Friend

This time around, Noah didn't have to convince Leonardo to leave the house. The boy did so willingly, still suffering the aftertaste of that agonizing guilt he was struck with from talking to Oliver. But he couldn't blame Oliver. Nor could he apologize—he already had, and Oliver had already insisted there was nothing to apologize for, anyway. Needless to say this only made Leo feel worse about the situation.

He didn't want to bother Oliver. Maybe he could sort things out later, apologize more properly, say how he truly felt rather than remaining silent as though he agreed with the cruel things Oliver had to say about herself. But for now, Leo just wanted her to rest. Getting hit by a car was enough. She had been through enough.

With Savannah's gentle encouragement as usual, Leo went to class the next morning, quiet and still a bit upset from last night, but he managed. Holding Savannah's hand really did make a difference.

They entered the classroom about twenty minutes before the class started, choosing their usual seats and sitting.

About five minutes passed and William entered the classroom, also choosing his usual seat. Right beside Leo, who tensed noticeably.

"Ya look down, Leo," William commented, scanning his seatmate's expression. "You okay?"

Leo didn't say anything. He gave a brief nod, throwing uncertain glances at William, who mimicked the action curiously before leaning back and releasing a puff of air. His pleasant disposition dissipated.

"It's about yesterday, isn't it?"

This question earned him a vague glance from Savannah which in a way acted as confirmation.

William sighed again. "I swear I'm not lying to you, Leo," he said in a soft, somewhat sympathetic voice. "I...I don't have any loyalty to my dad, I don't owe him any favors, and I mean I know I'm a college student with an average-paying part-time job but I'm not desperate enough for money that I'd do something extreme, you know? Besides, we're friends, aren't we, Leo?"

The obvious hesitation that followed the question made William's expression sink. A frown took form upon his lips and he turned to face forward.

"We...are..." Leo said in late reply. Will faced him immediately.

"Yeah??"

Just like that, his smile had returned in full, and he even had the nerve to laugh at Leonardo's displeased reaction. Savannah even cracked a smile—though of course she hid it when Leo turned to her.

"C'mon, lighten up, Leo." Still chuckling, William put his arm around the boy's shoulders. "Don't like it when my friends are being Negative Nancy's."

Leo furrowed his brow at this. "Negative...who?"

"Say, tomorrow's Saturday, we should do something."

"What about your girlfriend?" Leo muttered. Will clicked his tongue against his teeth and waved his hand dismissively.

"Ray works tomorrow," he said. "Besides, even if she didn't work, friends are just as important as girlfriends. So, you wanna do something?"

Savannah leaned forward with beady eyes so that there was no possible way William could ignore her.

"-yes, and you, too, of course, Savannah." His laugh sounded almost nervous now. "I wouldn't dream of leaving you out after you practically threatened me yesterday."

Leo shifted his gaze over to his girlfriend. "You threatened him?"

"Not threatened, per say," William said, "maybe more like a sternly worded warning. Which is completely understandable. If I were in your place I'd think I was suspicious, too. But really, I'm just a party animal who wants to play mini-golf with some cool dudes." He gave both Leonardo's and Savannah's shoulders a bump with his fist. "So what do ya say, fellas? Churros and mini-golf tomorrow? I've got coupoooonnnsss."

Leonardo thought to himself, contemplated the idea for a moment, but as he haphazardly laid eyes on Savannah and the clear as day, childlike excitement in her face, he knew he didn't have the heart to decline. Leo could practically hear her chanting, churros and games, churros and games.

"Fine, we can hang out."

"Yes, okay, so let's just agree now that the overall loser has to pay for the churros, yeah?"

"...you're ridiculous..."

"-ly handsome. Thank you, Leonardo. Here, give me your phone, we gotta exchange numbers."

Savannah leaned forward.

"...and yours, Savannah."

***

"Is it too late to cancel?"

"Leo, you're driving, and we're already halfway to the course."

At a stoplight, Leo exhaled deeply and checked his phone, the few overly-excited text messages William had sent him not long ago, using way more emoticons than any person should ever need to use.

In those messages, William had also included the location of the mini-golf course, which was roughly twenty-five minutes from Leo's apartment. It was around the fifteen minute mark that he began to have second thoughts, but with Savannah seeming so set on winning mini-golf and making Will pay for their churros, Leo couldn't bring himself to turn back around and head home.

So they eventually made their arrival, and surely enough outside the small building where the equipment and customer service desk was, there stood William, in the process of shoving his phone into his jeans pocket so that he could enthusiastically wave at his friends pulling into a parking spot. Savannah grinned and waved back.

"He looks so happy to see us. I'll bet he already plans to buy us churros."

"Or," Leonardo countered, opening his car door, "he doesn't have any money, and this was a set-up to get us to buy him churros."

"Ooh, that would be smart."

"Sure, if that's what you wanna call it..."

Bracing himself for whatever madness was to come, Leo stepped out of the car, joining hands with Savannah as the two approached the brilliantly beaming William, who now eagerly waved in their faces two tickets of some kind.

"Two free games!" he chirped.

"There are three of us," Leo said obviously.

"Yes, so one of us is gonna have to pay for their own. Any takers?"

The look that Leonardo gave him at that moment could have stopped a bull in its tracks.

"Me, I'm the taker, I'll pay." William handed the tickets to the other two, laughing—whether in amusement or fear, Savannah couldn't tell. But she laughed, too.

And with that, the three entered the building with Will in the lead. He marched up proudly to the reception desk, spun around to pluck the 'free game' tickets from his friends' hands and held them out to the man in front of them. "These are for my pals," he announced, then dug into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled up bill. "This is for me."

The man at the desk examined what William had just placed counter.

"Wait, that's my grocery shopping receipt. I need that."

He snatched it up again and shoved it back into the depths of his pockets.

"Here it is—nope, Target receipt."

"For a guy with an average-paying part-time job and college and living expenses to pay for you sure do you shop a lot."

"Shh, Leo, this takes concentration."

After pulling around five more receipts out of various pockets, William finally found the money he swore he had on him and paid the small fee for his game. The man at the desk handed them three colored golf balls and pointed them in the direction of the door, beside which were the putters they could choose from.

After choosing their putters, the three stepped onto the first course and started their friendly little game of miniature golf.

To Leonardo, it wasn't a game that required much skill—you aim, you tap the ball with the putter, and that's it. William, on the other hand, went on various spiels and over-analyzed the different courses, explaining in what Savannah would describe as impressive detail about every aspect that needed to be taken into consideration in order to fully utilize said courses to one's advantage.

He was weird.

Surprisingly fun, Leo hated to admit at first, but less so once he noticed the brightness of Savannah's smiles while they were playing.

His heart fluttered. Amidst the goings-on Leo allowed the fact be pushed to the back of his mind, but in truth he was in love with this girl. Last night, he had fully realized and accepted it, too. But not just that he was in love with her. But that he loved her.

Seeing Savannah smile made his heart feel at ease. Happy.

At the beginning of the eighth hole of the game, as William was, once again, dramatically and verbally laying out his strategy for how he would dominate this round, Leo found the time to wrap his arms around Savannah's waist from behind, rest his chin on the girl's shoulder, then kiss her cheek. And he whispered softly, "Are you having a good time, Annie?"

"Y-yeah, I am." Savannah scratched her other cheek, red as a cherry, as Leo kissed her again.

"Mm. Then I'm glad I decided to go after all."

"Will's really fun, isn't he?"

"He's odd," Leo permitted himself the quietest of laughs. "But then again so are you. But...I love you."

"AWWW, YEAAAAAH, HOLE-IN-ONE, BABY, DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT MADNESS??!! TIGER WOODS WHO???"

William's ear-piercing victory cry rang throughout all eighteen of the courses and beyond, alarming the two other groups of people here who were on different courses, but still well within the range of the boy's voice. Oblivious or uncaring, he cried out again with a loud 'woohoo!!' before spinning around to look at his friends.

"You guys saw that, right??"

"Amazing, William."

"I KNOW. I'M SO GOOD."

He cleared his throat, took a step backwards, then gestured for one of the two to take their turn.

"It's easy," he said and brushed imaginary dirt off his broad shoulders. "If you were paying attention to my breakdown of the terrain, you should have this one down. Good luck, fellas. But also bad luck, my free churros are riding on this game."

Stifling her chuckles, Savannah stepped up to the challenge and set her golf ball down on the green, preparing to go for a hole-in-one in hopes she could impress her boyfriend.

Sadly, the ringing of Leonardo's phone stole her attention away from the course, so Savannah's motivation lessened.

It wasn't that Leo was looking for a distraction—at this point, he certainly was not bored. But he checked the caller ID—it was Noah. Leo could never ignore Noah.

"Hello?"

"Sorry, I know you're out trying to enjoy your weekend, I just wanted to call-"

"Noah, it's okay," Leo interrupted. "Something wrong?"

"Not really," Noah began, though sounding a bit exhausted for some reason, "just that, Oliver kind of vomited a little on the floor, and I didn't want you to be alarmed at the slightly blue stain on the carpet when you came home. But she's okay, though, so don't worry-"

"H-how do you know she's okay??"

"Leonardo, relax, she said she's been feeling off and on nauseous since the accident, it's normal," Noah said reassuringly. At least it was supposed to be reassuring. "Look, Oliver said so herself, and I trust her. She actually said she's feeling a lot better after she threw up, the nausea's gone, so it's good."

"Does she want anything to eat or drink?" Leo blurted. "I can pick up something on the way back. You know what, I'll just head back now. Ask Oliver what she wants and send me a text."

"Leo, you don't have to-"

He hung up before Noah could argue any more. By this point Savannah and William were both gazing at him with worry.

"Is everything alright, Leo?" Will asked.

"Yeah," the boy replied, nodding, though it was clear something was bothering him. "I'm sorry, Will, I have to leave, my friend's been sick, I just-"

"It's okay, Leo, you don't need to apologize," William assured him. "Are they okay?"

"Considering she survived getting hit by a car, I'd say she's fine, but I think I've been neglecting her too much. Savannah, let's go."

He grabbed Savannah's hand and started to pull the girl along back to the car. But he called back at the last second.

"Sorry again, Will, I'll make it up to you some time."

And William smiled a sad but understanding smile. "No worries, Leo. Take care."

"Bye, Will!"

"Bye, Savannah! See you guys Monday!"