A force to be reckoned with

“Sorry, the number you are trying to reach is not available. Please leave a message or call back later” Ugh.. again? I know I haven’t called Leo in about.. 6 years but still. Did he change his number? I was getting more anxious as the days go by. The one thing on my mind when I decided to come back to Seattle was Leo. I went to university in London and graduated with a first class honours in Biotechnology. I finished my masters a few months ago and luckily landed a job at a biotechnology firm here in Seattle. I’ve been back for less than 24 hours and I’m going mad not knowing where Leo is or if he’s waited for me as I have for him. I still remember our last encounter. As devastating as it was, it was probably for the best. I was so in love with him and although I do believe he had feelings for me, I’m sure they weren’t even close to the amount I had for him. “Where have you applied to college?” Leo asked me while sipping on his tonic water. I cringed and decided to ignore the devils drink he was consuming again. “All the ones in the city” I said and chuckled slightly at how ridiculous that probably sounded. He looked at me confused. I don’t blame him at all. “Don’t look at me like that” I said and looked down at the croissant on the plate beneath me, in an effort to avoid his eyes. I shyly continued “I don’t want to be apart from you”. He again looked at me like I had two heads. “Maia you can’t do that. You have amazing grades and I’m sure a lot of amazing universities both in and out of America would have you. Why would you want to ruin that for a relationship we haven’t even established yet?” He asked. Wow.. of all the things I expected him to say, that was not one of them. I always knew I liked Leo way more than he liked me, but wow.. He saw the change in my facial expression and began talking again. “You know what I mean Maia. I like you and things are going great so far but I think it would be a mistake for you to stay here primarily because of me”. I took a deep breath and decided this was not the hill to die on. I’d rather not look like some girl who is obsessed with him, although I might have already cemented that look already. “Yeah you’re right. I’ll apply to more. Ah, it’s late, I should go” “Ma..” “It’s late Leo. I want to sleep” I said and grabbed my bag, and quickly walked out of the coffee shop. I hadn’t seen Leo for months after that. He hadn’t made the effort to reach out and neither had I. Before I could even blink, graduation was here. I finally graduated high school. I applied to universities in Europe months ago and thankfully got into my first choice university in London, and decided I was going to go. I hadn’t spoken to Leo or heard anything from him at all since that day at the coffee shop. As I stand in my graduation gown taking pictures with my parents, I notice an oddly familiar silhouette a couple of metres away behind a lamp post. It was Leo. I got out of my fathers grasp and start walking towards Leo. I wanted to speak to him.. I had to. When I got close enough to see his face, he back at me and smiled softly. “Congratulations Maia. I’m proud of you” Crickets… “That’s it? After all these months.. that’s it?” I asked. I know it sounded bitter, but I was too emotional to think straight tonight. “I’m sorry for what I said, but I hope you know I genuinely said it because I wanted to best for you. I don’t want to hold you back. Not now and not ever” “You won’t..” He chuckled. “So stubborn. I’ll miss you Maia. Can you promise me one thing though? When you come back one day, if you still want to be with me, come find me. I’ll drop everything for you. I promise” “Leo.. stop saying things like that. Stop making me promises you won’t keep” “When have I ever made you a promise and broken it baby? I might be a lot of bad things but I’m a man of my word and I think you know that. Whenever it is that you come back, I’m yours if you’ll still have me, I promise” He isn’t doing the best job at keeping that promise is he? Why on earth is his phone off? You know what? Desperate times call for desperate measures.. Ella. Ella is Leo’s younger sister. We were lab partners in chemistry for all of high school, but I haven’t spoken to her since we graduated. I tried dialling her number to see if it would work, and it started ringing. My heart started racing and I could swear a bead of sweat ran down my forehead. “Hello?” The voice of a child said. “Uhm.. hello?” I must’ve gotten the wrong number. Or maybe she changed it. “Honey, who’s that? Bring the phone to mommy” I heard someone say in the background. surely not? “Hello?” A woman called out this time. “Uhm hi, I’m looking for Ella?” I said in a very low voice, almost embarrassed at calling the wrong line. “This is she. Who is this?” She said. Oh my.. it’s actually her. “Ella.. it’s Maia.. from high school?” “Oh my God!! Maia!!? It’s so good to hear from you! Thank you so much for calling! Is everything ok?” She asked in a perky high tone voice. “Yeah everything’s perfect! I’m back in Seattle” “Oh.. you’re looking for Leo then” she said with a voice that sounded sad. “Uhm.. yes actually. I can’t reach his line. I’m so sorry to call you about this” I said. “Uhm Maia.. I’m not sure Leo would want you to know this but seeing as you’re looking for him, and neither of us would want you to think he’s hiding from you or is ignoring you, I’ll tell you the truth. Leo’s.. he’s Uhm in prison” “PRISON???”