Chapter Six

Alice knocked on his door and waited. She heard footsteps approaching the front door and it swung open to Leonard. He widened his eyes when he saw her before he lurched forward to embrace her.

"My girl!" Leonard exclaimed. "I missed you so much. I'm so sorry for earlier." And he stepped aside to let her in. She grinned, thinking that she was about to prove her dad wrong.

She walked in, putting her tote on a chair nearby. "Is your friend still here?"

"No, he left a while ago," Leonard said. "Come to my room, let's hang out there. Watch some movies."

"Sure," she said, following him to the bedroom. When they were there, she climbed onto the bed with him as he put Netflix on.

"There's this new movie that came out. Quarterback. It looks interesting, do you want to watch it?"

"Okay," she said and he played the first episode for them. They were about 15 minutes in when she turned to him. "Actually, I came over because there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"About what?" Leonard said, eyes still glued to the screen.

"My dad was talking to me earlier at home and he brought up a few things about you."

"What did he say? Something bad?"

"He said that you weren't a good fit for me," she said. "He thinks you don't care about me because you overslept on the day you were supposed to get Taylor Swift tickets and that you don't mind if I get in danger when you do things like get fake IDs with me."

Leonard snorted. "He said that? God."

"Yeah," she said.

"Do you think the same way?"

"I don't," she said right away. "Actually, I'm having a few doubts."

His head snapped to her and her expression was still. He picked up the remote to pause the show. Then he turned to lie on his side and stared into her eyes. "Look, babe, I overslept on that day because I couldn't sleep the night before. I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to get ahead in the queue. I had prepared several devices to make sure I would be able to get in and when I turned in, I was so nervous that I was unable to fall asleep."

"What about those risky things?"

"All those risky things I did with you, I chose to do them because I'm always afraid that you would realise how much better you can do than me. I was trying to keep things interesting. I don't mean to put you in danger but can you tell me you didn't enjoy those wild moments?"

She looked down in embarrassment. "You're right, we did have fun."

"Those people, your friends and your dad, they're just jealous of what we have. They want it for themselves too but they're not able to have what we have, so they say shit like that."

"How do you know my friends feel the same way?"

Leonard paused and she watched as he thought. "Things get around. I was just guessing that they were dissing me too. I get the vibe that they don't like me. Many people don't. But that doesn't mean I'm a bad person."

"Yeah."

"I've always been misunderstood. People always think the worst of me, when I'm not as bad as they think I am. You, on the other hand, you see into my soul and know how great I truly am."

She smiled. "Oh, Leonard, I like you so much."

"Babe, I don't just like you, I love you," he said and leaned towards her. Holding one of her cheeks, he guided her face to his and placed a light kiss on her lips.

Kissing her repeatedly, his hand lowered to her waist as he pressed his mouth harder onto hers. Pulling her waist into his lower body, he pushed his tongue into her mouth. She touched her tongue to his as he wrapped his other hand around her nape and yanked her head backwards to deepen the kiss.

The hand he had on her waist inched towards her front and he touched the button on her trousers. With two fingers, he pried the button free and grabbed the side of her trousers down. His other hand left her nape and reached up the bottom of her shirt to caress the side of one breast.

"Alice…" Leonard moaned as his hand inched from the side of her breast to cup it. He pressed the small of her back into his body and kissed the side of her neck, reaching down to her collarbone where he nibbled the thin skin there.

Fear danced in the fringes of her emotions, but Alice pushed her feelings away and reached her hands to his lounge pants, holding onto the strings in front of it. If she pulled them down and touched him there, she could imagine him ecstatic about it.

Bam!

Loud footsteps approached them as they parted from each other. Alice gasped as she raised her head towards the sounds and saw Keanu stalking towards them through the door that had been flung open, a look of exasperation on his face. He pointed a finger of warning at their bodies.

"Separate yourselves from each other, now."

"Dad, get out!" Leonard said.

"I'm not saying it again. You two are 16, for Christ's sake. Stop whatever you guys are about to do."

"It's none of your business!"

Alice didn't know what to say.

"Leonard, don't make me repeat myself," Keanu said firmly. "Alice, I think it's time for you to leave. Mike is probably missing you."

Leonard glared between his father and Alice, at a loss for words.

"Okay," Alice said, getting off the bed.

"Alice!" Leonard protested.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Next time, then," he said, rolling his eyes.

Anger flashed in Keanu's eyes and he stepped towards his son with one hand raised. Leonard's mouth fell open as the hand approached him and Alice gasped, her body freezing.