Chapter 12

"That your ride?" Leon asked as Lara left his side, walking past him to a car parked across the street.

"Yeah, it is," she retorted, eyebrows raising in challenge. "You wanna make something of it?"

Leon simply shook his head, laughing quietly to himself as he got into his skyline and followed her little, white shit-box down the street.

---

"Ok. So...what's up?" Leon asked, sliding into the booth across from Lara and taking a tentative sip of his coffee.

Lara smiled wanly, tilting her cup from side to side and watching disinterestedly as the mocha hued liquid sloshed around inside. "Ok. I'm ready."

Silence filled the space between them.

"Go ahead," Leon encouraged, wondering, now, just how big this "thing" really was.

"Ok..." Lara started, but abruptly cut herself off, changing tactics. "Actually, let me just say, right off the bat here... that... I do realize that it's been a really long time since we've seen each other and that I don't necessarily expect things to go back to how they were, 'cause ya know...we're different people now, and things have happened between us and with the rest of the world that have caused these changes... not that that's a problem or anything, 'cause--"

"Lara?" Leon cautioned, reaching a hand across the table to rest warmly upon her own. "I know. And I understand. So just... go ahead. Whatever you gotta say--just get it off your chest."

Lara nodded, courage renewed, and locked eyes with the man sitting before her... who was still holding onto her hand... and looking gorgeous as ever. God, Lara thought, what is wrong with me? I can't even think straight when this man touches me. Shut-up brain! Go, Lara, go, speak! "Ahem... right. Well, you see... I only came back to LA for summer vacation."

"And I totally understand that," Leon interjected. "I was pissed off then, but I get it, now."

"Good," Lara continued, "'cause I never wanted to hurt you. I still care about you, so, so much. But I had to go back. I didn't live in LA anymore. I had my mom and my grandma and a whole other life waiting for me back in New York." She paused to take a sip of her iced cappuccino. "So anyways, this is what happened:

"I went back home and things were going alright. I missed you like hell, but I had to finish my schooling, and since my grandma was the one paying, I had to do that in New York."

Leon shifted in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable with the story that was being laid out here. "Are you tryna say that you were planning on comin' back as soon as you were done with school?" he asked, feeling decidedly light-headed. "'Cause, I mean, I know you said before that you wanted to stay for a while, but you hadta go back to finish some stuff up. But, like, you were gonna come back? You already knew this?"

"Yes," she stated simply, wide gray eyes regarding him steadily.

"So why didn't ya say anythin' about that? I thought you were gone for good."

"I called you," Lara murmured.

"Yeah, that like one time, a friggin' week after you left…and then never again."

"Well you could've called me, Leon!" Lara shot back, suddenly angry that he was placing the whole of the blame upon her. "I gave you my number. And for your information, I called more than once! But I figured that you didn't want to talk to me anymore. You were so mad that I left and you were like...I don't know. You were just so quiet on the phone."

"I missed you, girl. I didn't want some long-distance kinda shit. I wanted to talk with you, be with you, touch you...feel you next to me. Plus I thought maybe you had another reason for staying away as long as you did..."

Lara sat back in her seat. She could hardly believe this man sitting before her was Leon. She'd never seen this softer, insecure and almost vulnerable side of him before. "What do you mean?"

"Like maybe you didn't love me anymore or something. I don't know!"

Lara vehemently shook her head and quickly stretched across the table. "No, don't you say that. We loved each other so much. And whatever your feelings are for me now, I still love you as much now as I did then!"

"Holy...shit." Leon stared at Lara, green eyes boring into her. "Wow."

A pair of wide gray eyes stared sightlessly back at him. "Wow." Retreating back over the expanse of the table, Lara sank back into her seat, her eyes never leaving his. "I didn't mean for that to come out the way it did."

Leon eyed her skeptically. "So, what? You didn't mean it then? You just say stuff in the heat of the moment and then take it back like you never meant it at all?"

"Hey! I never said that! Why are you putting words in my mouth? All I said was that I didn't mean for it to come out like that!" Lara huffed. "I don't say things I don't mean, Leon. You should know that. And anyway, just what did I say that would even give you the slightest--"

"I still love you, too."

Lara's breath caught in her throat. "Leon, you don't have to—"

"I don't say things I don't mean, Lara."

Lara felt a tingling warmth spread through her at Leon's words, and smiled shyly up at him as her entire body reverberated with pleasure.

"Ok…ok enough of the mushy gushy stuff," Lara laughed, suddenly feeling much more relaxed. Leon grinned back at her, obviously pleased with the evening's turn of events. "Onto the more serious stuff…"

"What stuff? I thought you just told me everything?" Leon asked, feeling his body go rigid as he wondered what else was in store for him tonight.

"Not quite," Lara sighed.

Leon waited for her to elaborate. When she didn't, he reached for her hand again, cradling her palm with his and gently tracing the delicate bones of her fingers. "What's wrong baby? You can tell me," he cajoled, worry creasing his brow at the sight of tears filling her beautiful eyes.

Lara drew in a deep shuddering breath, turning her gaze to watch Leon's long, familiar fingers trace soothing patterns across her skin. "Ok. Well, these past few years, I've been enrolled in culinary school. It's what I'd always dreamed of doing, and my grandmother had the money to make it happen, so I couldn't come back to LA until I'd at least completed my formal training.

"My mom and I moved out of my grandma's house and had our own little apartment and life was going pretty smoothly. She'd started seeing this really great guy who treated her so, so well and it looked like they were gonna get married. Scratch that. They were going to—he proposed and she said 'yes'.

"Then, we started having problems with our house alarm… We called in the company and they explained that someone had been tampering with it, causing it to malfunction. Then, we started to notice that our things were going missing or being moved around the apartment. Mom and I had a long talk and she told me that she thought it might have been Jim—that was her fiancé's name. This went on for a while before my mom got fed up and confronted Jim…and they broke up.

"After that, the stuff kept happening. Then, one day, while my mom and I were cooking dinner, our doorbell rang. It was my dad. We hadn't seen him in…god, must've been a good few years; not since we left LA anyway. He didn't say too much then—just kinda shoved me aside and yelled at my mother 'cause he'd seen her around with "some guy." Well…they got into it and my dad stormed off. I was pretty glad to be rid of him. We left LA because of him. He had some screws loose up there…didn't take too well to family life.

"Um…so he disappeared for a while and my mom figured that she had a pretty good idea of what had happened and called Jim and they patched things up. Things were going great and we forgot all about my dad again. Then…" Lara paused to wipe away a flood of tears beginning a slow descent down her cheeks.

Leon could feel the anger rising up inside of him. He'd never met Lara's dad, but considering Lara's reaction, he imagined the man must be a total asshole. "It's ok, girl. I won't let anythin' bad happen'ta you."

Lara nodded, in awe of how Leon had always managed to make her feel so safe and protected. "Well…so, things were going real good. Then, one day, I came home from work and the lock was broken on our door. I thought that maybe someone had broken in and stolen all our stuff—"

Realizing that he knew where this was heading, Leon abruptly stood up and moved around the side of the table and slid into the booth next to Lara. "Shhh," he soothed, wrapping both arms around her body and pulling her into his embrace. "Don't cry, baby. Don't cry."

"No one robbed us, Leon," Lara sobbed, her crystal eyes shining with tears as she stared up at him. "My dad—he killed her. He broke in and killed her. She was just…watching a soap—the TV was still on when I got there…"

"Fuck," Leon muttered, unable to contain the expletive. How could someone do that? Just kill someone in cold blood, without any good reason? "I'm sorry, Lara…I, shit, I don't even know what I could say to help make you feel better."

Lara sighed, tenderly stroking one hand down the length of Leon's arm. "You don't have to say anything, Le. Just being with you here…and sharing this helps a lot. Kinda takes away the burden of keeping it all bottled up, ya know?"

Leon reached out to wipe her tears away from her face and pulled her closer so he could press a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "What happened after that…if you don't mind me asking?"

"The cops found and arrested him and I moved back in with my grandmother. Jim was wrecked, but he's kept in touch. He's a good guy…I just feel so bad that the last bit of time he had left with my mom got messed up so bad. I just remember thinking—how could so many things go so wrong in such a short span of time?

"Then, to make matters worse, the cops couldn't detain my father for some reason or another, so as soon as he's got some bail money scraped up, he'll be released. My grandmother sent me back here to try and get away from it all—start a new life… so, here I am."

"I'm glad you are," Leon murmured, pressing another gentle kiss to her forehead.

Lara leaned up and brushed her lips against his, smiling softly. "Me, too."