Uncertainty

Consciousness came gradually, like the sun peeking over the horizon, begging to be welcomed by the boy's eyes which weren't quite sure if they wanted to be open just yet. But they did open, and Leonardo soon found himself staring up at his apartment ceiling. He didn't know how long he had been asleep. He didn't even recall falling asleep in the first place.

Nor did he recall Savannah falling asleep next to him, kneeling on the floor with her head resting against the edge of the couch cushion and her hand holding Leo's own, oh so delicately.

The touch of that hand. Gentle, soft, warm. Leo couldn't remember the last time he had held someone's hand—probably not since high school, he thought, when Noah would at times hold his hand as a habit of his protective nature.

It felt nice. Secure. However Leo was still very bothered by all this, as he genuinely couldn't remember what had happened for him to be in this situation.

His head pounded. That in itself acted as a reminder.

Oh. It was probably another dizzy spell.

They were always a hassle. But rarely did they inflict him strongly enough to make him lose consciousness. Had something else happened?

Looking down at Savannah, Leo let out a deep sigh, wondering if he should wake the girl up or let her sleep. He felt Savannah squeeze his hand. Maybe she is awake.

He was far too exhausted to feel embarrassed by the situation at this point. That being said, Leo lifted his other hand to place on Savannah's head, and at the realization he received no immediate reaction, Leo entwined his fingers with the locks of the girl's soft, dark and naturally curly hair.

Intimate. It felt oddly intimate and Leo experienced a sudden rush of blood to his cheeks, which then urged him to retract both hands from Savannah.

This, in turn, caused the sleeping girl to awaken.

Raising her head, Savannah blinked about twenty times before making eye contact with Leo.

"Leo!"

An exclamation of genuine relief. Her face looked a bit pale, Leo noted, but seemingly from worry rather than sickness. Then again some did consider worry a sickness, hence the saying 'worried sick'. Whatever the case, the sheer amount of brightness in Savannah's smile alarmed Leo enough that his words escaped him. She shouldn't be that happy.

"Leo, I was in such a panic, you have no idea," Savannah blurted. She sounded out of breath already, as if sleeping had only been more draining for her. "You, you just fell and hit your head, and I didn't know what to do if it were a concussion, so I called your neighbor over, and she said not to worry and that you would probably wake up in a couple hours, but I waited two hours and you still weren't up, so I got scared but ended up falling asleep, too..."

"My...neighbor?" Leo furrowed his brow. Then he thought about it. "Oh...did she have dyed hair?"

"Yeah, she said her name was Oliver."

Leo gave a nod of understanding. If anyone, his cheerful, friendly neighbor would be the one to come to the rescue. Cheerful, friendly Oliver who always said good morning to Leo, who in return could never bring himself to even make eye contact. But he couldn't help it. Something about that pleasant, amiable nature of her frightened the part of Leo terrified of making friends.

He didn't want to feel like he owed anybody. If it were Noah, it would be fine, but this was a near stranger who had no reason to take precious time out of her day to make sure Leo was alright.

"I should say something to her..."

He hated even saying those words. But again, he hated owing people favors even more.Gathering the smallest scraps of energy he had in him, Leo swung his legs over the side of the couch, much to Savannah's dismay, and attempted to stand up.

"L-Leo, what're you doing??"

"Gonna be a good neighbor," he muttered, his headache throbbing enough to throw off the rest of his senses.

He started to walk over to his front door. Panic switch flipping again, Savannah reached out and took a careful hold of Leo's forearm, only to be swatted away.

"Leonardo, please, you need to lie down-"

"I'll be right back, quit nagging."

He waved his hand dismissively at the girl and disregarded every desperate plea that followed. He meant what he said, Leo planned to come right back after he spoke to Oliver, and if he were lucky, the exchange would last no more than a few seconds, as that was all Leo felt comfortable with at the moment.

He carried his weak, unstable legs out his apartment door and right over to the one located directly to his left. Frantic Savannah kept a close eye on him.

Leo knocked at the door. Each moderate reverberation echoed a thousand times louder in his head. Luckily, it was opened to him mere moments later.

He had made eye contact for no more than a split second, not even managing to open his mouth, before all strength he had left failed him and his legs collapsed again. He didn't fall unconscious this time, but the pain he now endured felt about as worse as anything he had ever experienced.

Savannah was quick enough to catch him before the boy could hit the ground. And Oliver, alarmed that Leo had knocked on her door in the first place, made no hesitation to aid Savannah in carrying him back to her own apartment to lay him on the couch again.

They scolded him.

"Leo, you scared the crap out of me-!"

"Yeah, Leonardo, why would you-?"

"Ah, shut up, my head hurts!!"

There was a break in his voice—a pained, emotional break that seemed to silence every outside noise, including Oliver and Savannah, who both had more to say. But they said nothing as Leo's hands shot up to cover his ears, his eyes squeezed shut, and a bitter tear spilling over his cheek.

For a moment, you could have heard a pin drop.

The quiet of the room was shattered by the sound of soft whimpering.

"Noah, I need Noah..."

His sobs clawed at Savannah's heart. But she kept her silence.

"I need him here, Noah should be here..."

It seemed to come from nowhere, the raw emotion now pouring from these words, these words that carried more weight than even Leo could bear.

Savannah glanced at Oliver. Because again, in this situation, she felt the most useless.

"Get some rest, Leo."

This was all she said before turning her back to the boy. The blonde's uncertain gaze lifted itself up slowly, sadly. Despondence.

"I don't really know if there's anything I can do for him," Oliver said, in a voice barely above a whisper. "You said he doesn't like hospitals?"

"No." Savannah frowned. "Hates them. Refuses to go."

"Then just let him rest more, I guess. I'm no doctor..."

With that, she left Leo's apartment for the second time that day. Savannah watched her leave. She could tell by Oliver's expression, that the girl clearly wanted to do more, wished she could do more, but Savannah knew the cruel reality of the circumstance was that neither of them were any less incapable than the other.

It hurt. Being at the standpoint of helplessness. And it was all too familiar for Savannah.

Quietly, she made her way over to Leo and knelt down again by the couch.

"...Leo...?"

No verbal opposition to her speaking. However the boy still whimpered.

"...Leo, I'm right here, okay...?"

"Who is right here??"

"...Savannah, it's Savannah..."

"You have to go to work," Leo choked out, sniffling as he pressed his hands more forcefully against his head. "You have work, just go-"

"I'm not going to work today," Savannah argued. She extended a tentative hand to touch the boy's shoulder. "I'm going to stay here."

"No, no, why??"

"Leo, stop tossing and turning, you're going to make your headache worse-"

"It can't get any worse, it can't."

It took a lot of coaxing to finally convince Leo to breathe and go back to sleep. He was up and awake again in another forty-five minutes, but at least this time, Savannah thought, at least he wasn't crying. So maybe the nap had done him some good.

She hadn't moved from the boy's side. For a bewildering reason of which Leo hadn't a clue, Savannah was determined to stick around until the other's condition showed a massive improvement. As of now, Leo appeared some better than during his breakdown less than an hour ago. But it wasn't enough for Savannah.

Panic, stress, anxiety. A whirlwind of unpleasantness he both wished he could have left behind in his high school years.

Sitting on the floor beside the couch, Savannah stared at her hands in front of her, twiddling her thumbs as her restless heart continued to toil.

Not long ago, she had called her boss to let him know she wouldn't be coming in today—health emergency, she put it vaguely. Thankfully it wasn't too big of an issue and someone was able to cover for her. Had they not been able to, however, it wouldn't have made a difference.

Savannah was in no state of mind to be working right now.

She started to regret having eaten so much that morning. And yet, at the same time, she felt starving.

"You...haven't left yet."

At the unexpected comment, Savannah craned her neck to look back at Leo. "I haven't," she replied. "I told you I was staying."

"But...your job."

"I called out. Everything's fine."

"It's not. I've caused trouble for you."

Guilt stained his voice like permanent ink, vivid and bleeding. He stared into space as if lost in it.

"I'm sorry, Savannah."

Those words pained her more than they should have. She would have liked to be glad at them, to feel happy that Leonardo willingly apologized to her, but truly Savannah believed the boy had nothing to apologize for.

"It's okay, Leonardo."

Taking a deep breath, she boldly took Leo's hand in her own again, relieved to find her gesture of comfort being accepted for a change.

"It's a small price to pay for someone's trust."

Leo let out the softest sigh. "You're still going for that?"

"I am," Savannah said with a smile. "It's important to me."

She ran her thumb across the back of Leo's hand, delighted to once again see those pretty purple shades appearing on the boy's cheeks. She smiled fondly as Leo made a shy glance at her.

If only you knew, Leo...