Until The Last Petal Falls - A bad boy romance

Levi

Monday came soon enough and I was actually looking forward to the day—to seeing Thea. After I was dressed I headed downstairs to grab my energy drink from the fridge.
"Morning." I greeted my mother as she shuffled around the kitchen to make her coffee.
The cup in her hand slipped through her fingers and smashed against the hard wood of the floors.
"Damn." She gasped as she frantically searched for a way to get through the shards of glass.
As she went to take a step forward I caught her under her arms and lifted her, setting her down out of the way. Grabbing the broom and dustpan from the closet I went over to the mess and began cleaning in up. After depositing the shards in the trash I glanced over at my mother who was still standing there where I had set her down.
"What?" I asked, curious about her odd behavior, until I realized it was my behavior that had her acting like this.
"Yeah, um, later." I mumbled, grabbing my energy drink and heading out the door. Thankfully I lived only seven minutes from Judah's because I was running behind. "Sorry I'm late!" I exclaimed as I walked through the front door. "You ready?" Thea came into the foyer with a large smile on her face and her hair braided to the
side in one of those fancy-looking fishtail braids.
The corner of my mouth tugged up a little as I looked at her.
"You excited for world history?" She teased, her smile reaching ear to ear. "Aren't I always?"
Just like every other time I've had to sit in on her classes, I brought out my laptop
and focused on my work. She only had two classes today, the last just before lunch. "Do you want to see Judah before we leave?" I asked her as we left her last class for
the day.

Shaking her head we made our way across the campus to the parking lot. Once we were settled in the car and had our seat belts on I turned to her.
"Do you want to go home or did you want to get some lunch?"
With her fingers pressed to her temples and eyes closed she shook her head. "I'm not feeling up to par. Do you mind just taking me home and I'll take a rain check?"
Glancing up at her I frowned.
"Yeah, sure."
After I dropped her off and made sure she didn't need anything I went home. The
second I walked through the door I went into my mothers office.
This was where she worked. She had an online shop that made different unique quilts
and blankets. As I walked into her office she was arranging her photoshooting area to take a picture of her newest quilt for her websites display.
"Hey..." I said, startling my mother.
"Levi, what is it?"
This was an awkward situation for the both of us. I had never gone to her for a thing.
I always went to my father until his passing. Then I went to no one.
Grabbing at the back of my neck I took a few steps forward. How in the hell was I going to ask my mom to teach me how to dance?
She was the only person that I knew who was able to dance. I witnessed it at my parents vows renewal when I turned seventeen.
"I'm going to this thing in a few weeks and I don't know how to dance."
My mother just stared blankly at me for a moment before she burst into tears.
"Mom? What's wrong?" I asked as I moved forward and awkwardly patted her on the back.
She wiped her eyes with a cloth square she pulled out of her pocket and gave me a sad smile. "Nothing... right now everything is perfect. Levi I will be happy to teach you how to dance."
Grabbing the back of my neck nervously I forced a smile. "Uh, thank you for doing this for me... When do you want to start?"
***
The next couple weeks leading up the adult prom passed by and I had been working on a unique way to ask Thea to go with me.
Not only had I bought a new suit for the evening, but I had just about mastered the basic ballroom styled dance. According to my mother, a prom isn't a real prom without a perfect slow dance.
Now the only thing I had to worry about was the promposal... or so my sister called it.
***
"This is so stupid Nia. She is definitely going to say no to this, its so cheesy." I snapped as I put the flower arrangement into the back of my car with the other pieces.
"No, she is totally going to love it. Every girl loves a fairytale, and this one fits you two perfectly. Jerk." She teased. "Now, get going if you plan on not screwing this up."

Giving Nia an awkward one armed hug I climbed into my car and headed over to Judah's. When I arrived he was waiting outside, hands in the pockets of his slacks.
"Hey kid." He said as I got out and opened the trunk.
Giving him a nod I started pulling things out and taking them around back to the gazebo. After I set up the main piece I went back to the car and grabbed the flower arrangements that I set just infront of it all.
"How do you plan on doing this? He asked me as I headed inside to towards the kitchen carrying a large white box full of rose petals.
"I don't know. I'm just going to wing it, I guess. I didn't really think this part through." I ended with a bit of a chuckle.
With his help we made a trail of flower petals from her door to the gazebo. Last I carefully connected the trail of roses from her door into her room and up onto her bed where I left a single red rose.
After I finished I left her room, quietly closing the door behind me.
"This is a nice thing you are doing for her." Judah said as he stirred cream into his coffee.
Leaning against the counter I watched the long silver handled spoon go round and round.
"How has she been doing?" I asked, doing my best to be nonchalant.
"As good as she can be. Not being able to be out there doing things most women her age are doing takes a toll. She thinks I don't hear her, but when I come into the kitchen just before I head to bed I can hear her crying, asking why she couldn't be like everyone else. Other times she cries, begging for the pain to stop."
I frowned. The thought of her sad didn't sit well with me. I wanted her to be happy, which to this day, and after all this time was weird. I never cared how anyone felt. But she was somehow different.
"What time does she normally get up?" I asked as I went over to the cupboard and grabbed a mug to make myself a cup of coffee.
"Around this time. It's usually the smell of the coffee that wakes her up. She hates it."
"Crap!" I hissed as I patted my jean pockets and realized I was missing the necklace I had gotten for her. "I gotta run to the car. Um," I handed him my phone. "If you can, record this, just don't make it too obvious. I want her to remember everything."
Turning on my heel I went out the front door, pulling my keys out of my pocket to unlock the car. Opening the glovebox I grabbed the flat rectangle box and closed the door.
Heading back into the house I noticed that Judah was no longer there and the back door was open, so I followed the trail out into the backyard just in time to see her stop at the gazebo.
Taking a breath I started down the lawn towards her. When I reached her side she was staring blankly at it all.
Set in the center of the gazebo was a plastic decorative roman column and sitting on that column was a hand made replica of the enchanted rose that my mother and sister

that column was a hand made replica of the enchanted rose that my mother and sister Behind Those Green Eyes
helped me make. On either side of the column was two 18x24 inch gold gilded picture frames.
In one was 'Be my Guest?' and the other '...because this Beast needs his Beauty'. It was the lamest thing I ever seen, and I've seen a lot of lame things, but apparently girls liked sappy shit like this—Nia said.
"I understand if you say no, but will you go to prom with me, Thea?" I asked, the necklace box behind my back.
Stooping down she picked up the arrangement of two dozen red roses mixed with babies breath and sniffed them before setting them on the railing of the gazebo and turning to face me.
"You want me to go to prom with you?" With a nervous grin I slowly nodded my head. "You do realize prom is a spring thing, and we are not in high school."
Pulling the tickets out of the pocket of my jacket I handed them to her. "That's why we are going to adult prom." I leaned in closer to her and lowered my voice to a whisper. "Just don't tell anyone I got you a fake id so you can get in. You have to be 21, to attend." I winked at her as I leaned away.
"You did all of this... for me... just for one night?" She asked in complete disbelief as she stared at the tickets.
Gently tapping her shoulder his a closed fist I lifted her chin with my index finger so I could look her in the eye. "Don't make a big deal out of it. Can't have people thinking I'm nice. Then they will start expecting more from me." I joked.
After a few seconds she lit up with the biggest smile I had seen from her so far. She placed her hands on her head in shock before spinning around excitedly. Just seeing her like this warmed my heart.
"Oh, there is so much I have to do. I need to find a dress, shoes, someone to do my hair and makeup." She rambled on.
"Not the makeup... you don't need makeup. You look beautiful just the way you are." I let slip before I could catch myself.
Her head snapped up and her green eyes caught mine before she gave me a small smile, that I returned after a moment.
"So, my mom and sister said they would be more than happy to take you to do all your shopping and stuff. They said you guys can make a girls day out of it." I told her as I ran my fingers through my hair.
Before I could react she threw her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to my cheek.
"Thank you!" She exclaimed before releasing me.
I took this moment to hand her the box that contained the necklace in it. When she opened it she smiled. It was a gold chain with a single gold stemmed rose with red petals.
"So um, this Friday I'll pick you up at five-thirty?" I stuck my hands in my pockets. "I'll be ready. Don't you dare be late." She added with a poke to my chest and a grin. With a smug look I held my hands up, palm facing out and walked backwards a few
steps. "I'm never late. Everyone else is always early."

As I turned around and headed up the lawn towards my car I made a face of disgust. I'm pretty sure I just quoted a stupid chick movie my sister watched every single day one summer when she was in her teens.
What was this woman doing to me?