“So, where do we go from here?” I ask Leah quietly. “If we’re in love and everyone knows, what do we do?”
“I don’t know,” she murmurs back. “But can I stay here, just for tonight? I don’t want to go back.”
“Leah, you can move in here, that offer still stands. I want you with me all the time.”
She pulls back to look at me. “Are you sure? I’m not going to push myself on you.”
“Leah,” I chuckle. “I love you. It’s only ever going to be you. You want to just stay here for a while until you find your own place, that’s fine, but if you want to move in and never leave, I’m cool with that too.”
She giggles weakly, still looking incredibly sad. “You’re awesome, do you know that?”
“Why don’t you go and take a bath, make yourself comfortable, and I’ll make us some dinner. I don’t know about you, but all I want to do is eat some crappy food and sit in tonight. Yeah?”
She nods happily, agreeing with me. “Thank you so much. I do want a bath, thank you, that means a lot.”
As I move into the kitchen and I pull some food out of the fridge to cook, I realize that this doesn’t have to be all bad. I mean, it isn’t great now, things are all over the place, but that can’t last. Brandon and his mom can’t stay mad at Leah forever, they’ll have to make up. Especially if they see how serious we are. Once me and Leah prove our love to the rest of the world they’ll have to start accepting us. To be honest, I’m pretty sure that the problem is me and my reputation from all those years ago. I guess only time will show that I’m not who I used to be. I suppose because Brandon was always there before, he saw me at my worst. Now I need to show him who I can be at my best. I truly do love Leah, and all I want to do is make her happy. I would do anything for her, I would literally give her anything, and I just want Brandon to see that. One day he will. It might take some time, but he will. I’ll make sure that a long as Leah wants me, I’m going to be the best man for him.
I start whistling to myself as I picture a magical future between me and Leah. I see things that I never thought my future would hold. I even think about marriage and children, something I never thought would be real. Not for me anyway, and certainly not at this age. But now, the idea doesn’t scare me just as much.
With Leah in the bath and me cooking dinner, we’re already in a real domestic situation anyway and I really don’t hate it. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like I’m finally really settled. I never thought I would like the sensation of being tied down, but with Leah it’s awesome. I’m happy to have a ball and chain.
“You okay?” I call towards the bathroom. “You need anything in there?”
“I’m good, thank you though,” she calls back to me. “That’s really nice of you.”
She sounds a little more relaxed now which is great. At least she has a safe haven to come to, I’m glad that I can provide this for her. It’s the first step in the rest of my life in making Leah happy.
***
Leah’s head lolls against me as she drifts off into a sleep on the couch in front of the TV. She’s been dipping in and out of sleep for hours, I suppose the emotional exhaustion has been getting the better of her, and I’m more than happy for her to get rest. After the day that we’ve all had, some shut eye will benefit us all. I could do with getting some rest myself but at the moment my brain is still spinning too quickly. My head is all over the place.
I smile to myself as I look at her angelic face, feeling an intense sense of satisfaction. Much as it sucks, I have her here in my arms now which is wonderful. This is all I want in the world. Just Leah, nothing more. Leah in my own apartment where she’ll be living for the foreseeable future.
I lean my head back and think deeply, trying to work out the best way to act now with Brandon. I don’t want him to hate me more now that his sister has effectively picked me over him because it’ll only be for the time being. She doesn’t want to cut her family out of her life forever, like I’ve done, I can see that a mile off. The fact that she is so desperate for her family almost makes me want to make things right with my own. Or at least my mother. Maybe I’ve been a bit pig headed and stubborn, maybe I should give her another chance.
This is madness, I think to myself. Utter madness. What are we going to do?
I don’t want our love to hurt everyone else, I just want it to be this beautiful thing that we can enjoy. It’s a shame. But if I have to fight, then I’ll fight. If I need to battle for Leah then that’s what I’ll do. As complicated as it is, she’s worth every damn battle. I just hope that we all come out of it without too many battle scars. I hope the cuts don’t run too deep and we can’t recover on the other side.
We just need to survive this, I tell myself decisively. If me and Leah can get through this then I know we can get through anything. It’s us against the world, and I sure as hell don’t mind having her on my team.
Chapter Twenty Nine – Leah
It feels weird, waking up in Zane’s home. All the time that we’ve spent hanging out together we haven’t actually spent a night. I wish I could be excited about it, especially since we finally declared that we love one another last night, which is a huge deal for the pair of us. I don’t know about Zane but I haven’t ever said that before. The only problem is all the circumstances surrounding us makes it so very wrong.
Brandon’s face flickers through my mind, so does my mom’s. It’s a shame that they can’t just let me be.
“Morning, beautiful,” Zane says with a smiling tone as he turns to face me. His whole expression lights up, at least someone is happy to see me! “You look especially lovely this morning. How are you feeling?”
I run my finger down his cheek, loving every inch of his gorgeous, striking face. I do feel bad, I can’t hide that, but this is someone that I’ve been in love with forever. This is so right for me.
“Did you carry me into bed last night?” I ask. “All I remember is drifting off to sleep on the couch?”
“I sure did. I couldn’t let you sleep out there, the couch is too small and uncomfortable. You would have woken up with a real crick in your neck. I don’t want you to go to work like that.”
“Well, luckily for me I don’t have work today, but it would’ve been uncomfortable to do my college stuff.”
He loops his arms around my back and pulls me up on top of him. With the sheer strength in Zane’s body, it’s almost as if I weigh nothing. I giggle and rest my head against his, basking in the good feeling he gives me. As always, when it’s just me and Zane it’s so easy to forget that the rest of the world even exists.