11. Guys and Cars
Out of every car the guys owned, I believe that Levi's 1969 Camaro was my favorite out of the whole group. Especially now.
He had everything re-done to bring it back to style, the black leather seats went well with the original black color of the car, there was wood trim around the doors and the gear shift, the steering wheel was black to match the car, and the only thing I hated was you had to roll the windows down by hand.
Which is what I was trying to do at this exact moment.
I grunted as I finally got it rolled down all the way and turned to look at Levi "Dude, you seriously couldn't have gotten one with electric windows?" I asked, making him smirk.
"I didn't want power windows. I like it the old way," he said as he turned the corner to drive across the railroad tracks, and he shot me a smile: "You're the first girl to ride in my car, what do you think?"
I rolled my eyes "I think you are almost as bad as Heath. Everything on your mind is about girls" I said with honest truth, this just made Levi give me a look and shake his head.
"I was talking about the car, Kat. What do you think about my baby?" Oh, whoops.
I gave an embarrassed smile and shrugged "It sounds like a total badass. I'm happy you finally got her out of the shop, think you will let me drive sometime?" I asked with a sweet smile.
He huffed, "No way. I remember the stop sign you ran into," he said and patted the dash of the car "No way are you damaging her and putting her back in the shop."
I really wish people would give me a break, we know guys, I can't drive, I thought in annoyance as we drove through the main street. It was a eye-catcher, that was for sure, everyone turned their heads to see the car and it made Levi grin to know his car was being eyed and possibly even drooled over.
Who could blame them? The Camaro was awesome and the dude driving it was an eye-catcher as well.
I stopped myself right then and shook my head, no Katie, don't do this to yourself. Levi isn't interested (stupid contract) and you have a date with Adam next Saturday, think about Adam, maybe it won't be boring.
Like last night was.
Levi pulled into the Freezie Mate parking lot and we got out of the car, up at the counter we looked at the menu. His eyes scanned the menu before looking at me and saying, "Order, whatever you want, I'm buying," as he dragged his wallet out of his back pocket.
I smiled as I looked at the menu and ordered a Cotton Candy milkshake, Levi got a chocolate one and two small chili dogs for us, and we went and sat down at a picnic table under a blue umbrella, there were three teenage boys sitting behind Levi and they started whispering to each other.
"How do you feel, almost graduating and all?" He asked as he dug a plastic fork into his chili dog, he grinned, "About to leave us for Yale."
Ugh, graduation. I was so not ready for it, and not ready to leave Roman after summer ends, it was gonna kill me to leave him alone.
I shrugged, "In disbelief. I can't believe that I am going to the college of my dreams, you know, mine and Roman's dad went there. It's how he met our mom, honestly, I'm kind of scared to go," I told him as I took a sip of my milkshake.
Levi frowned, "Why? You will be leaving this town and experiencing college life, wild parties, and all of that," he said with a chuckle, making me roll my eyes, "At least, I think colleges like that party."
I glared at him "Colleges like that, huh?" I said and dug into my chili dog, he paused as he stared at me.
"Katie, I didn't mean it like that.'" I looked up at him, a little confused, he never calls me Katie it has always been Kat. Levi looked like he was trying to say something "I just ..You're smart. Smarter than any of us, you deserve to go to a good college" he said and looked down at his food.
Levi was so hard to understand sometimes, you never knew what he was gonna say and he never showed how he felt, but I knew he was like Roman -like all of the guys honestly - they wanted me to be what they weren't.
Educated.
I smiled "I'm surprised you don't have a 'hot date' for the night" I joked earning a middle finger from him in secret, I laughed at him.
Levi tried to hide any rude gestures or talk when other people were around, like kids or women. He and Roman were the only two like that, Jul and Heath didn't care.
"I decided to take it easy after, uh ..' What's her name' that I took to Taco Cup," he said, trying to remember the girl's name.
I rolled my eyes "Lucy?" I asked, and he nodded when I said it.
Yup, he is turning into Heath.
"Hey meat girl, can I have your autograph?"
I looked behind Levi towards the teenage boys who were laughing, Levi's eyes shot up and looked at me, I could tell they had struck a nerve with him by saying that. I shook my head at Levi and continued eating my food.
"I was gonna tell you, Roman told me about that Adam fella-" Levi started to say, but the jerks behind him interrupted him.
"How many times did you have to shower to get all that meat out of your hair?" One of the boys asked to make his friends laugh, I suddenly got a little uncomfortable at that question as Levi bit his jaw and closed his eyes.
If only these boys knew who they were pissing off.
I cleared my throat and smiled at Levi "Adam is nothing to worry about, I'm just going out with him. Trust me when I say it probably won't last long" I told him, thinking about last night.
Levi sighed "He asked me to talk you out of it, but I understand that you want to try-"
"Hey, Taco Girl! Did meat get into other places too?" the same boy shouted, making his friends laugh.
That did it.
Levi stood up, clearly fed up with this dude's crap, turned around, and knocked the guy straight back out of his chair, I busted out laughing as the dude scrambled to stand up and his friends glared at Levi.
"You want to make jokes? I hope you have something to back your mouth up with" Levi snapped at the boys who looked at each other. Levi stood over them as one tried to punch him, he grabbed the boy's arm and twisted it around his back, making him yell.
"Let him go," the one who made jokes said as he watched Levi put pressure onto his friend's arm, making him yell in pain, "Please?"
Levi rolled his eyes and let the boy go "Learn to fight if you want to make rude comments, next person might not be so gentle" he told the boys as they looked at each other and ran off.
Applause came from around us and Levi shrugged as he sat back down, a woman across from us sighed "Those brats were making rude comments the whole time they were here" she told us as she tried to clean up the mess her little boy was making with an ice cream cone.
Levi shook his head: "I don't appreciate anyone making rude comments in front of women folk," he said with a smile before turning back to me.
I smiled "You have hung around Roman for way too long."
"Sometimes, it's a good thing. Now, shut up and eat your food."
We ate and talked before walking through the park, I had my hands jammed into my pockets while Levi still was drinking his milkshake, he held it in his hand as we walked and made gestures with his other hand when he would talk.
It had always been fun hanging around Levi, even when I was younger, I don't know why I quit hanging around him so much. Maybe it was because of the crush I started to have on him, and the fact that he was too much caught up in his own dates and his job.
I have Adam though for now, maybe we will start hanging out more and my brother will approve of him.
And maybe Adam will be more fun to be around.
Like Levi is.
(What do you think about Levi? Do you think he secretly likes his best friend's little sister? Until the next Chapter -TBK)
*EDITED ON JULY 16th 2022*