Leo:

Brooklyn’s affinity for wanting me was exhilarating.

I know I have always internalized my feelings, maybe more than most. 

I always felt like I had this little thing where when I liked a girl, then I really liked her. 

But I couldn’t even get the courage, if you could call it that, to say anything to her. And it was hard to tell her even hi, sometimes. 

Even though I really wanted to.

But I would know when a girl liked me because she would linger a little longer and stand a little closer to me, or whatever. 

You know what I mean.

I have always had a lot of thoughts in my head. And when I met Brooklyn, I knew she understood me. 

When my thoughts were up in the stars, she brought me back down again. 

I could just be myself with her. 

And I knew she adored me. I could feel it. And this felt so good. 

I would stop criticizing myself. The things I could say to myself would get out of control sometimes. 

All those things stopped and I just felt pure love. To just be together. To be adored. 

I walked around on cloud nine.

And when I would see her, my heart would leap. Could anyone see this? Could a heart jump enough to not settle back in?

It wasn’t that I was not confident at all. I mean, I was a little confident. 

And being with Brooklyn helped a lot. 

I could just be myself with her. And I knew that she adored me. 

And her affinity for wanting me was exhilarating.

The cold hard cash though, now that was really exhilarating. I was going to go to Mexico someday with that, baby. 

That was my ticket out.

* * * 

Brooklyn:

When I met Leo, his good looks are what I noticed first of course. But he walked as if he was unaware of this. How could someone with his looks not know? 

And then there was his casual laughter. 

And the glint in his gorgeous eyes with the dark lashes.

We seemed to be like chemicals that melded together uniformly when we were with each other.

The melancholy, brooding part of his personality would ooze into mine and fill all the holes. 

And I felt complete when I was with him.

But that was then. 

That was before he went to juvie. 

And then, after he went to juvie, I had to convince myself that I would find someone just like him. 

But without the criminal element.

I tried to just focus on school, because that aspect of my life certainly had slipped while I was spending time with Leo.

And I would tell myself that I was so insanely stupid to fall for him. 

And what a mistake it had been. 

But then, I would feel badly that I was trying to feel it was a mistake. Why should I force myself to feel it all had been a mistake?

Well, becauase he was in juvie now. That’s why. And he was a full out arrested criminal, in the state system now. 

And who knew when I might see him again. 

Don’t plan on that, I told myself. Don’t get mixed up with him again. He’s a criminal now. 

The last time this had happened, with the guy before Leo, at least his parents had up and moved to a different state, and so he had went to juvie in the new state. It was a lesser crime than car theft though.

I would go round and round like this, and get nowhere. Hours would go by and I was still in the same thought process. 

I would try to go out for a walk. 

I would think of Leo. It would drive me crazy. When will these feelings end? 

Because it already had come to an end between us. 

He was behind bars in juvie now. 

And there was no more seeing each other.

Or was there?

* * *

Leo:

I guess it was after I had taken the Porsche, that Brooklyn told my friend the things she said about me.

I’ve never felt so hopeless.

And the events that led up to me being here, in juvie, I would prefer not to think about.

The police had tracked the red Porsche down. 

I had already sold it by then. 

The cold hard cash of this, my second car sale, was stashed under by mattress. 

It was waiting lifelessly, to be added with all the rest of the cash that would surely be forthcoming in the coming weeks.

I thought I was as safe as could be.

The car was already en route to Mexico. And it was on a flatbed truck.

They still found it.

And it was traced back to me, the glorious seller.

Once I was sent to state juvie, I heard through the grapevine from my friend what Brooklyn had said.

I know my weaknesses. I’ve never tried to hide them. 

But when I heard what she said, it cut straight to my gut. And the energy seeped right out of me. Like a knife wound. 

I thought we had something golden.

I thought that she liked my weaknesses. I’ve never tried to hide them. 

How could she become so ruthless?

I thought we had something to be adored. How could she become so callous? I thought she cherished me.