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A sob escaped her lips, and Leo’s other arm flew up to pull her in tighter until her head was against his chest and his arms were cocooning her. He was surprised at how easily his body molded into her. He was seldom the person people turned to when they needed soft words. Sam usually came to him when he needed a black-and-white answer to a question. It felt like Leo had been missing out on an important piece of life up until then, sitting in front of his parents’ house with Piper wrapped up in him like a blanket. He didn’t enjoy that she was crying—his impulse was to do something ridiculous to fix it like running around his parents’ yard and ripping flowers from the beds to cheer her up—but, somehow, he knew sitting with her was exactly what he should be doing.
“I’m sorry,” Leo murmured. “You deserve to watch them dance again.” And for someone to look at you that way, he thought.
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do this.” Piper’s head popped off his shoulder, and she wiped harshly at her cheeks.
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop apologizing for feeling things, princesa?” He brushed a strand of hair away from her wet cheek.
“One more time, I guess.” Piper sniffled. “We don’t even like each other, and you’re here consoling me. Why?”
“Because I want to,” Leo said. He wanted to tell her more. To say that he was starting to realize just how much he did like her, but there was a time and a place for that, and it wasn’t when she was finally telling him something real about her parents. “I like to think I’m a good person.” Piper curled her lips over her teeth. “If a bit blunt,” he added. She let out the laugh, and he rolled his eyes. “Jesus, tough crowd tonight. Fine. I’m a decent guy. I do what’s right, regardless of how I feel about anyone.” And he felt a hell of a lot for her.
“Is this where you tell me that you may be rough around the edges, but you’re really just a softie on the inside?”
“No.” Leo chuckled. “But I’m not heartless. I’m loyal. You won’t catch me staying silent on hard topics or standing by while people get bullied. And I guess I have a soft spot for a select few.”
“Sam,” Piper said, lifting a finger to count. “Your family.” Piper stared down at her fingers for a moment before lifting all of them, and Leo chuckled.
And you, he reluctantly thought.
Instead of saying it, Leo let his hands fall away from her body and rose to his feet, dusting off his pants before he held out a hand. “Dance with me, Piper.”
She gaped up at him and shook her head erratically. “What? No. I can’t do that.”
“Why not? I didn’t know them, but something tells me that your parents would have wanted you to dance. Dance with me, princesa. You know you want to.” That got her attention. He stretched his hand out farther in invitation, and she gave in, rising to her feet as he pulled her up.
“Okay.” Piper sniffed and swiped the dust off her clothes before reaching for the door, twisting the knob, and throwing her shoulder into it. Leo held back his amusement at how easily she’d learned the trick to getting it open and followed in after her. After countless hours of rehearsals, he should no longer be surprised by how quickly Piper picked up anything. He only hoped that she wouldn’t pick up on his developing fondness for her as quickly as she did other things.
Everyone was in the living room now, twiddling their thumbs and looking around in a failed attempt at innocence. If Leo had to bet, they’d all been staring out the blinds and through the glass portions of the front door to get a glimpse of his and Piper’s conversation. His family was too nosy to do anything less.
“Where’s the music?” Leo raised his eyebrows, knowing that they had turned it off in an attempt to eavesdrop.
“We were just taking a break!” His mother frantically reached for the remote on the end table and hit play. Everyone flinched as the music started up in the middle of a loud salsa song, but Leo ignored them all, again stretching his arm out to Piper.
Piper lifted her hand warily. “We really don’t have t—” He reached for her hand and tugged her into his chest. “Oof.”
“We’re dancing.” Leo said it loud enough for his whole family to hear, and they all kicked into gear, grabbing onto their partners as he set his hand on Piper’s waist and positioned her hand a little off to the side. He stepped, and Piper followed, swaying with the motion, her hips moving under his fingers in a tantalizing swing. She had learned how to salsa a bit from the Havana scene in the musical, and he liked that he’d been the one to teach her how to dance again.
When Leo managed to take his eyes off Piper, he scanned the room to find the exact look Piper had described on his father’s face when he had looked at Leo’s mother earlier. It was mirrored in Antonio and Marcos as they danced with their wives. Leo spun Piper under his arm and watched as the purple and blond of her hair floated through the air. The cable-knit dress fanned out from her waist as she moved, and he was so mesmerized by how beautiful she looked that he twirled her under his arm just so he could see it again. Piper threw her head back with laughter, her nose scrunched and her eyes squinted from the strain of how wide her smile was. He had the ridiculous thought that she looked like an actual sunflower before she stumbled over her own feet. He maneuvered quickly to catch her around her middle before she faceplanted.
“My bad.” Leo grinned. “I forgot you can’t walk, let alone spin.”
“Oh, shut up.” Piper shoved his chest and then jogged over to his grandmother, who was observing the dancing from a corner of the room. “You have to take up space!” Piper shouted over the music. Next thing Leo knew, Piper was spinning his grandmother around in circles and wheeling her in and out to the music. Abuelita let out a boom of laughter when Piper sashayed around the entire wheelchair, dramatically swinging her hips and shaking her shoulders as her arms flailed about. Leo stood still and watched, rooted to the spot as Piper gripped his heart like a vise and tugged.
“Your staring is about to get creepy,” Alvaro said as he pulled up beside him. Leo blinked out of his trance and jerked his head toward his brother, who was smirking at him.
“I’m taking your dance partner,” Leo announced as retribution for Alvaro’s observation. “Mari?” Leo held out a hand, and his little sister grinned maniacally as she folded into his embrace. “Say nothing,” he warned.
“I didn’t speak,” Mariana whispered.
“You’re going to talk behind my back later, though.” Leo looked down at his sister, and she just offered him a shrug, not denying it. This fucking family.
Unlike Piper, Mariana spun effortlessly under Leo’s arm, and he flicked her around with ease. Her laughter filled his chest with contentment as he dipped her back over his arm. It had gotten easier to be away from his family the longer the stretches of time in between visits. Despite how annoying they could be sometimes, he loved them. Coming back to his roots reminded Leo how badly he missed being a part of his family’s shenanigans and just how painful it would be when he went away to film school. He wouldn’t be able to make treks back to Archwood from LA like he could from Fletcher. And, for some reason, that knowledge made him look across the room to where Piper was spinning Abuelita in a slow circle. He contemplated what it would be like to no longer see her, and he frowned when he didn’t like how desolate it made him feel.
It wasn’t an immediate realization, but, rather, a slow creeping of consecutive thoughts that climbed up his spine and into his head.
You’d miss sparring with her.
You’d have to stop thinking about her body.
