Lilie was blocking his path and Leon's opportunity to slip out was thwarted by the direct look she gave him that pinned him in place. He opened his mouth to protest, to ask her to move, but she was talking too fast for him to get it out in time.
Was there hope? Could they fix it? Leon's emotions fluctuated rapidly between anger and sadness, hope at the possibility of getting something cherished back into his life, and then the crushing reminder of the feeling he was overcome with when Mickey walked away from him in that cell. But then there was their encounter at his aunt's house, that kiss like nothing had happened, and then...
And then nothing. Not a word, not even a sound from Mickey. Not even eye contact in the halls at school. Leon knew better than most how Mickey avoided things he didn't want to process, but if he really wanted some kind of reconciliation like Lilie proposed, wouldn't he have made the effort by now?
Leon tried to harden his heart, but it was a fool's errand. His heart still belonged to Mickey and getting it back was a lot more difficult and taxing than it had been to hand it over in the first place. He looked at Lilie, latching onto the fact that she was being strangely specific. He focused on that instead of the questions themselves. If she had talked to Mickey, what had he said that had prompted Lilie to ask him if there was any hope for them?
Ifhe were to talk to him again, if he were to feel bad about how it ended, if he wanted to fix things. The fact that she knew Mickey still cared about him. Fuck. She had talked to Mickey. Leon's eyes darkened, hurt and angry that Mickey had all but sent an emissary instead of having the courage to talk to him in person. He knew Lilie wouldn't tell him what Mickey had said to her, but he could get her to tell Mickey what he said about him.
"You can tell Mickey," he said slowly, his voice low as he leaned in closer to Lilie, "that he can grow up and face his own problems like the rest of us have to, with or--" Leon's voice tightened and he cleared his throat, blinking away the emotions almost manifesting as tears, "With or without me."
Shaking his head, Leon brushed past Lilie and stalked on long legs to the door.