Visitor

It hurt more than he believed it should have.

To know that Oliver, his next-door neighbor for quite a while now, had all along been this person who shared such significant similarities with Leonardo. He wished he could have been happy at the thought. Oliver lived close, she was right here, they could talk and maybe be actual friends.

But when it all boiled down to it, again, it was a matter of trust. A matter of feeling betrayed, lied to, fooled, and by someone who seemed to strive to win Leonardo's trust, and for what? To be found out by her own mistake, and to try making up excuses.

Whether or not she had a valid reason, it didn't change Leo's feelings. Nothing would change how much it hurt to lose faith in being able to rely on the people he knew, or thought he knew.

Oliver Wood. His kind, cheerful neighbor who never missed an opportunity to say hello. All this time, right under his nose. All this time and Oliver had undoubtedly known about Leo's condition, but tricked him into believing she was just like everyone else, a normal, day-to-day adult just trying to enjoy life.

All this time. In the same apartment building, one door to the left.

Then there was Savannah. Evidently now, if he weren't already so sure of it, Leo knew there was something up with her, too. That shameful reaction at his question proved it. He wasn't sure to what degree the girl played dumb about certain things, or perhaps it had nothing to do with Leonardo himself or his blood. But then again it wouldn't make sense as to why Savannah would have a reason to hide it, or look so guilty when asked about it.

Regardless, knowing that yet another person was keeping something from him didn't sit well with Leo. But at this point he could deal with it a little better—this was the norm for him now. His trust issues. They were as close a friend as Noah.

Noah. Noah would be visiting.

Right now, that was one of the only things keeping Leo sane. His best friend, his anchor throughout high school, the one person who stood by him through that last year more than anything, that hellish last year.

It was all he wanted to think about. To the best of his ability, Leo strove to block out his other thoughts, his hurt feelings knowing for certain now that Savannah, too, had something she wasn't telling him about. He tried not to think of it, to forget about kissing her, as much as that hurt as well.

Even with how tense the atmosphere between them had become, Leo and Savannah finished baking the several recipes they had begun and had everything stored away carefully by the end of the day. The subject from earlier that day had been dropped. And to his own surprise, Leo didn't fully ignore the girl, though for a while he couldn't hide his upset disposition.

"Noah said he's stopping by tomorrow," Leo thought aloud. "Didn't say a time, 'cus he doesn't know yet, but he'll be staying here, you know, so we're gonna have to figure out who's sleeping where."

"I'll sleep on the floor," Savannah said immediately. Leo shot her a weird look. "Well, I'm the one who's intruding. It's only fair."

"Either that or Noah and I squeeze on the same bed but I'll leave that up to him."

A forced chuckle spilled out of Savannah's mouth at the comment. She didn't know how to respond. Or if she should respond at all.

"Did you want any of the sugar cookies before I put them away?"

"Hm?"

Leo held open the plastic container filled with the freshly made cookies. Savannah shook her head, struggling to hold together her smile.

"No thanks, I'm alright."

"Suit yourself. If you end up changing your mind, I'm putting them on top of the fridge. But don't eat all of them."

"I won't. Not a big fan of sugar cookies."

The rest of the day went by at an odd pace. The two both went in to work late that afternoon, performing together at The Fermata Pavilion until the cafe's closing time came around. By this point Leonardo had noticeably stopped making an effort to talk to Savannah—at least, Savannah noted, nothing more than terse responses to anything she would say to the boy. Then again Savannah didn't say much to him.

She didn't have anything to say. Leo hadn't wanted Oliver's apologies, and she doubted Leo would want hers, either.

Even though Leonardo didn't have knowledge of what Savannah was hiding. He only knew there was something, as Savannah wasn't as good an actor as she wished she were sometimes.

She thought about how she could fix it. How she could talk to Leo, when the right time to talk to him would be, if she should come up with excuses and explain herself or just accept whatever backlashing Leonardo would give her for keeping her secrets.

Like Oliver. She didn't know what was up with Oliver, what that girl had done to enrage Leo, but at the core of it she knew it revolved around not telling Leonardo the truth. Which is exactly what she was doing.

That night, Leo elected to sleep on the couch again. So Savannah was back to the boy's room, staring at the ceiling and dreading future days.

If things could have just gone differently at the start maybe she wouldn't be in this situation.

Neither of them had set alarms the previous night, as the two didn't have any classes scheduled that day. On top of that, Leonardo had gotten the 'ok' from Mr. Washington that he (and probably Savannah) wouldn't be working today, as Leo wanted to make sure he would be able to give his friend a warm welcome whenever he should arrive. Thankfully, it was never too difficult to find someone to cover for him. There was always someone looking for extra hours.

That being said, they both had the entire day free.

Seven a.m. and the two were both still asleep.

And it was at seven a.m. that a certain friend of Leonardo's happened to arrive in Indianapolis.

If it hadn't been for Noah's wish to surprise his friend, he would have never have booked his flight ticket for the early hours. But intentionally, he hadn't told Leo when he would be stopping by, and Leo knew him well enough to straightaway doubt Noah would be there before the afternoon at least, if not much later.

But here he was now, standing at the door to what he believed was Leonardo's apartment. The boy had texted him the day before with directions to the apartment building, along with the number of his place.

The issue was, Leonardo hadn't double-checked his own text message and the last digit of the number was incorrect. Off by only one, but incorrect nonetheless.

Noah, needless to say, was ignorant to this fact. He was too busy trying to tone down his smile as he knocked at the door he stood in front of, glancing down at the large suitcase he'd lugged from his car. He overpacked. He knew that much. Did he care? No. Not one bit. All he cared about was seeing his best friend again after what felt like ages.

As there hadn't been an answer at first, Noah knocked again. This time, he heard movement from inside the apartment. His smile threatened to widen again.

Smoothing down his hair, Noah straightened his posture as the door began to open slowly.

It wasn't Leo. Noah could decipher that from first glance, even before this person fully lifted their head to make eye contact.

And eye contact was made. For all of a split second, before the color in this cute stranger's face drained instantly, she gasped, and darted back inside like she'd just seen the face of death, and slammed the door shut without but a moment's hesitation.

Dumbstruck. For a short period of time Noah stood still. What was that about?

"Uh, excuse me, ma'am-" He knocked gently on the door again. "Do you know where-"

"Go away!!"

A panicked cry. Noah drew his head back in shock. What's she sounding so scared for? "I'm sorry, I don't mean to disturb you so early in the morning, I'm just here to visit my friend Leo and-"

"He's not here!" The stranger exclaimed. She sounded choked up. Crying, or on the verge of tears now. "I'm sorry, Leonardo must have given you the wrong address-"

"Oh, do you know Leo?"

"N-no! I don't know, Noah, go away-"

The mentioning of his name didn't go unnoticed by Noah. "Hold on, what?"

"Left, he's to your left, just go, leave me alone!"

It struck him as odd. Beyond odd, this stranger's behavior. But Noah had a feeling he wasn't going to get any answers just standing there—not to mention it wasn't his biggest concern right now. Maybe she's talked to Leo, maybe Leonardo's told her about me...

Shrugging it off as best he could, Noah sighed and picked up his suitcase to move it over to the next door. There, regathering the energy in his smile, he knocked on the door several times and waited patiently until, once again, he could hear movement from the inside.

The door opened.

Surely enough, he had it right this time. There stood Leonardo in front of him, dressed in a loose-fitting t-shirt and baggy sweatpants, bedhead indicating he had probably just woken up to answer the door. However all traces of sleepiness were shaken from his body at the realization of who was standing in front of him.

"Noah!!"

Joy erupted from his voice like a fountain, his face lighting up like a sky of stars and his body bursting with enthusiasm like never before. He seized his friend by the wrist at the same time Noah took hold of his suitcase, then yanked him inside the apartment and shut the door behind them.

Then Leo hugged him. A full, unrestrained, so-thrilled-to-see-you-I-couldn't-put-it-into-words embrace that nearly knocked Noah's breath right out of him. But within seconds he was hugging Leo back just as tightly, both laughing because neither could contain their emotions.

In the midst of their embracing another door opened. The door to Leonardo's bedroom, out of which Savannah poked her curious little head and witnessed the scene. At first she didn't make herself known.

"Noah, why didn't you tell me you were gonna be here so soon??"

"That would have ruined the surprise, Leo," Noah smiled.

"Have you gotten cuter since I last saw you? You need to stop doing that, Noah."

"Oh, come on, you're being dramatic."

"I'm not!" Leo protested. He placed his hand under Noah's chin, then gave his round cheeks a squish. "You really have."

"You're the one who keeps getting cuter, Leonardo." Giggling, Noah mimicked his friend's action. "You're probably just sayin' that 'cus you missed me~"

"I did, I missed you so much, Noah."

With that, a hug was reinitiated. And because of where he was standing, Noah could now see directly over Leo's shoulder and across the room where another girl was standing. "Oh, hello."

For a moment Leo was puzzled by Noah's seemingly random greeting. He pulled back from the hug, turned slightly, then laid eyes on Savannah who stared back at him dejectedly.

"Oh, uh, Noah-" Leo put on a smile and glanced between the two. "This is my..." He paused. "-roommate, Savannah. Savannah, this is my best friend Noah."

"Roommate, you never mentioned a roommate." Regardless of the unexpected occurrence, Noah proceeded to greet Savannah in a natural, polite manner. "It's nice to meet you, Savannah."

"...nice to meet you, too."

"Hey, do I-" Noah made an inquisitive tilt of the head, narrowing his eyes as he scanned Savannah's face. "Do I...know you from somewhere?"

"No."

"Oh, okay, sorry." He laughed it off. "Thought you looked familiar but now that I think of it I wouldn't know where I saw you. Sorry 'bout that, I'm old."

"Noah," Leo said, "you're the same age as us."

"Meh. I feel eighty."

"Did you eat breakfast before coming here? My roommate and I made a bunch of desserts yesterday, I wanted to surprise you, too."

"Desserts?" Noah turned to his friend with an eager smile. "Anything strawberry-flavored, by any chance?"

"Of course, Noah, I know you."

"Leo, you're amazing."

From that point on and for hours on end, it seemed to be just Leo and Noah. Leonardo and Noah, in their own world. Leo and Noah, talking and giggling, enjoying each other's presence to the fullest extent.

Leonardo and Noah, indulging without a care in the baked goods that Leonardo and Savannah had spent a fair amount of time making together.

It hurt. So. Bad.

Naturally, as it was so plain to see, Leo was even more overflowing with happiness than when Noah had texted him the day before, and not an ounce of that happiness had anything to do with Savannah.

A part of her felt she deserved it, going back to the whole secret-keeping issue from before. But at the same time, it also didn't seem fair. Because oddly enough it didn't feel like that was the reason she was being neglected right now. Leonardo truly did seem so caught up in talking and spending time with Noah that he failed to remember Savannah existed.

And seeing how happy Noah made Leo. Just seeing that, how obvious it was. It burned, a layer of venom that seeped into her skin and shrouded her heart, a cloud of deep-seated jealousy.

After a while she couldn't take it.

"I'm going for a walk."

Before even announcing this, Savannah doubted Leonardo would even acknowledge her. Shockingly, the boy did, but it could barely be considered that.

"Oh, okay, see you."

And that was that. Shrugged off, like a speck of dust.

Savannah left the apartment and stopped to breathe deeply.

"I guess that's all I am to you..."