Chapter 6

"Fuck, I can't." Lucy moans, clutching her tummy.

"I'm sorry Sunny I can't d-" Her words cut short as she runs down the hall to the bathroom and I'm glad she closes her door so I won't have to hear her being sick.

I try to stifle my laughter and wait for her to come outside.

After we got home Lucy decided that we had to finish off the large bottle of wine and watch Day 1, a singing competition show. Our favorite show since when we first started hanging out.

I tricked her by making multiple trips to 'fill my glass' so she wouldn't catch on that I was sipping on the same amount all night. Unfortunately for me what I failed to include in my plan was the fact that Lucy always stuck to her word and because of that she finished the bottle of wine, alone.

I hear her slippers dragging in the hallway before I finally see her pouting face.

It's Noon and we we're supposed to pick up her car at Luther's shop but she's been sick all day. She was fully dressed and ready to go a few minutes ago but another wave of nausea suddenly hit.

"It's okay Luce." I walk up to her and smooth over the stray hairs on her head, "I'll bring back a greasy egg sandwich from the diner, okay?" I promise, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"Okay." She sighs sounding like a child and I feel guilty for giggling all day when I notice how weak she looks.

I promise to be quick when she forces me out the apartment informing me that the driver she ordered is outside.

"Don't get motor grease on my dress." I hear her yell from the down the hall.

Inside the elevator mirror I see Neoma's face again when I cover my spot with a finger but before I can enjoy it the doors open to reveal a mother and two little boys outside.

"But now she wants to raise them vegan. Can you believe that? Barely even 7 months and she wants to take the joy of ice-cream away." Lenard, my driver, says pulling up outside of Luther's shop.

He's recently become a grandfather and already butting heads with his daughter about her parenting decisions.

"I'm sure everything will work out fine." I assure the old man.

I wave him off and walk down the walkway of the house connecting to Luther's garage. I knock a few times and wait until I see the smiling face of the man from yesterday.

"Right on time but unfortunately we are not." He greets stepping aside to let me in, "We’re just finishing up actually. It’ll be 10 minutes tops, go down the hall second door on your left and I'll get you some OJ from the refrigerator, okay?" He pats my back and leaves to go to where I'm guessing is the kitchen.

I don't decline his hospitality even though I'm not a fan of orange juice and make my way down the hall.

I hear the sound of metal creaking when I open the door and I'm immobilized at the sight of Leo's shirtless body hunched over the engine of Lucy's car. His biceps move as he cranks bolts into place and I think I now understand why people cry looking at art.

His entire upper body is covered in tattoos crawling from his arms to inches below his chest and for a second when he moves his hair to the back I wonder if I'm not stuck in one of my Aunt Henrietta's video collections I stumbled across one day as a child.

I'm brought back to life when I see him look up at me and drop the wrench. It clanks on the floor but we're still stuck in a trance I don't think I want to break. He does it for me when his eyes rake over my body like he did a few times last night.

Last night when he made me leave the club.

I'm overwhelmed with embarrassment while recalling the events of last night and my fidgeting hands smooth over the fabric of Lucy's cream sundress.

"Sunni-"

"One cold glass of store bought OJ for the lady." Luther's voice interrupts Leo's words.

I see him dodge my gaze and bend to pick up the wrench on the floor.

Turning to face Luther I take the glass of juice and thank him. "No worries, sweetheart." He says and looks over at Leo with a smirk, "This one was a bit sick this morning and thought finishing all my soda would make him feel better so I'm sorry OJ is all I can offer." I look back to Leo and see him gaze up at Luther before returning to tend to the car.

I can't take my eyes off of him and I should be ashamed considering the fact that he is very unhappy about me being back in town. He must think I'm stalking him at this point since in my first week being back here I'm now seeing him for the third day in a row.

Oh my god what if he really does think I'm stalking him? Maybe that's why he tried to get me out the club last night.

What are you doing here?

He said the same thing the day he broke my heart in front of his house when we were 17.

You guys shouldn't be here is what he said last night. I feel ridiculous standing here in front of him right now. He must think I am ridiculous.

"Where is Miss Ramirez today?" Luther ask me and offers me a stool to sit on.

"She's feeling a bit under the weather today so I came to pick up her car." I say, hoping it'll explain to Leo that today, like the last two days, is merely a coincidence.

I take a sip and try my best not to recoil and seeing Luther smile at me I assume I'm doing good.

"Have you introduced yourself to Leo already?" Luther says, making my heart race, "Leo is a young mechanic I've worked with for the last few years, Leo this is..." He laughs lightly and scrunches his face up at me trying to remember my name.

A few seconds of silence drown the room.

"Sunniva." Leo's voice surprises me and I look up to see him eyeing me.

"Oh you two know each other?"

"We went to High School together." He says.

"Oh that's great. I remember you saying yesterday that you just moved back to town. Were you away at col-" Luther's phone rings on the table across the room and when he gets up to get it is when Leo's eyes leave mine.

"Hello." Luther's voice is prominent in the silent room.

"Richard, yes sir we haven't gotte-" The door closes loudly when he exits.

I sit in silence and take small sips of the juice to calm my nerves. I feel his eyes burning my back but I can't look at him.

"You don't have to finish that." Leo speaks.

Still not facing him I nod at the ground.

"Sunniva I..." He sighs.

When I look at him his eyebrows are pulled together in thought.

"I'm not following you." I blurt out without thinking.

I am mortified. Why on this Earth did I say that? Now he's definitely going to think I'm a stalker.

He looks at me quizzically but I can't force words out of my mouth to answer. I feel my lips part and shut a few times before I seal them indefinitely and look away from him.

I should not be here, he's right.

"You still do that thing where you have conversations in your head."

His words hold lightness to them but I still can't bring myself to look up at him. I need to leave here with or without Lucy's car.

"Hey." His heavy boots drag across the floor until he's in front of me. He crouches down in front of the stool I'm seated on to look up at me, "Sunniva I know you're not following me."

The sentence is an obscure one but his face is nothing but sincere.

I can't believe he's really here. After all this time.

I came back here to be with my moms and for the opportunity I got to teach at the elementary but somewhere in the back of my mind I'd hoped to see Leo and redeem myself in a way. I didn't want to be the girl who made too big a deal out of her first kiss. I am Sunniva Wallace 2.0 , that's what Lucy calls it. But this... this is not what I expected. I don't want to be too stuck in my own head that he'd have to pull me out of as if we were still seventeen. I'm not that anxious girl anymore.

In a surge of confidence I abruptly stand and a second later Leo does the same.

I look up at him as he looks down at me and I try my best to not break this trance but unfortunately Luther does it for me by entering the room once again and immediately Leo puts 5 feet between us.

"You done, kid?" The man's deep voice carries through the room along with his shuffled feet "Where'd you put the board, Leo?" He huffs and Leo makes his way over to the agitated man.

"Same place as always." Leo groans, handing Luther the wooden board I remember from yesterday.

Luther childishly rolls his eyes at his tall muscular co-worker as if he isn’t tall and very muscular.

I'm now handed the board with instructions to sign and pay for their services.

Reaching into my purse I look up over Luther's shoulder to see Leo staring at me from beside the car again.

"Thank you Luther." I hand the sweet man the money and board.

"No thanks needed, sweetheart." He smiles warmly at me, "Now don’t you hesitate to call for your car if you ever have any troubles, you hear."

"I won't." I smile, catching Leo's gaze again and this time Luther looks behind him.

"Leo?"

"2 minutes." Leo says, cranking the wrench and I see his biceps move as he does this.

He is very much grown up.

"I'll take that in for you." Luther forces my eyes off Leo's body and I see him reaching for my half empty glass of orange juice.

"Thank you." He smirks at Leo on his way out.

"You moved to Dolton." Leo states plainly.

"I did."

He nods and closes the hood of the car. We just stand in this awkward silence and stare at each other.

"You should stick to upper Dolton, closer to your moms, and away from the rest." He says, wiping his hands with a rag he pulls from his back pocket, "It's just safer."

Why does he care? No, I do not want to get into that!

"We're in the rest right now." I point out trying to distract myself.

"Yes and as I'm sure you noticed all the sketchy fucks on your way here." He says and I hate that I shiver at his cursing.

I'm used to Lucy and our friend's colorful vocabulary. It's just that I've been home with my moms and Momma's always lecturing Mom about the insignificance of profanity.

"Lucy and I take self defense classes on campus so I'm not too nervous. I also promised Lucy I'd show her around Finridge." My words turn his face to stone and I rake over my words to find anything out of place.

"You shouldn't.” He says and although his face is bare of any emotion his eyes are almost panicked, "Finridge is not like 3 years ago. It's not safe just you and your friend alone."

"Why?"

"My bro- Lan and his friends occupy He over half the neighborhoods in Finridge." He looks away when saying this.

I remember his relationship with his older brother being rocky when we were in school but by the look on his face and the clenching of his fists I can see it's a little bit more than rocky now.

"Okay. Thank you for telling me." I smile and he only nods in response.

"Lucy's going to be upset though. She really just wanted to meet people she could invite to our apartment warming next week since everyone we know besides my moms are in another city."

We fall into a familiar silence again.

"You.” I snap my fingers, "You have friends, right? You guys should come well... since I know you and you know other people..." I trail off realizing I sound 11 years old again begging Samantha Collins to come to my birthday party.

He sighs and scratches the back of his head in thought. "I don't know..."

"It'll be fun, I swear and there will be drinks and you don't have to stay all night." These are the words Lucy uses on me all the time.

He opens his mouth again but Luther steps into the room forcing his eyes from mine again.

"All done here?"

"Yeah." Leo nods.

"Well I'll open up for you then." Luther says and walks towards the garage door.

I feel awkward now. Not wanting to go but I can't stay without it being creepy.

Leo walks until he is right in front of me and my tummy fills with nerves. He looks down at me and moves his hand to the back of his jeans. Him staring down at me like this is the most anxiety inducing feeling I've been through but I try to focus on his round nose and mesmerizing face. Dear Lord, he is attractive.

"Here." His deep voice whispers between us.

He removes his hand from his pocket and I look down when I hear the jingle of something to find that it's Lucy's keys.

"Thanks." I reply breathlessly and reach for them.

The screeching sound of the garage door forces me out of this trance and I try and focus on not stumbling on my way to the drivers seat. He follows behind me and I don't know why until I see his arm reaching over to pull the door open.

I nod over my shoulder in thanks and he smirks, probably at what a nervous wreck I am.

"You-you'll let me know... about the party." I mumble getting into my seat and he leans into the car, hand on the door.

The corner of his mouth pulls up in a smile but he doesn't respond and shuts the door.

I cannot take my eyes off him as I back out of the driveway.

What just happened?