Chapter 2 : New Prospects
(Note: Thank you so much for your reviews. This one is also full of fluff. Please bear with me)
The taxi made its way past the heavy traffic. Even amidst all the city bustle, the silence between April and Leo was deafening. She had to insist on dropping him home, following his yet another tumor-related episode at the support group. Though it was not a stroke, April practically begged with him to let her take him to the hospital, but Leo would not bow in; he's Leo after all, he gets his way..always.
Then finally she had given up saying "Fine! Then at least let me drop you home. I'm not taking "no" for an answer for that also"
So here they were. However, It took nearly 15 minutes for April to realize that they may be taking the wrong route.
"Uh..Leo, did you give him the right address?" she whispered breaking the silence.
"Yep." He responded.
"It doesn't seem so.. May be he heard wrong?" she implied.
"Excuse me sir! Did you hear me loud and clear when I gave you the address? Just checking cause my friend here seems to think there's some misunderstanding" Leo inquired from the driver at ease.
"yes sir, it's Melroy Street, Kazorne apartments right?" he replied.
"Right on!" Leo responded, pleased.
"What? Why are we going there?" April asked frowning.
"hmm lets see.., if I recall correctly, I lost my strain of thought for a second back at the support group, which made you go all gaga on me insisting I should let you escort me to my humble abode, so here we are!" Leo answered.
"Gee..thanks for wasting like 5 seconds of my life revealing what I already know,.. except for the part about me going gaga on you" April replied rolling her eyes. "In case you forgot, I'm a journalist and I happen to know where 's house is." She added.
"Aww good for you. But too bad you seem to have no source giving you the latest updates. I moved out." Leo replied.
"What?! When? Wha—
"What happened with Dimples?" Leo interjected raising his eyebrows.
"What?"
"You heard me"
April scoffed. "That's none of your business!"
"Oh snap! Jeez relax I'm just curious." Leo uttered studying her.
"well I hate to break it to you but I'm not obligated to feed your curiosity" she restored.
"hmm you should at least respect a dying man's wish."
"We're here sir." The driver announced bringing the car to a halt.
Leo shot April a smile. "You heard the gentleman!"
Leo led the way, walking towards the lift. It took him a few seconds to realize that April wasn't following. He quickly turned around to see her all busy talking to the woman at the reception table.
"HellO! What's the hold up? He exclaimed walking towards her.
"Nothing you should be concerned about." April replied flashing the woman a smile in dismissal and turning to face Leo.
Leo frowned. "You two know each other or something?"
"yeaaah something like that.., come on" April answered making her way towards the lift.
"You know I can take it from here. You've already done so much by accompanying me on the way here." Leo uttered following her.
"oh you're welcome! But I insist on seeing this plush apartment that you call home now." She replied, managing to match his tone of sarcasm.
Leo responded with a smile and led the rest of the way after exiting the lift.
"Behold the territory of Leo Hendrie!" He announced opening the door and gesturing her to enter.
April slowly walked in taking the interior in. It pretty much resembled what she pictured in mind. Nothing extravagant. In fact, it was very modest. "funny" she thought, because she realized that she knew Leo more than she thought she did.
"You weren't joking when you said humble.." she said helping herself to a invitingly cozy chair.
"NOT THAT!" Leo exclaimed, making April almost jump out of her skin.
"what?!" She exclaimed back in shock.
"Get off! Get off! That chair!" He responded almost in unison with her.
"Why?!" she asked getting up.
"Senorita gets really offended when someone else sits there. It's her chair. I'm sorry, but I just saved you from her wrath." Leo replied searching the room.
"Who? what the hell?! April inquired.
"Senorita come out girl.., daddy's home!" He called out and whistled kneeling down and checking under a table. And within seconds a small, brown color dog came running.
April's jaw dropped. "Oh my god you got a puppy! And you named her Senorita?! This is epic! I think I've just landed a front page story." She said giggling and reaching out to touch her as Leo picked her up.
Senorita was a bubbly, friendly dog and enjoyed all the attention she was getting.
"She's not a puppy. She's just small built." Leo replied sounding offended.
April giggled more. "Wait, I'm still processing this. Leo Hendrie got a puppy, I mean dog and named her Senorita." She started tickling the dog.
"Stop! She hates that!" Leo kept trying to brush her hands away chuckling.
And for a second, that seemed like a minute, their eyes met and held a gaze. Suddenly feeling a warmth inside her, April broke the eye contact.
" you know I think this is the best thing to happen since the discovery of sliced bread" she said smiling at him.
"Ok enough! It's not such a big deal, I almost ran her over, so she practically guilt tripped me into bringing her home." Leo explained in his defense.
"Aww that's cute…".
"Let me place queen on her throne." He said carefully putting Senorita on the comfy chair.
April watched amused. "I'm almost jealous of her." She heard herself say.
Before Leo could respond her phone started ringing.
"Hey Danny what's up?...,yeah I'm fine, it's just something came up and I had to take care of it. I'm sorry I'll be there asap" . As she listened to Danny's response she felt Leo's gaze on her.
"Okay see you soon, bye." She hung up and sighed. "Duty calls" she said.
"You have to go" Leo noted, trying not to sound as disappointed as he felt.
"yeah.." she answered paving the way for yet another period of awkward silence.
"Well.. Senorita here insists that you consider having dinner with us sometime. Think she's sick of me. It's always just me and her. She can really use the company. Just look at her, I think she's already so fond of you." He said pointing toward Senorita who was actually watching them with her tongue out.
April smiled. "hmm…now that's a request I can't turn down." She said and studied Leo's face for a moment. "well, you two discuss everything and get back to me." She added in a professional tone.
"Sure will." Leo replied walking her to the door. "..and thanks..you know…for today."
"oh…don't mention it. You'd do the same for me." She replied with a slight smile.
She was smiling to herself throughout the journey to the office. For the first time in weeks, she was happy again.