I was suffering in free period (heh) when I heard Leo and his friends talk about "his girl" as Jeremy had dubbed me. He was surrounded by his usual group of friends, while I was hunched over my desk, head resting on my folded arms as I waited for the pain meds I just took to start working.

"Dude, why are you checking your phone so much?" Jeremy asked, as loudly as he always does.

I couldn't see Leo's face, but I can imagine him furrowing his brows as he answered, "I'm not."

"You are." Jeremy shoots back. "You've checked it like five time in the past minute."

Leo didn't say anything, but apparently he didn't need to. His silence did all the talking for him. "Wait..." I could hear the smirk on Jeremy's voice. "She hasn't texted you, has she?"

"She has," Leo quickly replied. "She's just..." For a second I feared what he would say next. "Been busy over the weekend, and I'm wondering if I should text her right now. Find out how she's doing."

I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Alright, let me stop you right there, man," Jeremy says, then paused long enough that I was prompted to peek in their direction. He placed a hand on Leo's shoulder, then continued, "Ever since you started texting this girl, you've been acting more and more like a wuss!"

Leo smacked Jeremy's hand away with a small smile. "Yeah, you'd know. You were acting like a lost puppy when you were texting Rachel." Jeremy backed off, raising both his hand in the air, as Leo looked back to his phone. "Plus...it's not a crime to worry about a friend."

I don't know what it was, whether it was the wistful way he said it, or how vulnerable he looked, but me, and every female in the room swooned.

Later that day, feeling much better as I laid in bed, I picked up my phone and decided to send Leo a text. It was the least I could do in return for him genuinely worrying about it. I couldn't deny that it made me feel a bit tingly.

He replied almost instantly.

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