♰♰♰
Chapter 2
Leo’s POV
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“Cmon Leo! Let's go clubbing tonight~!” Whined my friend Constance, slinging his arm around my shoulder. He is an almond coloured african canadian with dreads which he dyes a light ash blonde. He's a pretty artistic guy and helps design my outfits. We've been friends ever since freshman year in high school. He always has a joke to tell and brightens the room with his smile every time. Honestly, I love the guy. But no matter how much I love him, I'm not as reckless as him. “And when you get drunk? You want me to drive 45 minutes to get to you and drag your silly ass back to my apartment so you can sleep on my couch again?” He moves his hand from my shoulder and wraps both around my waist.
“C'mon buddy! Please~” He whined. “No Connie! I have work to do…” He groans and moves his hands from my waist. “You're such a drag Leo… But oh well! You'll probably come anyway.” I roll my eyes and speed up. “Hey! Wait up!” I approach my car, and he follows. I get into the driver's seat and him in the passengers. He connects his phone to my radio, and starts to play “T-shirt” by Migos, the HXNS remix. He then adjusts the volume to the point where if you pass by the car you can hear the noise coming from my speakers. While he's violently going back and forth to the point where he looks like he's high on something(which isn't new, it's not that he does drugs, he just seems like it because he's always so hyper.), I roll down the windows and go to Eaton.
“Why are we here?” He asks. I couldn't hear him because the music was deafening him out, but I've gotten used to it so I read his lips. I shut off his music, and turned back to him. “Yeah, I wanted to shop around.” He grabs his red iphone and gets out of the car before me. He goes to my side of the car and opens the door for me. “After you, your highness~” He said, bowing. I put on my mask and chuckle. “Thank you, my loyal servant.” We enter the mall and start wandering around. “Where to first?” He asks, looking at his phone screen. “Bath and Body works. I wanna get a jade roller.” He looks up at me. “What's that?” He questioned, cocking his head to the side. “It's like a beauty thing which you use for a facial massage.”
He makes an ‘ooh’ sound then puts his phone in his pocket, giving me all of his attention and focus. We entered the store and I immediately went to the skin care section. I look at all of the jade rollers there are and I try to find the brand which I want. While looking, I also found some cuticle oil and a face mask that I liked. Well, I have the money… I can spoil myself a little bit, no?
I pick it up, and get my jade roller. I also looked around and found so much other stuff for my face such as lip scrubs, exfoliators, and scrubs after scrubs. After a couple of minutes, which Connie swears I took an hour, I left the store with 534$ less than I did before. I held a small bag in my hands with my cuticle oil while Connie held all of the bigger bags for me.
Well, not really held. He dragged the bags across the floor.
"It's too heavy Leo! Why do you shop so much?" He said, stopping to lean on a wall and pant. "This is just the start. I'll treat you to food later!" I said waving him off. He groans and follows. He proceeded to do some more groans of sadness.
What a drama queen. “Alright, how about we get some food now, put this stuff in the car and then we can come back for more shopping okay? But this is the only break you're getting alright?” I propose. His eyes beam up, and he raises his hands in the air. “Yes!” My bags are flailing around. “Don't break my stuff! They were expensive…” He quickly put his arms back to his side. “Sorry Leo~” We walked to the food court and got a table. I go in my pocket and give him my credit card. “Here, get what you want, but get me a milkshake please and thank you, vanilla, large.” I declared. He tried to grab the card from my hands but I moved it before he could.
“Do you remember your budget and the code?” I asked. He looks at me and pouts. “I know, now gimme!” He said, putting both of his hands out like a child asking for candy. I sigh and give it to him. “Just come to me if you need help!” I called. He salutes and runs to the church's chicken. I scroll on my phone, and I see a text message from Aaliyah. I click on the notification and lean back into my chair.
Aaliyah
Aaliyah: Yo, this stupid ass hoe in my class broke
my project and my teacher is making me redo it.
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Aaliyah: This school is wildin’
Oh wow, what are you going to do now?
Aaliyah: I'm going to stay up and do it today- Hbu?
I'm at the mall with a friend of mine.
Aaliyah: Lucky~ Im stuck at home studying all day-
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I started to type, but I stopped when I felt someone's presence hovering over me. I look up and come face to face with Constance. He gave me a cheeky smile. “Who's this Aaliyah?” He asks. I blink. “Just a friend of mine, why?” He sets the food down and gives me my milkshake. “Here you go!” He avoided the question. I was starting to grow suspicious and I could see that he saw that. I was going to call him out when he grabbed my milkshake and shoved the straw in my mouth. I immediately calmed down, under the spell of the amorphous solid. I take it from his hands and happily drink it. “I was just curious, that's all.” He insisted. After begging to get a piece of his chicken, he aggressively disagreed. Arguing that “If you wanted some you could have gone and asked me to get you some!” I pouted. “I didn't know I wanted some back then!” I opposed it bitterly.
“Then go get some, the place is still open.” He said munching on his chicken. “But I don't want to go~ I'm too lazy-” I said, annoyed. He gave me a ‘Well then suit yourself’ look. I slurped my milkshake aggressively. Once he finished, we went to the parking lot to put away my bags. “Now, let's go on a shopping spree for you!” Connie crossed his arms. “Me? But you went on a shopping spree for me like, last month?” He protested. “What can I say? I like giving people who I care about gifts!” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “No kidding.”
When we walked into the mall, I came across a slightly shocking sight. I saw Aaliyah with a guy. He seemed tall, not as tall as me though. He had dark brown hair and dark green eyes. I stopped and so did she. “Hi Aaliyah." I smiled. Connie, with his arms already crossed against his chest, moved more weight from his right to his left.
"Oh, i- uhm. Hey! Leo!" She said, stumbling over her words, as if it was like she was walking on glass. "I thought you said you were studying at home?" I questioned. "And hello!" I turn to the person beside her and smile at him too. He gives me a wave. "Uhm, I- I… Finished! I finished so I came to the mall with my, uhm, friend!" She rambled, her words pouring out like a waterfall. I don't know why she was so nervous… "What's your name?" I turned to her friend. "My name's Draken, nice to meet you Leo." He sticks out his hand so I could shake it. "And I'm Constance, Leo’s best friend." He said, eyeing Aaliyah. Aaliyah’s face went dark, so did Constance's. They held each other's gaze before shaking hands.
"Well we best be going now, Leo wants to treat me to a shopping spree!" He said while smiling. "Where are you all headed? May Draken and I can come with?" Constance's grip tightened on her hand. "Well, I wouldn't want to disturb your date!" He said, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "I said he's my friend. And you're not disturbing anything!" The tension only grew thicker, until it was broken by Draken hugging Aaliyah. "Ali, don't force them. We're the ones who interrupted them in the first place." He said, placing his chin on the top of her head. "It's fine Connie, and sure you guys can hangout with us!" I added. "Sure, sounds great!" Said Aaliyah, a little too passive aggressively. "Yeah. Great." He said, his voice seeping with sarcasm.
I awkwardly chuckled. “Well, let's go shall we?” I say. Constance grabs a hold of my arm and I put my hands in my pockets. This was going to be a ride. While on my shopping spree to spoil Con, Aaliyah kept picking up outfits and asking me if I thought she was cute. “Y-Yeah!” I said. “Hey, do you want-” She commenced before being immediately cut off by Connie. “Leo, could I get this please?” I look at the object which he showed me.
“Yeah, sure!” I say giddy, putting the object in the cart. I may seem oblivious to what's going on between them, but I'm not. I'm just not involving myself in it. I don't even know what's going on between those two, but what I do know is that it's entertaining. I look on the shelf and grab two lip scrubs. “Should we get the ‘Laneige’ or the ‘Burt's Bees exfoliator’...'' I question myself. "How about both!” Suggested Aaliyah. “Hmm, yeah maybe. Do you want me to get you something Draken?” I turn and ask him.
“Oh, uhm…” He said, his gaze switching from a perfume bottle to my own. I walk up to him and grab the perfume bottle. “Nice choice.” After wrapping up our shopping spree, I spent way more money than I expected; we parted our ways in the parking lot. “Well, it was nice hanging out with you guys!” Said Aaliyah jovially. I beamed at her and Draken while Connie sat in the front seat. Aaliyah comes over to my car and knocks on the window. I use my car keys to roll down the window for her and lean into my car a little. “And goodbye Constance~” She said, smiling at him. “Go fuck your-” He started before i rolled up the window with a quickness. “I'm sorry, he's usually super sweet. I don't know what his problem is.” I say arduously, putting my hand on the back of my neck.
“It's fine, I don't expect him to like me anyways. Later guys!” I wave to them while Connie raises his middle finger to Aaliyah. I go to the car and scold him. “Why do you not like Aaliyah? You barely even know her, or got to know her.” I said. “I just don't like her. She feels off. And plus, she said that she's busy doing work, if so, then how did we see her just a few minutes later?” He said slumping into the chair. “You don't even know where she lives…” I protested. “Yeah, but most of the houses in downtown Toronto are far. Plus, her makeup looks like it would've taken a long time. And don't you think that she was on a date?” He ranted.
Well… Maybe a little. But it's… I mean, if she was dating someone then she wouldn't need to lie to me. I'm pretty sure it's…
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Alright, he has me there. I think he knows that too.
“Either way, I just don't like her….” He starts again, I pout and slump a little. “But,” He says, raising his voice and sitting up. “I'll be nicer to her next time I meet her. Now let's go to your place and put on these face masks.” I perked up and straightened my posture. Once we arrived at my apartment complex, we grabbed my bags and brought them upstairs. We left Connie’s bags in my car.
—-
While putting on our face masks, I heard a notification from my phone. I exit my washroom where Connie was blasting another song from his speaker. As “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” was filling the room, and Connie was singing along, I tried to follow the faint sound of my phone. Once I found it, I saw that Aaliyah was calling me. I swiped my finger over the green button, instinctively, and was greeted with Aaliyah’s voice. I think I couldn't hear because this was the part where the beat changes and the girl talks about chicken or whatever. “Im sorry, Aaliyah, lemme go to a place where i can hear you better okay?” I say. I walked over to my bedroom, I closed the door and the music was instantly less loud.
“Can you hear me now?” She asks. “Yeah, I can. What's up?” I replied. “Oh nothing, I just wanted to see how you were doing!” She said, giggling a little. “Ah. How's your project going?” She pauses for a bit, then her side goes silent. “Hm? Oh. I finished just now.” She said, I could feel her smile through the screen…
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Wait a minute.
“At the mall you said you finished your project then, how are you just finishing up now?” I say notably. Then silence on the other end. “Well, it's none of my business, but if you were on a date that's perfectly fine. We just met a couple days ago, it's not like I'll be up your ass for it.” I followed up. “Yeah, I'm sorry. I… Don't know why I did that, but oh well!” She said, cheering up.
I was still a bit peeved, but I'll let it slide. “Also, why does Connard hate me?” She turns on the tables on this investigation and asks me a question instead. “Constance. And I can't tell you. It's not my place.” I replied. “Oh, but please~ I want to make him like me!” She begs. “I can't tell you, again; not my place. If anything , you can ask him. I can give you his number or put him on the phone if you want.” I headed towards my bedroom door and was prepared to open the door. “No. It's okay. But hey, can I come over next time you guys have a spa day?” I ponder on it a little.
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“Sure, why not.”
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