Sealed with a Kiss ✔

Chapter Nineteen | Sealed with a Kiss

Dedication to EmmaOsborne7 for being an awesome human being

"Where've they gone?"  Levi asks, sounding completely exasperated.

My voice feels like a pill I've dry swallowed, it's stuck in my throat, refusing to pass through easily. "Er..." I begin to mumble, reddening at how awkward I sound. "They've gone to get some milk."

"What?" Levi asks, the single word sounding both disbelieving and irritated. I still don't have the guts to turn and face him and begin grow aware of how strange I look fixatedly staring at Imogen's front door. "They've gone now?"

I want to snap back: 'Yes,' but my growing agitation won't let me. All I can think about is how bad this is, how I'm stuck here with the last person I want to be in the company of. I take a deep breath that's supposed to calm me but instead leaves me feeling more rattled.

At my lack of response Levi sighs and finally I turn around. His gaze meets mine and for a moment I lose my breath. I've had him look at me furiously before, back when our files had been mixed up, but this time it's somehow different.

There's something entrancing about Levi's eyes when he's angry. They're that shade of familiar, deep brown but now there's darkness within them- a darkness that somehow burns. His eyes are old autumn leaves burning, curling into ashes and flame. Scorching coffee that's scalding rather than soothing. The deepest depths of a forest of ancient trees, all alight. His eyes are spellbinding, something that makes me feel like I can get lost into worlds unknown simply by peering into them.

Swallowing, I finally drag my eyes away, all the while ignoring how hard my heart's hammering in my chest. I stalk to the living room, mindful of how tense my shoulders are and how stiffly I'm walking- I couldn't be any more awkward if I tried. Sitting back down on the sofa, my fingers find a lose thread on my dress and, distractedly, I begin to pull at it- trying to find anything to focus on.

The music that continues to play fades in to the background when Levi sits opposite me. Suddenly, I become a whole lot more interested in the loose thread. I can feel his gaze on me, its unfaltering. The hot weight of it mirrors the warmth spreading across my cheeks, making me think of how often his dark stare extinguishes the air in my lungs and leaves me feeling so on edge.

Urgently, I begin thinking of my possible options to get out of here. My eyes flicker towards the large window situated in the room, leaping out of it seriously seems more appealing than continuing to sit here, where the air feels stifling and the tension sits in the atmosphere, heavy and maddening. Then there's Plan B, which is gritting my teeth and just staying put which doesn't sound fun at all.

Abruptly, Levi gets up and I'm almost nervous about what he's going to do next when he walks to the music player. I exhale a small sigh of relief as he searches through Imogen's family selection of CDs- something I know spans across a whole range of genres because of the Grace family's individual tastes.

Levi seems to find something he likes because then Paloma Faith stops crooning and out of the speakers drifts a new sound, one that's hypnotically dark-hued, the languid mix of leisurely drum beats and deep melodic notes of a guitar shift the mood, subduing it. Once a slow, Sheffield-lilted voice fills the room I recognise the band playing as the Arctic Monkeys, one of Imogen's older brother's favourites.

Levi sits on the sideboard alongside the music player, leaning back he stares at the wall ahead, his expression unreadable. He doesn't look at me again as the album goes on. As flustered as it made me, a part of me prefers the weight of Levi's stare rather than him not acknowledging me at all.

My mouth feels dry and at once I take that as an opportunity to leave the room to get something to drink. I hastily get up and head to the kitchen, silently thinking of all the possible swearwords I can use to help describe this god-awful situation. Some aren't very pretty.