Harvey was home by the time I had gotten back from ballet. I took a bit longer than needed as I was stewing on how this conversation was going to go.

Nevertheless, I made my way into the front room with my head held high. It was weird coming home and not hearing the blaring of guns from the TV or the loud eruptions of stupid laughs from Harv's friends.

The silence was peaceful.

"Finally," Harvey jumped up from his seated position when I made my way to the lounge "You're home."

When I looked at his face, I felt immediately guilty. Not just from taking so long, but for the purplish bruise that I could see forming on his left cheekbone.

Nice to see I can actually pack a punch. But it still made me feel bad.

"Sorry, I was thinking about things." I replied, slinging my bag onto the sofa and moving so I was closer to him. His fingers were interlocked and were fiddling around so I could tell he was nervous.

Suddenly, he reached forward and pulled me into a hug.

I was stunned. So stunned in fact that I was frozen in place. I couldn't remember the last time Harvey hugged me.

Eventually, after realizing my arms were still lax by my sides, I slowly brought them up to hug Harvey back.

After a few moments, his grip lessened and I let go as well.

"What the hell has happened to you Harvey?" I questioned, slowly placing myself down on the sofa and facing my brother full on.

He paused for a second before slumping down in the chair opposite me, his head falling down.

"I... I don't know." His sigh was deep and he rubbed his eyes with his fingers "I've just been going through some stuff and not knowing how to let it out."

Was it school? His friends? Our parents? I had no idea what was bugging him. Usually my brother was an open book but the Harvey in front of me was guarded, distant.

"Well, you know if there's anything I can help out with then I'm here for you." I sympathized with him, knowing how it felt to have problems and not knowing how to deal with them.

I've dealt with eating disorders in the past. From being a chubby little girl who wanted to dance, to the slim teenager I am now who competes in professional ballet competitions.

It was a struggle to get to where I am now and I'm not proud to admit I went through major lengths to get there.

Harvey glanced back up at me with a small glimmer of hope in his eye, but the moment was suddenly cut short with a knock at the front door.

It made me jump, but I should've known that Harvey's friend would be over soon. I didn't mind it though.

From what he's said to me, I'd rather he be with his friends than alone.

"I'm going to do my homework." I said with a small smile, picking up my bag that I dropped and scouting for Loki before I made my way to my room.

"Thank you, Eli. I mean it." Harvey replied, his eyes following me as I searched the kitchen for my cat.

I somehow found him in one of the top kitchen cupboards asleep in a mixing bowl... Not even going to ask...

When I finally made it to my room, the noise from the TV started almost instantly, though it wasn't as loud as it usually was.

Loki leaped out of my arms and onto my bed. I suppose my bed was a lot more comfortable than a mixing bowl.

Just as I sat myself down at my desk to do the remaining bits of homework I had, my laptop pinged from in front of me.

Pressing the message notification button, I was surprised to see Leo wanted to talk to me.

"Can you meet me today? Sorry for being so distant today but I really want to get this routine nailed. Can you come to mine so we can practice?"

I was stunned that he would want me back at his so soon. After that night... I didn't know what to think of Leo.

I felt pity for him, of course, but I know he wouldn't be one to take pity lightly.

After a few more moments of debating it, I agreed to come over to practice since I knew Miss Lacey wanted to go watch everyone's progression in a couple of days to see how well everyone's doing.

I minimised the chat and brought up a webpage about Victorian era medicines and surgeries. Ah, gotta love History.

***

It felt weird being back at Leo's house. I was waiting outside the front door with my gym bag slung over my shoulder.

Dressed all ready in my ballet gear, I had my hoodie tied around my waist as I knew the weather was going to take a turn for the worst later on. Grey clouds already dotted the skies above me.

After a couple more moments, the door opened to reveal Leo.

He looked tired. Not majorly, but you could tell he wasn't right just by looking at him.

He was in his usual rehearsal attire, no shirt and some loose sweatpants.

"Hey." I said softly, showing a small smile as well.

Leo simply nodded his head to me in a form of greeting and moved aside so I could walk in the house.

I could remember the decor from the other night, extremely expensive looking which made me scared to touch anything.

"This way." Leo announced, passing by me and gently taking a hold of my arm, leading through the front room and further into the house.

I didn't quite fathom how big the house actually was but Jesus Christ was it big.

The front room lead to a dining room but when Leo pulled me further through the house, we came to a small gymnasium.

This guy had his own gym in his house. No wonder he was so ripped.

His phone was docked onto a speaker system in the corner of the room which he went over to and pressed play.

Some loud, heavy music started playing which made me wince at the volume.

Instead of speaking, Leo began doing his usual warm up stretches so I did the same.

I knew I wasn't going to get a conversation out of him anytime soon. I didn't want to pry but it made me sad to think Leo was suffering on his own.

Then again, if he wanted to talk about it then he would. I'm not gonna be one of those people who ask questions every five seconds.

After around 10 more minutes of stretching, Leo moved back over to the sound system and turned off the metal music.

"Wanna go from the top?" He asked, scrolling through his phone and not even looking in my direction.

"Yea sure, whatever's easiest." I answered, tying my hair into a bun so it wouldn't get in the way.

The next hour was intense. I know we haven't practiced in a while, but it seemed Leo wanted this all over and done with.

"You need to get your leg up higher on the last bit." He grunted, taking a long sip of water from his bottle. I was panting from the exercise and frowned at him.

"My leg was where it was meant to be." I argued, wiping away the few beads of sweat that resided on my forehead.

Leo shook his head at me, "No, you didn't. It's meant to be up to my shoulder."

I scoffed at him, "Uh, I think you'll find it was." I could reach my leg all the way up to my own shoulder and hold it there for a while so I didn't understand why he thought I didn't do it in the routine.

"Stop arguing with my Eli. Just do what I say." Leo threw his empty water bottle to the floor and restarted the song.

Putting my anger to the back of my head, I moved back into position and Leo joined me.

Once we got to the end of the routine, I made sure my leg was exactly where I wanted it to be so he wouldn't snap at me again.

When the song ended again, Leo just shook his head.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You wanna knock me out with your leg instead?" He shouted, running his hands through his hair.

I placed a hand on my hip in frustration "What the fuck do you want from me? I had my leg right the first time and now its not right again? I fucking give up. I'm going home."

I'd had enough. I know Leo was angry but he didn't have to take it out on me.