Hey Guys! Here's my first try at a Greenhouse Academy fic. I got totally hooked on it after binging the series and like everyone else noticed a lack of reading material. Let me know what you all think!
The raven's clubhouse had been beyond tense for the last week. While quieter than the eagle's abode on any given day, there was at least some soft white noise formed from friends talking over logic problems or classical music wafting softly through the air, but now there was nothing. No one dared to start a conversation outside of the dorm rooms or turning on the sound system. It wouldn't be worth the wrath brought on by their captain. The new mood was due singlehandedly to Leo.
Hayley had left on Monday to spend time with her family as they were still trying to make up time from when her mom was thought to be dead, and that had been followed promptly by a failed test, pop quiz he wasn't nearly ready for, and two broken guitar strings. And that had just been the beginning of the week. Each day that she was gone had gotten progressively worse for Leo.
Tuesday had brought finding holes in all of the socks he wanted to wear and no hot water for a shower no matter how long he stood there. Wednesday he'd tripped up the last few steps of the main stairway and accidentally spilled coffee all over his copy of Fahrenheit 451 rendering it useless. Thursday really took the cake – oversleeping and missing classes only to still be tired and having to play catch up all day. Friday he'd woken up with a headache and started snapping left and right at everyone. His accumulating bad mood had finally reached a crescendo and the ravens weren't quite sure what to do. None of them had ever seen Leo so out of sorts.
Aspen tried to make it his mission to make things better for him. Every free moment she had, which seemed to be quite frequently, she was glued to Leo's side. Her mouth moving a mile a minute, there were stories and "inside jokes" that she tried to get him to smile. When those didn't work, she decided something physical was in order. Late Friday night, Leo had settled himself on the couch to spread out more with his homework. Most everyone had gone to bed long ago, but he was determined to make headway on at least two subjects. Hunched over the coffee table, he didn't notice Aspen lurking behind him near the doorway to the girls' rooms.
As quietly as she could, she tiptoed up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders and begun digging her thumbs into his shoulder muscles.
Crying out in equal parts pain and surprise, Leo turned around, grabbing one of her wrists to stop her. "What the hell? Aspen?"
The two of them hadn't spent much time together after he and Hayley formally got back together until this week, and if Leo was being honest, he was so in his head that he hadn't noticed Aspen more than half of the time. All of his attention that wasn't focused on school or trying to not hurt himself anymore, was thinking about Hayley and how everything in his world would fall back into place once she was there.
"I'm trying to help you relax, Lee. Here, just let me…" Aspen tried to reach for his shoulders again.
Leo stood, giving him a height and distance advantage. No longer wearing his t-shirt from earlier in the day, he stood with only an open button down and sweatpants looking the most un-captainly he ever had. "Go to sleep, Aspen." He ran a hand over his face, "I want to get to bed too."
Aspen looked at him with the doe-eyed look she hoped still had him wrapped around her finger like it used to. Reaching out to him slowly she placed her hand on his upper arm and traced down his bicep to his palm and grasped his hand. "Then let me at least help you get comfortable in bed."
If Leo believed in using violence against women, he would have shaken her. "For the last time; don't touch me. Ever again." His glare could have made hell freeze over, but it was barely sufficient for Aspen to back down.
Eventually breaking the staring contest, she scoffed and turned on her heel to go back to the girls' dormitory.
Leo sighed and let himself fall backward onto the couch. Their relationship had been over for almost a year at least in his mind, and he couldn't understand why it was so damn hard for her to accept that. He ran a hand through his hair to calm himself, but it didn't help much.
"You know she loved you a lot more than you loved her."
Leo stood up again, still on the offensive and ready to shut down whoever attempted to defend Aspen's actions.
From the locker room, Jackie threw her hands up in front of her in defense. "Easy, I'm on your side, Leo." She took a few steps towards him and once close enough, pushed him down lightly onto the couch and sat across from him. "For Aspen, you were, and looks like still are, her "happy ending"."
The air quotes Jackie put around "happy ending" made Leo cringe. He knew that Max and Hayley, as well as the rest of the Ravens, had been doing their best to catch her up with as much pop culture as they could. However, they quickly realized that Jackie had missed a lot of crucial childhood moments too – including watching every Disney movie they could find so she could experience the happily ever after moments.
"She probably spent the entire year she was in London thinking about you and what it would be like to be back with you, so cut her a little slack. It's hard to have your dreams crushed."
Leo groaned in exasperation, "Well now I feel like an ass. Can I do nothing right?"
The blonde's eyebrow shot up quickly, eager to tell her sometimes melodramatic captain that he could have helped himself out more at the beginning of the British girl's arrival, but she restrained herself. "I know just what you need."
Leo looked at her warily.
"Just trust me," Jackie said smoothly, pulling out her louie and starting a short text. A moment later, she got a message back and smiled slyly. "Don't worry lover boy, I think your week is about to get a lot better."
About an hour later, Leo found himself standing in the Wood's driveway walking up to the front door. The house seemed oddly quiet for the entire family supposedly being home. Alex hadn't been outside shooting hoops like Hayley said he normally was, and there was a car missing from the driveway. Maybe Jackie had been messing with him when she'd told him that Hayley was expecting him and had just wanted him out of the clubhouse for a while.
Still, it would be dumb to not at least try. He was already out here and on the off chance that Hayley was home, it would make the crappy week he'd been having significantly improve.
After knocking on the front door, Leo took a few steps back, just so he wouldn't look too eager if someone answered. God, he hoped someone answered; particularly Hayley or Alex. Not that he would mind talking to Mr. or Dr. Woods, it would just be significantly less awkward if he didn't have to explain why he was showing up at their house close to eleven at night on a Friday.
Just as he was about to walk away from the door, it opened, and Hayley stood there, wearing only a short black robe tied over the right side of her waist. Her hair was loosely tied back so that a few pieces were falling forwards, and she had no makeup on. She looked beautiful, and Leo wished that he could see her this relaxed around the Greenhouse more often.
Hayley laughed from in front of him and Leo realized that he had voiced his thoughts aloud.
"I doubt it'd be very welcome if I walked around like this, as comfortable as it is, and I doubt much work would get done if all of the girls did." She took a step forward, still smiling, and leaned up to wrap her arms around his neck.
Leo's hands went around her waist like a reflex and held her tightly. Bending forward slightly, he placed his forehead on her shoulder and let her play with the hair on the nape of his neck for a moment. "I missed you." It was almost inaudible, but Hayley heard it.
"I missed you too." Her fingers carded through his hair all the way up the back of his head. "Jackie told me you had a rough week, but I'm here now and I think I can help you." Hayley took a small step backward and kissed Leo's cheek. Then, taking his hand, pulled him inside and invited him upstairs.
Leo gulped for a moment when pushed open her bedroom door. Not that he didn't want that, because he did and quite a lot, but wasn't her family supposed to be home?
Hayley noticed his change in attitude and chucked at him. "Get your mind out of the gutter," she prodded him with her elbow. "You need something to help you relax, so that's what we're going to do." She opened one of the two doors on the far wall of her room to reveal a large bathroom.
The room was spacious and done floor to ceiling in a beige tile, with black and light blue tiles creating sunburst patterns scattered along the floor in an attractive style. Along one of the long walls was a double sink and vanity, meaning the Woods teenagers must share the bathroom when they're home. The ceiling was painted an off-white and contained a large skylight that resided right over a large, oval bathtub.
Hayley walked right over to the tub and knelt beside it, dipping her hand in to test the water. She'd run the bath not long after texting Jackie back, knowing that it would take a little to cool down after being hot enough to melt the salts she wanted to use for Leo.
The temperature was to her liking and so she grabbed a small bottle from the floor and measured out a few capfuls of the liquid, pouring it into the water. Getting back to her feet, she pushed a little button on the side of the tub and the water began swirling as the jets activated.
"Get in," she urged Leo. "I'll be right back; I'm going to grab a towel for you and I expect you to be in the water when I return." She gave him a light kiss and then pushed him towards the tub where bubbles were rapidly starting to form.
Leaving the room, she made sure to shut the door fully, loud enough for him to hear and hopefully take the cue to get undressed and into the water. There were more than enough clean towels in the bathroom thanks to Alex needing to use at least three every time he showered, but she figured privacy might make Leo a little more comfortable taking up her offer.
Counting two minutes, Hayley re-opened the door and walked in cautiously, then smiled. Very pleased, she saw Leo completely submerged in the tub with his head back against the rim. "Hey there," she greeted, trying to make a little noise first so as not to scare him.
Leo opened his eyes and Hayley felt a little guilty for disturbing him. His smile was enough to ease her worries.
"Thank you, Hayley." Leo smiled at her and moved to sit up a bit so that way he wasn't slouched down too much. "No one has ever done something like this for me before."
"You more than deserve it." Hayley smiled back at him and knelt down next to the tub again. Leaning her back against it, she pulled a folded towel out of the basked just behind the tub and placed it behind her back to get comfortable.
"You're not going to get in?" Leo was a little uncomfortable with how disappointed he sounded to his own ears.
"Nope, that's all you. Besides," she tried to make her tone light, "My parents will be back in a few hours after they've had enough stargazing and I have no idea when Alex is getting back from his date with Brooke, so I'd rather not get into something that…" she trailed off not quite sure how she wanted to address the subject.
"Oh…right." Leo felt his face turning red and tried sinking further under the rim of the tub to be invisible.
"Leo." Hayley was suddenly on her knees again and her face was alarmingly close to his. "I want you like that. I want you so badly that I feel like I'd go mad if I had to stand next to you for another second without touching you and having more of you."
Leo's eyes widened for a moment. Hayley rarely ever talked about her feelings being out of control, especially if it had to do with them.
She took a breath as if to ground herself, and then kissed him. It was deep and longing, much more so than their first had been, and carried more meaning than the quick pecks they usually shared. Pulling back, she rested her forehead against his, "Sometime when it's right, I will happily be yours. But don't worry about that for tonight." Moving back to the floor, she fixed the towel behind her again and reached for something in between two of the towels. A thoroughly used copy of Fahrenheit 451. Kicking her feet out in front of her, she began to read.
As he listened to her voice, Leo let himself relax into the water. This was why he loved Hayley. While she cared for others and asserted herself, she was selfless beyond measure, something Aspen, nor any other girl would ever be able to live up to.