《Starlit Crown》Chapter 12

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Leo woke up in a bedroom that was almost as familiar as his own. A luxurious but plain room with a soft bed, a nice T.V. and a minifridge that was stocked with sodas and had a sign taped to it that read ‘Absolutely NO Alcohol!’ The closet and dressers were nearly empty, only holding a smattering of spare clothing for Leo, but enough that he would be prepared for anything.

The nice, expensive blackout curtains weren’t pulled all the way shut so early morning sunlight was pouring into the room and his phone was loudly buzzing away on the nightstand. The pillow he had pulled over his head to block out these sensations was quickly losing its efficacy.

Giving up on sleep, Leo tossed the pillow to the side and grabbed his phone off the nightstand, vaguely glancing at the alarm clock. 6:07 A.M.

Blearily, he squinted at his phone and saw his mother’s picture smiling back at him. He answered, “G’morning.”

The first thing he heard in response was a long exhaled sigh. Then an inhale, “Where the hell are you, young man? You never came home from work last night, do you know how worried I was when I didn’t see your car out front in the morning? And then you didn’t see your car out front in the morning? And then you didn’t pick up the first call-”

She took a deep breath and Leo took the opportunity to interrupt, “Mom, I’m at Sky’s place.”

There was a long pause before she continued much calmer and quieter, “you’re at Sky’s?”

Leo rolled onto his back, “yeah something happened and I decided to stay at his place so we could talk. Sorry I didn’t send you a text.”

She let out another sigh of relief on the other end of the line, “it’s good you two are talking again. But what happened?”

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Leo pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, “nothing horrible but maybe complicated... I’ll tell you more later.”

“Alright.... Just... warn me next time?” He could almost hear her chewing on her lip in worry.

“I will.”

“Ok... I have to finish getting ready for work... but I will hear that ‘more’ later.”

Leo dragged his hand down his face to his chin and closed his eyes, “sure.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

Leo hung up the call, letting the phone go to drop on the plush mattress before pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes and groaning. He rolled over on his side, back to his phone, and tried to go back to sleep. But every time he closed his eyes his mind started racing, questioning everything that happened the night before and wondering just what he was going to tell his mom ‘later’. But when he opened his eyes he was too groggy to think anything through.

The smell of fresh brewed coffee filtered in through the gap at the bottom of the door; a way for his mind to catch up to itself. He sat up still groggy and head pounding from how little he slept, and slid out from under the covers.

He tripped over his work pants and polo on his way to the dresser. He groaned deep in his throat as he shook his foot free from the cloth trap. Squinting with his brow furrowed, he finished stumbling to the drawers and fished out the sweatpants and one of the T-shirts he left there to pull on and avoid offending Mrs. Evans by walking around in his boxer briefs on the off chance she was around.

The apartment was still and quiet as he made his way to the kitchen, yawning, scratching his stomach with one hand and trying to comb the tangles out of shoulder-length hair with the other. Eyes open barely a crack, he turned into the kitchen on autopilot, not noticing the man on the couch, watching him. Still only half-looking, Leo grabbed a mug from the cabinet.

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On the couch, Mr. Evans put his mug down on a coaster on the coffee table and turned his upper body towards Leo in the kitchen, calling out to him, “Leo, what are you doing here?”

*

Even when sleeping, Sky had deep purple bruises under his eyes. He slept lightly, wrapped in a too big gray hoodie with the owl mascot of his highschool on it. Sky had slept in it for a few days so it only barely smelled like Leo. Still, Sky buried his nose inside it as he slept.

He was startled awake by the sound of something breaking, then heard Leo’s nervous voice say, “good morning, Mr. Evans.”

If the shattering sound didn’t snap him to full wakefulness then that sure did. He practically fell out of bed, scrambling for the door.

“I asked what are you doing here?”

Sky burst through his bedroom door, yelling, “he’s Leo!” As Sky tried to run out of his room, he tripped on the corner of the door and was sent sprawling onto the hallway rug.

“I know he’s Leo, why is he here? I told you, you don’t have time for him anymore.” His father’s harsh tone stabbed him as he kneeled on the rug, his ribs aching slightly from the day before.

Sky winced, took a deep breath, and, bracing himself against the wall, got to his feet. With one hand pressed to his ribs, he looked his father square in the eyes, “no he’s Leo. The celestial spirit Leo. Take a closer look.”

Sky’s father turned his gaze back on Leo, his lip curled up in a slight sneer. He squinted, looking him up and down. After a very long 5 seconds, during which Sky didn’t breathe, he looked away and picked up his mug. With the mug to his lips, but before he took a sip, he said, “I see.”

Sky let out the breath he’d been holding only for his heart to drop to his feet when his father stood, tucking his newspaper under his arm and holding his mug, and continued, “have some breakfast, get dressed, and meet me in my office within the hour.”

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