Chapter 17

"I'm sorry for being so heavy." She laughs and reaches for the jug of water on our table to fill a glass.

"Looks like Sunny is trying to get wasted tonight." She says and I follow her eyes to where Sunny and her date are sitting across the room.

She swallows her glass of champagne in one swoop and I see her trying to signal the servers in search of more.

"How do you know Sunny?" I ask.

"She drops off Lucy's lunches sometimes and we're both a part of this food drive program she encouraged me to sign up for." Dione explains, eyeing the redhead with a smile on her face.

"She’s great."

"And how do you know Urkel?" At my words her head whips to me and she's scowling viscously.

"Shut your face!" She spits and rolls her eyes, "Ronald's a lawyer here at the firm." She eyes him from across the room.

"So why'd you not ask him to be your date tonight?" I question.

"I don't know." She sighs in thought, "I guess I just think good people deserve good people and when Lucy told me she's setting them up I guess it just made sense, you know?"

"Yeah." I sigh, this time looking at Sunny who looks back at me then dodges my gaze by continuing to converse with her table, "I know."

"You should go talk to her." Didi insists and I turn back at her and frown.

"You should go talk to him." I counter.

"You know what? Maybe I should. I look great and you're no fun and I'm trying to get some tonight so..." She ends her mini pep talk by standing up and walking towards Sunny's table.

I see Sunny's date looking awfully uncomfortable watching Didi approach him and when she shamelessly moves someone's cutlery aside to sit on the table in front of him he looks ready to shit himself.

Sunny waves up at Didi, looking clueless and a little tipsy. They talk amongst each other for a short while before Sunny waves them off as they leave the table. Her date follows Didi like he's in a trance and she winks at me while sauntering out of the hall.

Sunniva is left with an elderly couple at her table and she smiles at them while finishing off her fourth glass of champagne in ten minutes.

From the corner of my eye I see some lanky fuck zeroing in on her and getting up from his table. I watch him approach her table and sit down next to her. She's really shy so she's just smiling uncomfortably and the expression on her face has me up on my feet in seconds.

"Sunny huh? I'm-"

"Nobody." I say, standing behind his seat and he looks up at me in confusion, "Why are you still here? Move." I point behind me and the dick follows my finger before getting up quickly. My eyes follow him until he's back in his seat and then I sit down next to the ginger haired girl.

"You need to work on your manners, Leo." She says and blinks slower than usual.

"Yeah, well you need to work on your alcohol tolerance." I remove the full glass from her hands and down it.

"Hey.” She giggles, lighting up the room, "You have to get me another one." She demands and reaches for the empty glass in my hand tipping it over as if to check if it is in fact empty.

"No, no more." I shake my head and she frowns at my words.

"But it tastes like pink." She complains and she looks so sad I'd think we weren't actually talking about champagne.

"Fine.” I cave, "One more." I lift my finger up in indication and she nods enthusiastically.

I smile at her odd behavior and I'm glad Didi ran off with her date.

She waves at me as I get up from the table and giggles with the big smile on her face.

"You guys have non-alcoholic champagne?" I ask the bartender and she refills the glass I hand over.

Sunny drunkenly traces the patterns on the table as I make my way to her but when she looks up at me the glass in my hand has her full attention.

"Thank you, Leo." She smiles sincerely.

I think she could stab me in the back and I wouldn't notice if she was smiling at me like this.

She watches me as she sips from the glass and I can't bring myself to look away from her.

"You look great." She compliments with bright eyes.

"You do too." I say, taking in her sparkly pink dress. She looks fucking amazing.

"Thanks. Do you see my face? It's sparkly" She squeaks, running her finger along the sides of her cheekbones.

I nod, trying to stifle my laughter.

"Thanks for fixing my car as well."

I shrug in response.

"Your date left." She looks up at me with pity in her eyes, "I'm sorry, Leo but I think she might be into Ronald." She leans closer and whispers.

"It's okay Sunniva, I'll live." I whisper back.

"I'll be your date for the rest of the night." She rubs my arm. I think she's trying to console me but I won't tell her I'm not actually upset.

"Okay." I smile at the tipsy girl and reach for her hand under the table.

She smiles up at me and laces our fingers together.

"Why do you like holding my hand?" She asks, still very much in my personal space but I don't mind it.

I take a moment to think about her question, "It calms me down." I shrug "Makes me feel normal I guess."

Her hand rubbing my arm joins the other and squeezes where we're joined, "You are normal, Leo." She shakes her head dramatically, "In fact you're better than normal, you're amazing." She says, looking up at me like I'm a map of freaking treasures.

Sunniva Wallace will be my demise. I know it.

"I feel sick." She says, scrunching her face up and removing her hands from mine to soothe a headache.

"You okay?" I bring my hand to her face to feel her temperature. She's a little warm but I'm sure it's just the alcohol.

"I wanna go home.” She whines, leaning her face into the palm of my hand, "Please take me home, Leo." She clutches my forearm and she looks so vulnerable it makes me uneasy.

"Okay, I'll go talk to Lucy for a second." I caress her cheek and get up to look for the annoying brunette.

I see her standing between a few people and a man holding her waist tightly.

"Hey.” I call Lucy but get the attention of the group as well, "Sunniva doesn't feel well so I'm taking her home." I say.

Lucy lifts her brow in question and tries to hide the smirk spreading on her face but I see it.

"Well where's Ronald?" The man attached to Lucy asks.

"Who the fuck's asking?" I counter, annoyed that I'm keeping Sunniva waiting by herself.

The bearded man looks offended but Lucy holds him steady before he gets himself in trouble.

"Her keys are in her bag.” Lucy says, "And Leo," She calls and I face her again, irritation lacing my expression, "If anything happens to her your brother won't be able to protect you from me." She warns and I can tell by her eyes that she believes her words.

I turn back around and walk towards Sunny who's looking very unhappy at her table.

"You have your purse?" I ask the pouting girl.

She nods and I hold out my hand for her to take, "C'mon then."

She's up and moving and you'd only see if you were examining but her legs shiver a bit as she walks.

I open the passenger seat door for her and she thanks me with a curtsey.

We don't speak during the drive but I can feel her gaze on me.

"What?" I ask and turn to check if her seat’s buckled.

She shrugs with a mischievous smile on her face.

She leans over the console and I feel her finger run across my chin, "What happened here?" Her soft voice questions.

I shiver slightly at her unexpectedly touch.

I have too many bumps and bruises to remember the story behind every one but I know what scar she's tracing.

"I fell down the stairs when I was a kid, nearly gave my mom a heart attack." I laugh, remembering the way she beat my ass when we came back from the hospital.

I turn to see Sunniva's face scrunched up in imaginary pain. She's so odd in general I think the alcohol just amplifies it.

"You must've gotten so much ice-cream afterwards." She giggles and bends in her seat, unstrapping her shoes, "I remember when Neoma broke her arm climbing a tree she got ice-cream with every meal, I was so jealous." She smiles and wraps her arms around her legs.

Her dress rides up her shapely thighs and I almost forgot that I'm driving. She looks at me in confusion with a fucking pout on her face and I avert my eyes from her to the road immediately.

Fuck me and my entire fucking life.

"Look! Do you think we should get ice-cream?" She points at a drive-thru down the road.

My jeans tighten at the image of Sunniva licking the ice-cream on a cone and I shake my head abruptly, "Next time." My voice comes out rougher than I intended.

And I see her frown with that fucking pout still on her face.

Just make it down the road without crashing into anything, Woo.

"We're here!" She exclaims, pointing at the diner.

I make a right into the parking lot and luckily for me it's practically empty.

I hop out the car first and walk around to open Sunny's door.

"You gonna put your shoes back on?" I ask, pointing to the shoes discarded on the floor in front of her.

"No.” She shakes her head and bends to collect them, "They’re pinching my feet." She says and I move back to let her out of the car.

I reach for her purse then close the door behind her and watch her skip towards the entrance barefoot with her shoes dangling from her hand.

I can't help but feel glad I'm here right now.

"Hi Louisa.” I hear her greet the woman that exits the elevator and I pick up pace to get next to her.

The lady smiles back at her and when she passes me her eyes go wide. I don't allow my frustration to grow so I nudge Sunniva into the elevator and get in behind her.

She's leaning against the mirror on our way up and I pull her towards me instead.

"You still feel sick?" I ask the girl who's slowly becoming sleepy in my arms.

"No.” She hums and wraps her arms around me, "The cool air helped."

When the elevator dings and the doors open she jolts awake and drags me by my hand down the hall towards her apartment.

She's frozen at the door for a moment and I hand her the gold purse and I wait patiently as she searches for her keys and then some more while she opens up the door.

"You want some tea?" She offers, dropping her shoes and purse on the floor.

She skips over to the kitchen before I can answer and I close the front door first before following after her.

So not locking the door is a thing shared between her and Lucy? I'd have to talk to her about that.

She's putting the teapot on the stove when I get into the kitchen.

"Sun-"

"My grandma gave me this teapot," She turns to face me, "Isn’t it adorable."

I nod in response and sit down at the counter. I can see she's still a little tipsy from the glossiness in her eyes but maybe the tea will help.

I've learned that when dealing with people under the influence you just gotta let them do their own thing and make sure they don't hurt themselves.

She reaches for the top cabinet but before she can open it I rush around the counter to do it for her.

"Thank you Leo." She says, taking the two teacups I hand over to her.

I check her temperature again and she's less warm than earlier. She leans into my palm again and places the cups on the counter.

"Your hands are so rough.” She reaches up to grab them, "We should do a soak." She says, tracing the tattoos on my hand and fingers.

"When did you get so many tattoos?" She whispers to herself while examining my hands.

"Do you have them all over, like on your feet as well?"

"No, Sunniva I do not have tattoos on my feet." I laugh at the idea.

"Well where else?" She asks, unbuttoning my sleeve and folding it up to trace the ink on my wrists.

Her fingers strum all the way to my elbow and then stop to rub harder at a particular spot, "You have too many scars." Her beautiful eyes grow sad.

I pull my arm away and reach up to caress her perfect face, "I'm okay Sunny." I assure her.

Her hands hold onto my arm and I lean in closer.

"Are you gonna kiss me now?" She whispers.

The shrill sound of the teapot forces us a part the next moment.

"Fuck." I release a breath. She giggles at this and moves to take the teapot off the stove.

We finish the tea in silence and I notice Sunny beginning to close her eyes.

She sits her cup on the counter and gets up from her seat.

I stay put, assuming she's finding her way to bed. I finish the tea and am ready to head out when I hear her call my name.

"Leo." She calls again.

I follow the sound of her voice down the hall and open the door to her bedroom. She's sitting up in her bed. She's wearing some silk buttoned up pajamas and she has a scarf around her head. She pats the bed as I enter the room signaling me to take a seat and like the dumb ass I am, I do.

"Will you stay with me?" She asks so softly the wind could've blown it away.

"That's not a good idea Sunny." I admit honestly.

"I won't try to kiss you again, I promise." She holds her pinky finger up to me.

"That's not the problem Sunny." I push her hand down.

"Well do you want me to kiss you?"

"Sunny I'm the worst decision you could make," I warn, "It's bad enough I'm here right now. This wasn't the plan." I continue.

"What was then?" She frowns.

"I just... I just want to make sure you're okay."

"Well..." She smirks, grabbing my hand, "I'll only be okay if you stay."

I grab her wrist and she squeaks when I pull her closer.

"You're uncontrollable." I scowl at her but she smiles unaffected.

"Lucy says I'm needy." She adds.

"That too."

We stay this way for a few seconds until I decide, "Just til you fall asleep." I cave.

She nods excitedly, "Okay." She agrees and scoots back to get comfortable and pulls at me to do the same.

I stay on top of her blankets because my strength is dwindling especially now as she's looking at me expectedly. That look is usually followed by a headboard knocking against the wall and then whoever her neighbors are knocking on the door to complain about the noise but this look is Sunny asking me if I want her twinkle lights on or off.

"It's whatever you want." I reply and lay down beside her.

She leaves it on and I tucks her hands under her head.

She has a lazy smile on her face and her eyes are fluttering, "Goodnight Leo." She yawns, finally closing her eyes.

"Goodnight Sunniva." I whisper back at the sleeping beauty.