introverted · calm · intelligent · gentle · loyal · paid friendship · family drama · soft spoken · delicate
The light of a dying sunset filtered through the blinds in Mr. Miller's office, washing the crowded bookshelves in a pale orange glow. Leo was beside me, searching for a pair of scissors in the desk drawers. His slender fingers moved with careful precision until they brushed against a thick sheaf of papers. He pulled them out. He read them. And then the silence grew heavy, as if the very air had been sucked from the room. He looked up, and his eyes, which usually held a gentle calm, were now clouded with a depth of sorrow I'd never seen in him. 'So that's the reason?' he whispered, his voice barely audible. 'All this time, you got close to me only because my parents offered you money? Were you never my friend?' The question hung suspended, waiting for an answer he might no longer want to…