King's POV

Once we pulled up to the store Leo needed to go to I got out of the car with him. "Hey, I'm gonna tag along with Leo. Tell uncle I'll be back later and everything is fine," I smiled at her.

Kiki looked at me with wide eyes. "He's not going to be happy about that King," she said leaning closer so Leo didn't hear her. "Plus you have a fight tonight too. Don't forget about that."

"I'll talk to him when I get home and I know about the fight. I’ll be back way before it starts." I smiled again before shutting the door so she couldn't argue with me about it. Then turned to Leo who looked a little confused. "I'm gonna tag along if that's cool."

"Yes," he jumped, almost yelling as his face brightened up with a smile before he blushed deeply and looked at the ground shyly. "I- I mean yeah that's fine."

It made me smile, that was just too cute. I was more than willing to help him and make sure he got back home safely. Plus it was a good excuse to hang out with him outside of school too and get to know him a little better.

It was the first time I got to see him without his uniform on too. He was even cuter with his blue jeans on that looked a little tight in just the right places and a deep blue hoody that was slightly bigger on him with large headphones around his neck.

We hit a few different stores and even a drug store to pick up some meds as we went through his list. I didn't ask but I'm assuming it was for his mom so any chance I got I would give the cashier my card to pay for everything. Leo would argue but by the end, we would race and playfully fight to pay for everything. I let him win at one or two stories but with my strength it was easy for me to overpower him.

Once we were done we headed back to the bus stop as I was eating a Coco-Yum bar, the best chocolate bar in the world. I ended up buying one in each store because I just couldn't resist as Leo watched and laughed at me each time I did it.

"Thank you for helping me, King. I really don't know how I would have been able to carry all this myself," he said with that amazingly bright smile. I was so happy to see it back on his face again. “I’ll pay you back for everything you bought today too. You really didn’t have to do that either.”

"Don’t worry about it. I'm happy to help you any time. Hey! When does the next bus get here?"

"Umm," he looked down at his watch. "In an hour."

"Good. I'm starving. How about you? It will be my treat." I looked at him with a smile. I've had a lot of fun today with him. Actually, it's the most fun I've had in a long time and I really didn't want it to end yet.

"You sure? You already paid for a lot of this stuff."

"Stop worrying about the money! I see a food truck up ahead and it looks like a taco truck."

"Hmm," he said with hungry eyes but also a thinking smile at the same time. “I do like tacos.”

We walked over and set the stuff down on a brunch in the small park the truck was parked in front of. "What do you want? I'll go get it while you stay with the stuff," I asked him.

"Three chicken tacos with rice. Load it with everything. I like it messy." We both laughed before I jogged over and got the food. I made sure to ask for extra napkins too since I'm sure they were going to be as messy as Leo wanted.

We both sat on the bench and made small talk while we ate. Leo was really easy to hold a conversation with and all day we didn't have any weird awkward silences. It was nice. I could feel myself falling for him more and more the longer I spent time with him. But I needed to cool myself down. I didn't even know if Leo was into guys or not for sure yet.

Once we were done we sat there for a minute letting our food settle when I put my hand down on the bench but soon realized I put my hand down onto something warm. I looked down and saw Leo look down with me at the same time and saw my hand laying on top of his. We both pulled away quickly like we just burned each other as our faces darkened in red.

"Ahaha, sorry," I told him rubbing the back of my neck and filled with awkwardness. I really didn't mean to do that.

"Uh, it- it's okay. Sorry," Leo said nervously but I couldn't look at him. I didn't want him to see my face because it felt like it was on fire to me. "Oh shit. We should get going before we miss the bus. My dad would kill me if I made him wait too long." We both jumped up and grabbed the bags.

Damn, that was embarrassing. I shook my head to get it out of my mind. That was stupid of me and a complete accident at the same time but it made my heart beat so fast.

—-

We just barely made it in time for the bus. Thankfully there were two seats next to each other as we both sat down smiling at each other with sweat running down our faces and laughing about how we almost didn't make it.

We got the bags a little more organized and relaxed, breathing heavily from running with all this stuff. As I moved my hand on the armrest Leo already had a hand on his side making them brush together. It sent a shock up my whole arm. His skin just felt so nice and soft that I didn't want to move it just yet. Yeah, I was being a little selfish but he didn't move his hand either as we both kinda looked at each other in the corner of our eyes and then down at our hands.

His pinky twitched just enough to brush against mine slowly. Without hesitation, but with all the butterflies in my stomach hitting me hard I brushed back gently with mine. Peeking down at them he slowly moved his hand a little closer for they were touching. Before I knew it, both my pinky and ring finger were linked together with his. It happened so slowly and nervously.

We didn't move or look at each other but the butterflies in my stomach were so bad and my heart was pounding so hard while trying to remember to breathe. It was crazy how nervous I felt just by this small little touch. We stayed like that the whole ride back until it was our stop.

Walking back to his house was quiet but comfortable at the same time. I was enjoying it before we got closer to his house and I noticed something in the small alley next to the house. A black figure ducked around the corner immediately as I looked over, I thought about that rich-looking prick from earlier.

You could tell he was from a rich family but something about him threw up red flags and I didn't like it one bit, especially after the way I saw Leo so freaked out and shaking before him. I didn't trust that guy one bit.

"Hey, Leo?" I asked, turning my attention back to him.

"Yes?" He looked over with a smile but I could see the slight red in his cheeks.

"I don't mean to upset you or bring it back up again but I feel like I should ask because it's bothering me. Who was that guy from the bus stop?"

Leo stopped for a moment in front of his house and looked down as he shook his head. "O-oh um, no one. Can we not talk about it?" He was clearly upset as he started walking again still looking at the ground.

I took a deep breath, getting a little frustrated but I didn't want to push him. "Okay then. Well, how about you give me your phone and I'll give you my number. I would feel better if you had it," I said as we walked up the stairs to his front door.

He looked down again. "I... don't have a phone. My dad shut it off a few months ago because, um, money is a little tight right now," he said, turning red. "But I'm always home and we have a line phone."

"Okay, well I'll write mine down for you then." I tore a piece of cardboard off one of the things we bought that I knew was just going to get thrown away and pulled the pen out of my pocket that I used to count money and drugs with earlier and wrote down my number before giving it to him. "Call me whenever you want. If you need anything or just want to talk or whatever."

He reached out and grabbed the number as our fingers touched again and I couldn't help but freeze in place. We looked at each other a little confused or shocked maybe? I was nervous, but I really couldn't read Leo's face as he kept his fingers against mine.

He opened his mouth to say something when the front door opened way too fast making us both jump and pull our hands apart dropping my number.

A man stood in the doorway with black hair and cold gray eyes. He looked tired and confused as he looked at me. "Oh. Uh. Hello," he said, looking between me and Leo.

"S- sorry it took a while. I ran into a classmate and he helped me. Dad this is King the one who helped me yesterday after school. King this is my dad Gray."

I held out my hand and smiled softly. "Nice to meet you."

He shook my hand giving me a weird look. "Nice… to meet you too," he said, not letting my hand go as he looked at me a little harder. "Uh, sorry you just look familiar," he shook his head and let go then turned to Leo. "Anyways, I told you to take the car. I don't know why you didn't just drive there."

"I know," Leo said as his face turned red again. "I just don't like driving in the city. I'm still new at it."

"Well anyway, thank you for helping my son, umm, King," he said taking the bags from me but still giving me a weird look like he was trying to figure something out but I could confidently say that I've never seen this man before in my life.

"It's no problem at all. Well you have my number so next time just call me and I'll give you a ride to the city. It's no trouble at all," I smiled at Leo. "Call me later or whenever." I don't know why I was so nervous about it but I rubbed the back of my neck while backing away like I always did when I felt nervous around Leo.

"Yeah," Leo replied, bending down to put up my number again. I forgot we dropped it. "Talk to you soon then." We smiled at each other and he waved with my number in hand as I walked away.

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I walked down the sidewalk. Trying not to look back again but then my mind went somewhere else as I looked down the alley next to his house.