Across the hall of the local high school, the two sneak glances at each other like nobody’s business. The whole situation is getting downright ridiculous, is what it is. They haven’t contacted each other for at least a week now and it’s been making them both miserable.  She looks the same as usual with her pale corn-silk hair obscuring half of her face and her haunted brown-green eyes staring down at her feet as she lingers by her locker. She was beautiful all the same, though, which confused Leighton deeply. He didn’t understand how such a person could exist. She did all the same, though. And for some reason Leighton was acting like a fool letting this prolonged thing that wasn’t-really-a-break-up-but-kind-of-was drag on any longer. Bracing his shoulders and taking a deep breath, he started to make his way across the hall to confront her and wondered along the way where all these emotions had come from. It was driving him insane and he wasn’t sure he could deal with it anymore.

            Just to his luck, the bell rang which draws Moet’s attention away from him and before Leighton can call out her name, she’s swallowed by the busy crowd of students cluttering the halls all trying to get to the right place at the right time. Sighing, he turns around and heads for his Calculus AP class that he didn’t really find necessary but went to anyways because at least there he knew all the answers. At least there everything made sense and he knew what to do.

            Sitting in her math class, Moet couldn’t stop thinking. The problem was, she wasn’t thinking about the murder as she was probably supposed to but she was thinking of the boy-genius standing across the hall with his messy brown hair and slate gray eyes. She knew he was about to walk over to her and talk to her but the bell rang, she freaked out, and decided to hurry to her next class even though she wanted to talk to him too. Maybe she was afraid of what he might have said. That they’d break it off for real. That he didn’t love her anymore. In her mind, she saw their relationship as a thin strand of a spider web quivering in the wind, hardly visible, but still there, struggling to stay whole.

            Quinn was the one that suggested that they should take a break from this whole crime-solving thing probably due to the fact that Moet had acquired a habit of moping around quietly and staring at the ground whenever they sat around trying to come up with suspects. That didn’t help much, she guessed.

            After class, she gets her things and looks around for Leighton one last time but can’t find him. Sighing softly to herself, she makes her way to the parking lot to meet up with Quinn at his car when she hears her name being called behind her.

            The first thing he does when the sixth period bell rings is he tries to look for Moet. Unable to find her amongst the after-school crowd, he walks towards the parking lot to see if he can find her there. Looks like today is his day because the moment he’s out of the school’s front double doors, he sees a slender figure in the distance with long, pale hair that he would recognize anywhere.

            “Moet!” He cups his hands around his mouth and calls out. Hurrying towards her, he sees the figure stop and look back.

            His eyes flicker to the dark figure of Quinn near the car, and then back to Moet.

            “We need to talk.”

            She nods and tells Quinn she’ll be a minute and the two walk towards this semi-private area near the edge of the parking lot with hardly any students hanging around the area.

            Before Leighton can say anything, Moet bursts out with an “I miss you,” from her lips before her cheeks stain with a red blush and she looks down at her feet again.

            Smiling, but still unsure, he asks, “So does that mean you’re not involved with Quinn?”

            Looking up, she tilts her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

            “That you’re not… with Quinn.” He clarifies. To his surprise, she starts laughing and a rare genuine smile spreads across her face.

            “Leighton, this whole thing is ridiculous. How about this,” She steps closer to Leighton and looks directly into his eyes, which surprises him with how confident she’s become. It’s a good surprise, though. “I’ve been thinking about what you said at the hospital. About me doing things for myself. And I promise to get help if you will take me back.”

            “Promise?” He asks, just to make sure.

            She smiles. “Promise.”

            And then they both leaned in for a kiss so movie-perfect that it made Quinn, who was standing about twenty feet away, mind you, clap and whoop in excitement. The couple break apart laughing and Moet tucks her head under Leighton’s chin and they stand there for a while before Quinn honks his horn and they break apart for real this time, both people walking away with light hearts and smiles on their faces.

            “So,” Quinn starts once they’re back in the car and on the road. “I was starting to get irritated by your depression. Good thing that’s fixed now, huh.”

            “Yeah,” Moet says, grinning to herself. He glances over and rolls his eyes jokingly.

            “You guys are so sickeningly sweet it makes me want to vomit.”

            Moet shrugs. “Go ahead. It’s your car.”

            Quinn raises his eyebrows in response. “Making jokes now, are we? What is this kid? Magic? Surprises everywhere.”

            He must look suspiciously happy when he gets home because the moment he steps through the front door, Ella looks up from scribbling in her notebook of hers and glares at him suspiciously.

            “What happened to you? You look like you put another teacher out of a job today. Oh my god, did you?” Leighton rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

            “Just reunited with a good friend.” Maybe it wasn’t best to mention Moet’s name. Her last breakdown was quite a while ago; around the time he stopped seeing her. He didn’t believe in coincidences.

            “Mm-hmm. Sure. Did you get back with Holmes?” Ella nonchalantly asks, returning to scribbling in her diary.

            Surprised at her casual mention of her name, he answers, “Maybe.”

            Ella bites the inside of her cheek like she always does whenever she’s debating whether or not to say something. “You love me, right?”

            Now Leighton’s confused. “Of course I do. You’re my baby sister.” He comes over and gives her a hug. She sighs in relief.

            “Okay, good.” After a little bit, they let go and Leighton ruffles her hair playfully while Ella swats his hands away and scrunches her nose.

            “There’s clearly something you’re not telling me, Ella. What are you scared of?”

            She bites the inside of her cheek and then reluctantly answers, “I’m scared that you’ll leave me. Like everyone else.”

            “Like who?” This was new. Who was “everyone else”?

            Looking extremely uncomfortable and almost like she’s about to cry, she says, “No,” and goes up to her room, shutting and locking the door behind her.

So many questions, so little answers.

The practices have become worse; Moet feels like her feet are falling off, though that couldn’t be anatomically possible. Oh no, she was starting to sound like Leighton. Laughing at herself, she climbs the stairs painfully in the quiet and still house and sits on the edge of her bed as she takes off her shoes and tries to massage her feet back to life. After taking a shower, she decides to call Leighton and looks at the clock to see if it’s too late. Deciding hesitation never did her any good, she picks up the phone and dials Leighton’s number.

“Hello?” She hears the comforting sound of her voice and suddenly the pain seems a tiny bit more bearable.

“Hi.”

“How was practice?” He asks.

Moet looks down at her battered feet and lies, “It was alright. Not as bad as usual.”

There’s silence on the phone a bit before Leighton replies, “I can tell when you’re lying, Moet.” His voice seems more tired rather than angry, though.

“I’m sorry.” She says back with the voice of a guilty child.

“Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault. If your mother would just stop living vicariously through you like some sad adult longing for her teenage years to come back, then you wouldn’t be so sick all the time. It’s killing you, Moet.”

“I know, I know. But I’m trying to get help. I just don’t know where to start.” Moet says miserably. “Will you help me?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Leighton asks, confused.

Moet smiles at his frank honesty. “Thank you, Leighton.” She pauses for a moment, then speaks in a much quieter tone, “I love you.”

There’s a couple beats of silence which put Moet on edge, thinking she finally did it, finally made him change his mind, unlove her or something like that. But miracle of all miracles, she hears his faint voice on the line which sounds a little confused, a little happy.

“I love you too.”

And that night, she fell asleep knowing she was going to be okay.

A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for reading and staying with me through my unreasonably uneven uploads. There's only about three chapters left which makes me a little sad, but also a little relieved at the same time. It will be the first story I've ever finished and published on the internet so yay! Anyways, don't be too sad (if you are in the first place, maybe it's just me, haha) because I have a spin-off/sequel coming up that's not about Moet/Leighton but about a minor character from this story and a whole bunch of new ones :) I'm pretty excited for it. I plan on planning the whole plot out and such to avoid the major writer's block that I went through writing this thing here and giving more consistent uploads. For anyone that's interested, I'll also be posting a playlist of songs I listened to while writing this after the last chapter so you guys can check that out too if you want. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT! I LOVE YOU GUYS :D