter the class, my eyes search for any sign of Leo, but guess he didn't want to come. 

After the school ended, we tried calling Leo several times but he didn't pick up and we were directly sent to voicemail. I just hope, wherever he is, he is okay. I just can't get him out of my head and my thoughts are clouded by him. 

Jason graciously agrees to give both us a ride as Harriet, Jason and I live three blocks away from each other. FIrst he drops me off and as I leave the car, I turn around and wink at him and hug Harriet through the open window.

I hope these two go on a date very soon. Harriet needs someone like Jason in her life who can boost her self confidence and help her recover fully. 

As I am about to step inside my empty house as my parents and my brother are at my grandparents for a few days due to my grandpa's health, I hear a car stop right behind me. I turn around and I see Leo getting out of his car. He turns to look at me and we stare at each other for a whole minute which feels like an hour or so.      

"Hey", he is the first one initiate a conversation which snaps me back to reality.

"Hey", I say back and we stare again, not knowing what to say anymore. 

"I need to talk to you Hazel. Mind if I come in? This could take a while", Leo says with his face cast down. A heavy feeling sits in my chest and I cannot seem to look at him either for some reason 

"Sure. Please come in", I open the door and walk in with him right behind me. 

"What would you like to have?"

"Just water please", he says as he sits on the couch and takes a look around while I hand him a glass of water and have one myself. 

"Would you like a sandwich or something? I was about to make myself one anyway", I say but my voice gives away the nervousness.  

"Hazel, just come and sit down. I need to explain everything to you. Please?", he says and I can see the need in his eyes. I sit down opposite of him and nod at him. Leo sighs and clasps his hands together. 

"My parents, in less disrespecting way, are control freaks when it comes to my life. They decide what I do and what I don't. They like to think that. whatever they want is what I really want which most of the time is not the case. They wanted me to date Stacy just so their friendship remains strong and it benefits them in their business as well. In the start, Stacy was actually a nice girl and less of a b***h than she is right now. We were happy but then all the popularity got to her head and she turned into this version of herself. She became possessive and hated when I talked to any other girls. I was tired of her attitude and wished to get rid of her but just because of my parents, I couldn't. I didn't know what they would do if they got to know I wanted to break up with her. But something changed the day you came", he says and look at me and I am sure I look shocked as hell. My jaw hits the ground and I don't know what to say. 

"I know this is overwhelming, but yes, I have feelings for you Hazel. I like you more than just a friend. You don't have to answer me right now and don't think I am using you as an excuse to break up with Stacy which I going to do anyway. I told my parents about the break up and we had a huge fight which resulted in me getting here because this is the only place I could think of. I needed to explain everything to come clean about my feelings as well. Hazel, I am not pressurizing you to answer me immediately as I said before. Take all the time you need to think but I promise to wait for your answer. Trust me when I say this, you made me fall for you the day I laid my eyes on you. I really like you and I hope you will think about it all", saying all of this while looking at me in the eye, he gets up from the couch and sits on his knees in front of me and take my hands in his. 

"I like you Hazel Campbell and I am waiting for your answer", saying so, he gets up from the floor and kisses my forehead and is about to leave when I call out to him. 

"Drive safe, Leo", I whisper with a ghost of a smile and he smiles back and nods his head and leaves after closing the door behind him. 

I stand in the same spot for a few more minutes and think about all he said but all I could focus on was that he likes me for who I really am. And I like him.